The Unmaking of Israel (29 page)

Israeli press coverage listed by newspaper and date, with further details on articles of particular significance. Headlines are normally in the original language, except for items I received in translation. Article and book titles are in the original language, with English translations when provided by the publisher. Hebrew publishers often do not provide place of publication. Where the publisher gave only the Hebrew date, the civil date is in brackets.

The pagination of this electronic edition does not match the edition from which it was created. To locate a specific passage, please use the search feature of your e-book reader.

I. The Road to Elisha

2
mockery of the rule of law:
Talia Sasson,
Havat Da’at (Beina’im) Benose Ma’ahazim Bilti Murshim
(Opinion Concerning Unauthorized Outposts) (Jerusalem: 2005). Details on Elisha are in appendix 1:22. Slightly different numbers of outposts have been reported elsewhere, as a function of how the particular writer defines what constitutes an outpost and when the outpost effort began.

3 “
as all the others combined”:
Ya’akov Halevi Filber,
Ayelet Hashahar
(Jerusalem: Haskel, 5728 [1967–68]): 33.

3
“part of the redemption of Israel”:
Yitzhak Nissim, interview.

4
page of premilitary academies:
“Mekhinot Kdam Tzvai’ot,” www.aka.idf.il/giyus/general/?CatID=23072&DocID=25015, acc. 21 Sept. 2010.

4
third or more of its budget:
RNPO, financial reports of Mekhinah Toranit Kdam Tzvait Elisha. In the years 2003–2007, the ministry’s share of the academy’s budget varied between 33 and 64 percent.

4
and in its officer corps:
B., “Mekomam Shel Hovshei Hakipot Bapikud Hatakti Shel Tzahal,”
Ma’arakhot
432 (2010): 50–57.

4
“all the rabbis say not to”:
Interview, Elisha student, name withheld.

5
“maintaining a democratic façade”:
Oren Yiftachel,
Ethnocracy: Land and Identity Politics in Israel/Palestine
(Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2006): 3.

6
Jews eighteen to one in Palestine:
Benny Morris,
1948: The First Arab-Israeli War
(New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 2008): 2.

7
“an act of aggression”:
Arab Higher Committee Delegation communication of 6 Feb. 1948, quoted in United Nations Palestine Commission,
First Special Report to the Security Council
, 16 Feb. 1948, unispal.un.org/UNISPAL.NSF/5ba47a5c6cef541b802563e000493b8c/fdf734eb76c39d6385256c4c004cdba7, acc. 26 Sept. 2010.

7
both descriptions are true:
On the construction of the contrasting Israeli and Palestinian narratives, see Ahmad H. Sa’di and Lila Abu-Lughod, eds.,
Nakba: Palestine, 1948, and the Claims of Memory
(New York: Columbia University Press, 2007); and Benny Morris, ed.,
Making Israel
(Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 2007).

7 “
irrespective of religion, race or sex”:
“The Declaration of the Establishment of the State of Israel,” 14 May 1948, www.mfa.gov.il/MFAPeace+Process/Guide+to+the+Peace+Process/Declaration+of+Establishment+of+State+of+Israel.htm, acc. 26 Sept. 2010.

8
the Accidental Empire:
Gershom Gorenberg,
The Accidental Empire: Israel and the Birth of the Settlements, 1967–1977
(New York: Times Books, 2006).

9
from 116,000 to 300,000:
Dror Etkes, “Gidul Ha’ukhlusiah Hayehudit Bagadah Hama’aravit Uretzu’at Azzah,” March 11, 2003, summary of Central Bureau of Statistics figures; Central Bureau of Statistics, “Population of Localities 30.06.2010 (Provisional Data),” www.cbs.gov.il/population/new_2010/table1.pdf, acc. 22 Nov. 2010.

9
are now in ultra-Orthodox schools:
Dan Ben-David, ed.,
State of the Nation Report—Society, Economy and Policy 2009
(Jerusalem: Taub Center for Social Policy Studies in Israel, 2009), 160, taubcenter.org.il/tauborgilwp/wp-content/uploads/E2009_Report_Education_System_Domestic_Perspective_Chapter.pdf, acc. 27 Sept. 2010.

11
“treat humans as humans”:
Avishai Margalit,
On Compromise and Rotten Compromises
(Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 2010): 54–61.

