Summary
Bitachon — security in Hebrew — is in The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine the meta-term David Ben-Gurion made into an obsession that overshadowed all other social and political issues, used to cover and justify a wide range of core policies, including the policy adopted against the local Palestinian population.
Details
- Ben-Gurion, aware that the Palestinians still formed the vast majority and that the Arab world could potentially send armies and provide arms, “preoccupied himself and his closest associates with the issue of security, bitachon in Hebrew. This became an obsession Ben-Gurion nourished so carefully and successfully that it came to overshadow all other social and political issues on the agenda of the Jewish community in Palestine and later, of course, in Israel.” (The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine, PDF p.51)
- “Bitachon was then and remains until today a meta-term used by Zionist and, later, Israeli leaders to cover a wide range of issues and justify numerous core policies, from arms purchases abroad, internal struggle with other political parties, preparations for the future state, and the policy adopted against the local Palestinian population. The latter was retaliatory in nature and in discourse, but quite often provocative in action.” (The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine, PDF p.51)
- Ben-Gurion played a crucial role in shaping Israel’s bitachon outlook through the structural changes that placed him at the top of the Zionist decision-making pyramid; when the 22nd Zionist Congress entrusted him with the defence portfolio in 1946, he had total control over all security issues of the Jewish community in Palestine (The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine, PDF p.51).
Related pages
The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine, David Ben-Gurion, Consultancy