Yigal Allon

Yigal Allon
יגאל אלון‎
Allon in 1969, serving as Minister of Education & Culture
Interim Prime Minister of Israel
In office 26 February 1969 – 17 March 1969
President	Zalman Shazar
Preceded by	Levi Eshkol
Succeeded by	Golda Meir
Deputy Prime Minister of Israel
In office 1 July 1968 – 10 March 1974
Prime Minister	Levi Eshkol Golda Meir
Preceded by	Abba Eban
Succeeded by	Simha Erlich Yigael Yadin
Ministerial portfolios
1961–1968	Labour
1968–1969	Immigrant Absorption
1969–1974	Education and Culture
1974–1977	Foreign Affairs
Faction represented in the Knesset
1955–1965	Ahdut HaAvoda
1965–1968	Alignment
1968–1969	Labor Party
1969–1980	Alignment
Personal details
Born	(1918-10-10)10 October 1918 Kfar Tavor, Mandatory Palestine
Died	29 February 1980(1980-02-29) (aged 61) Afula, Israel
Spouse	Ruth Episdorf
Children	3
Education	Kadoorie Agricultural High School St Antony's College, Oxford

Yigal Allon^[1] (Hebrew: יגאל אלון‎; 10 October 1918 – 29 February 1980) was an Israeli military leader and politician. He was a commander of the Palmach and a general in the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF). He was also a leader of the Ahdut HaAvoda and Israeli Labor parties. He served briefly as acting Prime Minister of Israel between the death of Levi Eshkol and the appointment of Golda Meir in 1969. Allon was the first native-born Israeli to serve as Prime Minister of Israel (the first elected native-born Prime Minister would later be Yitzhak Rabin in 1974). He was a government minister from the third Knesset to the ninth inclusive.

Born a child of pioneer settlers in the Lower Galilee, Allon initially rose to prominence through his military career. After the outbreak of the 1936–1939 Arab revolt in Palestine, he joined the Haganah and later the Palmach. He commanded a squad and organized key operations in the Jewish Resistance Movement such as the Night of the Bridges. During the 1947–1949 Palestine war, Allon commanded the conquest of the Galilee, Lod and Ramla, as well as the entire Negev up to Eilat as Head of the Southern Command.

Allon entered politics after a forced relief from command by then-Premier David Ben-Gurion. During his political career, he served as foreign and education minister, deputy prime minister, and briefly as acting prime minister. He was one of the architects of the creation of the Labor party, advocating for the merge of Ahdut HaAvoda with Mapai.

In 1967, he devised the eponymous Allon Plan, which proposed next steps for Israel after the 1967 Arab–Israeli War. While the plan was not officially adopted, it served as a guideline for the next decade of Israeli settlement.^[2][3] He also took part in the Sinai Interim Agreement in 1975.

In 1980, Allon died unexpectedly due to cardiac arrest while campaigning for the leadership of the Labor party.