Editing Moshe Dayan (section)

==Military career==
[[File:Ludwig Blum - Moshe Dayan, 1949.JPG|thumb|1949 portrait by [[Ludwig Blum]]]]
In 1947, Dayan was appointed to the [[Haganah]] General Staff working on Arab affairs, in particular recruiting agents to gain information about irregular Arab forces in Palestine.<ref>Dayan, Moshe (1976) ''Moshe Dayan. Story of my Life'', William Morrow. {{ISBN|0-688-03076-9}}. p. 80.</ref> On 14 April 1948, his brother, Zorik, was killed in fighting. On 22 April, Dayan was put in charge of abandoned Arab property in newly conquered [[Battle of Haifa (1948)|Haifa]]. To put a stop to the out-of-control looting, he ordered that anything that could be used by the army be stored in [[Haganah]] warehouses and the rest be distributed amongst Jewish agricultural settlements.<ref>Teveth. Page 159.</ref> On 18 May, Dayan was given command of the Jordan Valley sector. In a nine-hour battle, his troops stopped the Syrian [[Battles of the Kinarot Valley|advance]] south of the [[Sea of Galilee]].<ref>''Story of My Life'', pp. 88, 89. Moshe Montag received me courteously but with little enthusiasm.</ref>

===89th Battalion===
In June, he became the first commander of the [[89th Commando Battalion|89th Battalion]], part of [[Yitzhak Sadeh|Sadeh]]'s Armoured Brigade. His methods of recruiting volunteers from other army units, such as the [[Golani Brigade|Golani]] and [[Kiryati Brigade|Kiryati]] Brigades, provoked complaints from their commanders.<ref>Teveth. pp. 170–172.</ref> On 20 June 1948, two men from one of his companies were killed in a confrontation with [[Irgun]] members trying to bring weapons ashore from the [[Altalena]] at [[Kfar Vitkin]]. During [[Operation Danny]], he led his battalion in a brief raid through [[Lod]] in which nine of his men were killed. His battalion was then transferred to the south, where they captured [[Karatiya]], close to [[Al-Faluja|Faluja]] on 15 July. His withdrawal of his troops after only two hours, leaving a company from the [[Givati Brigade]] to face an Egyptian counterattack led to Givati Commander [[Shimon Avidan]] demanding that Dayan be disciplined. Chief of the General Staff [[Yigael Yadin]] instructed the military attorney general to proceed, but the case was dismissed.<ref>Teveth. p. 189.</ref>

===Jerusalem===
[[File:Dayan and el Tell PA-5737197.jpg|thumb|300x300px|[[Abdullah el-Tell]] and Moshe Dayan reach cease-fire agreement, Jerusalem, 30 November 1948]]
On 23 July 1948, on [[David Ben-Gurion]]'s insistence over General Staff opposition, Dayan was appointed military commander of Jewish-controlled areas of Jerusalem.<ref>''Story of my Life'' pp. 110, 106–111, 115–120, 122.</ref> In this post, he launched two military offensives. Both were night-time operations and both failed. On 17 August, he sent two companies to attempt to occupy the hillsides around [[East Talpiot|Government House]], but they retreated suffering casualties.<ref>Teveth. Pages 193,194.</ref> On the night of 20 October 1948, to coincide with the end of [[Operation Yoav]] further south, ''Operation Wine Press'' was launched. Its objective was to capture [[Bethlehem]] via [[Beit Jala]]. Six companies set out but were pinned down by machine-gun fire in the wadi below Beit Jala and were forced to withdraw.<ref>Teveth. pp. 197–199.</ref>

