Moshe Dayan (Politician)

We came to this country which was already populated by Arabs, and we are establishing a Hebrew, that is a Jewish state here. In considerable areas of the country we bought lands from the Arabs. Jewish villages were built in the place of Arab villages. You do not even know the names of these Arab villages, and I do not blame you, because these geography books no longer exist; not only do the books not exist, the Arab villages are not there either. Nahalal arose in the place of Mahalul, Gevat — in the place of Jibta, Sarid — in the place of Haneifs and Kefar Yehoshua — in the place of Tell Shaman. There is no one place built in this country that did not have a former Arab population.

We don't have a solution, and you will continue living like dogs, and whoever wants will go, and will see how this procedure will work out. For now, it works out. Let's say the truth. We want peace. If there is no peace, we will maintain military rule and we will have four to five military compounds on the mountains, and they will sit ten years under the Israeli military regime.

— Moshe Dayan truth

It is not in our hands to prevent the murder of workers… and families… but it is in our hands to fix a high price for our blood, so high that the Arab community and the Arab military forces will not be willing to pay it.

— Moshe Dayan work

In two cases I did not fulfill my role as defense minister, in that I did not stop things that I was sure should have been stopped.

— Moshe Dayan

Along the Syria border there were no farms and no refugee camps — there was only the Syrian army... The kibbutzim saw the good agricultural land ... and they dreamed about it... They didn't even try to hide their greed for the land... We would send a tractor to plow some area where it wasn't possible to do anything, in the demilitarized area, and knew in advance that the Syrians would start to shoot. If they didn't shoot, we would tell the tractor to advance further, until in the end the Syrians would get annoyed and shoot. And then we would use artillery and later the air force also, and that's how it was...The Syrians, on the fourth day of the war, were not a threat to us.

— Moshe Dayan war

Quotes of Dayan from Righteous Victims : A History of the Zionist-Arab Conflict, 1881-1999 by

— Moshe Dayan ya

The only method that proved effective, not justified or moral but effective, when Arabs plant mines on our side [is retaliation]. If we try to search for the [particular] Arab [who planted mines], it has not value. But if we harass the nearby village . . . then the population there comes out against the [infiltrators] . . . and the Egyptian Government and the Transjordanian Government are [driven] to prevent such incidents, because their prestige is [assailed], as the Jews have opened fire, and they are unready to begin a war . . . the method of collective punishment so far has proved effective.

— Moshe Dayan war

Quotes of Dayan from The Iron Wall: Israel and the Arab World by

— Moshe Dayan ya

Let us not today fling accusation at the murderers. What cause have we to complain about their fierce hatred to us? For eight years now, they sit in their refugee camps in Gaza, and before their eyes we turn into our homestead the land and villages in which they and their forefathers have lived. We should demand his blood not from the Arabs of Gaza but from ourselves. . . . Let us make our reckoning today. We are a generation of settlers, and without the steel helmet and gun barrel, we shall not be able to plant a tree or build a house. . . . Let us not be afraid to see the hatred that accompanies and consumes the lives of hundreds of thousands of Arabs who sit all around us and wait for the moment when their hands will be able to reach our blood.

— Moshe Dayan men

We could not guard every water pipeline from being blown up and every tree from being uprooted. We could not prevent every murder of a worker in an orchard or a family in their beds. But it was in our power to set high price for our blood, a price too high for the Arab community, the Arab army, or the Arab governments to think it worth paying. . . It was in our power to cause the Arab governments to renounce 'the policy of strength' toward Israel by turning it into a demonstration of weakness.

— Moshe Dayan war

All that is required is to find an officer, even a captain would do, to win his heart or buy him with money to get him to agreed to declare himself the savior of the Maronite population. Then the Israeli army will enter Lebanon, occupy the necessary territory, create a Christian regime that will ally itself with Israel. The territory from Litani southward will be totally annexed to Israel, and everything will fall into place.

— Moshe Dayan war

A new State of Israel with broad frontiers, strong and solid, with the authority of the Israel Government extending from the Jordan to the Suez Canal.

— Moshe Dayan men

During the last 100 years our people have been in a process of building up the country and the nation, of expansion, of getting additional Jews and additional settlements in order to expand the borders here. Let no Jew say that the process has ended. Let no Jew say that we are near the end of the road.

— Moshe Dayan people

If you want to make peace, you don't talk to your friends. You talk to your enemies.

— Moshe Dayan peace

Freedom is the oxygen of the soul.

— Moshe Dayan soul

We are a generation of settlers, and without the steel helmet and gun barrel, we shall not be able to plant a tree or build a house.

— Moshe Dayan wit

Jewish villages were built in the place of Arab villages. You do not even know the names of these Arab villages, and I do not blame you because geography books no longer exist.

— Moshe Dayan books

I feel I've lived so long, and went through so much, that all I want is calm and rest.

— Moshe Dayan live

To aim and hit, you need one eye only, and one good finger.

— Moshe Dayan good

Our American friends offer us money, arms, and advice. We take the money, we take the arms, and we decline the advice.

— Moshe Dayan money

Soldiers of Israel, we have no aims of conquest. Our purpose is to bring to naught the attempts of the Arab armies to conquer our land.

— Moshe Dayan purpose

Israel cannot afford to stand against the entire world and be denounced as the aggressor.

— Moshe Dayan world

I have the strength to endure it all.

— Moshe Dayan strength

I have only one eye. Do you want me to look at the road or the at the speedometer.

— Moshe Dayan you

I have traveled a long road from the battlefield to the peace table.

— Moshe Dayan peace

It isn't a secret that my heart is damaged. All the treatments and medications haven't been effective.

— Moshe Dayan art

Let us not be afraid to see the hatred that consumes the lives of hundreds of thousands of Arabs who sit around us and wait for the moment when their hands will be able to reach our blood.

— Moshe Dayan men

The method of collective punishment so far has proved effective.

— Moshe Dayan men

If I had to resign every time the Cabinet disagrees with me, I could not last as a Defense Minister one week.

— Moshe Dayan time

The Old City of Jerusalem is in our hands.

— Moshe Dayan city

It was in our power to cause the Arab governments to renounce the policy of strength toward Israel by turning it into a demonstration of weakness.

— Moshe Dayan war

We should demand his blood not from the Arabs of Gaza but from ourselves. Let us make our reckoning today.

— Moshe Dayan man

We are a small nation, but strong.

— Moshe Dayan strong

We could not guard every water pipeline from being blown up and every tree from being uprooted. We could not prevent every murder of a worker in an orchard or a family in their beds.

— Moshe Dayan family

It was in our power to set high price for our blood, a price too high for the Arab community, the Arab army, or the Arab governments to think it worth paying.

— Moshe Dayan power

The Jews have opened fire, and they are unready to begin a war.

— Moshe Dayan war

I know that plans and reality may be two different things, but I think my demands on life are minimal.

— Moshe Dayan life

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