David Ben Gurion

Zionism - The Hard Way and the Easy
Opening Debate of the 17th Congress of Basle, June-July 1931

We are not blind withal, to the fact that Palestine is no void. Some million Arabs inhabit both sides of the Jordan, and not since yesterday. Their right to live in Palestine, develop it and win national autonomy is as incontrovertible as is ours to return and, by our own means and merit, uplift ourselves to independence. The two can be realized. We must, in our work in Palestine, respect Arab rights, and if our first contact unhappy, we were not in the wrong. Nor, perhaps, were the Arabs, for there are historic imponderables. (p. 35)

The education imparted to our youth by ‘easy’ Zionism, that chauvinism steeped in racial animosity and a phobia of labor, darkens the moral value of Zionism and brands us as adversaries of the Arabs.
The moral content of Zionism and its necessary practical objects demand a policy of rapprochement and mutual understanding toward the Palestinian Arabs, in economics, enlightenment and politics. (p. 37)

Here to the Jewry, to Labor, and to the Arab nation, we vow that we shall never agree to one national group in Palestine dominating the other, now or evermore.
We dissent from dominion of present majority over present minority … So, too shall we dissent from Jewish dominion over Arabs when the dynamism of Aliyah (immigration) alters the balance of power in our favor. (p. 38)

Jewish Labor: The Origin of Settlement
An address before the Elected Assembly, March 2, 1932

The Jewish people is trekking back homeward, but no one in his senses dreams of evicting the people that settled here when we were driven forth. We accept the Arab populations a fact and base our future on new means and sources of livelihood, not replacing what exists bit over and above it, so that we may plant our myriads deep-rooted on the land, side by side with the Arabs. (p. 71)

Tomorrow or the next day Arab labor will echo the demand, for who is so short-sighted as to think that the Arab will meekly consent to be robbed forever of his right, to be exploited mercilessly, and never once claim a plot and patrimony of his own? (p. 81)

On Three Fronts
August 3, 1938

The first principle is not mere negation, It means we reject the infamy of assailing an Arab just because he is one. It means we reject revenge wreaked upon Arabs that had no hand in terrorism. We will not play the terrorists’ beastly game. (p. 90)

The Arabs are fighting to keep this country Arab; why should our ambush and killing of Arabs stampede the Arab terrorists, when the [British] Army’s many killings and hangings failed to? The Arabs gangs murder without distinction any Jew they can lay hands on. Are we to be as vile? Is not exactly what the Mufti would have us to do - kill every Arab that crosses our path, innocent or guilty? Those who protest against the policy of ‘self-restraint’ are really not asking for self-defense or an organized campaign against the gangs, but for retaliation, which is no earthly good to us, let alone being morally wrong. (pp. 92-93)

What is wrong for Arabs is wrong for Jews; if we insist on Government suppressing Arab terrorism, how can we not insist on it suppressing Jewish terrorism?
… if an Arab ‘patriot’ who kills a Jew is a murderer, so is the Jewish ‘patriot’ who kills harmless Arabs, (p. 93)

We must cast out any that would spill innocent blood in the name of the ‘kingdom of Israel.’ (p. 94)

Our strength lies in the one great asset we possess - the moral asset, the moral purity of our lives and works, our aspirations and our philosophy. Given these three - courage, understanding and clean hands - we shall win. (p. 104)

Test of Fulfillment
From an Address delivered at an Extraordinary Zionist Congress in New York, May 1942

Mass immigration and colonization on the largest possible scale such as we must expect after this war, can be effected without the slightest need to displace the present population. (p. 120)

The Arab problem really means political opposition by the Arabs to Jewish immigration. Many people, ignoring this simple but unpleasant truth, try to solve the problem where it does not exist. One solution offered is a bi-national State. If this means simply the all the inhabitants of Palestine, Jews and Arabs alike, must enjoy complete equality of rights not merely as individuals but also as national entities, which means the right freely to develop their language, culture, religion and so forth, then certainly no Jew, much less a Zionist, will hesitate to support it. But I am not altogether convinced that the Arabs will agree in that equality if they have the power to determine the constitution. (p. 121)

It is an historical fact that there are a million Arabs in Palestine, who legitimately regard themselves as its children, whether we like it or not. (p. 113)

In a letter written on March 3, 1919, to Felix Frankfurter on behalf of the Hejaz Delegation, Faisal said this:
“We Arabs, especially the educated among us, look with the deepest sympathy on the Zionist movement. Our deputation here in Paris is fully acquainted with the proposal submitted yesterday by the Zionist Organization to the Peace Conference, and we regard them as moderate and proper. We will do our best, in so far as we are concerned, to help them through; we will wish the Jews a hearty welcome home … The Jewish movement is national and not imperialist. Our movement is national and not imperialist, and there is room in Syria [Syria is meant to include Palestine] for us both. Indeed, I think that neither can be a real success without the other." (p. 124)
[see Wikipedia: Faisal–Weizmann agreement]

There must be a continued willingness to cooperate closely with the Arabs in Palestine as well as in neighboring countries, (p. 128)

