Moshe Dayan

Israeli military leader and politician

• Born: May 20, 1915
• Birthplace: Kibbutz Deganya A, Palestine (now Israel)
• Died: October 16, 1981
• Place of death: Tel Aviv, Israel

A native-born Israeli, Dayan helped Israel win its independence and homeland in 1948-1949 and, as chief of staff, helped build the Israeli Defense Forces into one of the most aggressive military forces in the world. He served as defense minister and as foreign minister and was a member of the Knesset.

Early Life

Moshe Dayan (MOH-sheh di-AHN) was born of Russian immigrant parents, the first child born on the first kibbutz in Palestine, Deganya A, where the Jordan River flows from the Sea of Galilee. Dayan, then, was a Sabra, a native-born Israeli who grew up speaking both Hebrew and Arabic and was intimately acquainted with both cultures and the hardship of life in Palestine in the early twentieth century.

Palestine was still under Ottoman Turkish rule until the end of World War I, when it became a League of Nations mandate under the authority of the British government. In 1929, at the age of fourteen, Dayan joined the Haganah, the secret underground defense force of the Israeli settlers. One of Dayan’s first duties was to help patrol the fields on horseback to guard against marauding Arab bands and to drive out Arab goats from the crops.

When Dayan was eighteen, in 1933, he studied math, Hebrew, and literature in Tel Aviv. The next year, he took a walking tour of Palestine to Bet She’an, along the Jordan Valley to Jericho, and south to Beersheba. On July 12, 1935, Dayan married Ruth Schwartz, a student from Jerusalem. From 1936 to 1939 the “Arab revolt” brought much violence to Palestine, and Dayan served as part of the British-sponsored Jewish Settlement Police Force. He was a guide in the area between Tiberias and Mount Tabor. At the same time, Dayan was a platoon commander in the Haganah and set ambushes at night on roads leading from Arab to Jewish settlements.

Life’s Work

Dayan thought of himself as a farmer with an avid interest in archaeology and Jewish history, but by the late 1930’s it was obvious to him that his life must be devoted to establishing the State of Israel. That meant a military and, later, a political career for him. In May, 1939, the British government drastically limited Jewish immigration to Palestine and restricted Jewish purchase of land in many areas of Israel. Membership in the Haganah was illegal, and Dayan and forty-two others were arrested for possession of firearms and sentenced to ten years’ imprisonment by the British. They served one and a half years and were released in February, 1941, to serve as Jewish volunteers with British forces. Dayan was attached to an Australian unit invading Syria in June, 1941. In a fierce exchange of fire at a French police outpost, Dayan was hit in the left eye and endured twelve hours of pain, with glass and metal fragments in his head, until he finally arrived at a Haifa hospital. The black patch he wore over his left eye was his trademark for the rest of his life.

When World War II ended and the British realized they could not work out a solution for Arabs and Jews in Palestine, they announced their intention of withdrawing from Palestine. The United Nations sought a solution acceptable to both Arabs and Jews and proposed a partition plan that would have created an Arab state of forty-five hundred square miles and a Jewish state of fifty-five hundred square miles. The Arabs refused to accept the plan. In many parts of the Arab world, violent attacks killed Jews and destroyed many of their homes and synagogues. Seven thousand non-Palestinian Arabs infiltrated Palestine to join Palestinians in attacks against Jews. The Jews responded by joining Haganah or other resistance groups. Dayan’s twenty-two-year-old brother, Zorik, was killed in a battle with the Druze. Nevertheless, Dayan met with Druze leaders and persuaded them not to participate in the coming Arab-Israeli war.

On May 14, 1948, the British completed their withdrawal from Palestine, and David Ben-Gurion proclaimed the existence of the State of Israel. Diplomatic recognition was extended to the new nation by the United States, the Soviet Union, and many Latin American and European nations. Israel was accepted for membership into the United Nations by a 37-12 vote. Immediately the neighboring Arab nations launched the invasion they had planned: ten thousand Egyptians, forty-five hundred Jordanians, seven thousand Syrians, eight thousand Iraqis, and three thousand Lebanese invaded Palestine.

The Syrian sector was northern Israel including Deganiah, under the defensive command of Lieutenant-Colonel Dayan. The Syrians had two hundred armored vehicles, including forty-five tanks. Dayan had only three antitank bazookas and, later, four sixty-five-millimeter guns. After nine hours of bloody fighting between inexperienced, clumsy forces, the Syrians retreated. From there Dayan was ordered to a most unpleasant task, that of armed combat against fellow Israelis to secure weapons brought in on the Altalena by the Irgun, a Jewish underground movement that refused to accept the authority of the new Israeli government. Several Israelis were killed on both sides before Dayan was able to negotiate a settlement.

