The Lion's Last Roll Call

THE summer session of Israel's parliament had hardly come to order for the first time last week when a page delivered a handwritten note to Speaker Reuven Barkatt. "For some time I have not been able to come to Knesset sessions," read the familiar scrawl, "and I do not see any possibility in the future, either, of taking part. I am not entitled to bear the name of Knesset member if I cannot fulfill my obligation to participate, and I hereby submit my resignation." Thus did David Ben-Gurion, seated in the Knesset's first row, announce the end of a half-century political career at the age of 83.

Ben-Gurion's Polish-born wife Paula, who died in 1968, once said: "Anyone can be a Prime Minister, but not everyone can be a Ben-Gurion." Her husband, whose last name literally means "son of a lion cub," was Israel's principal founder in 1948; he chose the name of the new country, served as its Premier for its first 15 years and, as "B-G," became a stern, uncompromising but well-loved father figure. Since 1965, however, he has become less and less active in politics.

After a dry-eyed departure from the Knesset, Ben-Gurion returned to the cool of his Tel Aviv home to reminisce with TIME Correspondent Marlin Levin about his long career. Ben-Gurion professed himself generally satisfied with his life. But the old man, who will spend most of his time on his Sde Boker kibbutz in the Negev, confided that he had found work on the land more fulfilling than statecraft. Among his reflections:

ON ISRAEL'S BIRTH: When I made the declaration that there would be a state. America placed an embargo on us. We were helped only by the Russians. It's unbelievable today, and they deny it. But they stood with us before the state was established. They gave us arms, not from Russia, but from Czechoslovakia. Of course I knew the reason why. They wanted to get rid of the British. But I didn't care what the reason was.

ON SOVIET POLICY: They want to get the two oceans, the Atlantic and the Pacific. So first of all they must have the Mediterranean, and it is not easy to get that without the Arabs. They want the Arabs, but not because they like Arabs. I do not think they are interested in destroying Israel, because if they do, the Arabs will not need them.

ON CHINA: China has so many people, and when the Chinese have the same weapons as the Americans and Russians, they will be the only power in the world. China has a reason to be against the Russians, because they took 800.000 square miles away from China. Unless Russia gives back the land. I'm absolutely certain there will be a war, and then Russia will no longer be a major power.

ON PEACE: I consider peace more important than territory. The area we had before the Six-Day War would be enough to take in all the Jews. For peace, I would be for giving back all the captured areas, with the exception of Jerusalem and the Golan Heights. We have plenty of space for another five or six million Jews [Israel's present Jewish pop. is 2,550,000]. I don't believe that all Jews will settle in Israel -unless the Messiah comes. But we do need another five or six million.

ON EGYPT AND NASSER: There are many intelligent people in Egypt, but they know that under the present regime they cannot change anything. There must be a new regime.

ON OTHER STATESMEN: I wouldn't have elected Eisenhower -all his work was done by Dulles and Sherman Adams, and he did nothing -but he was the nicest man I ever met. Truman was a very good man. Kennedy, too. Kennedy came to see me before he was elected. I looked at his face and thought, "My God, he looks like a boy of 25! Can he be President?" So I didn't take him seriously If Johnson had not had this business of Viet Nam, America would be the nicest country in the world. I think we have done De Gaulle a great injustice. The question is not whether he likes Jews. He saved France.

ON RETIREMENT: I was writing the history of the state, but I came to the conclusion that one should not write the history of his time. You cannot know all the facts, and you shouldn't write it if you were mixed up in it. So I decided to write merely memoirs. I have written up to the year 1933 so far, and it is already 1,000 pages. The next chapters will be bigger. There was more action.

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