India and Israel Against Islamic Terror

CHAPTER12
MAKING OF A NATION STATE 169
gv 1st August, Israel Government was faced on the one
nd with the problem of reintegration of the returning Arabs,
humungous task by any measure, on the other there was a
nestion of rehabilitating streams of Zionist emissaries and the
ctims of Diaspora, some willing, others not so willing to return
to their home. Secondly, there was to be no return of territory,
a principle clearly enunciated by the first cease-fire, ”all that we
have taken we shall hold.” And that became Israel’s policy in its
dealings with its neighbours and any third party. Security was
the supreme aim. ”Israel would not participate in its own
destruction.” All that Israel asked of the Arabs was to accept it:
as we are, with our territory, our population and our unrestricted
sovereignty. As for the UN Partition Plan, that recommendation,
pronounced ’unassailable’ on 15 May, was dead and buried.
The implacable logic of Zionism held in check by the Mandate

now came into action. There was to be no response to the

whining of the international community. The Arabs had rejected

the earlier plan. Now they had to accept an enlarged Israel as

it now existed. While the Palestinian Arabs vowed to ”liberate”

their land, the Zionist’s impulse to fight back hardened.
Before the declaration of freedom on 14th May, 1948,

David Ben-Curion had a vision of the shape of his nation state.

His vision was not unaccompanied with realism, ground realities

and the capabilities of his people. Unlike Nehru whose head

was in the clouds and feet nowhere, Ben-Curion knew that a

vision without pragmatism and practical sense becomes a

hallucination. He exhorted his people that the new state was

bound to be home to a small people. Had not Moses said, ”For

ye were the fewest of all peoples.” He thus demanded that the

children of Israel behave as a Chosen people, keeping their

spiritual ascendancy alive as the basis of survival of a small

people. He knew that neither the material and spiritual nor the

political and cultural changes of thousands of years of Jewish

existence had diluted the vitality of his people nor the twists and

turns of history undermined the unique national character of

the Jews. It was the strength of Bible, a secret resource which

safeguarded their existence and their uniqueness in spite of
1 70 INDIA AMD ISRAEL CHAPTER 12
continued threats to their national sovereignty. Empires like Egypt,

Babylon, Rome and Greece, rose and fell, but tried as they did,

they could not wipe out the Jews from the face of the earth.

They survived the onslaught of the other Semitic religion Islam

and excesses of Christianity which ironically was born out of

their own religion. The emancipation of the Jews did not lead

to assimilation but resulted in a new expression of their national

uniqueness and Messianic longings. They no longer saw that the

promised land was a mystic dream, but was a fusion of vision

with realities, in the formation of the land of Israel, which his

people had to build with their skill and creativity. The biggest

blow to Israelites after the struggle between Bar Kochba and

Hadrian of ancient Rome was a life and death battle between

Bolsheviks and the Jews in Russia. From the days of the first

Aliya, the Jews saw nothing but struggle to settle in their own

home till this very day of May 14, 1948. The Jews could never

compete in physical power with their neighbours who even

questioned their right to exist. But thousands of years of their

history of oppression and struggle taught them to survive and

endure and act as a beacon to the nations of the world. Their

land was the melting pot of the Jews returning from Diaspora.
The more the Arabs threatened to ”liberate” Palestine, the

more the Israelis, surrounded by enemies on all sides were

forced to fall on a strategy of offensive survival. To ensure their

national security, the Jews resorted to military exploits which

further deepened the Arab hatred which in turn needed a

stronger military response from Israel, and the vicious circle

continued. Israel’s military prowess, the competence, and daring

spirit of its commanders and the courage of its soldiers was an

invaluable asset for a nation perpetually at war. It fought a

number of ”little wars” as punitive expeditions in retaliation to

trans-border raids which in some cases resulted in the ’big wars’.

After independence in 1948, Israelis fought three ’big wars’

against its Arab neighbours. The first in October 1956, a ’100

hours war’ with French and British allies was a five-day ”blitzkrieg”

against Nasser’s Egypt, where Israeli’s forces occupied the whole

of Sinai and the Suez Canal. The second war on 4th June, 1967,
r” AFTER 1 ^ MAKING OF A NATION STATE 171
was almost a ’virtuoso’ performance by its generals and military

artists. Most prominent among these was General Aerial Sharon,

the present day Prime Minister of Israel. His breath-taking

manoeuvers, earlier at Mitla Pass in 1956, and later at El Agheila

vvith a series of daring night maneuvers, tightly controlled, and

against conventional military wisdom, succeeded in breaking the

Egyptian defenses and proved a decisive point in the victory.

