Page 6 - The Canadian Jewish News, Thursday, December 22, 1983
M-T
Editorial
A weak UN
The United Nations, that glass menagerie on the East River, is a place where rhetoric runs rampant at the best of times. Much to the detriment of civility and decency, delegates fire off diplomatic expiletives which contribute nothing to the cause of world-wide brotherhood and peace.
In recent years, the calibre of debate has diminished still further as the conflict in the Middle East has escalated. We have learned, to our regret, not to expect the voice of sweet reason to emanate from the General Assembly of the UN. We have become a capTive audience of loathsome discourse masquerading under the guise of objective analysis.
Despite the steady decline of the UN as a forum for reasonable debate, we confess to being surprised by the intemperate and totally unacceptable language used recently by the Libyan representative.
Ordinarily, the libyans can be safely ignored as fit-to-be-tied fanatics. Earlier this
month, however, Libya's ambassador to the UN, Ali Treild, outdid hhnself in remarlts that can only be classified as obscene. In an address wliich apparently lias no precedent, Treild said that Jews control New York City's pornographic industry and are trying to "destroy Americans.''
To put it mildly, the accusation is so ludicrous, so beyond the pale, that it needs no comment. More to the point, Treiki's rantings cannot be tolerated in an organization which is supposedly dedicated to the betterment of mankind.
Secretary-General Javier Perez de Cueller urged member nations "to refrain from language unbecoming to serious international debate.'' It was too bland a rebuke.
The Libyans should be informed in no uncertain terms that their membership is at stake if they continue to pander; in a style reminiscent of Hitler, to racial incitement.
Sad spectacle
The international news agenices have reported that Islamic nations will be concerting their efforts in the near future to bolster Yasser Arafat and his PLO.
This is a lamentable development from a number of different perspectives, including the degrading subjugation of Islam to political ends.
It is to be noted that two nations which are Muslim, Pakistan and Bangladesh, are among the states which will be coordinating military and other assistance mechanisms on behalfofthePLO.
One cannot think of a sadder spectacle in international affairs.
Paldstan, ruled by an oligarch and religions fanatic who is unable to help his country meet even minimal living standards, has now gone the way of all classical despots by seeking and finding the perfect scapegoat.
Bangladesh, whose original rupture &om Pakistan precipitated both a military and economic disaster in that country, has also chosen the path of sc^>egoatism as an escape hatch from internal problems.
These two countries are among those who will seek salvation by aligning themselves with Yasser Arafat.
Perhaps they, should be reminded that Arafat, the man who commanded the sympathies and purse strings (and in some cases the soldiers) of one hundred million Arabs has ended up as a tragi-comic figure who commands (and for how long?) only the television tube.
Let Pakistan and Bangladesh also be reminded that Arab support of the PLO has occasioned revolution, death, assassination and violence in the very Arab countries which championed the PLO.
Author makes case with ease
Ben-Gurion struggled to attain
By
SHELDON KIRSHNER
David Ben-Gurion died lO" years ago this month, the father of his nation. More than ahnost any other man, he symbolized the resurrection of the Jewish state.
As Dan Kurzman suggests in his popular history, Ben-Gurion — Prophet of Fh» [Musson, $27.95], he was "one of the greatest Jews since biblical times."
This sounds like a grandiose claim, but it isn't really. Writing in a colorful style which should be accessible to virtually any reader, Kurzman — an American writer and correspondent — makes his case with ease. .■■*,, * *■■.■■
Immigrating from Plonsk, Poland, in 1906, David Gruen was a gruff, tough idealist who labored in the orange groves of Petak Tikvah and the wine cellars of Rishon Le Zion, in conditions that can only be described as disillusioning.
Persevering, he remained in impoverished Palestine while adversity drove off many a hardy soul. Early on, he changed his name to Ben-Gurion, after a leader of the Jewish revolt against the Romans in 66 A.D.
Ben-Gurion meant "sonof alion cub," and this, given his aggressive personality, was an apt surname.
Throughout his long life, Ben-Gurion struggled to attain his ideals. As secretary-general of the Histadrut, the labor federation, he sought to create a Jewish workers society. A founder of Mapai, he helped mould the nucleas of what would be a strong, modern state. The chairman of the Jewish Agency executive, he prepared the groundwork for Israeli statehood.
In the waning years of his career as Israel's first — and best — Prime Minister, Ben-Gurion was a lonely, isolated figure. Having resigned in 1963, amid the uproar of the debilitating Lavon affair, he tried unsuccessfully to stage a stunning comeiback.
The people rejected his new parties —Rafi and the State List—- and Beri-Gurion was consigned to oblivion in Sde Bpker, the kibbutz in the Negev to which he had retired, temporarily, in 1953.
In his twilight years as Israel's elder statesman, Ben-Gurion mellowed. But it would be wrong to say that he changed. The characteristics for which he was known remained in place.
Despite his attempts to appear humble, Ben-Gurion usually referred to himself in hh writings and statements in the regal third person, and he made no secretof his view that he was predestined for greatness. He crav^ admiration and even showered himself with praise, recalling that his decision to declare
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statehood hi 1948 had l>een an act of "boldness, courage and foresight.^*
Ben-Gurionj who had little formal education/was a visionary and a fighter. And though he hardly ever admitted to a mistake, he was capable of tempering his aggressiveness with moderation.
