Moshe Dayan: Israel's Controversial Hero

198 Pages·2012·1.68 MB·English

by  Mordechai Bar-On

MOSHE DAYAN

Moshe Dayan
Israel’s Controversial Hero
MORDECHAI BAR-ON
Copyright © 2012 by Mordechai Bar-On.
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Bar-On, Mordechai, 1928–
Moshe Dayan : Israel’s controversial hero / Mordechai Bar-On. — 1st ed.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-300-14941-8 (alk. paper)
1. Dayan, Mosheh, 1931–1979. 2. Generals—Israel—Biography. 3. Statesmen—
Israel—Biography. 4. Arab-Israeli conflict—Biography. I. Title.
DS126.6.D3B37 2012
956.9405092—dc23
[B]
2012000595
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
This paper meets the requirements of ANSI/NISO Z39.48-1992
(Permanence of Paper).
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Frontispiece: Moshe Dayan as minister of agriculture participating in a
ceremonial planting of trees. Courtesy Yad Ben-Zvi, Jerusalem.
CONTENTS
Preface
Acknowledgments
Chapter One. Wild Grass: Childhood and Teens
Chapter Two. On the Path of Command
Chapter Three. Back to Military Work
Chapter Four. To the Top
Chapter Five. Gathering Clouds
Chapter Six. On the Edge of the International Storm
Chapter Seven. On the Front Line
Chapter Eight. The End of the Military Career
Chapter Nine. Government and Other Battles
Chapter Ten. The Six Day War
Chapter Eleven. Occupation Policies
Chapter Twelve. Controversies
Chapter Thirteen. Yom Kippur
Chapter Fourteen. In the Crucible
Chapter Fifteen. “Shall the Sword Devour Forever?”
Chapter Sixteen. Sunset
Chapter Seventeen. Legacy
Notes
Index
PREFACE
THE STORY OF MOSHE DAYAN is the story of the State of Israel.
His life is best understood within the context of four crucial periods during
which Israel evolved from an aspiration to an accomplishment. Under the British
Mandate of Palestine (1922–48), Dayan worked in Nahalal, a cooperative
agricultural village, contributing to the Zionist efforts to establish a productive
Jewish community in Palestine comprised of immigrants from around the globe.
During these years, while Jews were establishing communities and building
infrastructure, opposition from Arabs who feared that the Zionist enterprise
threatened their national existence grew. From an early age, Dayan actively
battled this opposition and proved himself a fearless fighter. In 1948, the State of
Israel was born in a war against the Arabs of Palestine and surrounding states. At
the war’s conclusion, Jerusalem was divided between Israel and Jordan. Dayan
was appointed commander of the Jewish-controlled section of Jerusalem.
During the second pivotal period, from 1948 through 1967, the State of Israel
created the economic and communal infrastructure necessary to absorb millions
of Jewish immigrants, mainly from Europe and the Arab world. Dayan held key
government and security positions throughout these formative years. The Arab
states, unwilling to accept their defeat in 1948, constantly threatened war.
Dayan, as chief of General Staff of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), commanded
military missions that foiled the Arabs’ attempts to weaken or destroy Israel. On
the eve of the Six Day War in 1967, Prime Minister Levi Eshkol appointed
Dayan minister of defense, and he led Israel to a sweeping victory over the
armies of Egypt, Jordan, and Syria. The war ended with Israel’s conquest of land
that amounted to several times the country’s original size, including the Sinai
Peninsula, Jordanian territory west of the Jordan River, and the Golan Heights.
From 1967 to 1974, as minister of defense, Dayan was in charge of protecting
the new borders and governing the many Palestinians within them. He tried to
frustrate guerrilla strikes by Egyptian, Syrian, and Palestinian forces while
facilitating prosperity for the Palestinian people in the territories under Israeli
rule. He failed in both attempts. The Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO),
founded in 1964 to advocate for an “armed struggle” to liberate Palestine, grew,
and many quickly recognized it as the representative body of Palestinian national
aspirations. During these violent years, the Yom Kippur War erupted in 1973;
despite dramatic operations by Israeli forces, the war ended with Egypt
despite dramatic operations by Israeli forces, the war ended with Egypt
dislodging the IDF from the banks of the Suez Canal. Among the many
casualties of that war, Golda Meir’s government dissolved and Dayan’s career as
defense minister ended.
Dayan devoted the last years of his life to forging a peace agreement with
Egypt, the largest and most important Arab state. As Israel’s foreign minister, he
played a major role in its accomplishment. His conception of solving the conflict
with the Palestinians, however, remained unchanged: he believed that Israel
should accord the Palestinians broad autonomy but retain control of the West
Bank and the Gaza Strip, thus denying them self-determination there. To his
dying day, he opposed recognizing national rights for Palestinians, and in this
respect he reached the end of his life disappointed and frustrated.
Moshe Dayan is etched in Israel’s national memory as the man who
reconstructed the Israel Defense Forces in the 1950s and honed it into an
efficient fighting unit. He led the IDF to victory in the 1956 Sinai campaign and
helped guide the army’s stunning successes in the Six Day War. But he is also
widely remembered as the minister who shirked responsibility for the fiasco of
the Yom Kippur War, a claim that continues to trail him, tainting even the
memory of his central role in Israel’s peace treaty with Egypt.
Despite common perceptions, Dayan was not the sabra par excellence, but a
complex personality with an inquisitive mind, a man who sought solitude and
reflection in order to conceive practical solutions to intricate problems. His
Achilles’ heel was his insensitivity to historical undercurrents and his inability to
see the larger picture, shortcomings that ultimately led to his political and
military decline.
Moshe Dayan’s life story has attracted many biographers. In addition to his
two autobiographies, his parents; his first wife, Ruth; his daughter, Yaël; his
secretary Neora Matalon-Barnoach; and others who worked at his side all
illuminated chapters of his life. The historian Shabtai Teveth wrote an excellent
biography (published in 1971), but it covers Dayan’s life only up to the
beginning of his tenure as minister of defense after the end of the Six Day War.
For this book, I made ample use of Teveth’s well-researched study; I have
also taken advantage of the thousands of documents available on Dayan,
especially those archived by the IDF, the State of Israel, and the press, which
gave him broad coverage. Having served as his bureau chief in the Sinai
campaign in 1956–57, I, like so many, was captivated by his charm and, like
only a few, was privileged to know him personally. I spent many hours in his
company, followed him into battle, and attended all his meetings with Prime
Minister David Ben-Gurion. I also acted as the secretary of the top-secret
meetings held in Paris in preparation for the Suez War and wrote the only
meetings held in Paris in preparation for the Suez War and wrote the only
existing records of them. In the 1970s, however, our political paths diverged, and
both my fascination with and my criticism of Dayan’s course after the Six Day
War find expression in this book.