22. Statement to the Knesset by Prime Minister Ben-Gurion, 2 November 1955:
On 2 November 1955, following general elections, David Ben-Gurion presented his new Cabinet to the Knesset. Much of' his address was devoted to the security situation. Excerpts follow:
Our problem is not simply the security of our independence, our territory, our borders, our regime, but the security of our simple physical survival. Our enemies are scheming not only against our territory and independence. Their plan, as many of them state frankly, is to throw us all into the sea. Let us not forget that during World War Two the majority of Arab rulers admired Hitler and looked forward to his victory. Five years ago, on November 1, 1950, the Prime Minister and Minister of Defence announced that he did not share our public joy over past victories. The danger ahead of us now is no less grave than it was three years ago, and perhaps even more so. I am still filled with anxiety, perhaps more than I am prepared to say at this time.
The aspiration to destroy Israel was reiterated not long ago by Radio Cairo, which says nothing that has not first been cleared with the ruling military junta. Our security problem is the problem of our survival - our physical survival, plain and simple. The entire future of the Jewish people now depends on the survival of the State of Israel. And just as our security problem is different from that of other countries, our means and needs for security are greater than those of any other country. We must view the crucial difference between ourselves and our enemies with brutal clarity. Our enemies believe that they can solve the problem of Israel absolutely, once and for all, by our total destruction. We cannot and would not wish to achieve a security of this nature. It is not our wish, not our right, and not within our capacity, to liquidate millions of Arabs in the Middle East. Our security lies in constantly building up our strength in every area and on all fronts.
At this moment the nation is deeply concerned by the large quantities of arms pouring into the enemy countries, Egypt in particular. Yet precisely at this time the security of Israel must not rely solely on armed forces and arms, though without them there can be no security. The security of Israel means Aliya. In Egypt alone there are over twenty-two million inhabitants. In Israel, only one and a half million. Aliya is not only the supreme historic objective of our State but a security need of the highest order. Aliya means not only bringing Jews from North Africa or other countries to the shores of Israel, but giving them roots in work, in the soil of the Homeland, the economy, the Hebrew language, the values of our heritage, national responsibility, Jewish fellowship, a sense of national pride and security, and the desire and ability to be a builder, a defender, and a moulder of the image of the Homeland.
Security means settlement and first of all settling the wilderness. Concentrating on industry and the great majority of the population in the central coastal plain carries grave dangers - in terms of security and otherwise - for the future of the nation. Upper Galilee and especially the empty expanses of the south and the Negev are the weak points. No military force can keep them in our hands if we do not settle them as soon as possible with the greatest density. Our surplus water, our surplus manpower, from the new Aliya and the youth reaching majority, our new workshops and factories, development projects, and research and scientific institutions must be diverted to the south. It is out of the empty south that the evil will break forth, and it is the south, and especially a populated and highly industrialised Negev, that will ensure our security and our economic independence. It is on these that our economic ties with the Asian continent will depend to a large and perhaps an overwhelming extent.
Security means conquest of the sea and air, to make ourselves a maritime power and a force to be reckoned with in the air. Settlement is not limited merely to land, to the soil. There can also be settlement of the sea and of the air, and the great advantage here is that there are no territorial limitations and curtailing borders. Directing a large part of the youth in the coastal cities - Naharyia, Acre, Haifa, Jaffa, Migdal, Ashkelon, Eilat - to fishing and seafaring is a national economic and security requirement of the first order.
Security is the cultivation of research and scientific ability at the highest level, the apex of knowledge, in all the physical, chemical, biological, and technological sciences. We will never enjoy quantitative superiority in manpower, equipment, or material means. Let us work toward intellectual and spiritual superiority. We must elevate our moral and intellectual ability to the highest degree. Our scientific capacity and our moral image will determine our international standing, our national image, our defensive might, and above all our influence on the Jews of the Diaspora and the attraction to Israel.
Security is modern vocational training of youth in agriculture, crafts, industry, construction, seafaring; equipping them to turn out high-quality work that is competitive in the international markets.
Finally, security requires that the youth, the nation, its savants volunteer for difficult and vital objectives in settlement, in security, and in the integration of exiles. Our entire undertaking in this country would not have come into being were it not for this wonderful quality of adventurous pioneering that we showed during the three generations that preceded the creation of the State. Through the State, the law, and compulsion alone we will not reach the great goals that lie ahead of us. The outstanding symbol of pioneering and exalted love of Israel in our days is Varda Friedman of Kfar Vitkin, who, together with other young members of the veteran settlements, went out to live together with distant brothers - Kurdish immigrants from Persia - in the remote village in the distant south called Patish. Her purpose was to instruct the immigrants in work, education, and defence, and on this mission she gave her life.
Two weeks ago Prime Minister Sharett spoke of the deteriorating security situation following the developments at the Suez Canal, and I have nothing to add to this. However, we must not pass over in silence Nasser's declaration over Radio Cairo on September 27 in which he said, "Last week we signed a commercial treaty with Czechoslovakia by which that country will supply us with arms in return for cotton and rice." Two days later, on September 29, it was announced that ships had set out for Egypt loaded with tanks, guns, planes, and submarines. And Radio Cairo proclaimed, "The day of Israel's destruction is coming closer. There will be no peace on the borders, for we demand revenge and revenge means death to Israel!"
