Ya'akov Arnon (; 1913–1995) was a Dutch Israeli

economist An economist is a professional and practitioner in the social sciences, social science discipline of economics. The individual may also study, develop, and apply theories and concepts from economics and write about economic policy. Within this ...

and government official in the 1960s who later became active in the Israeli peace movement.

Biography

Born Jacob "Jaap" van Amerongen in

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , ; ; ) is the capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, largest city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It has a population of 933,680 in June 2024 within the city proper, 1,457,018 in the City Re ...

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

to a well off family of Dutch Jewish diamond dealers, Arnon studied economics in his native city. He survived

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

by concealing his Jewish identity. After World War II he led the Zionist Federation of the Netherlands until 1948 when he emigrated to

Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...

after the war, changed his name and joined the Ministry of Finance under

Levi Eshkol Levi Eshkol ( ;‎ 25 October 1895 – 26 February 1969), born Levi Yitzhak Shkolnik (), was the prime minister of Israel from 1963 until his death from a heart attack in 1969. A founder of the Israeli Labor Party, he served in numerous seni ...

to become the new ministry's director-general. In 1965, he initiated policies that led to a serious

recession In economics, a recession is a business cycle contraction that occurs when there is a period of broad decline in economic activity. Recessions generally occur when there is a widespread drop in spending (an adverse demand shock). This may be tr ...

in Israel."The Makings of History / On a mission to save Israel"
''Ha'aretz'', February 11, 2010 He subsequently served as Chairman of the Board of the

Israel Electric Corporation Israel Electric Corporation (IEC; ) is the largest supplier of electrical power in Israel and the Palestinian territories. The IEC builds, maintains, and operates power generation stations, sub-stations, as well as transmission and distribution ...

. After the

Six-Day War The Six-Day War, also known as the June War, 1967 Arab–Israeli War or Third Arab–Israeli War, was fought between Israel and a coalition of Arab world, Arab states, primarily United Arab Republic, Egypt, Syria, and Jordan from 5 to 10June ...

, Arnon co-ordinated a committee of government officials that attempted to implement an "enlightened occupation" of the

West Bank The West Bank is located on the western bank of the Jordan River and is the larger of the two Palestinian territories (the other being the Gaza Strip) that make up the State of Palestine. A landlocked territory near the coast of the Mediter ...

and

Gaza Strip The Gaza Strip, also known simply as Gaza, is a small territory located on the eastern coast of the Mediterranean Sea; it is the smaller of the two Palestinian territories, the other being the West Bank, that make up the State of Palestine. I ...

but which laid the foundations of the ongoing Occupation. In 1975, he joined with two other dissident establishment figures,

Uri Avnery Uri Avnery (, also transliterated Uri Avneri; 10 September 1923 – 20 August 2018) was a German-born Israeli writer, journalist, politician, and activist, who founded the Gush Shalom peace movement. A member of the Irgun as a teenager and a vet ...

and Mattityahu Peled, to found the Israeli Council for Israeli-Palestinian Peace. The ICIPP Charter called for Israeli withdrawal from the territories occupied in 1967 and the creation of an independent Palestinian state in these territories,

Jerusalem Jerusalem is a city in the Southern Levant, on a plateau in the Judaean Mountains between the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean and the Dead Sea. It is one of the List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest cities in the world, and ...

being shared between them. At the time this was considered a very radical plan, which the ICIPP was the first Zionist organization to support. The ICIPP sought to promote private and unofficial dialogue between Israelis and Palestinians in as many ways as possible, but also to try to bring about official negotiations between the Government of Israel and the leadership of the

Palestine Liberation Organization The Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO; ) is a Palestinian nationalism, Palestinian nationalist coalition that is internationally recognized as the official representative of the Palestinians, Palestinian people in both the occupied Pale ...

. Arnon helped found the Sheli party prior to the

1977 elections The following elections occurred in the year 1977. Africa * 1977 Afars and Issas Constituent Assembly election * 1977 Algerian legislative election * 1977 Gambian general election * 1976–1977 Guinea-Bissau legislative election * 1977 Malagasy ...

but as the seventh candidate on the

party list An electoral list is a grouping of candidates for election, usually found in proportional or mixed electoral systems, but also in some plurality electoral systems. An electoral list can be registered by a political party (a party list) or can c ...

was not elected to the

Knesset The Knesset ( , ) is the Unicameralism, unicameral legislature of Israel. The Knesset passes all laws, elects the President of Israel, president and Prime Minister of Israel, prime minister, approves the Cabinet of Israel, cabinet, and supe ...

after the party won only 6 seats. He was also a candidate for the Progressive List for Peace in the 1984 elections and was the fourth candidate on the party list; however, only 2 MKs were elected. In 1980, Arnon went on a clandestine mission to

Morocco Morocco, officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It has coastlines on the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to Algeria–Morocc ...

on the invitation of King

Hassan II Hassan, Hasan, Hassane, Haasana, Hassaan, Asan, Hassun, Hasun, Hassen, Hasson or Hasani may refer to: People *Hassan (given name), Arabic given name and a list of people with that given name *Hassan (surname), Arabic, Jewish, Irish, and Scotti ...

along with Avnery, Peled and PLO liaison Issam Sartawi. His Hebrew-language biography, ''They Called Him Jaap: Jacob Arnon from Amsterdam to Jerusalem'', was published in 2010 by Hakibbutz Hameuchad. Yitzhak Rabin biographer Yossi Goldstein wrote its first section, and Aryeh Dayan, author of a book about the history of Shas, wrote the part documenting Arnon's political activity with people from the radical left. In 1991, he received the award of

Yakir Yerushalayim Yakir Yerushalayim (; ) is an annual citizenship prize in Jerusalem, inaugurated in 1967. The prize is awarded annually by the municipality of the City of Jerusalem to one or more residents of the city who have contributed to the cultural an ...

from the city of Jerusalem.City of Jerusalem official web site Arnon died in Jerusalem on October 7, 1995 at the age of 82. A street was named after him in Jerusalem shortly after his death.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Arnon, Yaakov 1913 births 1995 deaths 20th-century Dutch economists Dutch emigrants to Israel Dutch Jews Dutch Zionists Israeli anti-war activists 20th-century Israeli economists Israeli–Palestinian peace process Israeli people of Dutch-Jewish descent Politicians from Amsterdam Burials at Har HaMenuchot

Biography

See also

References