One of the most important men of Israel, he led the victories of the Jews over the Arabs in the 1948 war, which is known as the Nakba War (an Arabic word meaning disaster). He was also an active and essential element in the wars of 1956 and 1967.
He also not only gained his widespread fame from being the first Israeli prime minister but also was one of the founders of the state of Israel.
His birthday
Haim Avigdor Green, known as David Ben-Gurion, was born in a Poland that belonged to Russia in 1886 and was known as Polanski. Influenced by the ideas of the Socialist Workers Party, which was known at the time as the workers of Zion and was based in Poland.[1]
He obtained his high school diploma in Poland, then moved to Turkey to study at Constantinople University, and that was in 1912. Two years later, he obtained a university degree in law, after which he worked as a lawyer.
His intellectual orientations
Ben-Gurion was a Jew par excellence, as he believed in what is called practical Zionism, which was aspiring at the time to establish the Israeli state and consolidate its foundations by imposing a fait accompli and occupying the land.
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Ben-Gurion was influenced by the de facto father of global Zionism, Theodor Herzl, an Austrian-Hungarian journalist, playwright, political activist, and writer.
Perhaps the most prominent thing that influenced Ben-Gurwin is the book The Jewish State written by Herzl, in which he described how the Jewish state could be established in all respects, and Herzl's slogan in that book, in which he said: "When you want, this hope will not become a dream" ...[2]
So, Ben-Gurion adopted the ideas of Herzl, who aspired to establish a state that would unite the Jews in Palestine and collect their diaspora from all over the world. Ben-Gurion is Polish and Herzl is Austrian, but Judaism and the dream of statehood brought them together.
The Third Zionist Congress, which was held on August 28-31, 1898 in Switzerland in Basel specifically, had a great impact on Ben-Gurion, as we know that the conference discussed many matters related to the preparation for the establishment of the Jewish state, including:
- The establishment of the Hebrew University in Jerusalem.
- The establishment of a strong Jewish financial organization (such as the Jewish World Bank in London).
- Agreement on a state flag represented by a mixture of blue and white as a symbol on the rug of mercy known to the Jews.
Indeed, Ben-Gurion was not only impressed, but he also had a great hand in working to achieve these goals.
Ben-Gurion asks for support
Ben-Gurion also believed in the necessity of gradual progress to achieve the Israeli dream. In 1942, during the Zionist conference held in America, he called on the Jews of the world to support and endorse the idea of a Palestinian Jewish commonwealth on the land of Palestine. The word "commonwealth" is a term given to a state ruled by the people for the sake of the people, unlike an authoritarian state that rules for the sake of a certain class. In other words, it is a word meaning political cohesion.
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Then he renewed his call after World War II when in 1947, he called on the Jews to support the idea of the partition plan calling for the establishment of two separate states, one for the Jews and the other for the Palestinians, which was issued by the United Nations. He called them to support it, but only temporarily, since the Jewish state does not recognize the division, nor it recognizes something other than the Jews, even if it took the land of Palestine from the Muslim Arabs, Christian,s, and others, and established a new Jewish state there!
Ben-Gurion immigrates with his dream to Palestine
And because "when you want, this hope will not become a dream." Ben-Gurion immigrated early to Palestine, and that was in 1906, that is, at a time when Palestine was located under the shadow of the Ottoman Empire, Ben-Gurion immigrated to a state ruled by Muslims and inhabited by various people bearing the dream of establishing a state to the Jews there! Then he worked there as a farmer in Jaffa and continued to do so for four years. In 1910 he moved to Jerusalem and worked as an editor for the Hebrew-language Al-Wehda newspaper and published his articles in his name.
Ben Gurion to Moscow
The Ottoman Empire decided to deport Ben Gurion and a group of his companions who came from the Soviet Union in 1915 to Moscow because of their ideas and their quest to establish a state on the territory of another state. Indeed all of them were exiled, but Ben-Gurion, after five years of exile, returned to Palestine again.
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Sincere Jew
In 1920, after his return to Palestine, Ben-Gurion worked to establish federations of Jewish workers, known as the Histadrut and then worked as their general secretary between 1921 and 1935.
His political activity was increasing day by day. He played a major role in founding the Ehudot Ha-Avodah Party, or what was later known as the Israeli Labor Party. As a culmination of his political activity, the World Zionist Organization decided to appoint Ben Gurion to be responsible for its activities in Palestine in 1922.
Ben-Gurion was not satisfied with this, as his activity led him to head the Executive Committee of the Jewish Agency in Palestine from 1935 to 1948, a sensitive position due to its proximity to the Israeli dream, and the main goal of the agency was to coordinate cooperation between Jews and Britain to implement the Belford Declaration, which states: "A national residence for the Jews in Palestine," and of course, and because Ben-Gurion is enthusiastic about establishing a homeland on land owned by others, he vehemently opposed the white book issued by Britain calling for organizing the immigration of Jews to Palestine, Ben-Gurion did not want it to be an organization but instead wanted the Jews to they come from all over the world in the largest number possible and in the fastest time, especially as war is approaching.[3]
The Jewish interest is above all
Despite his opposition to the white paper, Ben-Gurion called for cooperation with the British and support for Britain in World War II, "as if the white paper did not exist" and at the same time called on them to reject the white paper "as if the war was not raging."
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The War
The War of 48 took place, a state called Israel was established in Palestine, and the Jewish dream has been fulfilled, regardless of the method in which it was achieved or the results that followed its realization, but it has been achieved, and Ben Gurion and every Jew in the world have the right to be proud of that.
Prime minister
Ben-Gurion became the first prime minister of the emerging country. Upon his arrival as prime minister, he worked to unify many defense organizations into one force, which he called the IDF(Israel Defense Forces).
Of course, he worked to encourage Jewish immigration, until the number of immigrants reached one million from Eastern Europe and elsewhere. He also signed an agreement with West Germany to compensate the Jews affected by the Holocaust in 1952.Then he returned again to the premiership at the end of 1955, which he had started as Minister of Defense before he was reelected.
Rafi Party from the premiership in order to study and write devoted himself while retaining his seat in the Knesset, but it seems that the matter did not take long for him, so he established an opposition party called Rafi.
His death
He retired from political life in 1970 and went towards writing. He had many books he wrote during his life, which were published after his death.Ben-Gurion passed away in 1973 at the age of 87.
Recommended reading:
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Sources:
[1] Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs (All rights reserved to the state of Israel © 2013) , "David Ben-Gurion" , Retrieved : (October /7 /2020)
https://mfa.gov.il/MFAAR/InformationaboutIsrael/GovernmentInIsrael/Pages/david%20ben%20gurion.aspx
[2] Theodore Herzl (the data of files establishment 1 September 2016) , " The Jewish state" ,Retrieved : (October /7 /2020)
https://www.noor-book.com/كتاب-الدوله-اليهوديه-تيودور-هيرتزل-pdf
[3] Al Jazeera (3/10/2004) , "David Ben-Gurion" , Retrieved : (October /7 /2020)
