Fateful Triangle

Israel and Palestine: Historical Backgrounds291assumption that circumstances would later permit a further expansion ofthe borders of the Jewish state to all of the territories that fell within“the boundaries of Zionist aspirations,” as Ben-Gurion understood them. *Chaim Weizmann, asked about the exclusion of the Negev from theproposed Jewish state, responded: “It will not run away.” 197 In a similarvein, Labor dove Chain Arlosoroff wrote to Weizmann in 1932 that “thedesire to establish national sovereignty in a part of Palestine…contains acore of sound thinking,” since “state power” in this region “couldbecome a strategic base for potential future progress.” 198In a letter to his son, discussing partition, Ben-Gurion wrote thatA partial Jewish state is not the end, but only thebeginning... I am certain that we will not be prevented fromsettling in the other parts of the country, either by mutualagreement with our Arab neighbors or by some othermeans... [If the Arabs refuse] we shall have to speak tothem in a different language. But we shall only haveanother language if we have a state.In May 1948, feeling quite confident of Israel’s military superiority(contrary to the “David and Goliath legend” discussed earlier), Ben-Gurion presented the following strategic aims to his General Staff:*After the 1967 war, long after he had left office, Ben-Gurion changed his viewsand came to oppose the expansionist policies he had always advocated andpursued while in a position of authority, thus isolating himself completely fromhis former Labor Party associates. By some remarkable logic, this fact isregularly adduced by Labor supporters here to show how conciliatory LaborZionism really was. See chapter 6, section 6.3, below, for one of manyexamples.Classics in Politics: The Fateful TriangleNoam Chomsky