Following the 17 September 1948 assassination of Count [[Folke Bernadotte]], it was over 20 hours before he imposed a curfew over Jewish Jerusalem and began arresting members of [[Lehi (group)|Lehi]], the underground organisation believed to be responsible. One reason for this delay was the need to bring loyal troops from [[Tel Aviv]] into the city.<ref>{{cite book|author-link=Dov Yosef|last=Joseph|first=Dov|year=1960|title=The Faithful City. The siege of Jerusalem, 1948|publisher=Simon and Schuster|lccn=60-10976|oclc=266413|pages=306–307|url=https://archive.org/details/thefaithfulcity0000unse/page/306/mode/2up|url-access=registration}}</ref>

On 20 October 1948, Dayan commanded the 800-strong [[Etzioni Brigade]] during the ill-fated ''Operation Yeqev'', in which the objectives were to join the [[Harel Brigade]] in the capture of the mountain range overlooking [[Beit Jala]].<ref>Yad Tabenkin Archives (Tabenkin Memorial), Testimony of [[Aviva Rabinowitz]], 16-12/52/65</ref> The mission was called-off because of misguided navigation, and [[Ben Gurion]]'s fear of upsetting the Christian world at Israel's capture of Christian sites. A ceasefire went into effect on the 22nd of October.<ref>''Har’el: Palmach brigade in Jerusalem'', Zvi Dror (ed. Nathan Shoḥam), Hakibbutz Hameuchad Publishers: Benei Barak 2005, p. 270 (Hebrew)</ref>

In the autumn of 1948, he was involved in negotiations with [[Abdullah el Tell]], the Jordanian military commander of East Jerusalem, over a lasting cease-fire for the Jerusalem area. In 1949, he had at least five face-to-face meetings with [[Abdullah I of Jordan|King Abdullah of Jordan]] over the Armistice Agreement and the search for a long-term peace agreement.<ref>''Story of My Life'', 16 and 30 Jan: p. 135; 19 and 23 March: p. 142; 17 December p. 144.</ref> Following a February 1949 incident, he was courtmartialed for disobeying an order from his superior, Major-General Zvi Ayalon OC Central Command. A military court found him guilty and briefly demoted him from lieutenant colonel to major. This did not prevent him from attending the armistice negotiations on [[Rhodes]]. On 29 June 1949, he was appointed head of all Israeli delegations to the [[1949 Armistice Agreements|Mixed Armistice Commission]] meetings. In September 1949, despite being involved in these negotiations, Dayan recommended to Ben-Gurion that the army should be used to open the road to Jerusalem and gain access to the [[Western Wall]] and [[Mount Scopus]].<ref>''Story of My Life'', p. 147.</ref><ref>Teveth. p. 208.</ref>

===Southern Command===
On 25 October 1949, he was promoted to major general and appointed commander of the Southern Command. Most of the staff officers resigned in protest of his replacement of [[Yigal Allon]].<ref>''Story of My Life'' pp. 146, 150.</ref> The major problem in the south of the country was Palestinians crossing the border, "infiltrating", from the Gaza Strip, Sinai, and the Hebron hills. Dayan was an advocate of a "harsh" policy along the border. In Jerusalem, he had given instructions that infiltrators killed in no-man's-land or the Arab side of the border should be moved to the Israeli side before UN inspections.<ref>Morris, Benny (1993) ''Israel's Border Wars, 1949–1956. Arab Infiltration, Israeli Retaliation, and the Countdown to the Suez War''. Oxford University Press, {{ISBN|0-19-827850-0}}. p. 130. February – July 1950: 26 in Israel, 11 in no-man's-land, 23 on Jordanian side of the border.</ref> Allon had already introduced a 7 kilometre "free-fire" zone along the southern borders.<ref>Morris, ''Border Wars,'' Page 126. "Every stranger found ... will be shot without interrogation." 4 June 1949.</ref> In the spring of 1950, Dayan authorized the [[Israeli Air Force]] to [[strafe]] shepherds and their herds in the [[Beit Guvrin, Israel|Beit Govrin]] area. There were also strafing attacks on [[bedouin]] camps in the [[Gaza City|Gaza]] area.<ref>Morris, ''Border Wars,'' Page 191. possibly due to pilots having fun, "more likely" authorized by Dayan.</ref> In early 1950, 700 bedouin, [[Shaqib al-Salam|'''Azame'']], were expelled from the South Hebron area. In September 1950, several thousand more were driven from the demilitarized zone at [[Auja al-Hafir|Al-Ajua]]<ref>Morris, ''Border Wars''. UNTSO estimated 4,000, another over 6,000. [[Teddy Kollek]] has 2–3,000.</ref> During 1950, the remaining population of [[Al-Majdal, Askalan|al-Majdal]] were transferred to the Gaza Strip<ref>Morris, ''Border Wars,'' 109.</ref><ref>Teveth. p. 213. "1950 was an uneventful year."</ref> In a notorious incident on 31 May 1950, the [[Israel Defense Forces|army]] forced 120 Arabs across the Jordanian border at [[Arabah|'Arava]]. "Two or three dozen" died of thirst before reaching safety.<ref>Morris, ''Border Wars,'' pp. 157, 158. From a prison camp at [[Qatra]]</ref>

