Page 377 - עלי זית וחרב - כרך כ

The Poet Mr. Haim Gouri

The Spirit of the Defence Force

In the writings of Haim Gouri, Palmach member, poet and combat commander, he
portrays the national image of the Hagana and draws the portrait of the generation
of 1948. The Hagana organization – the Jewish Defence force – was a central pillar
in the history of the revolution instigated by the Jewish national revival movement
over the generations, even though the forefathers of Zionism did not envision the
importance of the issue of defence . The defence force was established as a result
of the circumstances imposed on the Jewish Yishuv in Palestine. From its very
beginning, its purpose was to defend the Zionist enterprise and not to be a force of
conquest. Natan Alterman, the poet of the struggle, described in his song Dialogue
the existential constraint to bear arms. In the dialogue between two lovers who fell
in battle, Michael asks, "Where are you, Michal? We are a knife, in the grasp of
an unmerciful time, emerging from an ambush,'' and Michal replies, "No sons for
the knife, and the sword shall not give birth, but in women's eyes they protect the
cradle."

"Throughout my life my soul was torn by the terrible dilemma between the
peaceable vision of the Zionist movement's revival and the necessity to defend our
national existence in Palestine. At the base of the bloody struggle for the

righteousness of the way of the Jewish defence force stands a defining pillar: the

sacred principle of maintaining the Purity of Arms. The Yishuv's deep
commitment to the ethics of war comes from a Zionist-humanistic outlook which
espouses striving for a fraternity between the peoples and the realization that we
will keep on living with our Arab neighbors in Palestine and need to avoid opening
accounts of blood revenge.

The Hagana's deep commitment to the ethics of war stemmed from its devotion
to a moral-humanistic outlook and an excessive strictness in maintaining our
humanity."

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