Quotations: Early Zionist leaders on Partition

“The debate has not been for or against the indivisibility of Ezretz Israel [the “Land of Israel,” including the West Bank and Gaza]. No Zionist can forgo the smallest portion of Eretz Israel. The debate was over which of two routes would lead quicker to the common goal.” (Chomsky, Fateful)


“I have no doubt that our army will be among the world’s outstanding-and so I am certain that we won’t be constrained from settling in the rest of the country, whether out of accord and mutual understanding with the Arab neighbors or otherwise.” (Yosef Gorny, Zionism and the Arabs)

“After the formation of a large army in the wake of the establishment of the state, we will abolish partition and expand to the whole of Palestine” (Remi Kanazi, “Transferring the Truth”)

~ David Ben-Gurion, Israel’s founding father and first prime minister, 1937

“The partition of the Homeland is illegal. It will never be recognized…. It will not bind the Jewish people. Jerusalem was and will forever be our capital. Eretz Israel [the “Land of Israel,” including the West Bank and Gaza] will be restored to the people of Israel. All of it. And forever.” (Menachem Begin, “The Revolt”)

~Menachem Begin, 6th Israeli Prime Minister, 1954