“Going Down to the Sea”: David Ben-Gurion’s Maritime Turn and Jewish Migrations to Mandatory Palestine, 1933-1948

Abstract

This article analyzes the original essay “Going Down to the Sea” by David Ben-Gurion, written in 1937. The article studies the historical context of Ben-Gurion’s maritime proclamation and discusses the Zionist Organization’s increasing interest in the sea as a place of power and influence. It demonstrates how a Jewish conquest of the sea influenced the Jewish national movement in general and Labor Zionism in specific. Moreover, it also shows how Zionists propagated a legitimate and national claim to the land and sea of Palestine and counterbalanced Arab and British narratives which questioned free Jewish immigration to the country. Thus, the article examines the Jewish maritime turn which gained influence after the publication of Ben-Gurion’s essay and affected the discourses on Jewish migration to Mandatory Palestine.