11
genesis have grown harsher:
See Gershom Gorenberg, “The War to Begin All Wars,”
New York Review of Books
, 28 May 2009.

12
“sustained an entire world”:
Mishnah, Sanhedrin 4:5, text according to the Parma and Budapest manuscripts, via jnul.huji.ac.il/dl/talmud/mishna/selectmi.asp, acc. 23 Dec. 2010.

12
to “pursue justice”:
See Deuteronomy 16:18–20.

13
“its institutions by a secular state”:
Yeshayahu Leibowitz,
Judaism, Human Values and the Jewish State
(Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1992): 176.

13
to soil or to human institutions:
Leibowitz 218, 225–27.

II. Remember the
Altalena

15
“We shall act decisively”:
ISA 7312/27-Alef, Yisrael Galili to David Ben-Gurion. The note is dated 0800 20.6 (20 June 1948), but the events described match the following morning. See Uri Brenner,
Altalena: Mehkar Medini Utzva’i
(Altalena: A Political and Military Study) (Tel Aviv: Hakibbutz Hame’uhad, 1978): 134ff.; ISA Provisional Government minutes, 20 June 1948: 51–58.

16
“legitimate use of force”:
Max Weber, “Politics as a Vocation,” in
Essays in Sociology
, trans. Hans H. Gerth and C. Wright Mills (New York: Oxford University Press, 1946), via www.ne.jp/asahi/moriyuki/abukuma/weber/lecture/politics_vocation.htm, acc. 31 Jan. 2010.

16
Hundreds of Irgun members:
Brenner,
Altalena
124, estimates that there were 500 to 600 Irgun members and supporters on the beach, but cites Irgun chief operations officer Amichai Faglin as suggesting there may have been thousands.

17
present-day kingdom of Jordan:
Arye Naor,
Eretz Yisrael Hashlemah: Emunah Umdiniut
(Greater Israel: Theology and Policy) (Haifa: University of Haifa/Zmora-Bitan, 2001): 71–86.

17
by the vote or the gun:
Yonathan Shapira,
Leshilton Behartanu: Darkah Shel Tnu’at Haherut
—
Hesber Sotziologi-Politi
(Chosen to Command: The Road to Power of the Herut Party—A Socio-Political Interpretation] (Tel Aviv: Am Oved, 1989): 9–10.

17
with Nazi Germany against Britain:
Morris,
1948
, 29. On the world stage, Lehi was also the last organization to identify itself as “terrorist.” David C. Rapoport, “The Four Waves of Rebel Terror and September 11,”
Anthropoetics
8.1 (Spring/Summer 2002).

17
rejected the U.N. partition plan:
Naor,
Eretz Yisrael Hashlemah
93.

18
arms-buying efforts also failed:
Shlomo Nakdimon,
Altalena
(Jerusalem: Edanim, 1978): 54–57; Brenner,
Altalena
34, 66.

18
the accord said:
ISA 7312/27-Alef, Galili to Ben-Gurion, 20 June 1948; Brenner,
Altalena
44–48; Nakdimon,
Altalena
114–15; Peter Medding,
The Founding of Israeli Democracy, 1948–1967
(New York: Oxford University Press, 1990): 19–20; David Ben-Gurion,
Medinat Yisrael Hamehudeshet
(Tel Aviv: Am Oved, 1969): 145–46.

18
en route from Marseilles:
ISA 7312/27-Alef, Galili to Ben-Gurion, 20 June 1948.

19
arms smuggling in the past:
Brenner,
Altalena
105–11; Nakdimon,
Altalena
158–71, 464; ISA 7312/27-Alef, Galili to Ben-Gurion.

19
“a relation of equals”:
ISA 7312/27-Alef, Galili to Ben-Gurion; ISA Provisional Government minutes, 22 June 1948, 3–4.

20
“what they will do tomorrow”:
ISA Provisional Government minutes, 20 June 1948, 51–58.

20
next morning and afternoon:
ISA 7312/27-Alef, Galili to Ben-Gurion, 21 June 1948, 8:00 a.m.; Brenner,
Altalena
123–28, 134–36; Nakdimon,
Altalena
202. Galili wrote the ultimatum; Dan Evan, commander of the Alexandroni Brigade, signed it.