Dayan was a key commander in the Israeli victories at Lod, Ramla, and Faluja. On July 23, 1948, he was appointed commander of Jerusalem. A cease-fire had been fixed between Jordanian and Israeli positions. As a result, Dayan really had more of a political role, negotiating local arrangements with Arab Jerusalem and national agreements with King Abdullah of Transjordan. The armistice agreements left Israel with eight thousand square miles of Palestine, 21 percent more land than allotted under the United Nations Partition Plan, which the Arabs had refused to accept. Jordan occupied the West Bank and most of Jerusalem. About 70 percent of Palestinian Arabs fled Israel during the war (720,000): 300,000 into the West Bank and Jordan, 180,000 into the Gaza Strip, and 170,000 to Lebanon and Syria. In the next decade, half a million Jews were forced to leave their Muslim homelands in various parts of the Middle East. They and other Jews from many parts of the world were welcomed as citizens of the new state of Israel.

In 1953, Dayan was appointed Israel’s new chief of staff and helped to develop Israel’s philosophy of aggressive retaliation and the surprise preemptive strike. Officers were not to order their men into combat but to lead them personally. Unit commanders had the authority to make immediate decisions without always waiting for authorization from headquarters. Dayan emphasized striking power and short, intensive bursts of action to secure objectives. Air power was essential, and Dayan helped Israel develop one of the most effective air forces in the world.

In 1956, Egypt and other Arab nations prepared for war. The Soviet Union sent to Egypt 200 tanks and 170 MiGs and bombers and about half that number to Syria. Fedayeen terrorist raids increased from Egypt and from Syria and Jordan. Dayan secured some help from the British and French, especially French Mystère fighter planes. Egypt then blockaded the Gulf of Aqaba and nationalized the British/French-built Suez Canal. On October 29, 1956, Israel invaded Sinai, and the next day French and British troops occupied part of the Suez Canal. Concerted pressure from the United States and the Soviet Union prompted a withdrawal from both Suez and Sinai. The Gulf of Aqaba was reopened for Israeli shipping, and Fedayeen raids stopped from Gaza.

Rhetoric demanding jihad against Israel heated up the Arab world again in the 1960’s. Syria, Iraq, and Egypt began joint preparations for war against Israel. Regular firing from the Syrian Golan Heights killed Israelis and disrupted Israeli agriculture and the use of the Sea of Galilee. The Palestine Liberation Organization was formed in 1964 “to attain the objective of liquidating Israel.”

On May 22, 1967, Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser declared the Strait of Tiran closed to ships bound for Israel. Israel ordered total mobilization of all reserves, and Dayan was appointed defense minister. The Israeli cabinet ordered a preemptive strike against the Egyptian air force on June 5, 1967, destroying three hundred of Nasser’s Russian-built planes, most of them on the ground. Fifty Syrian MiGs were destroyed, and the entire Jordanian air force of twenty planes perished. Israel lost twenty-six planes, all to antiaircraft fire. Syria was forced out of the Golan Heights, and, after bitter fighting, Israel took control of all the city of Jerusalem.

It fell to the lot of Dayan as military governor of Jerusalem and occupied territories to establish policy toward Arab Palestinians. He met hundreds of Arab leaders and persuaded them that cooperation with Israel was the only alternative to a breakdown of essential municipal services. The banking system had to be activated and normal markets reestablished. Dayan told the Arabs, “We do not ask you to love us. We ask only that you care for your own people and work with us in restoring the normalcy of their lives.” Dayan was determined that Israeli occupation be as mild as possible. He had no desire for revenge for the Arab destruction of much of the Jewish Quarter of the Old City during Jordanian occupation.

Dayan ordered that Jordanian laws remain in use throughout the West Bank and would continue to be enforced largely by the prewar Arab administration with oversight by only 220 Israeli soldiers and civilians. Dayan ordered the destruction and dismantling of all barriers between Arab and Jewish sectors established by the Jordanian administration and access of all groups to their holy sites. He initiated the “open bridges” policy that gave freedom of access between the West Bank and Jordan and between Israel and the West Bank. Arab farmers and merchants traded freely, and much greater prosperity came to Palestinian Arabs than they had experienced under Jordanian rule. Tens of thousands of Arabs found employment in Israel.

