Six Days of War

by Michael B. Oren

  47. Ze’ev Ma’oz, “The Evolution of Syrian Power, 1948-1984,” in Moshe Ma’oz and Avner Yaniv, eds., Syria Under Assad: Domestic Constraints and Regional Risks (London: Croom Helm, 1986), pp. 71-76.

  48. Aharon Yariv, Ha’arakha Zehira, pp. 159-61, Aharon Yariv, “Ha-Reka laMilhama,”Dapei Elazar, no. 10, Esrim Shana le-Milhemet Sheshet ha-Yamim (Tel Aviv: Yad David Elazar, 1988), pp. 15-23. Avi Cohen, Ha-Hagannah al Mekorot ha-MayimMediniyut Hafalat Hail Ha-Avir le-Tkifa bi-Gvul Yisrael-Suria, 1956-1967 (Tel Aviv: Hail ha-Avir, Misrad ha-Bitahon, 1992), p. 55.

  49. On the Syrian-Israeli border war of 1964-65, see PRO, FCO17/565, IsraelTerritorial: Hadow to Morris, Feb. 15, 1967. Mustafa Khalil, Min Milaffat al-Julan: Al-Qism al-Awwal (Amman: Dar al-Yaqin lil-Tiba‘a wal-Nashr, 1970), p. 47. Hanoch Bartov, Dado: 48 Years and 20 Days (Tel Aviv: Ma‘ariv Books, 1981), pp. 83-92. Shabtai Teveth, The Tanks of Tammuz (London: Sphere Books, 1969), pp. 76-95. Cohen, Ha-Hagannah al Mekorot ha-Mayim, pp. 86-87, 107-8; Eshkol quote on p. 113.

  50. Heikal, Al-Infijar, pp. 220-23, 239-46, 333, and Heikal, The Sphinx and the Commissar: The Rise and Fall of Soviet Influence in the Middle East (London: Collins, 1978), pp. 166-68. I. Adeed Dawisha, Egypt in the Arab World: The Elements of Foreign Policy (New York: Wiley, 1976), pp. 46-47. Lachish and Amitai, Asor Lo Shaket, pp. 19-20. Sayigh, Armed Struggle and the Search for State, pp. 100-107. ISA, 3975/14, Foreign Ministry files, Diplomatic Relations with the United States, Washington to Foreign Ministry, July 12, 1966. Nasser quotes from Theodore Draper, Israel & World Politics: Roots of the Third Arab-Israeli War (New York: Viking, 1967), p. 44, and Stephens, Nasser, p. 461.

  51. Gen. Odd Bull, War and Peace in the Middle East: The Experiences and Views of a U.N. Observer (London: Lee Cooper, 1973), p. 95. Mutawi, Jordanin the 1967 War, pp. 38-39, 114. Susser, On Both Banks of the Jordan, p. 78.

  52. Moshe Zak, Hussein Ose Shalom (Ramat Gan: Merkaz Begin-Sadat, 1966), pp. 6-75. Meir Amit, Rosh be-Rosh: Mabat Ishi al Eruim Gdolim u-Farshiyot Alumot (Or Yehuda: Hed Arzi, 1999), pp. 94-98. Ben-Gurion quote in Documents of the Foreign Policy of Israel, pp. 36-37.

  53. Hussein quotes from Susser, On Both Banks of the Jordan, pp. 105-6, and Mutawi, Jordan in the 1967 War, pp. 66-67. See also William B. Quandt, Fuad Jabber and Ann Mosley Lesche, The Politics of Palestinian Nationalism (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1973), pp. 165, 173. Kerr, The Arab Cold War, pp. 112-22. Heikal, Al-Infijar, pp. 351-53.

  54. Eitan Haber, Ha-Yom Tifrotz Milhama; Zikhronotav shel Tat-Aluf Yisrael Lior, ha-Mazkir Hatzvai shel Rashei ha-Memshala Levi Eshkol ve-Golda Meir (Tel Aviv: Yediot Ahronot, 1987), pp. 54, 122, 133-34. Matitiahu Mayzel, Ha-Ma’arakha al ha-Golan-Yuni 1967 (Tel Aviv: Ma’arakhot, 2001), pp. 99-101. The complete Eli Cohen story can be found on the Internet, at www.elicohen.com.

  55. Sylvia K. Crosbie, A Tacit Alliance: France and Israel from Suez to the Six Day War (Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1974), pp. 123-24, 140-48, 170, 224-25. Jean Lacouture, De Gaulle: The Ruler, 1945-1970 (New York: Norton, 1992), p. 435. ISA 3975/16, Foreign Ministry files, Diplomatic Relations with the United States: Bitan to Harman, Jan. 19, 1967.

