Moshe Dayan and the Palestinian Issue: The Local Elections in the West Bank, 1972

Abstract

This article examines the 1972 West Bank local elections as the most significant political gesture made by Dayan towards the Palestinians during his tenure as defense minister. The article has two goals: first, to describe for the first time the decision-making process on the Israeli side that led to the decision to hold the elections, while focusing on the motives and considerations behind it; and second, to use Dayan's political logic as revealed in this episode to provide insight into his overall political conception of the Palestinian issue.

The main argument of the essay is that Dayan did not envision that the mayors would play a role in conducting negotiations to achieve a peace settlement, which he viewed as not being very likely in the foreseeable future. Rather, he assigned the mayors a major role in creating a reality of quiet and normalcy in the West Bank that would enable Israel to gradually shape – both politically and practically – a reality that would suit its purposes. He was aware that the mayors could not be recruited to a process that would not give the Palestinians self-determination, but nonetheless believed that their personal interests could turn them, whether consciously or unconsciously, into players with a role in promoting Israel’s goals as he perceived them.