Yigal Allon

Yigal Allon
יגאל אלון‎
Allon in 1969, serving as Minister of Education & Culture
Interim Prime Minister of Israel
In office 26 February 1969 – 17 March 1969
President	Zalman Shazar
Preceded by	Levi Eshkol
Succeeded by	Golda Meir
Deputy Prime Minister of Israel
In office 1 July 1968 – 10 March 1974
Prime Minister	Levi Eshkol Golda Meir
Preceded by	Abba Eban
Succeeded by	Simha Erlich Yigael Yadin
Ministerial portfolios
1961–1968	Labour
1968–1969	Immigrant Absorption
1969–1974	Education and Culture
1974–1977	Foreign Affairs
Faction represented in theKnesset
1955–1965	Ahdut HaAvoda
1965–1968	Alignment
1968–1969	Labor Party
1969–1980	Alignment
Personal details
Born	(1918-10-10)10 October 1918 Kfar Tavor,Mandatory Palestine
Died	29 February 1980(1980-02-29)(aged 61) Afula,Israel
Spouse	Ruth Episdorf
Children	3
Education	Kadoorie Agricultural High School St Antony's College, Oxford

Yigal Allon(Hebrew:יגאל אלון‎; 10 October 1918 – 29 February 1980) was an Israeli military leader and politician. He was a commander of thePalmachand a general in theIsraeli Defense Forces(IDF). He was also a leader of theAhdut HaAvodaandIsraeli Laborparties. He served briefly as actingPrime Minister of Israelbetween the death ofLevi Eshkoland the appointment ofGolda Meirin 1969. Allon was the first native-born Israeli to serve as Prime Minister of Israel (the first elected native-born Prime Minister would later be Yitzhak Rabin in 1974). He was a government minister from thethird Knessetto theninthinclusive.

Born a child of pioneer settlers in theLower Galilee,Allon initially rose to prominence through his military career. After the outbreak of the1936–1939 Arab revolt in Palestine,he joined theHaganahand later thePalmach.He commanded a squad and organized key operations in theJewish Resistance Movementsuch as theNight of the Bridges.During the1947–1949 Palestine war,Allon commanded the conquest of theGalilee,LodandRamla,as well as the entireNegevup toEilatas Head of theSouthern Command.

Allon entered politics after a forced relief from command by then-PremierDavid Ben-Gurion.During his political career, he served as foreign and education minister, deputy prime minister, and briefly as acting prime minister. He was one of the architects of the creation of the Labor party, advocating for the merge ofAhdut HaAvodawithMapai.

In 1967, he devised the eponymousAllon Plan,which proposed next steps for Israel after the1967 Arab–Israeli War.While the plan was not officially adopted, it served as a guideline for the next decade ofIsraeli settlement.He also took part in theSinai Interim Agreementin 1975.

In 1980, Allon died unexpectedly due to cardiac arrest while campaigning for the leadership of the Labor party.

Early years (1918–1931)

Yigal Peikowitz(later Allon) was born on 10 October 1918 inKfar Tavor,then a part of theOccupied Enemy Territory Administration.His father, Reuven,immigratedto Palestine in 1890 along with his father and elder brother fromBelarus,then a part of theRussian Empire.His mother, Haia Shortz-Peikowitz, came from a Jewish family ofSafed.Her father was a founding member ofRosh Pinna.

Allon's father initially wanted to name him "Yigael", meaning "he will be redeemed", but decided it was too passive, and instead decided on "Yigal", meaning "he will redeem".

When Allon was five years old, his mother died and his older brothers left home. Allon, the youngest child, remained with his father. The area of Kfar Tavor was isolated and dealt with regular raids and thefts by neighboring Arab andBedouincommunities. After hisbar mitzvahat age 13, Allon was given a gun by his father to protect the family crops from thieves.

In 1934, 16-year-old Allon began attending theKadoorie Agricultural High School.Here, he became aware that his home education was poor compared to his classmates from urban areas. His teachers encouraged him to expand his horizons and close gaps in his education. In his autobiography, Allon praised the school director and claimed that he taught Allon important social values.

