Ben-Gurion's 1948 Misreading of the Palestinian Issue Haunts Israel Today

In 1948, David Ben-Gurion, Israel's founding father, miscalculated the resilience of the Palestinian national identity. Despite Israel's subsequent efforts—including displacement, military occupation, and systemic brutality—the Palestinian question has not only persisted but grown more central to regional and global politics. Ben-Gurion believed that the creation of a Jewish state would cause the Palestinian problem to fade, but history has proven otherwise. The lessons of that misjudgment remain stark as the conflict continues to shape the Middle East.