54. Heikal, Al-Infijar, pp. 444-47 ISA, 4078, Foreign Ministry files, Contacts with the United States with the Entry of Egyptian Forces into Tiran, Evron to Foreign Ministry, May 15, 1967.
55. ‘Abd al-Muhsin Kamil Murtagi, Al-Fariq Murtagi Yarwi al-Haqa’iq (Cairo: Dar al-Watan al-‘Arabi, 1976), pp. 27-29, 45-46. Sabr Abu Nidal, Ma’rakat al-Khamis min Haziran: Awwal Dirasa ‘Arabiyya ‘Askariyya Shamila lil-Hazima (Cairo: Al-Mu’assasa al-‘Arabiyya lil-Dirasa wal-Nashr, 1971), pp. 26-38. Fawzi, Harb al-Thalath Sanawat, pp. 53-66, 117-18. Abu Dhikri, Madhbahat al-Abriya’, pp. 111-23. Ramadan, Tahtim al-Aliha, pp. 79-80. Mazhar, I‘tirafat Qadat Harb Yunyu, pp. 208-9. Rikhye, Sinai Blunder, p. 147. PRO, FCO 39/233 UAR Internal Political Situation: Cairo to Foreign Office, May 23, 1967. ‘Abd al-Mun’im Khalil quote in Al-Sabbagh, Mudhakkirat Qadat al-‘Askaraiyya al-Misriyya 2.
56. LBJ, National Security file, Country file, Middle East-UAR, box 161: Lunch with Ambassador Kamel, Jan. 17, 1967; Memos to the President (W. Rostow), box 16; Rostow to the President, Feb. 14, 1967. Nasser speech in BBC, Daily Report, Middle East, Africa, and Western Europe, No. 93, B2.
57. Mazhar, I’tirafat Qadat Harb Yunyu, pp. 90, 231. ‘Amer quote from Mutawi, Jordan in the 1967 War, p. 96. Gilboa, Shesh Shanim, Shisha Yamim, p. 64. Parker, The Six Day War, pp. 41-42. Rikhye oral history, Feb. 22, 2000. PRO, FCO 39/233 UAR Internal Political Situation: Cairo to Foreign Office, Jan. 9, 1967.
58. Heikal, Al-Infijar, pp. 448-51. Seale, Asad of Syria, pp. 129-30. Robert Stephens, Nasser: A Political Biography (London: Penguin, 1971), pp. 470-71. ISA, 6444/4 North America, Telegrams from Foreign Ministry to Embassies, May 19, 1967.
59. ‘Abdallah Imam, ‘Abd al-Nasir—Kayfa Hakama Misr (Cairo: Madbuli al-Saghir, 1966), pp. 358-60. ‘Abdallah Imam, ‘Ali Sabri Yatadhakkar: Bi-Saraha ‘an al-Sadat (Cairo: Dar al-Khayyal, 1997), pp. 122-23, 140. Fawzi, Harb al-Thalath Sanawat, pp. 36-39, 40, 52-54. Heikal, Al-Infijar, pp. 818-22. Vatikiotis, Nasser and His Generation, pp. 159-61. Fawzi, Harb al-Thalath Sanawat, pp. 33-45, 52-54. Imam, Nasir wa-‘Amer, pp. 5-13, 39-41, 67-86. Heikal, Al-Infijar, pp. 818-22. Parker, The Six Day War, p. 45. Parker, “The June 1967 War: Some Mysteries Explored,” p. 194.
60. Fawzi, Harb al-Thalath Sanawat, pp. 69-70. Heikal, Al-Infijar, pp. 458-59. Murtagi, Al-Fariq Murtagi Yarwi al-Haqa’iq, pp. 49-53. Mazhar, I’tirafat Qadat Harb Yunyu, pp. 51-52. Parker, The Politics of Miscalculation in the Middle East, pp. 61-63.