During school, Allon adoptedLabor Zionism.After graduating in 1937, Allon and a group of Labor Zionists founded theKibbutzGinosaronPalestine Jewish Colonization Associationland leased to the settlement ofMigdal.In Ginosar, Allon made an impression as a local leader and became friends withBerl Katznelson.

Military career (1931–1950)

L-R:Moshe Dayan,Yitzhak Sadeh,Yigal Allon, at KibbutzHanita(1938)

Allon joinedHaganahin 1931 and went on to command a field unit and then a mobile patrol in northern Palestine during the1936–1939 Arab revolt in Palestine.During the revolt, while working on the fields and farms of the kibbutz, Allon was summoned to take a position of command in the Haganah byYitzhak Sadeh.After completing a squad command course, Allon was appointed to the command of theMobile Guards.He took part in the expulsion of Arabs who immigrated with their flocks to the Jewish fields. He also became known for the ambushes he planned for gangs that infiltrated the settlements.

During this period, Allon participated in several operations of theSpecial Night Squads(SNS), under the command ofOrde Charles WingateandBala Bredin.In 1941, he became one of the founding members of thePalmach.From 1941 to 1942, he was a scout with the British forces of Syria and Lebanon.

Yitzhak Sadeh (left) and Yigal Allon, 1948

Allon in 1948

In 1945, he became Commander in Chief of the Palmach.On 22 June 1948, at the climax ofDavid Ben-Gurion's confrontation with theIrgunover the distribution of weapons from theAltalena,Allon commanded the troops that were ordered to shell the vessel.During the1948 Arab–Israeli War,he led several of the major operations on all three fronts, including operationsYiftachin theGalilee,Dannyin the centre, andYoavandHorevin theNegev.His last major military roles as commander were in October and December 1948: Operation Yoav towards theHebronHills andOperation Horevalong the Southern Egyptian Front. As Operational Commander of the Southern Command, he was responsible for security along the borders with Egypt and parts of Jordan. On 4 June 1949, he declared an 8 kilometres (5 mi) wide closed military zone along the border.Allon's successes throughout the war have been attributed to his keen intuition and clairvoyance, although these traits at times begat military failures instead.

On 18 October 1949, while he was in an official visit in Paris, Allon was told by his French hosts that Ben-Gurion had decided to replace Allon withMoshe Dayanas Operational Commander. Most of Allon's staff officers resigned in protest.He retired from active service in 1950.

Political career (1950–1980)

In January 1948, Allon helped form the left-wingMapamparty. However, Prime Minister Ben-Gurion, leader of the rival governing Mapai party, told Allon to dissociate himself from Mapam, as saw it as too left-wing and a threat to state security.In December 1948, Mapam co-leaderMeir Ya'aricriticized Allon's use of tens of thousands of Arab refugees to achieve strategic goals.

From 1950 to 1952, he studied philosophy and history atSt Antony's College, Oxford.

After ending his military career, Allon embarked on a public political career. He became a prominent leader in Ahdut HaAvoda, which had split from Mapam in 1954, and was first elected to theKnessetin1955,where he served until his death. He was a member of the Economic Affairs Committee, Constitution, Law and Justice Committee, Education and Culture Committee, Joint Committee on the Motion for the Agenda Regarding Sports in Israel, and theForeign Affairs and Defense Committee.

Right to Left: U.S. Secretary of Labor,William Willard Wirtz,Israeli Prime Minister, Levi Eshkol and Israeli Minister of Labor, Yigal Allon.

Allon served as theLabor Ministerfrom 1961 to 1968. In this role he worked to improve the state employment service, extend the road network, and fought to get legislation on labor relations passed. From 1968 to 1969, he served as theDeputy Prime MinisterandMinister of Immigrant Absorption.Allon served briefly as interim Prime Minister following the death ofLevi Eshkolon 26 February 1969. He held office until 17 March 1969, whenGolda Meirtook over after beingelected leader of the Labor Party.He became the Deputy Prime Minister andMinister of Education and Culturein Meir'sgovernment,and served in that post until 1974.