  56. Johnson quotes from I. L. Kenen, Israel’s Defense Line: Her Friends and Foes in Washington (Buffalo, N.Y.: Prometheus Books, 1981), p. 173, and USNA, Middle East Crisis files, 1967, Lot file 68D135, box I: United States Statements on Israel: Johnson Statements, June 1, 1964. Eshkol quote from Cohen, Israel and the Bomb, p. 204.

  57. ISA, 3976/9, Foreign Ministry files, Relations with the United States: Eban Conversation with Johnson, Sept. 2, 1966. Lachish and Amitai, Asor Lo Shaket, pp. 22-23. Klinghoffer, Vietnam, fews and the Middle East, p. 61. Memorandum of Understanding quoted in Ma’oz, Syria and Israel, pp. 86-87.

  58. Documents relating to the connection between Vietnam and the Middle East proliferate in the Israeli archives. Though Israel could not come out openly in support of the war—leftist members of the government opposed it—Israeli representatives conveyed strong backing for America’s policies in Southeast Asia. See, for example, ISA, 3975/12, Foreign Ministry files, Diplomatic Relations with the United States: Harman to Eban, June 24, 1966; 3975/14, Diplomatic Relations with the United States: Harman to Foreign Ministry, July 4, 1966; 3977/22, Diplomatic Relations with the United States: Report on Eshkol Talk with Feinberg and Ginzburg, April 28, 1966.

  59. A survey of Israel’s economic crisis appears in PRO FCO17/577: Israel - Defense: Report of Defense Attaché, Nov. 16, 1996. See also Gawrych, The albatross of Decisive Victory, p. 3.

  60. Ma’oz, Syria and Israel, p. 89.

  61. An internal CIA memorandum described the new Syrian government as “unstable, as any foreseeable successor is likely to be. The prospect is one of a succession of extremist military governments…The question in regard to Syria’s future then is not whether it will be moderate or radical, but what will be the kind and intensity of its radicalism.” LBJ, National Security file, Middle East, boxes 145-17: Special Memorandum - Syria’s Radical Future. See also, Quandt, Jabber, and Lesche, The Politics of Palestinian Nationalism, pp. 166-67. Itamar Rabinovich, “Suria, ha-Yahasim ha-bein-Araviyim u-Frotz Milhemet Sheshet ha-Yamim,” in Ahser Susser, ed., Shisha Yamim-Shloshim Shana (Tel Aviv: Am Oved, 1999), pp. 50-52.

  62. On Soviet aid to the Arab world, see PRO, FCO17/112: Soviet Aid to Arab Countries, June 26, 1967 and USNA, Lot files, USUN, box 6: Circular: Foreign Military Assistance to Near East Countries, June 19, 1667. I. L. Blishchenko and V. D. Kudriavtsev, Agressia Izrailia 1 Mezhdunarodnoie Pravo (Moscow: Mezhdunorodnyie Otnosheniya, 1970), pp. 8-11. See also Christoper Andrew and Oleg Gordievsky, KGB: The Inside Story (New York: HarperCollins, 1990), pp. 495-98. Oded Eran, “Soviet Policy Between 1967 and 1973,” in Rabinovich and Shaked. From June to October, pp. 27-30. Kimche and Bawly, The Sandstorm, pp. 44-45. Burns, Economic Aid and American Policy,p. 154. On Khrushchev’s ouster, see LBJ, Lucius Battle Oral History. pp. 14-15. ‘Amer quote from Heikal, Al-Infijar, p. 81.

  63. NAC, RG 25 BOX 2827, Syria: New urge for Industrialization, Feb. 8, 1967. ISA, 4048/1627, Foreign Ministry files, Soviet Foreign Relations: Eban Conversation with Hare, April 27, 1966. Yariv, Ha’arakha Zebira, p. 149. Ben Tzur,Gormim sovietiim u-Milhemet Sheshet ha-Yamim, pp. 35-49, 71-72. V. M. Vinogradov, Diplomatia: liudi i sobytia (Moscow: Rosspen, 1998), pp. 151-54, 215. O. E. Tuganova, Mezhdunarodnyie otnoshenia na Blizhnem i Srednem Vostoke (Moscow: Mezhdunarodnyie Otnoshenia, 1967), pp. 134-35.

