Ya'akov Arnon (Hebrew:יעקב ארנון; 1913–1995) was a Dutch Israelieconomist and government official in the 1960s who later became active in theIsraeli peace movement.
BornJacob "Jaap" van Amerongen inAmsterdam,Netherlands to a well off family of Dutch Jewish diamond dealers, Arnon studied economics in his native city.[1] He survivedWorld War II by concealing his Jewish identity. After World War II he led the Zionist Federation of the Netherlands until 1948 when he emigrated toIsrael after the war, changed his name and joined the Ministry of Finance underLevi Eshkol to become the new ministry's director-general.[1] In 1965, he initiated policies that led to a seriousrecession in Israel.[2] He subsequently served as Chairman of the Board of theIsrael Electric Corporation.
After theSix-Day War, Arnon co-ordinated a committee of government officials that attempted to implement an "enlightened occupation" of theWest Bank andGaza Strip but which laid the foundations of the ongoingOccupation.[2]
In 1975, he joined with two other dissident establishment figures,Uri Avnery andMattityahu Peled, to found theIsraeli 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 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 thePalestine Liberation Organization.
Arnon helped found theSheli party prior to the1977 elections but as the seventh candidate on theparty list was not elected to theKnesset after the party won only 6 seats. He was also a candidate for theProgressive List for Peace in the1984 elections and was the fourth candidate on the party list; however, only 2 MKs were elected.
In 1980, Arnon went on a clandestine mission toMorocco on the invitation of KingHassan II along with Avnery, Peled and PLO liaisonIssam Sartawi.[2]
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.[2]
In 1991, he received the award ofYakir Yerushalayim from the city of Jerusalem.[3]
Arnon died in Jerusalem on October 7, 1995 at the age of 82.[1] A street was named after him in Jerusalem shortly after his death.[2]