During theSeptember 1970crisis in Jordan, he advocated supportingKing Husseinin his conflict with thePLO.In 1974 he was a part of the delegation to theSeparation of Forces Agreement.He became the Minister of Foreign Affairs in 1974 and held this post until 1977.At the time of his sudden death in 1980, he wasa candidate for the leadershipof theAlignment,challenging the incumbent party headShimon Peres.

Allon Plan (1967)

Main article:Allon Plan

Allon (right) withGolda Meir,1969.

Foreign Minister Allon sitting withJoop den Uyl,Prime Minister of the Netherlands.

Allon was the architect of the Allon Plan, a proposal to end Israeli occupation of parts of theWest Bankwith a negotiated partition of territories.The plan was presented to the cabinet in July 1967, right after theSix-Day War.The plan was never formally adopted, but influenced Israeli settlement for the next decade.

According to the plan, Israel would retain one-third of the West Bank and protect itself from invasion from the east by a strip of settlements and military installations along theJordan Valley.The mountain ridge west of this strip, which was populated by Arabs, would be confederated with Jordan. A strip of land flanking the Jericho-Jerusalem road,Gush Etzionand a large part of the Hebron Hills area, would be annexed. Minor territorial changes would be made along the Green Line, specifically in the area ofLatrun.Allon also called for the development of Jewish neighborhoods in east Jerusalem, the rehabilitation of the Old City's Jewish Quarter, and the annexation of Gaza, whose Arab inhabitants would be resettled elsewhere.

Death (1980)

Allon died of heart failure inAfulaon 29 February 1980.He was buried in the cemetery of Kibbutz Ginosar in theNorthern Districton the shore of theSea of Galilee.The funeral was attended by tens of thousands of mourners, with condolences extended by many world leaders, including Egyptian presidentAnwar Sadat.

Legacy

Explaining the growing admiration for Yigal Allon three decades after his death, Oren Dagan of the Society for the Preservation of Israel Heritage Sites said, "people wish to live in the kind of state Yigal Allon dreamed of, for example on the Arab-Jewish issue. This isn't a post-Zionist approach, neither hesitant nor apologetic. It's an approach of safety and security that says, 'Our place is here,' but still emphasizes the importance of dialogue, and never through condescension or arrogance. Allon extended a hand in peace, and that's the approach we want leaders to adopt today."

Personal life

Allon was married to Ruth, whoimmigrated to PalestinefromGermanyin 1934, a year after the installment of theMachtergreifung.They had three children together. Their eldest daughter Nurit (Hebrew:נוּרִית) was on theautism spectrumand could not speak until age 5. After years of consulting medical professionals in multiple continents on how to treat her, Nurit was eventually institutionalized in Scotland. Allon visited her once a year.

In 1948, after theproclamation of the state of Israel,Allonchanged his surnamefrom "Peikowitz" to "Allon" (Hebrew:אלון), meaning "oak tree".

In the 1950s, the Allon couple helped their neighbors adopt a child, Tziona Heiman, from a Jerusalem hospital. This became associated with the widerYemenite Children Affairof the time, in which thousands of Jewish babies, mainly from Yemen, appeared as candidates for adoption in Israel. Heiman said she was treated well and lovingly by her adoptive parents and by Allon.In an interview, Allon's wife stated they had no knowledge of Heiman's origin.As of 2016, Heiman's origins remained unclear.

Published works

• Allon, Yigal (1970).Shield of David.New York: Random House.ISBN0-297-00133-7.
• Allon, Yigal (1970).The Making of Israel's Army.London: Vallentine, Mitchell.ISBN0-853-03027-8.
• Allon, Yigal (1975).My Father's House.New York: W. W. Norton. Archived fromthe originalon 16 February 2013.

Further reading

• Shapira, Anita; Abel, Evelyn (2008).Yigal Allon, native son: a biography.Philadelphia.ISBN978-0-8122-0343-1.OCLC915386137.{{cite book}}:CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)

External links

• Media related toYigal Allonat Wikimedia Commons
• Yigal Allonon the Knesset website