Posted on 12/02/2003 10:53:33 AM PST by yonif
The 30th anniversary of the death of Israel's first Prime Minister and the man who declared the State of Israel's independence, David Ben-Gurion, was commemorated today in the Negev community Sde Boker. Ben-Gurion, who saw the flowering of the Negev as one of the major challenges of his generation, moved to Sde Boker in 1953, after the first of his two resignations from Israel's top office. Before his death at the age of 87, he asked that the epitaph on his tombstone say only that he immigrated to the Land of Israel in 1906.
Today's official state ceremony was attended by President Moshe Katzav, Defense Minister Sha'ul Mofaz, Ben-Gurion's protege Shimon Peres, and other officials. Prime Minister Sharon, a resident of the northern Negev, did not take part, as he is suffering from a case of the flu. The commemorations will also feature the laying of the cornerstone of a new Negev town - one that will comprise army bases to be transferred southwards from Tzrifin in central Israel. The cornerstone for a new neighborhood will also be placed today in the Negev community Eshelim.
Vice Prime Minister Ehud Olmert made a notably dovish speech in Sde Boker this afternoon. He quoted Ben-Gurion as having said that though Israel is militarily able to capture all of "western Land of Israel," it would then not be able to be both Jewish and democratic because of the large number of Arabs living there. "Given the choice of the entire Land of Israel without a Jewish state, or a Jewish state without the entire Land of Israel, Ben-Gurion chose the latter," Olmert said. "Soon, our leaders will have to gather all their strength to make crucial decisions about the fate of the nation. Only someone who truly feels the pain of giving away parts of the Land can make these decisions."
Olmert, as Vice Prime Minister, becomes Acting Prime Minister when Ariel Sharon is out of the country, as opposed to Deputy Prime Ministers Silvan Shalom and Tommy Lapid. Olmert is known to be anxious to succeed Ariel Sharon as Likud leader and Prime Minister.
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