David Ben-Gurion Signed Letter

$3,999.00

Half a year before Isreal's Sinai War, Ben-Gurion accuses Egypt of instigating a war-like environment by implicit approval of Palestinian terrorism against the Jewish State....

A one page typed letter signed by David Ben-Gurion. Written on official letterhead stationary with embossed Israel state seal. Dated April 20, 1956 from Jerusalem. Written in Hebrew to Meir Argov, a Knesset Member from Ben-Gurion's MAPAI list who had served on the executive committee of the Histadrut (General Federation of Labor) and was a regular contributor to the Israeli press.

Ben-Gurion writes (in full):

"Greetings,

This last month the Fedayeen [Palestinian "fighters for the faith"] dramatically increased their terrorist activities; hundreds of these bullies crossed over into our borders to kill, slaughter, and pillage. Egyptian authorities refuse to stop this deadly conflagration which has erupted into a mini-war. These attacks shed light on a greater danger -- a danger of an aggressive war initiated by the dictator of Egypt and his allies against Israel. Our bitter experience in the Independence War and the years following it indicates to us that only if we will arm ourselves with courage will we have peace. If we are not for ourselves, who is for us?

with great respect,

David Ben-Gurion
Prime Minister and Minster of Defense

copy: Moseh Sharett
Minister of Foreign Affairs"

Until the summer of 1955, Egypt denied responsibility for the fedayeen raids which emanated from the Gaza Strip part of territory allotted to the palestinian State byt the U.N. that had come under Egyptian military administration since the 1948 [1st] Arab-Israeli War. Border violations by Arab infiltrators bent on plunder, shootings by frenzied Arab soldiers, mine-laying on Israel roads and traks, and later, armed incursions by trained and organized bands of Palestinian commados [fedayeen] became habitual occurrences in the period from 1951-1956. A vicious cycle of Arab terrorist infiltrations and disproportionately severe coutner-raids by the Israeli army intensified in the year 1955.

By later summer of 1955, the Egyptian military had been humiliated by devastating Israeli raids into Gaza and had armed themselves with massive quantities of weaponry generating new confidence and bravado. Nasser decided to openly back the terrorist fedayeen groups that he had supposedly attempted to curtail previously. the dedayeen had indeed thus become a "proxy" army operating under an Egyptian military command. Even the supposedly impartial appointed UN mediator at the time, General Burns, addmitte4d that "what the Egyptians were doing... with the mission to attack men, women, and children indiscriminately was a war crime."

By April 1956, the very month that this letter was written and Egyptian-directed attacks re-erupted, Prime Minister Ben-Gurian decided that Isreal could not endure the status quo much longer, and that only a major pre-emptive Israeli strike against the Egyptian army, especially before it could assimilate its huge quantities of Soviet equipment, could guarantee Isreal's survival. The passing of time, he calculated, was only working against Israel as the Middle Eastern balance of power was rapidly shifting in favor of Egypt. He ordered his military commanders to secretly prepare for an impending conflict.

David Ben-Gurion was, more than any other leader, responsible for molding modern Israel. He served as Israel's first Prime Minister. he sanctioned the attack on Egypt in 1956. By the time he retired from political life in 1970, he had come to symbolize the tenacity and determination of the young Jewish state.


Unframed.

Sold with Certificates of Authenticity from both The Autograph Source (Lifetime Guarantee), and independent third-party authenticator PSA/DNA.

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