  64. A. M. Grechko, Sovetskaia Voiennaia Entsiklopedia 3 (Moscow: Institut Voiennoi Istorii, 1976), p. 508. V. Rumiantsev, “Arabskii Vostok na Novom Puti,”Kommunist (Moscow) 16 (November 1969), p. 91. I. Ivanov, Ostorozhno: Sionizm!, 2nd ed. (Moscow: Politicheskaia Literatura, 1971), p. 3. I. P. Beliaev and E. M. Primakov, Egipet: Vremia Prezidenta Nasear (Moscow: Mysl, 1974), p. 324. V. V. Zhurkin and E. M. Primakov, eds., Mezhdunarodnyie Konflikty (Moscow: Mezhdunarodnyie Otnoshenia 1972), p. 129. Govrin, Israeli-Soviet Relations, pp. 276-79, 300. Avigdor Dagan, Moscow and Jerusalem: Twenty Years of Relations Between Israel and the Soviet Union (London: Abedlard-Schuman, 1970), pp. 155-57.

  65. Ben Tzur, Gormim Sovietiim u-Milhemet Sheshet ha-Yamim, pp. 190-91, 210-11. Atassi quote from Draper, Israel & World Politics, p. 35.

  66. On U.S. support for Israel vis-à-vis Syria, see LBJ, National Security file, Middle East, Israel box 140, 141: Conversation with Forign Minister Eban, Nov. 3, 1966. ISA, 3977/20, Foreign Ministry files, Relations with the United States: Evron to Bitan Oct. 25, 1966; President Johnson to Eshkol, Nov. 9. 1966.

  67. ISA, 3975/12, Diplomatic Relations with the United States: Rafael to Bitan June 20, 1966. Haber, Ha-Yom Tifrotz Milhama, pp. 127, 139. Parker, The Politics of Miscalculation, p. 11. Govrin, Israeli-Soviet Relations, pp. 287-89. Tass quote from Dagan, Moscow and Jerusalem, p. 176.

  68. The Israeli and Syrian verisons of the fighting in the Galilee in this period can be found in UN, DAG 13/3.4.0, box 82, Israel/Syria High Level Talks, Cultivation Arrangements: Barromi to the President of Security
Council, Jan. 9, 1967, and Tomeh to President of Security Council, Jan. 10, 1967. See also Cohen, Ha-Hagannab al Mekorot ha-Mayim, pp. 140-56.

  69. Sayigh, Armed Struggle and the Search for State, pp. 137-38. Rabin quote from Gilboa, Shesh Shanim, Shisha Yamim, pp. 287-89. Syrina quote from BBC, Daily Report, Middle East, Africa, and Western Europe, No. 199. G3.

  70. Cohen, Israel and the Bomb, p. 261.

  71. Amit, Rosh be-Rosh, pp. 210-26. Haber, Ha-Yom Tifrotz Milhama, pp. 64-65 Klinghoffer, Vietnam, Jews and the Middle East, p. 73. On the confluence of Egyptian and Israeli interests in 1966, see ISA, 3975/15, Foreign Ministry files, Diplomatic Relations with the United States: Argov to Harman, March 19, 1966, and 3978/2, United States - Relations with the Middle East. Evron to Gazit, Aug. 25, 1967.

  72. ‘Ali ‘Amer quote from Gilboa, Shesh Shanim, Shisha Yamim, p. 65. Nassser quote from Heikal, Al-Infijar, pp. 365-66. See also Sela, The Decline of the Arab-Israeli Conflict, p. 90. Kerr, The Arab Cold War, pp. 122-28. Seale, Asad of Syria, p. 126.

  73. Suliman Mazhar, I‘tirafat Qadat Harb Yunyu: Nusus Shahadatihim Amama Lajnat Tasjil Ta’rikh al-Thawra (Cairo: Kitab al-Hurriyya, 1990), p. 88. Makhous quote from BBC, Daily Report No. 183, G3. Voice of the Arabs and Damascus Radio quotes from BBC, Daily Report No. 183, B1 and Daily Report No. 199, G1.

  74. ISA, 3977/20, Foreign Ministry files, Relations with the United States: Hand-written Notes (by Y. Herzog) on LE meeting with Barbour, Now. 10, 1966. MPA, Party Secretariat Procotols, 2/24/66/88: Eshkol Remarks to the Executive, Dec. 15, 1966. “Notepad” quote from Rafi Man, Lo Ya’ale al ha-Da’at (Or Yehuda: Hed Arzi, 1998), p. 242.

  75. ISA, 4030/6, Foreign Ministry files, Diplomatic Contracts and Security Council debate on the Samu’ Operation: Harman Conversation with Symes, Nov. 14, 1966; 3977/20, Foreign Ministry files, Relations with the United States, Mr. Bitan’s Visit, Nov. 29, 1966.