During 1950, Dayan also developed a policy of punitive cross-border [[Reprisal operations|reprisal raids]] in response to [[fedayeen]] attacks on Israelis. IDF squads were sent into the Gaza Strip to lay mines.<ref>Morris, ''Border Wars,'' Pp 197. p. 133 lists 7 incidents around Kibbutz Erez, January – June 1950, in which 13 Arabs were killed.</ref> The first retaliation raid on a village occurred 20 March 1950 when six Arabs were killed at [[Khirbet Jamrura]].<ref>Morris, ''Border Wars''. Page 189.</ref> On 18 June 1950, Dayan explained his thinking to the [[Mapai]] faction in the [[Knesset]]:

<blockquote>[Retaliation is] the only method that [has] proved effective, not justified or moral but effective, when Arabs plants mines on our side. If we try to search for that Arab, it has no value. But if we harass the nearby village... then the population there comes out against the [infiltrators]... and the Egyptian Government and the Transjordanian government are [driven] to prevent such incidents, because their prestige is [at stake], as the Jews have opened fire, and they are unready to begin a war...
The method of collective punishment so far has proved effective... There are no other effective methods.<ref>Morris, ''Border Wars''. p. 177.</ref></blockquote>

In 1950, Moshe Dayan also ordered the Israeli army in 1950 to destroy the [[Shrine of Husayn's Head]], more than a year after [[1948 Palestine war|hostilities]] ended. It is thought that the demolition was related to Dayan's efforts to expel the remaining Palestinian Arabs from the region.{{sfn|Talmon-Heller|Kedar|Reiter|2016}}

On 8 March 1951, 18 were killed at [[Idna]]. On 20 October 1951, two Battalion 79 (7th Brigade) companies destroyed several houses and an ice factory in eastern Gaza City; dozens were killed and injured. On 6 January 1952, an armoured infantry company from the same battalion attacked a Bedouin camp, ''Nabahim,'' near [[Bureij refugee camp]] killing 15.<ref>Morris, ''Border Wars''. pp. 190, 201/2, 203.</ref> [[Glubb Pasha]] wrote that the objective of this new strategy seemed to "be merely to kill Arabs indiscriminately". Dayan saw it as an "eye for an eye".<ref>Morris, ''Border Wars''. pp. 193–194</ref> He was a close friend of [[Amos Yarkoni]], an Arab officer in the [[Israel Defense Forces]], At the time, the Military Commander commented that "''if Moshe Dayan could be the [[Ramatkal]] (Chief of the General Staff) without an eye, we can have a Battalion Commander with a prosthetic hand''".<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.shaked.org.il/c.html|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20060714015950/http://www.shaked.org.il/c.html|archive-date = 14 July 2006|title = עמותת סיירת שקד 424 – סיירת שקד}}</ref>