More of this later. During the Yom Kippur war in October 1973,

the Egyptians gained initial surprises against Israeli’s defences

who while observing the National Festival were unprepared for

war. However, Israeli resilience reasserted itself and Sharon, the

intrepid ”Rommel” of the Israeli army, found a gap in the Egyptian

defences along the Suez Canal. He poured his army of fast

moving armour into the breach and encircled the Third Egyptian

Army, thereby leveling off the initial Egyptian advantage. Purely

on military prowess he could also be counted amongst the

heroes of Israel.
Despite its offensive posture and the semblance of a militarist

society, the core of Israel has always been spiritualistic. However,

there should be no doubt about its belief that ’the army is the

people.’ Their armed might is not merely the instrument of their

preservation but the means to carry out Zionism’s unfinished

agenda. It is not merely punitive but also purposive. The biggest

exponent of this creed is another great soldier and politician

Moshe Dayan. Like ail great civilizations destined to endure,

Israel does not intend to stand still. Now a retrospect
The nascent state even before it was born was attacked by

the surrounding Arab countries. Mention has been made earlier

of the war of Independence and its sequel, resulting in an uneasy

peace. But the Jews had arrived and prevailed in their Promised

Land. Israel was the rectification of two millennia of historical

shame. A desert became garden, 7800 sq. miles of energetic

virtue in a world all gone over, complicated and boundless. The

land rich Arabs were struggling for unity while the homogeneous

Jews were defending a dream of land come true. Eight years

after the cease-fire and six years after the tripartite declaration

°f 1950, Egypt became openly hostile and started sending its
172 INDIA AMJ) ISRAEL CHAPTC
12
I
guerrillas called the ’feclayun’ into the Gaza strip. The incurs

” , . . , r- -i ^Ul=ions
increased in severity and gunn re causing heavy casualties
Israeli civilians and settlements. The Egyptians under President

Nasser started making blood curdling noises against the Jews and

threatened their very existence. War seemed imminent. David

Ben-Gurion warned his people that they had learnt their hard

lesson that if they themselves had strength, they would have

peace, if they lacked it, no one would support them. In the

meantime, Western nations particularly, France, America and

Czechoslovakia started arming the Egyptians. Ben-Gurion quoted

to the Western powers the Armistice Agreement under which

the Jews were to have free acce ss to their holy places and the

cemetery on the Mount of Olives, as also a free passage to the

Suez Canal. But the United Nations did nothing. Then BenGurion

roared back that they cannot be expected to sit with

folded hands while the Egyptian marauders ravaged their country

and intruded into their sovereign territory. Egyptian suicide

commandos and cut-throats were sent into Israel to kill and

mains the Israelites and mine their transportation system. David

Ben-Gurion was fully aware that for the Jews it is not easy to

win friends. Others who have, do so through a common religion

or language, like the Arabs and Latin Americans. Others form an

alliance against the common enemy or object of fear. Israel had

neither wealth nor power nor territory, neither did they have a

commonality of language or religion with any other state except

the Arabs who were their sworn e nemy. To a counsel of restraint

from America, David Ben-Gurion mentioned that the United

States Government had sent troops into Mexico in March 1916,

after having failed to stop marauders on their frontier and these

were withdrawn only in early 1917. Repeated representations

to the United Nations and America brought no result. Egyptians

continued their attacks in increasing proportion and the

barometer started falling. Finally Ben-Gurion was forced to

declare, ”If our rights and our people’s lives were assailed by

acts of violence, we reserved fre-edom of action to take such

measures as we thought fit to safeguard those rights and lives.’

He again warned, ”Our right to self-defense was not only a
***~Zm 12 MAKING OF A NATION STATE 173
tural right, it was expressly stated in the U N Charter in Article

r-i ” Some of the United Nations personnel denied them this

right. They stigmatized as ”reprisals” the defensive measures the

Isralis took against the murders organised by Egypt and Jordan.

/\|| the United Nations observers and representatives knew as

we|| that the ’fedayun’ worked under orders from the Arab

Governments, with Egypt taking the central position. Captured

’fedayun’ had admitted these things in Israeli courts, and the

Egyptian Minister of Religious Endowments, Hassan al-Bakuri,

said the same thing in a broadcast from a Cairo radio station

under Nasser’s control: ”There is no reason why the ’fedayun’,

who hate their enemies, should not penetrate deep into Israel,

and make the lives of her people a hell.” Ben-Gurion knew that

the first duty of a Government is to protect the integrity of the

state and the lives of its people. Any Government which failed

to do so, is not worthy of its name. And so on October 27, the

Sinai war erupted on the cockpit of the Middle East and in a

lightening campaign, codenamed ’Operation Sinai,’ ”A Hundred

Hours War” Israel swept the Egyptian army back beyond the

Suez Canal and the world including Nehru’s India, forced the

Israelis to relinquish their gains and return to their pre-war

boundaries.
Despite all it’s wars, Israel never sought aggression nor

believed in a constant state of war against its neighbours. The

abiding philosophy of the Israelis can be summed up in the

following lines of chapter 85 from the Book of Psalms,
”Mercy and truth are not together: righteousness and peace

