David Ben-Gurion, Israel's first Prime Minister (1948-1953):"We must expel Arabs and take their places...and, if we have to use force-not to dispossess the Arabs of the Negev and Transjordan, but to guarantee our own right to settle in those places-then we have force at our disposal." (from Nur Masalha, Expulsion of the Palestinians, p. 66)
Chaim Weizmann, Israel's first President:"[the indigenous population was akin to] the rocks of Judea, as obstacles that had to be cleared on a difficult path." (from Expulsion of the Palestinians, p. 17)
Moshe Sharett, Israel's second Prime Minister (1953-1955): "We have forgotten that we have not come to an empty land to inherit it, but we have come to conquer a country from people inhabiting it" (from Righteous Victims, p. 91)
Moshe Dayan, chief of staff, Israel Defense Forces and Minister of Defense during the 1967 war:"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, not only do the books not exist, the Arab villages are not there either...There is not one single place built in this country that did not have a former Arab Population."(from Ha'aretz, April 4, 1969)
Yitzhak Rabin, Prime Minister of Israel (1974-1977, 1992-1995)"We walked outside, Ben-Gurion accompanying us. Allon repeated his question, What is to be done with the Palestinian population. ' Ben-Gurion waved his hand in a gesture which said 'Drive them out!" (from New York Times, October 23, 1979)
Ariel Sharon, Prime Minister of Israel (2001-2006)"It is the duty of Israeli leaders to explain to public opinion, clearly and courageously, a certain number of facts that are forgotten with time. The first of these is that there is no Zionism, colonialization, or Jewish State without the eviction of the Arabs and the expropriation of their lands." (from Agence France Presse, November 15, 1998)
