How The Israeli Government Thought of Dealing

With its Arab Population

Assennara, www.assennara.com, March 6, 1998
Assennara [Arab Israeli journal] learned from reliable sources that the Israeli
government in the late 50s and early 60s prepared a plan to limit the birth rate of the
Arabs who remained in the country [after the 1948 war] in an effort to solve the
demographic problems resulting from the increasing growth ratio among Arabs; which
the Israeli government though of as a security danger that threatened the demographic
balance in the country.
The sources said that the Israeli government under the leadership of Ben Gurion and
with consultations from experts reviewed a proposal of birth control among Arabs, not
for the sake of the Arab family welfare but in order to limit their numbers and banish
whatever the government could amidst concerns of low numbers of Jews in the country,
then.
Assennara learned that these documents are classified as top secrets that have not
been published yet despite their decades ages. We also learned that certain documents
were not allowed access to pertaining the plan although other parts were allowed
access to for researchers and academicians.
For that reason, we spent all day yesterday asking top [Israeli] security officials that
dealt with the Arabic affairs. But all of them strongly declined the story. One of the
former advisors said I never heard of or thought of a proposal like that. Even if the
someone proposed it, I suspect that others would have executed it, or could have
executed it.
Assennara submitted a written questionnaire to three former officials:- Former Prime
Minister and Ben Gurion aide Shimon Peres who was, hitherto, the Defense Minister;
former President and ex aide and secretary to Ben Gurion, Yitzhak Navon; and to Haim
Yisraeli, a senior officer in the Defense Ministry who obtained the Medal of Israel this
year for his contribution to the security of the state. The questionnaire was submitted in
writing based on the requests of their secretaries.
The questions were:1. Is it true that the the government of Israel in the 60s, or at any other time, prepared a
plan to birth control the Arabs?
2. Is it true that the basis for that plan was to distribute birth control pills for Arab
women?
3. Is it true that imposing drugs for birth control on them was examined?
Yitzhak Navon answered us verbally by saying that This story is a baseless lie. My
suggestion to you and your newspaper is not to bemired with this story. Haim Yisraelis

response was obtained after several follow ups where he was quoted saying that the
subject is different.
When we requested more information, an official spokeswoman told us that He did not
know. The entire subject is different. We requested a written response, but none was
received till today. Shimon Peres did not respond either.
Upon contacting other officials who were outraged, we were told that they had nothing
to do with the Arabic affairs or they were outside the country then on diplomatic
missions. But Assennara avers that it is quoting the story from reliable sources who
stressed that the proposal was evaluated by political and security authorities in the
government but after detailed discussions and perusal the proposal was dismissed by
the majority.
Ben Gurion Was Entertained With The Idea of Judaizing The Arabs
One of the series of the TV show The Enlightenment produced by the Israeli TV on the
50th anniversary of the establishment of Israel is dealing with the Arabs. Yitzhak Navon
is supposed to appear in one of the episodes; that has not been aired yet; that deals
with a plan to solve the demographic problem. According to the show, there was a plan
called Jonathan Campaign. The plan was aimed at banishing the Arabs in the Galilee
to South America. A top official (Yitzhak Navon- Assennara) was sent to Argentina to
examine the possibility of trading Jewish land in the region of Mendusa with Arab lands
in the Galilee. In his comments, Navon says:Since Israel was created, Jews will come to it from Argentina, as they said... They have
too much land in there and Arabs could be settled in it.... I said that first I will travel and
examine the issue... and this took a long time.... we examined the issue and found it
impractical and unrealistic.... because the Jews who settled there (Argentina) and were
peasants are no peasants anymore..... and the Arabs in here (Galilee) will not rush to
live there.
The above was a verbatim quotation of Navon in the show.
It is worth mentioning that Assennara published years ago a piece of news from a book
titled More Lands, Less Arabs by Nurdin Masalha (page 34) about an Israeli
government plan to exchange Arabs with Jews from Argentina, which Navon confirms
these days.
The host, before Navon reads his comments announces the following:After the birth of the state in 1948, more than 150,000 Arabs remained in the country
who were considered by the Israeli and army leader as a dangerous mine with dual
loyalty. Many different thoughts were proposed about their future. Even Ben Gurion was
entertaining (himself) by ideas of Judaizing the Arabs or banishing them to South
America.