have kissed each other.”
President Eisenhower had once mentioned that peace and

justice are indivisible but David Ben-Gurion believed that there

can be no peace without justice. A country that could not protect

’ts sovereignty, its security and rights, could not preserve either

Peace or justice.
Even after the termination of the Sinai war Israel knew no

rest. While its people were involved in nation building and

Beating to convert the desert into a bloom, Arabs were planning
’Us
D
174 INDIA AND ISRACL QH
IAPTERR12
*•; : n
a
once again to destroy the nascent state. Barely eleven years atft

the last conflict war drums started beating again in Cairo. Presidta^

Nasser paranoid on the strength of aided Russian weaponry aarirj

his self-appointed leadership of the Arab world was once ag,atrying

to challenge the Israeli might. The first step in ttly

belligerency was the closure of Sharm-et-Sheikh, the toivvn

controlling Tiran Straites, the entrance to the Gulf of Aqaba, aand

choke Eilat, the only southern Israeli port with access to the RRecj

Sea and South Asian waters. To the western observers there vwas

an incessant flow of heady propaganda, a call to Jehad and for

the destruction of Israel. The Arabs were drunk upon their o^wri

rhetoric and language. Arabs, Arabic and Islam are inseparable

each recreating the other in an undefined process of croosspollination,

till the words are exalted to the level of reality. TThe

Arab emotions took control over their logic and the groujnd

realities. Islam is a religion devoid of theology. It means submission

to the will of Cod and a total surrender to what He wills; or

ordains. Though it is difficult to interpret the will of Cod, Muslslim

leaders down the ages have conferred legitimacy to their cauuse

from worship to slaughter, all in the name of God’s will. TThe

Suras of Quran have a rhythm and a nuance all their own. Thhey

proclaim, implore, chant, croon, weep and laugh and tithe

torrential flow of Arabic creates an image that charms. TlThis

repetitiveness in Islam overwhelms imagination and calcififies

reason. The holy language intoxicates and sanitises the brain i in

a manner that only the language counts and not its substanace.

In such an atmosphere, it is easy to understand that the Araabs,

who for fourteen hundred years had turned inwards upon tithe

spoken words, and numbed their senses to the heat and poveerty

of the desert, lapped every word of the Mullah, the Cairo Raddio

broadcast and the exhortations of Nasser. The stage wa’as,

therefore, set. for a Jehad, a word often misused for any fonrm

of offensive action as willed by God. Egypt plunged into war nnot

knowing the battlefield or the Israeli army.
As the 4th June of 1967 neared the land of Israel prepared

for the impending war to break off from the stranglehold o; i i^

maritime blockade of the Arabian sea. There was no doubW
*^~- rD 12 MAKING OF A NATION STATE 175
CHAPTER^ ^^^^^
ut Israeli’s military capability, but it will be useful to look into

1 mind of the Israeli soldier. The Israelis at war did not succumb

rage or arrogance. After planning with an unending passion

f r detail, they fought with dedication and drive. In spite of this

decisive advantage they were never unduly conceited nor over

confident. The psyche of Diaspora and the element of anxiety

permeates jn{-o their subconscious. A subliminal anxiety underlines

the soldier’s personal awareness and exerts on him a primordial

and strong pressure, since his victory only means continuation

of status quo, may be, slightly better than before, while on the

other hand, looms the risk of extinction of his land. This inner

vision of Armageddon impels the Jewish soldier in war. While

the Arabs, in spite of their defeats, are intoxicated with a notion

of what victory brings, the je’ws, fight for survival is pitted against

the Arab pride of victory. If the Jews were to lose Israel for the

third time, history becomes meaningless to them. And the fourth

return to the land or Aliya, is unthinkable. To quote a personal

observer of June 4-9, 1967, Israeli blitzkrieg, ”In every people

the power tobe great is resident, but not every people fulfills this

potentiality for glory; some die, some stop before the summit is

attained, some turn upon themselves and crush the ephemeral

capacity in rages of self-destruction. But if greatness is ever

achieved, it is never forgotten. The memory of it persists and the

subsequent history of the people who once achieved themselves

is dictated by how they use the memory of their greatness. In

the centuries between return to the northern fertile crescent and

the death of King David, the Hebrews became Jews and fulfilled

their capacity to be great.”
The Jews won a resounding and absolute victory. They

extended their territorial boundaries to include the areas of the

^est Bank of River Jordan, the whole of Sinai peninsula, and

the Golan Heights in Syria, thus achieving ’lebensraum’ and

strategic depth. Today Eretz Israel stretches about 470 kms in

ength and 135 kms in width at its widest point, and covers an

^rea of about 20,700 sq. kms, with an additional 7,477 sq.

ms’ of occupied territories of West Bank, Gaza strip, East

Jerusalem and Golan Heights. But the jewel in the crown of this
If.
Sfifc