Tag: David Ben-Gurion

Ben-Gurion and borders

On By Martin Kramer

As I showed in this month’s essay at Mosaic Magazine, David Ben-Gurion made sure that in 1948, Israel declared statehood without specifying its borders. So just what future borders did Ben-Gurion have in mind? This has been the source of a running debate in Israel, as proponents of this or that set of borders invoke certain statements by Ben-Gurion, and downplay or ignore others.

Avi Shilon is one of Israel’s most interesting younger historians, and is the author, inter alia, of the book Ben-Gurion: His Later Years in the Political Wilderness. Makers of the film Ben-Gurion: Epilogue credited that book with providing inspiration and background. In Shilon’s response to my Mosaic essay, he looks at Ben-Gurion’s pragmatic approach to Israel’s borders, and his preferences after 1967. I’ll have more to say on this issue in my “last word” next Monday. Read Shilon here.

And just a footnote: last week, Israel’s Channel 10 began to broadcast journalist Raviv Drucker’s six-part series The Captains, on crucial decisions by Israeli prime ministers. Ben-Gurion is the subject of the first episode. Drucker builds up the May 12, 1948 session of the People’s Administration very dramatically. But even he has to accept the record. “Ben-Gurion wins,” goes Drucker’s narration. “There isn’t even a vote. It’s clear that he has a majority, and no one wants to go down in history as someone who voted against establishment of the state.” Indeed. Unfortunately, Drucker doesn’t mention the fateful vote that banished mention of the UN partition borders from the declaration. Too bad: as I showed, it was one of Ben-Gurion’s greatest coups.

Benny Morris responds

On By Martin Kramer

David Ben-Gurion and Benny MorrisBenny Morris, historian of Israel (and 1948 in particular), offers the first response to my essay at Mosaic Magazine on what happened (and didn’t) on the eve of Israel’s independence in May 1948. Morris: “While in 1948-49 Ben-Gurion was highly interested in expanding Israel’s borders beyond the confines of the territory allotted by the UN partition resolution, he also refrained from supporting the conquest of the whole Land of Israel.” In my final word, I’ll focus exactly on this issue. Read Morris here.

(And I offer a special word of thanks to Morris: this is my third monthly essay at Mosaic Magazine to which he’s contributed a response. Always reliable, always interesting.)

The vote that really made Israel

On By Martin Kramer

We’re fast approaching Israel’s 70th anniversary: David Ben-Gurion proclaimed Israel’s independence on May 14, 1948. (The 70th will be celebrated on April 19, according to the Hebrew calendar.) To mark the occasion, I’ve written an essay about the run-up to Israel’s independence. Do you know that there was a close vote in the Zionist proto-cabinet on May 12, 1948, on whether to declare independence? Sure, you’ve read about it in histories of Israel and biographies of Ben-Gurion. Well, I’m sorry to disappoint, but the evidence for that vote couldn’t be weaker.

But another vote took place at that same session. It was a close one—five to four—and it had far-reaching consequences for the future of Israel. Although Ben-Gurion chalked it up as a triumph, it’s usually overlooked. I offer a full account in my essay, “The May 1948 Vote That Made the State of Israel,” at Mosaic Magazine. Read here.