61. Heikal, Al-Infijar, pp. 458-59. Parker, The Politics of Miscalculation in the Middle East, pp. 63-64. Description of Fawzi in PRO, FO 39/250: Middle East Crisis: UAR Attitude Eastern Department Minute, June 23, 1967. In a letter to U.S. Ambassador Arthur Goldberg on May 31, U Thant revealed that he had previously indicated to the Egyptians his recognition of their right to disband UNEF: “In discussion with the Foreign Ministers and Permanent Representatives of the United Arab Republic in the years I have been Secretary-General the subject of the continued presence of the UNEF occasionally came up…In the course of these talks, I found that the United Arab Republic took it for granted that if the UAR officially requested withdrawal of the Force, the request would be honoured by the Secretary-General. I had thus given thought to the matter. When, therefore, the request for withdrawal of the Force came, the decision in principle that would have to be taken and the procedure to be followed were perfectly clear to me.” See UN, S-0316 box 8, file 8: UNEF-Withdrawals, Correspondence with the United States: U Thant to Goldberg, May 31, 1967. On Egyptian contacts with India and Yugoslavia, see LBJ, National Security files, NSC Histories, Middle East Crisis, box 20: Intelligence Information Cable, June 1, 1967.
62. Murtagi, Al-Fariq Murtagi Yarwi al-Haqa’iq, pp. 65-66. Al-Baghdadi, Mudhakkirat, p. 174. LBJ, National Security files, NSC Histories, Middle East Crisis, box 17: The President in the Middle East Crisis, Dec. 19, 1968. Qadi quote in Al-Sabbagh, Mudhakkirat Qadat al-‘Askariyya al-Misriyya 1, p. 7. BBC, Daily Report, Middle East, Africa, and Western Europe, No. 95, B1, B4. ‘Amer orders in Heikal, Al-Infijar, pp. 452-54. The testimony of Muhammad Ahmad Khamis appears in Darraz, Dubbat Yunyu Yatakallamun, pp. 69-75.
63. Al-Hadidi, Shahid ‘ala Harb 67, p. 112. Ramadan, Tahtim al-Aliha, pp. 41-42. PRO, FCO 39/233 UAR Internal Political Situation: Cairo to Foreign Office, May 13, 1967. Fawzi, Harb al-Thalath Sanawat, pp. 69-71. Rikhye, Sinai Blunder, p. 159. Parker, The Six Day War, pp. 43-44. Parker, The Politics of Miscalculation in the Middle East, p. 92. Mohamed H. Heikal, The Sphinx and the Commissar: The Rise and Fall of Soviet Influence in the Middle East (London: Collins, 1978), p. 175. Asia, Tismonet Dayan, p. 127. Sabri quote from Imam, ‘Ali Sabri Yatadhakkar, p. 97. Fawzi quote from Mazhar, I’tirafat Qadat Harb Yunyu, pp. 51-52.
64. ISA, 3977/22, Foreign Ministry files, Relations with the United States: Conversation with Ambassador Chuvakhin, May 13, 1967. Gilboa, Shesh Shanim, Shisha Yamim, p. 98. Parker, The Politics of Miscalculation in the Middle East, pp. 8-9; 248, ft 13. Oral history interview with Arye Levavi, March 4, 1999.
65. ISA, 3977/20, Foreign Ministry files, Diplomatic Relations with the United States, Evron to Gazit, Dec. 12, 1966; 3975/15, Foreign Ministry files, Diplomatic Relations with the United States: Conversation with Bergus, Feb. 16, 1967. NAC, RG 25, box 10050: Political Affairs - Canada’s Foreign Policy Trends and Relations - Israel: New York to Ottawa, Sept. 22, 1967. Parker, The Six Day War, p. 128. Haber, Ha-Yom Tifrotz Milhama, p. 147. Eban, Personal Witness, p. 380. Baron, Hotam Ishi, p.17.
66. Prittie, Eshkol, pp. 70-71. MPA, Party Secretariat Protocols, 2/24/66/88: Dec. 15, 1966.
The Crisis
1. ISA, 4078/4 Foreign Ministry files, Contacts with the United States on the Entry of Egyptian Forces to the Sinai: Harman Conversation with Rostow, May 15, 1967. Oral history interview with Col. Shlomo Merom, Dec. 7, 1999. Nasser quote from Slater, Rabin of Israel, p. 79. Rabin quote from Rabin, Memoirs, p. 68. Eshkol quote from oral history interview with Miriam Eshkol, Aug. 30, 1999. See also Parker, The Six Day War, p. 137. Haber, Ha-Yom Tifrotz Milhama, pp. 147-50. Mayzel, Ha-Ma’arakha al ha-Golan, pp. 99-103. Slater, Rabin of Israel, pp. 88-120. Abraham Rabinovich, The Battle for Jerusalem, June 5-7, 1967 (Philadephia: Jewish Publication Society of America, 1972), p. 5. Shlomo Nakdimon, Likrat Sh’at ha-Efes (Tel Aviv: Ramdor Press, 1968), pp. 17-18. Weizman, On Eagles’ Wings, p. 208.
