In our political argument abroad, we minimize Arab opposition to us.

But
let us not ignore the truth among ourselves. I insist on the truth, not out of r
espect for scientific but political realities. The acknowledgement of this truth
leads to inevitable and serious conclusions regarding our work in Palestine let
us not build on the hope the terrorist gangs will get tired. If some get tired,
others will replace them. A people which fights against the usurpation of its la
nd will not tire so easily... it is easier for them to continue the war and not
get tired than it is for us... The Palestinian Arabs are not alone. The Syrians
are coming to help. From our point of view, they are strangers; in the point of
law they are foreigners; but to the Arabs, they are not foreigners at all ... Th
e centre of the war is in Palestine, but its dimensions are much wider. When we
say that the Arabs are the aggressors and we defend ourselves this is only half
the truth. As regards our security and life we defend ourselves and our moral an
d physical position is not bad. We can face the gangs... and were we allowed to
mobilize all our forces we would have no doubts about the outcome... But the fig
hting is only one aspect of the conflict which is in its essence a political one
. And politically we are the aggressors and they defend themselves. Militarily,
it is we who are on the defensive who have the upper hand but in the political s
phere they are superior. The land, the villages, the mountains, the roads are in
their hands. The country is theirs, because they inhabit it, whereas we want to
come here and settle down, and in their view we want to take away from them the
ir country, while we are still outside. They defend bases which are theirs, whic
h is easier than conquering new bases... let us not think that the terror is a r
esult of Hitler's or Mussolini's propaganda this helps but the source of opposit
ion is there among the Arabs.
David Ben-GurionAddress at the Mapai Political Committee (7 June 1938) as
quoted in Flapan, Simha,
1979.
Regarding the Galilee, Mr. [Moshe] Sharett already told you that about 100,000 Ar
abs still now live in the pocket of Galilee. Let us assume that a war breaks out
. Then we will be able to cleanse the entire area of Central Galilee, including
all its refugees, in one stroke. In this context let me mention some mediators w
ho offered to give us the Galilee without war. What they meant was the populated
Galilee. They didnt offer us the empty Galilee, which we could have only by mean
s of a war. Therefore if a war is extended to cover the whole of Palestine, our
greatest gain will be the Galilee. It is because without any special military ef
fort which might imperil other fronts, only by using the troops already assigned
for the task, we could accomplish our aim of cleansing the Galilee.
David Ben-Gurion From a protocol of the Government of Israel, translated
from Hebrew by Israel Shahak,
in "Truth or Myth about Israel? Read bet
ween Quotation Marks" by Charley Reese in The Orlando Sentinel
(13 June
1999); later published as "What Israeli Historians Say About 1948 Ethnic Cleans
ing" in Washington
Report on Middle East Affairs (September 1999)
One day, or rather night, in 1956 I sat up at his [Ben-Gurions] house till three
in the morning. That night, a beautiful summer night, we had a forthright discu
ssion on the Arab problem. "I dont understand your optimism," Ben-Gurion declar
ed. "Why should the Arabs make peace? If I were an Arab leader I would never mak
e terms with Israel. That is natural: we have taken their country. Sure, God pro
mised it to us, but what does that matter to them? Our God is not theirs. We com
e from Israel, its true, but two thousand years ago, and what is that to them?
There has been anti-Semitism, the Nazis, Hitler, Auschwitz, but was that their f
ault? They only see one thing: we have come here and stolen their country. Why s
hould they accept that? They may perhaps forget in one or two generations time,
but for the moment there is no chance. So its simple: we have to stay strong a
nd maintain a powerful army. Our whole policy is there.
Nahum Goldmann, in The Jewish Paradox : A Personal Memoir of Historic En

counters that
Shaped the Drama of Modern Jewry (1978), as translated f
rom the French by Steve Cox, pp
99-100 ISBN 0-448-15166-9 . One
quote appearing here has sometimes been given
erroneously as "
That is natural: they think we have taken their country." The original "Cest
normal; nous avons pris leur pays." is properly translated as "That is natural:
we have taken their
country".