20
join the forces on the beach:
Brenner,
Altalena
146. Cf. ISA Provisional Government minutes, 20 June 1948, 54.

20
former Lehi men:
Brenner,
Altalena
149–51, 160–61; cf. ISA 7312/27-Alef, Galili to Ben-Gurion, 21 June 1948, afternoon.

21
into men running for cover:
Nakdimon,
Altalena
229–30; Brenner,
Altalena
163–64.

21
panic, not casualties:
Brenner,
Altalena
165–66, 170–71.

21
the climactic act of Irgun defiance:
On the significance of moving the confrontation to Tel Aviv, see Natan Yanai,
Mashberim Politi’im Biyisrael: Tekufat Ben-Gurion
(Jerusalem: Keter, 1982): 33–34.

21
Home Guard:
Hebrew:
Heyl mishmar
.

21
the Ritz Hotel:
Brenner,
Altalena
199–202.

22
“proletarian hegemony in Zionism”:
Yanai,
Mashberim Politi’im Biyisrael
39–40; Anita Shapira,
Yigal Allon: Aviv Heldo
(Igal Allon: Spring of His Life) (Tel Aviv: Hasifriah Hahadashah, 2004): 220.

22
began jumping overboard:
Brenner,
Altalena
, 216–30; Shapira,
Yigal Allon
344–47.

23
not to use their weapons:
Hamashkif
, 24 June 1948: 1. Death toll: Brenner,
Altalena
240.

23
final ultimatum to disband:
Medding,
Founding of Israeli Democracy
22; Ben-Gurion,
Medinat Yisrael
, 285.

23
the extremely reluctant willingness:
Ilana Tsur, dir.,
Altalena
(1994).

23
Ben-Gurion dissolved the Palmah:
Yoav Gelber,
Lamah Perku Et Hapalmah
(Tel Aviv: Schocken, 1986); Yanai,
Mashberim Politi’im Biyisrael
38–46.

23
to serve in separate units:
Ze’ev Drori,
Bein Emunah Letzava:
Gedud Hanahal Haharedi
—
Sikkuim Vesikkunim
(Between Faith and Military service: The Haredi Nahal Battalion) (Jerusalem: Floersheimer Institute for Policy Studies, 2005): 12.

25
“precious beyond all value”:
Hamashkif
, 24 June 1948: 1.

25
responsible for killing Jews:
Shapira,
Yigal Allon
348–49. Hewing to the Irgun narrative, Benjamin Netanyahu has described the
Altalena
affair as a “dramatic exception to the absence of Jewish political murder.” Benjamin Netanyahu,
A Place Among the Nations: Israel and the World
(New York: Bantam, 1993): 444, note 29.

25
possess military power:
Yanai,
Mashberim Politi’im Biyisrael
25.

26
sufficient condition for democracy:
See Lev Luis Grinberg,
Politics and Violence in Israel/Palestine: Democracy Versus Military Rule
(New York: Routledge, 2010): 15. Against Von Clausewitz and others, Grinberg asserts that violence is not a continuation of politics, but its opposite.

26
The Greek Civil War:
Tony Judt,
Postwar: A History of Europe since 1945
(London: William Heinemann, 2005): 32–35.

26
“within a given territory”
: Weber, “Politics.”

26
who is being governed:
Grinberg,
Politics and Violence
1.

27
deference to Britain’s Arab allies:
Arab Higher Committee Delegation communication of 6 Feb. 1948, quoted in United Nations Palestine Commission,
First Special Report
; Morris,
1948
65–74.

27
responsibility for Arab ones:
ISA 2196/14-Gimel, doc. 8B, Report on Activities of the Nahariyah District Administration.

28
West Bank of the Jordan River:
Zeev Tsur,
Mipulmus Hahalukah Ad Tokhnit Allon
(From the Partition Dispute to the Allon Plan) (Ramat Efal, Israel: Tabenkin Institute, 1982): 73–74; Shapira,
Yigal Allon
444–48; YAOH, 7:10.

28
“armed prophet of the Whole Land”
: Haim Gouri, interview.

28
The motion failed:
Yoel Marcus, “Boker Tov, Ehud,”
Haaretz
, 5 Dec. 2003, www.haaretz.co.il/hasite/spages/368874.html, acc. 9 Oct. 2010.