The 1973 Yom Kippur War was a nightmare for Israel and for Dayan personally, especially since he bore much of the responsibility for Israel’s military preparedness. The fate of Israel’s very existence hung in the balance. Arab forces in the 1967 war had numbered 300,000. In 1973, one million Arabs fought 250,000 Israelis, mostly reservists. In 1967, Arab tanks numbered 1,700; in 1973, 5,500. Israel had 461 planes; Arab forces, 1,189. The first several days of the war were a disaster for Israel. The Golan Heights were taken by Syria, and Israel suffered serious reverses in Sinai. The Soviet Union publicly urged all Arab nations to join in the attack against Israel and began a massive airlift of thirty flights a day to the Arabs, October 9-22. President Richard M. Nixon was outraged and, to maintain a balance of forces, ordered emergency American airlifts to Israel, including Phantom jets. From October 14 to November 14, giant cargo planes loaded with tanks, bombs, shells, helicopters, and spare parts flew 566 flights.

Dayan ordered a counterattack on the Golan Heights with everything available and, at a loss of 20 percent of the Israeli Air Force and many casualties, retook Mount Hermon on October 22. The Israeli navy sank six Arab ships and interdicted shipping through the Suez canal with no losses. Israeli troops crossed the Suez Canal to the west and trapped a large Egyptian army. The Soviets threatened to intervene with Soviet troops, and Nixon warned them that if they did they would be fighting American troops. American forces in the Mediterranean were put on military alert; an additional carrier was sent to the Mediterranean; and the 82d Airborne at Fort Bragg was ready to depart. The war cost 12,000 Arab deaths and 2,550 Israeli deaths.

Prime MinisterGolda Meir and Dayan were both absolved of blame for the near disaster of 1973, but Meir resigned from office. Dayan was out of office from 1974 until 1977, when Prime Minister Menachem Begin asked him to serve as foreign minister, a post that Dayan occupied until 1979. He resigned as foreign minister when he realized that Begin planned to annex the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. Dayan was a member of the Knesset at the time of his sudden death from a heart attack in October, 1981.

Significance

Dayan was a courageous and dedicated soldier and patriot, a brilliant tactician, and a decisive administrator. He was a peacemaker as well as a fierce fighter. He spoke Arabic, understood Arabic culture, and had many Arab friends. He treated Arabs with respect and human dignity and sought to give them civil treatment in Israel. History, however, would not allow Dayan to play such a conciliatory role. It was the military threat that allowed Israel to maintain its independence, and it was Dayan who was in charge of that threat. Without Dayan’s leadership qualities, the Israeli state may not have been founded and would not have thrived so decisively. In this way Dayan left his imprint on the history of Israel.

Bibliography

Ben-Gurion, David. Israel: A Personal History. Tel Aviv: Sabra Books, 1971. To see Dayan’s role in the establishment and history of modern Israel from the eyes of one of its leading statesmen, Ben-Gurion’s memoirs are insightful. Since Ben-Gurion played such a key role in that history, it is significant how vital he thought Dayan was to the preservation of the new state of Israel.

Berkman, Ted. Sabra. New York: Harper & Row, 1969. This book is about the role native-born Israelis, sabra, played in the Six-Day War of 1967. It is fitting that much attention is given to one of the most famous of that early generation, Moshe Dayan.

Dayan, Moshe. Moshe Dayan: Story of My Life. New York: William Morrow, 1976. This is an indispensable book to understand the life and thinking of Dayan.

Luttwak, Edward, and Dan Horowitz. The Israeli Army. New York: Harper & Row, 1975. This is a history of the Israeli army and an analysis of its doctrines, actions, and attitudes. The book is chronologically arranged and the changes and development in the army are discussed in that organizational format. Dayan plays a prominent role in this book because of the vital part he played in shaping the Israeli army into the competent fighting force it has become.

O’Brien, Conor Cruise. The Siege: The Saga of Israel and Zionism. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1986. This is a full history of modern Israel written by an Irishman. Dayan is discussed at length, and O’Brien’s assessment of Dayan is perceptive: Dayan was a realist, and although he had the reputation for being a hawk, he was really neither hawk nor dove, but a “passionate Jewish patriot, and a calculator of what might be of advantage to Israel.”

Sachar, Howard M. A History of Israel. 2 vols. New York: Alfred Knopf, 1979-1987. A thorough and readable history of modern Israel. It is sympathetic to Israel, but it is written by a scholar who is a critical thinker and does not hesitate to criticize many actors in the historical drama. Dayan is discussed on many pages of both volumes.

Van Creveld, Martin L. Moshe Dayan. New York: Sterling, 2004. Van Creveld, a professor of military history at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, recounts Dayan’s life and career as both a military leader and statesman.