"One day, or rather night, in 1956 I sat up at his house [Ben-Gurion's]
till three in the morning.  That night, a beautiful summer night, we had a
forthright discussion on the Arab problem.  'I don't understand your
optimism,' Ben-Gurion declared.  'Why should the Arabs make peace?  If I
were an Arab leader I would never make terms with Israel.  That is natural:
we have taken their country.  Sure, God promised it to us, but what does
that matter to them?  Our God is not theirs.  We come from Israel, it's
true, but two thousand years ago, and what is that to them?  There has been
anti-Semitism, the Nazis, Hitler, Auschwitz, but was that their fault?  They
only see one thing: we have come here and stolen their country.  Why should
they accept that?  They may perhaps forget in one or two generations' time,
but for the moment there is no chance.  So it's simple: we have to stay
strong and maintain a powerful army.  Our whole policy is there.  Otherwise
the Arabs will wipe us out...  I'll be seventy years old soon.  Well, Nahum
[Goldmann], if you asked me whether I shall die and be buried in a Jewish
State I would tell you Yes; in ten years, fifteen years, I believe there
will still be a Jewish State.  But ask me whether my son Amos, who will be
fifty at the end of this year, has a chance of dying and being buried in a
Jewish State, and I would answer: fifty-fifty'."  "But how can you sleep
with that prospect in mind and be PM of Israel too?", Goldmann broke in.
Ben-Gurion's answer was simple: "who says I sleep"?  Goldmann concluded by
stating "That was Ben-Gurion all over: he had told me that so as to show me
how well he knew in his heart that Israel could not exist without peace with
the Arabs, but his stubborn, aggressive unbending character prevented him
from following what his own intelligence told him.  The best proof of that
is that having lost his grip on power his intelligence reasserted itself; he
even became a 'Goldmannite', declaring that all the occupied territories
except Jerusalem should be restored.  On this point I am in agreement with
him: Israel must keep Jerusalem".  (Goldmann, Nahum.  The Jewish Paradox: A
personal memoir of historic encounters that shaped the drama of modern
Jewry.  New York: Fred Jordan Books/Grosset and Dunlap, 1978, pp. 99-100)