THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
Friday, November 25, 1983 21
Reflections on the Founding of the State of Israel
By DAVID
BEN-GURION
(Editor's note: This ar-
ticle by Israel's first
prime minister is pre-
sented in commemora-
tion of the death of David
Ben-Gurion 10 years ago,
on Dec. 1, 1973.)
When I went in 1948 to
inspect the damage done by
the Egyptian bombing
which marked the opening
of the Arab war on the new
state, I remember thinking
that if we were now respon-
sible for our destiny, the ra-
tional question will be
whether in a few days or a
few weeks we would have a
destiny to shape. For we had
no planes to match their
planes, no artillery, no
tanks. Yet none of us at the
time had any doubt about
the outcome.
A few days earlier, I had
received an urgent message
from General George Mar-
shall. He was U.S. Secret-
ary of State at the time, and
he urged me desperately not
to go ahead on May 14,
1948, with my declared in-
tention of proclaiming in-
dependence. I had had simi-
lar messages from several
other governments and dis-
tinguished individuals,
some friends, some not so
friendly.
Marshall was a friend,
and he tried to discourage
me not because he was op-
posed to a Jewish state but
because he thought we
would be quickly destroyed
by the overwhelmingly
superior forces of the Arab
states. He begged me me to
wait for a more favorable
political climate.
Yet Marshall could not
know what we knew,
what we felt in our very
bones: that this was our
historic hour. If we did
not live up to it, through
fear of weakness of spirit,
it might be generations or
even centuries before our
people were given
another historic oppor-
tunity, if indeed we
would be alive as a na-
tional group.
However grave might be
the repercussions of the de-
cision to declare our inde-
pendence, I knew that the
future would be infinitely
worse for my people if we did
not do so. We decided to go
ahead and proclaim our in-
dependence as planned.
Let me add that there was
absolute unanimity among
all my colleagues in the
13-member National Ad-
ministration (the body
which became the provi-
sional government of Israel
the moment the proclama-
tion had been read and
signed).
I remember that these
thoughts were in my mind
when, on my way home from
the late afternoon Indepen-
dence Day ceremony, I
watched the people dancing
in the streets, celebrating
the historic act to which we
had all put our hand. I did
not dance with them,
though I felt with them the
emotion of the moment.
cause we would be fight-
ing for a cause and also
because defeat for us
would mean national de-
struction.
It was something to see
— the sheer joy on their
faces, the light in their
eyes, the exuberance of
their movements, all
caught in a surge of
ecstasy. They were right
to dance, I thought, even
though I was all too
aware, as many of the
dancers must have been
aware, of the dangers
that faced us and the sac-
rifice we would suffer in
defending the statehood
we had just gained.
For the armies of the
neighboring Arab states, it
was largely a battle for
spoils. Failure for them
would not mean the loss of
their countries, nor an end
to their existence as na-
tional entities.
It is also true, as Marshall
indicated, that we had only
a partisa'n force to fling
against the regular armies
of the Arab states. These
armies, full-fledged milit-
ary machines, had been
trained for the kind of war-
fare that would soon be
upon us. They were equip-
ped with the standard
weapons appropriate to a
regular army, and were or-
ganized in the standard
formations suitable for
large-scale warfare, corps,
divisions, brigades.
We had the Hagana, an
underground defense force
with all the limitations of a
force that had to train and
operate in secrecy and con-
ceal its weapons from the
Mandatory authorities —
no heavy weapons, small
formations, an emphasis on
local defense, much of it sta-
tic. As a matter of fact it was
only two months earlier, in
March 1948, that for the
first time we had underta-
ken operations in which we
committed a force as large
It had been the same, I re-
flected, some 5 1/2 months
earlier when on Nov. 29,
1947, the United Nations
passed their Partition re-
solution calling for the end
of the Mandate over Pales-
tine and the establishment
of independent Arab and
Jewish states. I returned to
Jerusalem to find the
streets alive with rejoicing
and celebration. I rejoiced,
too, but I was much con-
cerned with the morrow; the
attacks did in fact come the
next day.
I was persuaded to make
an Independence broadcast
to the world. It was about
four o'clock in the morning,
so that with the time differ-
ence it reached New York
listeners in the evening.
While I was broadcasting,
DAVID BEN GURION
-
listeners heard the crump of
a bomb landing near the
improvised Tel Aviv studio
from an Egyptian bomber.
As soon as I finished my
broadcast, I went to inspect
the bomb damage, knowing
in my heart that no one out-
side Israel could possibly
feel as we did, that we had to
seize the historic moment
and that despite the odds we
would win. It is probalby
Clausewitz who talked of
the conflict of wills in war-
fare: the stronger of the two
wills wins.
I knew, with Marshall,
that we would be vastly
outnumbered, and that
we would face an enorm-
ous superiority of arms.
But I also knew, what
Marshall did not know,
that our will would prove
stronger — not because
we were more militaristic
than the Arabs but be-
as a brigade, and a very
small brigade at that.
But I had read my
Washington, as Marshall
had also certainly done,
though no doubt with diffe-
rent eyes. What struck me
so deeply was the nature of
Washington's army — they
were underfed, under-
armed, with no proper clo-
thing and meager trans-
port. They could have been
called rabble.
Yet they had the
stronger will, and they
were victorious. I don't
say there is not a limit to
the odds that can be
faced and overcome. I do
say, however, that the
will of a people and the
spirit and morale of its
army are immeasurably
powerful factors in war
and can be decisive. I
knew they would be deci-
sive in our war of inde-
pendence.
In any event, General
Marshall proved to be right .
in his reading of his intelli-
gence reports: the Arab ar-
mies did attack soon after I
had finished reading hte
Declaration of Indepen-
dence; they did march ac-
ross our frontiers; and they
did outnumber us very
heavily in men and arms.
He could not have known
of what our people would be
capable when roused to a
supreme effort, as they were
by the threat of destruction.
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