2. LBJ, National Security files, NSC Histories, Middle East Crisis, box 17: Department of State to Cairo, May 15, 1967. Appeal to U Thant in Yost, “How It Began,” p. 309 and in Rafael, Destination Peace, pp. 136-37. Harman’s message to Nasser in LBJ, National Security file, History of the Middle East Conflict, box 20: United States Policy and Diplomacy in the Middle East Crisis, May 15-June 10, 1967, pp. 11-12. Amit, Rosh be-Rosh, pp. 226-27. ISA, 3977/20, Foreign Ministry files, Relations with the United States: Eban to Washington, London, Paris, May 15, 1967; 6444/4 North America, Telegrams: Foreign Ministry to Embassies, May 19, 1967; 7920/1, Levi Eshkol Papers, Diplomatic Telegrams: Eban to Rafael, May 17, 1967.
3. ISA, 4078/8 U.S. Reactions to the Closing of the Straits, Eban to Harman, May 16, 1967. Rabin, Memoirs, pp. 68-70. Slater, Rabin of Israel, p. 123. Cairo Radio quote from Mansoor, Arab World, entry for May 16. Nasser quote from BBC, Daily Report, The Middle East and Africa, ME/2467/A/2.
4. IDF, 710/70 General Staff Discussion: May 17, 1967. Trevor N. Dupuy, Elusive Victory: The Arab-Israeli Wars, 1947-1974 (New York: Harper & Row, 1978), p. 239. Van Creveld, The Sword and the Olive, p. 179. Haber, Ha-Yom Tifrotz Milhama, pp. 150-51. Rabin, Memoirs, p. 70. On the PLA in Gaza, see Abu Murshid, Butrus, and Jabber Silsilat al-Kitab al-Sanawi lil-Qadiyya al-Filastiniyya, pp. 115-16. See also, interview with Gen. Sidqi al-Ghul, commander of the 4th Division, in al-Ra’i al-‘Am, June 2, 1987.
5. IDF, 710/70 General Staff Discussion: May 17, 1967; 1977/1786: The Regular Paratrooper Brigade in the Six-Day War, Commander 35th Brigade, p. 619. Haber, Ha-Yom Tifrotz Milhama, p. 151. Radio Cairo quote from U Thant, View from the UN, p. 219. Syrian quote from Menachem Mansoor, Ara
b World: Political and Diplomatic History, entry for May 16.
6. USNA Central Foreign Policy files, 1967-1969, POL 12 SY, box 2511: Damascus to Department of State, May 18, 1967. PRO, FO 17/666, Syria-Political Affairs: Damascus to Foreign Office, April 29, 1967; FCO 17/665 Syria-Political Affairs: Damascus to Foreign Office, May 15, 1967. George W. Gawrych, The Albatross of Decisive Victory, p. 13. Fred H. Lawson, Why Syria Goes to War: Thirty Years of Confrontation (Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press, 1996), p. 48-50. Patrick Seale, Asad of Syria: The Struggle for the Middle East, p. 115.
7. Fawzi, Harb al-Thalath Sanawat, pp. 71-72. Murtagi, Al-Fariq Murtagi Yarwi al-Haqa’iq, p. 64. Parker, The Politics of Miscalculation in the Middle East, pp. 14, 44. Muhammad ‘Abd al-Ghani al-Gamasi, Mudhakkirat al-Gamasi (Paris: Al-Manshura al-Sharqiyya, 1990), p. 19. Ramadan, Tahtim al-Aliha, p. 41. Sadiq quote in al-Sabbagh, Mudhakkirat Qadat al-‘Askaraiyya al-Misriyya 4, pp. 20-21. IDF, 710/70 General Staff Discussion: May 19, 1967. Al-Sabbagh, Mudhakkirat Qadat al-‘Askaraiyya al-Misriyya 1, p. 7. Mayzel, Ha-Ma’arakha al ha-Golan, p. 21. Fawzi quote from testimony of Mahmud Sidqi Mahmud in Mazhar, I’tirafat Qadat Harb Yunyu, p. 110. Bull quote appears in Bull, War and Peace in the Middle East, p. 104.