At the end of 1951, Dayan attended a course at the British Army's Senior Officers' School in [[Devizes]], England. In May 1952, he was appointed operational commander of the Northern Command.<ref>Teveth. p.  221.</ref>

===Chief of the General Staff===
[[File:General Moshe Dayan 1955.jpg|thumb|300px|right|[[Chief of the General Staff (Israel)|Chief of the General Staff]] Moshe Dayan inspecting the honor guard during a ceremony marking the end of officers course at [[Bahad 1]], January 1955]]
The year 1952 was a time of economic crisis for the new state. Faced with demands of a 20% cut in budget and the discharge of 6,000 IDF members, [[Yigael Yadin]] resigned as Chief of the General Staff in November 1952, and was replaced by [[Mordechai Maklef]]. In December 1952, Dayan was promoted to Chief of the Operations (G) Branch, the second most senior General Staff post.<ref>Teveth. pp. 225, 226.</ref> One of Dayan's actions in this post was to commence work on the canal diverting water from the River Jordan, September 1953.<ref>Green, Stephen (1984) ''Taking Sides – America's secret relations with militant Israel 1948/1967''. Faber and Faber. {{ISBN|0-571-13271-5}}. p. 86.</ref>

During 1953, Prime Minister and Defence Minister [[David Ben-Gurion]] began to make preparations for his retirement. His choice for defence minister was [[Pinhas Lavon]], who became acting MoD in the autumn of 1953. Lavon and Maklef were unable to work together and Maklef resigned. Dayan was immediately appointed CoS on 7 December 1953.<ref>Teveth, ''Ben-Gurion's Spy.'' p. 66.</ref> This appointment was Ben-Gurion's last act as prime minister before his replacement by acting Prime Minister [[Moshe Sharett]].

On taking command, based on Ben-Gurion's three-year defence programme, Dayan carried out a major reorganisation of the Israeli army, which, among others, included:<ref>Lau-Levie, ''Moshe Dayan – A Biography'', p. 38.</ref>
* Strengthened combat units at the expense of the administrative "tail".
* Raising the Intelligence and Training Branches of the Israeli Army.
* Surrendering the activities of stores and procurement to the civilian Defence Ministry.
* Revamping the mobilisation scheme and ensuring earmarking for adequate equipment.
* Starting a military academy for officers of the rank of major and above.
* Emphasised strike forces (Air Force, Armour) and on training of commando battalions.
* Developed [[Gadna (Israel)|GADNA]], a youth wing for military training.

In May 1955, Dayan attended a meeting convened by Ben-Gurion. Ben-Gurion raised the issue of a possible invasion of Iraq into Syria, and how this could be used to bring about change in Lebanon. Dayan proposed that:
<blockquote>All that is required is to find an officer, even a captain would do, to win his heart or buy him with money to get him to agree to declare himself the savior of the Maronite population. Then the Israeli army will enter Lebanon, occupy the necessary territory, and create a Christian regime that will ally itself with Israel. The territory from the Litani southward will be totally annexed to Israel, and everything will fall into place.<ref>[https://www.cafetelaviv.de/israel/2011/11/23/moshe-dayan-angriff-plaene-libanon-ben-gurion-1955/#orig] Avi Shlaim, The Iron Wall, quoted by CafeTelAviv</ref></blockquote>
Prime Minister Moshe Sharett, shocked by the officers' indifference to neighbouring Lebanon, turned down the plan as divorced from reality.