  76. Ezer Weizman, On Eagles’ Wings: The Personal Story of the Leading Commander of the Israeli Air Force (New York: Macmillan, 1976), p. 206. Haber, ha-Yom Tifrotz Milhama, pp. 106-7. Eshkol remarks to the Cabinet in Zak, Hussein Ose Shalom, p. 89.

  The Catalysts

  1. Descriptions of the Samu’ battle from ISA, 3998/5, Foreign Ministry files, Diplomatic Relations with Iran: Y. Rabin to Military Attaché, Now. 15, 1966. Zak, Hussein Ose Shalom, p. 89, Kimche and Bawly, The Sandstorm, p. 83. Susser, On Both Banks of the Fordan, p. 110. Oral history interviews with Ezer Weizman, March 1, 1999 and Meir Amit, Feb. 9, 1999.

  2. NAC, RG 25, box 10050; Political Affairs - Canad’s Foreign Policy Trends and Relations - Israel. Middle East Situation - Call By Israeli Ambassador, Dec. 14 1966. Charles W. Yost, “How It Began,”Foreign Affairs (January 1968), p. 305. U Thant, View from the UN (New York: Doubleday, 1978), pp. 215-17.

  3. On the general U.S. reaction to the Samu’ raid, see LBJ, National Security file, Middle East, Israel box 140, 141: W. Rostow to the President, Now. 14, 1966 and ISA, 4030/6, Foreign Ministry files, The Security Council Debat on the Samu’ Operation. Nov. 16, 1966; Komer quote from 3977/20, Foreign Ministry files, Relations with the United States: Eban Conversation with Kromer, Dec. 12, 1966. Katzenbach quote from ISA, 3977/20, Foreign Ministry files, Relations with the United States: Eban Conversation with the Acting Secretary of State, Dec. 12,1966. Rostow quote from ISA, 3977/20, Foreign Ministry files, Relations with the United States, Dec. 12, 1966.

  4. Eban’s remarks in ISA, 3977/20, Foreign Ministry files, Relations with the United States: Meeting of Foreign Minister Abba Eban with Walt Rostow, Dec. 12, 1966, and Eban Conversation with Kromer, Dec. 12, 1966. Eshkol’s letter to Johnson in LBJ, National Security file, Middle East, Israel box 140, 141: Nov. 23, 1996. Johnson’s letter to Hussein in LBJ, National Security file, History of the Middle Esat Crisis, box 17, Nov. 23, 1966. America’s refusal to convey the Israeli condolence letter in LBJ, Natonal Security file, Middle East, Israel box 140, 141: Walt Rostow to the President, Nov. 14, 1967, and from oral history interview with Mordechai Gazit, Feb. 4, 1999. National Security file, Middle East, Israel box 140, 141: W. Rostow to the President, Nov. 14, 1966. See also Uriel Dann, King Hussein and the Challenge of Arab Radicalism: fordan, 1955-1967 (New York: Oxford Univeristy Press, 1989), p. 155, and Zak, Hussein Ose Shalom, p. 89.

  5. Gilboa, Shesh Shanim, Shisha Yamim, p. 75. Eshkol quote from MPA, Party Secretariat Protocols, 2/24/66/88: Dec. 15, 1966. Lior quote from Haber, Ha-Yom Tifrotz Milhama, p. 89.

  6. Hussein of Jordan, My “War” with Israel, as told to Vick Vance and Pierre Lauer (New York: Morrow, 1969), p. 29. Susser, On Both Banks of the Jordan, p. 111. Egyptian and Syrian accusations against Hussein in BBC, Daily Report No. 224, B1; Daily Report No. 192, B4-5. Hussein quote in Georgetown University, Special Collections, Findley Burns, Jr., Oral History Recollections, p. 9.

  7. Al-Shuqayri, Mudhakkirat 1, pp. 271-72. Mutawi, Jordan in the 1967 War, pp. 73-74. Oral history interview with Adnan Abu-Oudeh, Amman, Nov. 16, 1999.

  8. Indar Jit Rikhye oral history, Feb. 22, 2000. Hussein’s letters to Nasser in BBC, Daily Report No. 224, D6-1; his interview with Christian Science Monitor in Daily Report No. 192, D2. Edgar O’Balance, The Third Arab-Israeli War (London: Faber & Faber, 1972), p. 173. Mutawi, Jordan in the 1967 War, p. 81.

  9. ISA, 3998/5, Foreign Ministry files, Diplomatic Relations with Iran, Conversation with Dr. Sidriya—Report on Arab Defense Committee Meeting, Dec. 16, 1966. Mutawi, Jordan in the 1967 War, p. 82.

