One-eyed war-lord
DAVID PRYCE-JONES
Moshe Dayan : A Biography N. Lau-Lavie (Vallentine, Mitchell 30s) The war last June has led to a state of sus- pended animation in the Middle East; the Arab world continues to disintegrate; the west bank of the Jordan proves to be not a bargain but a property too awkward for Israel either to dispose of or keep; the great powers are as opportunistic as usual. In Israel politicians talk about a decisive movement in the history of Jewry. There is an election due next year, and already commentators hint that it will be post- poned. For fifty years Israel has been dominated by its eastern European establishment for whom the existence of the state is miraculous enough. Their ideas seem to the next generation as old and exhausted as the men holding them. Those born in Israel take the state for granted and concentrate on settling matters with the Arabs. Their representative is General Dayan.
Dayan was the son of a farmer who had emi- grated from Russia and made a successful career as a founder of the smallholders' move- ment in Palestine. Although born into the elite, therefore, Dayan has been impatient all his life with its official socialism. From his youth, he has been used to defending himself against all comers, and his methods, accord- ing to Mr Lau-Lavie, have not changed much. Joining the Haganah, he was trained by Win- gate, whose military influence can be seen in Dayan's campaigns.
Dayan was employed or imprisoned by the British according to circumstances. He lost his eye in 1941 during a British-inspired attack against Vichy-held Syria. As Mr Lau-Lavie makes plain, Dayan has always thrived on the sound of gunfire, a quality which brought him to the attention of Ben-Gurion, who, like Churchill, often picked his subordinates- be- cause of their physical bravery. In 1948 Dayan formed a commando battalion and was active afterwards in negotiations with Jordan, finally becoming Chief of Staff in 1953. As such he took charge of the Sinai campaign of 1956.
Mr Lau-Lavie has written a clear, unemo- tional book, and he has nothing he wishes to prove. On this showing, Dayan is often reck- less to the point of foolhardiness. Casualties in battle are unacceptable to most Israelis but not to him. Disliking committees and bureau- cracies, be is laconic and speaks his mind all the more sharply because he has no trouble in making decisions. It was this self-confidence which led to the clamour for his appointment as Minister of Defence for the Six-Day War.
Dayan has been unpopular because he was ambitious and because he was a general. On the other hand, he followed Ben-Gurion into the political wilderness during the closet in- trigues of the last few years. Since the 1967 war his standing in Israel has changed. It is frequently said that Dayan 'speaks the lan- guage of the Arabs' and, whatever that means, it allows most Israelis to trust their govern- ment through this crisis. More unexpected is the way that intellectuals have come round to him, when once they thought of him as an embryo dictator brooding on a coup d'etat, or at least as an open enemy of the trade union federation. They now give him credit for the way the occupation of the west bank has been handled, for the policy there of do-as-you- would-be-done-by which has given the inhabi- tants no incentive to help the Fatah com- mandOs. It seems something of a psychological distortion that west bank Arabs turn out to cheer Dayan on his unheralded visits there, even at Kalkilya, destroyed after the fighting.
Having—as Mr Lau-Lavie puts it—the bio- logical advantage over his rivals that he is far younger, Dayan is likely to be the first native- born prime minister of Israel. This will be de- cided by the Israelis, but the Arabs can help them make up their minds by remaining in- transigent and so, in effect, putting Dayan in power.
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