===Cross-border operations===
In July 1953, while on the General staff, Dayan was party to the setting up of [[Unit 101]], which was to specialise in night-time cross-border retaliation raids.<ref>Morris ''Border Wars''. p. 239.</ref> He was initially opposed to setting up such a group because he argued it would undermine his attempts to prepare the IDF for an offensive war.<ref>Teveth ''Dayan''. p. 243.</ref> Unit 101's first official operation was to attack, on 28 August 1953, the [[Bureij|Bureij Refugee Camp]], during which they killed 20 refugees and suffered 2 wounded.<ref>Morris ''Border Wars''. p. 242.</ref>

By October 1953, Dayan was closely involved with 101. He was one of the main architects of the [[Qibya massacre]], on the night of 14/15 October 1953, in response to the killing of 3 Israeli civilians in the [[Yehud attack]] on 12 October. The General Staff order stated "temporarily to conquer the village of Qibya – with the aim of blowing up houses and hitting the inhabitants". The Central Command Operation Instructions were more specific: "carry out destruction and maximum killings." One hundred and thirty IDF soldiers, of whom a third came from Unit 101, carried out the operation. They carried 70&nbsp;kg of explosives, blew up 45 houses, and killed 69 people. The commander who led the attack, [[Ariel Sharon]] later said that he had "thought the houses were empty".<ref>Morris ''Border Wars''. pp. 245–276.</ref> The international criticism over the killed civilians led to a change of tactics. It was the last large-scale IDF attack on civilian buildings. In the future, targets were to be the [[Arab Legion]], the Frontier Police, and the Egyptian or Syrian Armies. Dayan merged Unit 101 with the [[Paratroopers Brigade]] and assigned its command to Sharon.<ref>Teveth ''Dayan''. p. 249.</ref>

Dayan had a difficult relationship with MoD Lavon. There were issues over spending priorities and over Lavon's dealings with senior IDF members behind Dayan's back. This ended with Lavon's resignation over who ordered the [[Lavon Affair|sabotage operation]] in Egypt, which led to the trial of a number of Egyptian Jews, two of whom were executed.

Dayan believed in the value of punitive cross-border retaliation raids:
<blockquote>We cannot save each water pipe from explosion or each tree from being uprooted. We cannot prevent the murder of workers in orange groves or of families in their beds. But we ''can'' put a very high price on their blood, a price so high that it will no longer be worthwhile for the Arabs, the Arab armies, for the Arab states to pay it.<ref>Allon, Yigal (1970) ''Shield of David – The Story of Israel's Armed Forces.'' Weidenfeld and Nicolson. SBN 297 00133 7. p. 235</ref><ref>Burns, Lieutenant-General E.L.M. (1962) ''Between Arab and Israeli''. George G. Harrap. p. 63 gives source [[Jerusalem Post]] 4 September 1955.</ref></blockquote>

Prime Minister Sharett was an advocate of restraint and was not as confident in the attacks' effectiveness. When seeking approval for operations, Dayan downplayed the scale of the raids to get approval. There were fewer large-scale cross-border raids in 1954.<ref>Morris ''Border Wars''. p. 424.</ref> Between December 1953 and September 1954, at least 48 Arabs were killed in over 18 cross-border raids. Fifteen of the dead were civilians: farmers, shepherds, and a doctor; two were women.<ref>Morris ''Border Wars''. pp. 293–323.</ref> With Ben-Gurion's return, this changed. On the night of 28 February 1955, [[Retribution operations|Operation Black Arrow]] (''Mivtza Hetz Shahor'') was launched against an Egyptian Army camp south of Gaza City. The IDF force consisted of 120 paratroops and suffered 14 dead; 36 Egyptian soldiers were killed as well as two Palestinian civilians. Ben-Gurion and Dayan had told Sharett that their estimate of Egyptian casualties was 10.<ref>Morris ''Border Wars''. pp. 324–327.</ref> On 31 August 1955, despite Sharett's opposition, three paratroop companies attacked the British-built [[Tegart fort]] in [[Khan Yunis]]. [[Operation Elkayam]] directives called for "killing as many enemy soldiers as possible". The police station and a number of other buildings were blown-up and 72 Egyptian and Palestinians were killed.<ref>Morris, ''Border wars''. p. 350.</ref><ref>Katz, Samuel M. (1988) ''Israeli Elite Units since 1948.'' Osprey Publishing. {{ISBN|0-85045-837-4}}. p. 10</ref>

