Summary
A Mapam minister who, with Israel Barzilai, 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 Bentov and Barzilai 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 Bentov and Barzilai 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). The book strips the formulation to: no absorption beyond exceptional cases, resistance to a refugee referendum, and resistance to territorial concessions even while demanding direct negotiations (PDF p.481).
Related pages
Peace, Peace, When There Is No Peace, Mapam, Israel Barzilai, Operation Sinai, Right of Return