As Kurzman writes, Ben-Gurion was "a paradoxical paragon of greatness." He was forgiving and vengeful, alert and absent-minded, generous and petty, considerate and cruel, sentimental and frigid.
He was a democrat, but acted like a dictator in the Knesset. He was instrumental fai building a socialist society, but relied on foreign capital to finance it.
He yearned for peace, but he led Israel through two wars.
He was a student of Greek and Buddhist philosophy, but he all but ignored Islamic culture.
Although Ben-Gurion was an avid reader of the Bible, he was totally secular, almost never attending synagogue, seldom wearing a hat in Jerusalem as the rabbis urged, and secretly eating ham for breakfast. He had no use for the religious laws his governments enacted, but knew he could not survive politically without the support of the Orthodox parties which gave him a majority in parliament.
Ben-Gurion was ajiuilder par excellence but, curiously enough, he was chary of expressing satisfaction with his accoioaplish-ments. "Satisfaction? What's that? What does one need it for? If a man is satisfied, what does he do then? A man who is satisfied no longer strives, doesnH dream, doesn't create, doesn'tdemand. No, I've never had a single moment of satisfaction."
Obviously, he was a man who seldom rested — who strove tirelessly on behalf of the Zionist movement in Palestine.
Always a pragmatist, he urged Jews to support the Ottoman Empire during the initial stages of World War I, believing this gesture of goodwill would prompt the Turks tograntthe Jewish settlers autonomy. When the Turkish authorities cracked down on Zionism, Ben-Gurion switched sides and became a partisan of the British cause.
Ben^Guripn wanted sovereignty for the Jewish people in Palestine, but his priorities didn't necessarily match that of his colleagues; in Mapai, or the Jewish Agency. He was in favor of a national homeland but felt that statehood should be deferred until such time as the country was full of Jews.
Much to the amazementof the British, who administered Palestine as a League of Nations mandate, Ben-Gurion argued that' 'a state may imply a wish tol dominate others."
When Earl Peel, a British professor, recommended partition in 1937, Ben-Gurion dropped his opposition to statehood. But while he was willing to accept part of Palestine, his successors were not prepared to^ settle for what Kurzman aptly calls "a partial miracle."
'*! act on the assumption that a partial Jewish state will not be the end, but the beginning," Ben-Gurion said. "The rest (of the land) will come eventually. It must come."
In accepting the principle of partition, Ben-Gurion created enemies, the foremost of whom was Vladimir Jabotinsky, the leader of
the Revisionist Party. Jabotinsky, a brilliant speaker, demanded a state immediately at any cost — one that embraced not only all of Palestine but Transjordan as well.
Regarding Jabotinsky as a fanatical, unrealistic and anti-socialist demagogue, Ben-Gurion worked hard to crush his movement. He did riot succeed, and the bitterness welled over from one generation to the next.
Ben-Gurion bore a grudge against Menachem Begin, Jabotinsky's successor, doing his utmost to ignore and belittle him^ The ill-feeling between the two men was heightened by the Altalena incident in 1948, when the Revisionists tried to smuggle arms Into Palestine, and by Ben-Gurion's rapprochement with West Germany.
With war approaching in June of 1967, Ben-Gurion toned down his antipathy toward Begin and even urged that he be included in a government of national unity. Despite this, Ben-Gurion and Begin were hardly on speaking terms until the day he died.
In a career crowned with concrete achievements, Ben-Gurion's most far-reaching one was the declaration of independence. Against the advice of the U.S., and with the odds seemingly in favor of the Arabs, Ben-Gurion opted for statehood. A lesser leader might well have hesitated. Ben-Gurion, however, charged ahead.
During the War of Independence, Kurzman writes, Ben-Gurion urj^ed his commanders toattack and capture the West Bank. He expected quick approval from the cabinet, but hiis ministers balked, fearing the United Nations might intervene militarily.
In 1958, when Jordan seemed threatened by Nasserist influence, Ben-Gurion had to decide whether to invade the West Bank if King Hussein fell from his throne. Although he longed to revive all of biblical Israel, if only to secure the state, he wondered whether.the incorporation of the West Bank would add to his problems.
Pragmatism triumphed. As he put it in his diary: ^*Our burning problem is lack of Jews, not lack of territory. The addition of one million Arabs to Israel is liable to bring about the end of the state."
Ben-Gurion acted on his principles, pushing immigration as a burning priority. The experts in his cabinet told him that immigration should be gradual, given Israel's poor finances. Biit Ben-Gurion equated it with security.
Obsessed with Israel's vulnerability, Ben-Gurion built a strong army. But fear of a victorious Arab attack haunted him. In 1956, when he was questioning the wisdom of going to war with Egypt, Ben-Gurion expressed concern about possible defeat.
On June 5, 1967, when the Six Day War erupted, he lamented in his diary: "I feel certain that-this is a^great mistake."
A hawk during much of hisienure as Prime Minister^ Ben-Gurion became something of a dove in his retirement. Speaking to an uiterviewer, he said: ".. .we must return to the pre-196T borders . . . Peace Is more important than real estate."
Ben-Gurion was not really being inconsistent. He was merely making the judgment that Israel's survival as a Jewish state could be better assured under peaceful circumstances. : _
And who can quarrel with that?