  10. Sidqi quote in Shmuel Segev, Sadin Adom (Tel Aviv: Taversky Press, 1967), pp. 15-16. Predictions of Nasser’s fall from power appear in PRO, FCO 39/233 UAR Internal Political Situation: UAR: General Situation. P.W. Unwin, Jan. 20, 1967, and LBJ, National Security file, Country file, Middle East-UAR box 161: CIA Report on Egypt, Oct. 3, 1966, and ISA, 3975/15, Foreign Ministry files, Diplomatic Relations with the United States: Gazit Conversation with Bergus, Feb. 6, 1967. On cuts in Egypt’s defense budget, see Salah al-Din al-Hadidi, Shahid ‘ala Harb 67 (Beirut: Dar al-‘Awda, 1974), pp. 31-35, and Mazhar, I‘tirafat Qadat Harb Yunyu, p. 208-9. Information on the El Nasr Automotive plant and the Tesh quote appear in PRO, FCO 39/233, UAR Internal Political Situation, Canadian Embassy, Cairo, to Foreign Ministry, Jan. 19 and March 2, 1967, respectively.

  11. Al-Tall remarks in Susser, Both Banks of the Jordan, pp. 117-18 and in PRO, FCO 17/231 Jordan-UAR Relations: Amman to Foreign Office, Jan. 9, 1967. Gen. ‘Amer’s claim in al-Shuqayri, Mudhakkirat 3, p. 233. Egyptian charge of Jordanian embezzlement in PRO, FCO 17/231, Jordan-UAR: Amman to Foreign Ministry, Feb. 13, 1967. Nasser’s speech in PRO, FCO 17/231, Jordan-UAR Relations: Cairo to Foreign Office, March 15, 1967. Capt. Hamarsha’s press conference in USNA, POL 30 Jordan, Cairo to State Department, Feb. 2, 1967. Riyad Hajjaj’s press conference in PRO, FCO 17/231, Jordan-UAR Relations: Amman to Foreign Office, March 17, 1967.

  12. PRO, FCO 17/231, Jordan-UAR Relations: Morris to Beaumont, March 10, 1967. Descriptions of the Arab Defense Council meeting in USNA Central Foreign Policy files, 1967-1969, POL Arab-Jordan, box 1844: Amman to Washington, March 16, 1967. Heikal, Al-Infijar, pp. 429-31. Al-Shuqayri, Mudhakkirat 3, p. 285. BBC, Daily Report No. 11, B3.

  13. Hussein’s Jericho speech in BBC, Daily Report No. 41, D1. On Jordan’s interpretation of the Egyptian-Syrian treaty, see Mutawi, Jordan in the 1967 War, pp. 73-79.

  14. Athanasius, a fourth-century church leader, struggled alone against Arianism; he was bishop of Alexandria. “Contra mundum” quote in PRO, FCO 17/494, Israel - Political Affairs: W.H. Fletcher (Cairo) to Foreign Office, June 1, 1967. Akram quote in IDF 192/74, file 1348: The Battle for the Southern Front, p. 55. Sabri and Awad quotes in Vatikiotis, Nasser and His Generation, pp. 166-69. For further descriptions of Nasser in this period, see Andrei Gromyko, Memoirs (New York: Doubleday, 1989), p. 272. El-Sadat, In Search of Identity, p. 148. Richard B. Parker, The Six Day War (Jack-sonville: University of Florida Press, 1997), p. 263. Parker, The Politics of Miscalculation in the Middle East, pp. 242-45.

  15. L
BJ, Lucius Battle Oral History, p. 38.

  16. YAD, Remarks by Yitzhak Rabin, Feb. 3, 1987. Nasser quote in Kimche and Bawly, The Sandstorm, pp. 32-33. ‘Abd al-Latif Al-Baghdadi, Mudhakkirat (Cairo: al-Maktab al-Misri al-Hadith, 1977), pp. 167-219. Fawzi quote in Harb al-Thalath Sanawat, p. 69. Heikal, Al-Infijar, p. 457. Wajih Abu Dhikri, Madhbahat al-Abriya’ (Cairo: Al-Maktab al-Misri al-Hadith, 1988), p. 142. Ramadan, ‘Abd al-‘Azim. Tahtim al-Aliha: Qissat Harb Yunyu 1967 (Cairo: Madbuli, 1988), pp. 48-49. Parker, The Politics of Miscalculation in the Middle East, p. 91. CIA report cited in USNA, Middle East Crisis, Memos, box 17: Memorandum for the White House, May 24, 1967.