===Armaments===
Between 1955 and 1956, Dayan and [[Shimon Peres]] negotiated a series of large weapons contracts with France. On 10 November 1955, an agreement was signed for the delivery of 100 [[AMX-13]] tanks and assorted anti-tank weapons. On 24 June 1956, an $80&nbsp;million deal was agreed involving 72 [[Dassault Mystère IV]] jets, 120 [[AMX-13]] tanks, 40 [[Sherman tank]]s and 18 [[Obusier de 155 mm Modèle 50|105mm artillery]]. The Mystere were in addition to 53 already on order. At the end of September 1956, a further 100 Sherman tanks, 300 half-tracks, and 300 6x6 trucks were added.<ref name="Morris, Pages 283, 284">Morris, ''Border Wars''. pp. 283, 284.</ref>

By the beginning of November 1956, the Israeli army had 380 tanks.<ref name="Morris, Pages 283, 284"/>

===Escalation up to the Suez Crisis===
[[File:Dayan 9th Brigade 1956.jpg|thumb|Ramatkal Moshe Dayan and [[Avraham Yoffe]], commanding officer of the [[Oded Brigade|9th Oded Brigade]], at [[Sharm el-Sheikh]] after [[Operation Kadesh]]]]
Following the [[1955 Israeli legislative election|1955 elections]], Ben-Gurion resumed his dual role as prime minister and defence minister. Dayan, who believed in the inevitability of the "Second Round", argued for a preemptive attack on Israel's neighbours, particularly Egypt.<ref>Morris ''Border Wars''. p. 279.</ref> The two leaders thought war with Egypt could be achieved by provoking an Egyptian response to retaliation raids, which could then be used to justify an all-out attack. On 23 October 1955, Ben-Gurion instructed Dayan to prepare plans to capture [[Sharm al Sheikh]].

On the night of 27 October 1955, an IDF battalion attacked an Egyptian army post at [[Kuntilla]] ([[Operation Egged]]), killing 12 Egyptian soldiers.<ref>Morris ''Border Wars''. p. 359.</ref> On 2 November, [[al Sabha]], close to the [[DMZ]], was attacked, in [[Operation Volcano (Israeli raid)|Operation Volcano]] (''Mivtza Ha Ga'ash''), killing 81 Egyptian soldiers.<ref>Morris ''Border Wars''. p. 360.</ref> On 11 December, hoping an attack on Syria would provoke an Egyptian response, [[Operation Olive Leaves]]/Sea of Galilee (''Mivtza 'Alei Zayit/Kinneret'') was launched in which a number of Syrian positions on the eastern shore of the [[Sea of Galilee]] were destroyed. Forty-eight Syrian soldiers were killed as well as six civilians. The Egyptians did not react.

A Cabinet meeting on 15 December 1955 voted against further provocations and ruled that any retaliation attacks must have full Cabinet approval.<ref>Morris ''Border Wars''. pp. 280–282.</ref> The raids ceased for six months. There was one exception: On 5 April 1956, following two earlier incidents along the border with the Gaza Strip in which four Israeli soldiers were killed, the IDF shelled the centre of Gaza City with 120&nbsp;mm mortars. Fifty-eight civilians were killed, including 10 children. 4 Egyptian soldiers were also killed. It is not clear whether Dayan had Ben-Gurion's approval to shell the city. Egypt responded by resuming fedayeen attacks across the border, killing 14 Israelis during the period 11–17 April.<ref>Morris ''Border Wars''. pp. 371, 393–396.</ref>

During September–October 1956, as plans began to mature for the [[Suez Crisis|invasion of the Sinai Peninsula]], Dayan ordered a series of large-scale cross-border raids. On the night of 25 September, following a number of incidents including the machine-gunning of large gathering at [[Ramat Rachel]] in which four Israelis were killed, and the murder of a girl southwest of Jerusalem, the 890th Battalion attacked the [[Husan]] police station and nearby [[Arab Legion]] positions close to the armistice lines. Thirty-seven Legionnaires and National Guardsmen were killed as well as two civilians. Nine or ten paratroopers were killed, several in a road accident after the attack.<ref>Morris, ''Border Wars''. p. 396.</ref>

