Little I Know

Today I went with my parents to the Menachem Begin Memorial. Whenever I go to a new place in this country I am surprised by two things. 1. How much I knew. 2. How little I knew. I knew most of the stories that were told, I just did not know who played what role in each story. The funny thing abut Israeli history is how few main characters there are.
There have only been 11 Prime Ministers. They have always been from either Labor or Likud (in the very beginning Labor was called Mapai). Most of them are interconnected. I put together a very brief write-up on them. Some served for 2 terms, but this the "order of their appearance".

David Ben-Gurion - Moved to Israel when he was 20, was expelled - went to the States, and returned when the British took over after WW1. Held office for 2 terms. Before Statehood was the head of the haganah (which became the IDF) He ordered the Irgun's weapon Ship Altalena (which Menachem Begin was on) shot upon.
Moshe Sharett - Was only in office for under two years, sandwhiched by David Ben-Gurion. He ran the Jewish Agency after, until 1960.
Levi Eshkol - Came to Israel when he was 19. Was a member of the Haganah. Prime Minister during the 6 day war. Died of a heart attack in office after 6 years.
Golda Meir - Moved to Israel at 23 from the States, married. She had spent years in the states hosting Palestine speakers. When Israel became a state, she was the first Israeli to receive a passport, she went to the States to raise money. She has some great quotes, including:
"How can we return the occupied territories? There is nobody to return them to." March 8, 1969.
"This country exists as the fulfillment of a promise made by God Himself. It would be ridiculous to ask it to account for its legitimacy." 15 October 1971.
"We can forgive you for killing our sons. But we will never forgive you for making us kill yours."— to Anwar Sadat just before the peace talks.
"Peace will come when the Arabs love their children more than they hate us."
"Let me tell you something that we Israelis have against Moses. He took us 40 years through the desert in order to bring us to the one spot in the Middle East that has no oil!"
"Don't be so humble, you're not that great."
Yitzhak Rabin - Famous for being killed by a Jew while in office, He was the first Prime Minister born on Israeli soil. He was a member of the Haganah (Palmach division). He accepted Ben-Gurion's orders to shoot down the Altalena, after other Haganah members refused. He created the Palestinian Authority, and signed the Oslo Death Treaty.
Menachem Begin - Came to Israel at 30 with the Free Polish Army (who were going to be trained by the British) after spending years in a Russian prison for supporting Zionism. He joined the Irgun and facilitated the bombings of the King David Hotel & Acco Prison. In trying to englarge the IDF, he brought close to 1000 European Jews to Israel on the Altalena with arms, but it was shot down by Yitzchak Rabin on command from David Ben-Gurion. He created the Cherut party, and later joined forces with Ariel Sharon in Likud. He signed the peace treaty with Sadat that got him (Sadat) killed, and gave him back the Sinai. (He offered him the Gaza strip, but the Egyptians did not want it) He also ordered the destruction of the Iraqi Nuclear Plant, and invaded Lebanon creating the buffer zone. Great quote, "The Partition of Palestine is illegal. It will never be recognized .... Jerusalem was and will for ever be our capital. Eretz Israel will be restored to the people of Israel. All of it. And for ever. "
Yitzhak Shamir - Came to Israel when he was 20, and joined the Irgun, and later the Stern Gang. He ordered Operation Solomon (the Ethiopian Exodus), and he had Israel sit in silence during the Gulf War as per America's request. He is still alive today, at 90 y/o. He is very critical of Netanyahu's inaction, and is against the disengagement.
Shimon Peres - Oh, what to say... he came to Israel with his family when he was only 11. When he was 24 he was drafted into the haganah...did not volunteer like the rest. He was a mess of a politician, he tried to gain control of the party with Golda Meir's resignation, only gaining control of the party when Rabin resigned. He has stood in everyone's shadows hoping to be noticed, and has flip flopped on every major issue. He is the author of 10 books.
Benjamin Netanyahu -Was born in Israel, grew up in Pennsylvania, Bibi is the genius no one will ever understand. He is on his 3rd wife... He has degrees from MIT and Harvard. He was meant to be the savior of Israel, and stop playing nice with the murderous Arabs who were perpetration suicide bombings during Peres' flop of a government. Although he did quiet the suicide bombings he went back on his entire platform. He crushed my naviette about politicians, when I thought I found one the people could trust. The people were so distraught by his failures, the governement went back to Labor.
Ehud Barak - Born in Israel on a Kibbutz, he joined politics after a distinguishing military career. He should've stayed where he was. Most of his accomplishments while being Prime Minister for two years are controversial. His failures led to special elections, and Ariel Sharon's rise to power.
Ariel Sharon - Our current Prime Minister. Was also born on Israeli soil. Starting from the age of 14 Ariel was involved in the military. First Gadna (paramilitary) then the Haganah, He fought at Latrun where he was injured. He was asked to create and lead Unit 101 which was formed on David Ben-Gurion's orders to retaliate against Arab attacks. Some say they went overboard and attacked civilians, some say they were ordered to attack civilians... The unit was disbanded. His military career left people wondering if he had any regard for human life. Most of Sharon's history makes us wonder how he has led us to today's predicament, with his ruthless right wing views. To his credit, he has created the strongest govenment Israel has seen yet, and it is only because of this reason that he has not been overthrown.