There is no doubt that the Czechoslovak government knew full well for what these arms were earmarked. Not for the improvement of the conditions of labour and the life of the masses of Egyptian workers, not for the improvement of the material conditions of the fellahin. The Czechoslovak communist paper, Rude Pravo, wrote that "the peace-loving policy of the Arab countries is universally known," but the views of the Egyptian rulers are voiced by the Egyptian press, not by newspapers in Prague. And the Egyptian press declares that "it is inconceivable that Egypt will conclude peace with or recognise Israel." One Egyptian paper puts the matter even more bluntly: "The Arabs regard Israel as an artificial State that has to be destroyed." And Radio Cairo a short while back was equally blunt: "The day of Israel's destruction comes ever closer. This is our resolve: this is our faith. There will be no peace on the borders, for we demand revenge and revenge means death to Israel." The Foreign Minister of Egypt tries to tell the American public that Radio Cairo pronouncements are not official proclamations, but he fails to note that Egypt is fully controlled by a military dictatorship. Obviously this is known to the Czechoslovak government.
It is my duty to tell all the powers that rule the world, with the modesty becoming a representative of a small nation in political affairs but with the moral force of a son of the Jewish people: "The people of Israel in the Land of Israel will not be led like sheep to the slaughter. What Hitler did to six million helpless Jews in the ghettos of Europe will not be done by any foe of the House of Israel to a community of free Jews rooted in their own land."
On the very day when we renewed our national independence seven years ago we were attacked by the Arab states who invaded our country. We would have been destroyed but for the heroism of our sons and daughters. When the fighting was over, we did not harbour any hostile feelings toward those who attacked us. Our hand was stretched out for peace. Our neighbours, however, refused to make peace and only armistice agreements were concluded. Even these agreements they have not observed and the war against us has been carried on in other ways: through boycott, blockade, and frequent incursions by murderers and saboteurs.
It is Egypt that recently took the lead in this guerrilla warfare. Raids from the Gaza Strip alone in the first nine months of 1955 have caused a hundred and fifty-three casualties in dead and wounded. The spokesmen for Egypt at the United Nations have openly declared that the state of war between Israel and Egypt continues. The Egyptian Government has violated the basic international law of freedom of navigation in the Suez Canal, reaffirmed by an explicit resolution of the Security Council. It is this Egypt that now seeks to block the passage of Israeli ships through the Red Sea Gulf in contravention of the international principle of freedom of the seas. This unilateral warfare must cease, for it cannot remain unilateral indefinitely.
The Israeli Government is prepared, as in the past, to observe faithfully all the provisions of the Armistice Agreements in every detail, both in the letter and the spirit. But this obligation is also binding on the other side. An agreement that is violated by the other side will not be binding on us either. If the armistice lines are regarded as open to the passage of saboteurs and murderers, they cannot remain closed to the defenders. If our rights are affected by acts of violence on land or sea, we shall reserve freedom of action to defend them in the most effective manner.
Our aim is peace - but not suicide. We wholeheartedly want peace and goodneighbourliness, and we are willing to cooperage with all our neighbours for the prosperity and well being of the Middle East and for the strengthening of peace in the world. We do not covet a single inch of foreign soil, just as we will not permit anyone to deprive us of a single inch of our territory as long as we live. We can see no real reason for conflict between us and Egypt. On the contrary, we see a basis for fruitful Cupertino between the two peoples and there is certainly no lack of good will on our part.
In order to overcome the dangers inherent in the present unstable situation, I am prepared to meet with the Prime Minister of Egypt and with every other Arab ruler as soon as possible, to achieve a mutual settlement without any prior conditions. The Government of Israel is prepared for a lasting and enduring peace settlement and for long-term political, economic, and cultural Cupertino between Israel and its neighbours. If the other side is not yet ready for that, we would also agree to a limited settlement providing for guarantees of the complete implementation of the Armistice Agreements, mutual elimination of all incidents and acts of hostility, boycott, and blockade, observance of freedom of the seas and any further terms agreeable to both sides.
To our people at home, I would like to say: no complacency, but no despair. Although we cannot rely on verbal guarantees, let us not despair of the conscience of mankind and of enlightened world public opinion. Good men, and they are not few all over the world, can distinguish between a dictatorial regime built on force, aggression, and abasement of the dignity of man, and states devoted to the values of freedom, the transcendent worth of the individual, justice, and peace. We have given our support to the United Nations out of loyalty to the heritage of the Prophets of Israel and to their vision of peace among nations and the love of man that has been enunciated again in the United Nations Charter. But the United Nations Organisation does not absolve its members from the duty of looking after themselves. Our task is first and foremost the maintenance of our security, and that is a job that will not be done for us by others. We shall have to do all that is incumbent upon us to attain peace and assure our security. If we do that, we need fear no evil.