Reply #19: Dayan on Israeli settlement [View All]

[Comadreja]

We came here to a country that was populated by Arabs, and we are building here a Hebrew, Jewish state. In a considerable portion of localities we purchased the land from the Arabs. Instead of the Arab villages Jewish villages were established. You even do not know the names of these villages and I do not blame you, because these geography books no longer exist. Not only the books, but also the villages do not exist. Nahalal was established in the place of Mahalul, Gevat in the place of Jibta, Sarid in the place of Hanifas and Kefar Yehoshu’a in the place of Tel Shamam. There is not a single settlement that was not established in the place of a former Arab village."
- Moshe Dayan, former Chief of Staff of the Israel Defence Forces and former Defence Minister of the State of Israel (March 19, 1969, in a speech to students at the Technion ; quoted in Haaretz, April 4, 1969).