Summary
A Mapam minister who, with Mordechai Bentov, was one of only two government members to oppose Ben-Gurion’s Sinai invasion proposal on 27/10/56 while announcing full responsibility for it, and who in July 1961 restated Mapam’s refugee position in the Cabinet (Peace, Peace, When There Is No Peace, PDF p.400-401, 480-481).
Details
- On 27/10/56 Barzilai and Bentov were the only two members of the government to oppose the proposal; “but they too announced that if a positive decision was taken, they would take full responsibility for the action, which was afterwards known as “Operation Sinai”” (Ben-Gurion, Government Yearbook 5720, p.16, quoted at Peace, Peace, When There Is No Peace, PDF p.400-401).
- At the Cabinet meeting of 9/7/61 Barzilai and Bentov clarified Mapam’s main points: the refugee problem to be solved “through permanent settlement in Arab states and the absorption of a certain agreed number in the State of Israel”; the invading Arab states bearing principal responsibility; the choice between return and compensation “as requested by President Kennedy” rendered null and void and to be rejected, the humanitarian aspect notwithstanding; and direct negotiations on the basis of the sovereignty and territorial integrity of all the region’s states, including Israel (Al Hamishmar, 10/7/61, quoted at Peace, Peace, When There Is No Peace, PDF p.480-481).
Related pages
Peace, Peace, When There Is No Peace, Mapam, Mordechai Bentov, Operation Sinai, Right of Return