Seth Kaller, Inc.

“I brought to the Government a proposal, since Jordan violated the conditions of the cease-fire I proposed starting a war with Jordan.. .. The Government rejected this proposal, even though we were sure that in a week or ten days we would conquer the entire Jerusalem and Hebron District....”

DAVID BEN-GURION. Autograph Letter Signed, to ?, April 10, 1970, Sde Boker, Israel. In Hebrew. 2 pp., 4.75 x 7.5 in.

Inventory #26110       Price: $3,200

Translated Excerpt
“In the Six Day War we conquered all the western part of our land, the Sinai, Golan – and Old Jerusalem. Till the Six Day War I considered it an irreparable disaster.... The second cease-fire was arranged on condition Jordan would not damage the Jerusalem pipeline which was in its territory (the pipeline from Ras al to Jerusalem).  They did not honor the decision and destroyed the pipe. After this was reported to the Command I brought to the Government a proposal, since Jordan violated the conditions of the cease-fire I proposed starting a war with Jordan for the purpose of conquering all the territory south of Ramallah to Aquaba, that is to say the entire Jerusalem District and Hebron District. The Government rejected this proposal, even though we were sure that in a week or ten days we would conquer the entire Jerusalem and Hebron District.... As far as I know, in the annals of Israel there was not a continuum in matters of tradition, but there were changes from time to time. But I don’t have the will or need to prove this, because I respect the opposite opinion....”

Historical Background
In May 1967, Egypt closed the Straits of Tiran between the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aqaba to Israeli shipping, which Israel considered a cause for war. On June 5, Israel launched a series of pre-emptive airstrikes against Egyptian airfields, destroying nearly the entire Egyptian air force. Israelis simultaneously launched a ground offensive into the Gaza Strip and the Sinai Peninsula. Jordan joined the conflict on the side of Egypt as part of a defensive pact signed a week before the war began. On June 11, Israel, Egypt, Jordan, and Syria signed a ceasefire. In addition to the Gaza Strip and the Sinai Peninsula from Egypt, Israel also seized the West Bank from Jordan and the Golan Heights from Syria.

David Ben-Gurion (1886-1973) was born in the Kingdom of Poland, then part of the Russian Empire, as David Grün, and he studied at the University of Warsaw. In 1906, he immigrated to Palestine, which was part of the Ottoman Empire. In 1912, he moved to Constantinople to study law and adopted the Hebrew name Ben-Gurion. He supported the Ottoman Empire in World War I, but was deported to Egypt and traveled to the United States, where he remained for three years. After the Balfour Declaration of 1917, he joined the Jewish Legion of the British Army. He returned to Palestine after the war and became a leader of the Zionist movement. As head of the Jewish Agency from 1935, Ben-Gurion was effectively the leader of the Jewish population before there was a nation. He accepted the 1947 partition plan as a compromise that would establish a Jewish state, and declared the independence of the state of Israel in May 1948. After leading Israel during the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, Ben-Gurion won election as Prime Minister of Israel in 1948 as head of the Mapai political party in the Knesset. He resigned in December 1953, effective January 26, 1954, then resumed office in November 1955 and served as Israeli Prime Minster until 1963. He then moved to Sde Boker, a kibbutz in the Negev desert, where he lived until his death.