Following the killing of two workers near [[Even-Yehuda]], Dayan ordered a similar attack, Operation Samaria/''Mivtza Shomron,'' on the [[Qalqilya]] police station. The attack took place on the night of 10 October 1956 and involved several thousand IDF soldiers. During the fighting, Jordanian troops surrounded a paratroop company. The Israeli survivors only escaped under close air-cover from four [[Israeli Air Force|IAF]] aircraft. The Israelis suffered 18 killed and 68 wounded; 70–90 Jordanians were killed. In the aftermath, paratroop officers severely criticized Dayan for alleged tactical mistakes. It was the last time the IDF launched a reprisal raid at night.<ref>Morris, ''Border Wars''. pp. 397–399. "brigade-sized assault by paratroops with armour and artillery support".</ref>

As [[Israel Defense Forces]] [[Ramatkal|Chief of the General Staff]], Moshe Dayan personally commanded the Israeli forces fighting in the Sinai during the 1956 [[Suez Crisis]]. It was during his tenure as Chief of the General Staff that Dayan delivered his [[Death and eulogy of Roi Rotberg|famous eulogy of Ro'i Rutenberg]], a young Israeli resident of Kibbutz [[Nahal Oz]], killed by Egyptian soldiers who ambushed the kibbutz, in 1956. Dayan's words became famous quickly and has served as one of the most influential speeches in Israeli history since. In forceful terms, Dayan condemned the killing and said,
: "Early yesterday morning Roi was murdered. The quiet of the spring morning dazzled him and he did not see those waiting in ambush for him, at the edge of the furrow. Let us not cast the blame on the murderers today. Why should we declare their burning hatred for us? For eight years they have been sitting in the refugee camps in Gaza, and before their eyes we have been transforming the lands and the villages, where they and their fathers dwelt, into our estate. It is not among the [[Arabs]] in [[Gaza City|Gaza]], but in our own midst that we must seek Roi's blood. How did we shut our eyes and refuse to look squarely at our fate, and see, in all its brutality, the destiny of our generation? Have we forgotten that this group of young people dwelling at Nahal Oz is bearing the heavy gates of Gaza on its shoulders? Beyond the furrow of the border, a sea of hatred and desire for revenge is swelling, awaiting the day when serenity will dull our path, for the day when we will heed the ambassadors of malevolent hypocrisy who call upon us to lay down our arms. Roi's blood is crying out to us and only to us from his torn body. Although we have sworn a thousandfold that our blood shall not flow in vain, yesterday again we were tempted, we listened, we believed.
: We will make our reckoning with ourselves today; we are a generation that settles the land and without the steel helmet and the cannon's maw, we will not be able to plant a tree and build a home. Let us not be deterred from seeing the loathing that is inflaming and filling the lives of the hundreds of thousands of Arabs who live around us. Let us not avert our eyes lest our arms weaken. This is the fate of our generation. This is our life's choice – to be prepared and armed, strong and determined, lest the sword be stricken from our fist and our lives cut down. The young Roi who left Tel Aviv to build his home at the gates of Gaza to be a wall for us was blinded by the light in his heart and he did not see the flash of the sword. The yearning for peace deafened his ears and he did not hear the voice of murder waiting in ambush. The gates of Gaza weighed too heavily on his shoulders and overcame him."<ref>{{cite book |last= Shapira |first= Anita |title= Israel: A History |page= 271 |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=Nh9okmg63ssC&q=%22nahal+oz%22++%22Moshe+dayan%22+++yearning+for+peace&pg=PA271 |access-date= 23 September 2014 |isbn= 9781611683530 |year= 2012}}</ref>