Reply to Aneurin Bevin (Welsh Labour Party politician)
An Address delivered at an extraordinary session of the Elected Assembly, held at the Hebrew University on Mount Scopus, November 28, 1945

Mr. Bevin … declared war on Zionists, while paying compliments to the Jews, as if they were different breeds. … he tries to muster against Zionism the few Jews dissidents and renegades, the Quislings of our nation. (p. 165)

We know that there are Jews who are not merely non-Zionists but anti-Zionists. (p. 166)

There is tension at the moment, perhaps a little more than tension, between us and the Arabs. It is very unfortunate. But it is transient. It is not a danger. We may be of great help to them as they to us. I believe we need each other. We have something to offer each other as equals, but only as equals. (p. 208)

The Southern Front
At the twenty-fourth session of the Provisional State Council, October 28, 1948

We believe that our interest as Jews and as men is to enhance the jurisdiction and the efficacy of the United [Note]. Were the United Nations to perish, it would be the blackest day in man’s history, and the most tragic in ours. No less than other nations, maybe more, we are concerned with world peace, with international cooperation, with the universal rule of law, with peaceful settlement of international squabbles, with amity between East and West. (pp. 281-282)
[The State of Israel has contravened 32 Resolutions of the United Nations during the years 1968-2022]

Mission and Dedication
An Address to the General Staff and Commanding Officers the Israel-Defense Force, 1950

Saul of Tarsus [Saint Paul] was perhaps the most potent assimilationist the Jewish people ever had. He denied the practical precepts which constitute the essence and foundation of Judaism and based all religion on faith alone. He recognised only the individual and not the nation. He tried to destroy the faith and hope of the Jewish people in national and territorial redemption. Rejecting the ultimate vision of the Prophets, which looks far into the future and there makes one the redemption of the nation and of the whole world, the dignity of Israel and the kingdom of peace and justice on earth, Saul founded Christianity on faith in heavenly redemption through a Messiah already come. (pp. 324-325)

We shall not shut ourselves up in our shell. We shall be open to take in all cultures of the world, all the conquests of the spirit. We shall not segregate or isolate ourselves. We shall maintain our bond with the great world: a bond but not bondage in any form. The criterion of spiritual and moral freedom is free judgment and free conscience.
The Jewish people have always spurned physical supremacy. (p. 339)

To us human life is sacred and dear. Men created in God’s image are equal. They are an end in themselves, not a means. No wonder then that our sages based the Torah on the golden rule - ‘Love thy neighbor as thyself.’ Not only the fellow Jew: ‘But the stranger that dwellleth with you shall be unto you as one born among you, and thou shalt love him as thyself: for ye were strangers in the land of Egypt.’
From the earliest time Judaism held a universal outlook and embraced all of humanity. (p. 341)

Not a feeble craving for a fictional splendor of the past, but a vision of the future, of a reign of justice and peace between all nations - that was the historical philosophy which the Prophets of Israel instilled into their people, and which was handed down by the people to the best of the nations in all lands. (p. 342)

The Call of Spirit in Israel
From The Government Yearbook, October 1951
The State of Israel will be judged not by its riches or military power, nor by its technical skills, but by its moral worth and human values. (p. 399)

But one thing history granted us from the very start - incomparable moral strength. (p. 402)

First of all let us rid ourselves of the foolish error that with the Army alone we can maintain the security of the State. (p. 404)

Security rests on a foreign policy of peace: a sincere intention to be at peace with our neighbors, and with all the nations; a determined effort to establish relations of friendship with countries great and small, in east and west. (p. 405)

Aspiring to peace, freedom and justice as we do, we condemn all domination, save over the elements. (p. 418)

… ‘and you shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.’ Here is crystallized the eternal law of Judaism, and all the written ethics in the world can say no more.
Human relations must be constructed on partnership in destiny, mutual aid, reciprocal attraction; on a comradeship of equals and on love of mankind. (p. 420)

The terrible instruments of destruction which modern science has created may blast our whole civilization to pieces, perhaps the very globe itself, unless, while there is yet time, a sure way to peace and unity among nations is revealed, and to liberty and equality for every human being. (p. 430)

Only being true to mission and vision shall we live on. Small but in ethics and intellect marvelous, Israel walks with the greatest among the nations. (p. 441)

Israel Among the Nations
From The Government Yearbook, October 1952

Israel does not believe that any powerful State has the right to impose its will on a weaker, even under the cloak of reforms. (p. 473)

These two Semitic people, Jews and Arab, share one mission in this corner of the world. The Jews will not budge hence, nor will the Arab change his place. History has pronounced us neighbor, and it is not merely a geographical proximity. There is much nearness in language, culture and history. Cooperation between the Jewish people in its land and independent Arabia is an historical necessity, and it will come about for the Arab people need it no less than does Israel. It is feasible only on a basis of equality, mutual respect and reciprocal aid. It will convert the Middle East into one of the cultural centers of the world as in Bible time it was. Each of the two peoples has something to offer to the other, without giving up anything of its own. This fertilizing exchange will be a boon to the Middle East and to the whole world. (p. 488)