8. USNA, Subject-Numeric files, POL ARAB-ISR, box 1789: London to Washington, May 27, 1967. Heikal, Al-Infijar, p. 518. Stephens, Nasser, pp. 467-68.
9. Fawzi quote in Harb al-Thalath Sanawat, p. 72. Murtagi, Al-Fariq Murtagi Yarwi al-Haqa’iq, p. 64. ‘Amer quote in Mazhar, I’tirafat Qadat Harb Yunyu, p. 165. Gawrych, The Albatross of Decisive Victory, pp. 13-19. Heikal, Al-Infijar, pp. 458-59. Abu Dhikri, Madhbahat al-Abriya’, pp. 173-78. Fawzi, Harb al-Thalath Sanawat, pp. 92-93. USNA, POL ARAB-IS, box 9: Cairo to the Secretary of State, May 17, 1967.
10. Heikal, Al-Infijar, p. 829. Fawzi, Harb al-Thalath Sanawat, pp. 48-50. Al-Hadidi, Shahid ‘ala Harb 67, pp. 85-86. Imam, ‘Abd al-Nasir—Kayfa Hakama Misr, p. 363. Al-Sabbagh, Mudhakkirat Qadat al-‘Askaraiyya al-Misriyya 1, pp. 15-17. Fawzi quote on p. 18. S. A. El Edroos, The Hashemite Arab Army, 1908-1979: An Appreciation and Analysis of Military Operations (Amman: Publishing Committee, 1980), p. 359. O’Balance, The Third Arab-Israeli War, pp. 94-95. IDF, 192/74, file 1348: The Battle for the Southern Front, p. 3.
11. PRO FCO 17/576: Israel-Defense: Report of Defense Attaché, July 13, 1967. Murtagi, Al-Fariq Murtagi Yarwi al-Haqa’iq, pp. 65-68, 121. Fawzi, Harb al-Thalath Sanawat, pp. 103-4. Al-Sabbagh, Mudhakkirat Qadat al-‘Askaraiyya al-Misriyya 1, pp. 15-16. Dupuy, Elusive Victory, p. 241. Gilboa, Shesh Shanim, Shisha Yamim, p. 116. Parker, “The June 1967 War: Some Mysteries Explored,” p. 187.
12. Orders relating to Operation Lion later fell into Israeli hands. They were reproduced in “Hail ha-Avir ba-Milhama,”Bit’on Hail ha-Avir 3, no. 74/75 (Dec. 1967). Hisham Mustafa Husayn quote in Darraz, Dubbat Yunyu Yatakallamun, pp. 23-33. Al-Sabbagh, Mudhakkirat Qadat al-‘Askaraiyya al-Misriyya 1, p. 23. Muhammad ‘Awda and ‘Abdallah Imam, Al-Naksa—Man al-Mas’ul? (Cairo: Ruz al-Yusuf, 1985), p. 79.
13. Mazhar, I’tirafat Qadat Harb Yunyu, pp. 167-68. Murtagi, Al-Fariq Murtagi Yarwi al-Haqa’iq, pp. 65-68 (including ‘Amer quote). Al-Sabbagh, Mudhakkirat Qadat al-‘Askaraiyya al-Misriyya 10 (testimony of ‘Abd al-Mun’im Khalil), p. 8. Heikal article cited in Asia, Tismonet Dayan, p. 139. Ramadan, Tahtim al-Aliba, pp. 51-54. See also interview with ‘Abd al-Mushin Murtagi in Akher Sa’a, July 5, 1974.
14. Heikal, Al-Infijar, pp. 457-77. Text of Fawzi’s letter to Rikhye appears in UN, S 0316-box 9, file 2: UNEF Withdrawals, Exchange with UAR, Aide-Mémoire, U Thant to UAR, May 17, 1967, and in Rikhye, Sinai Blunder, p. 16. Parker, The Politics of Miscalculation in the Middle East, p. 68. See also Fawzi, Harb al-Thalath Sanawat, pp. 69-71. Riad, The Struggle for Peace in the Middle East, p. 18.
15. Urquhart, A Life in Peace and War, pp. 136-37, 193-94.
16. UN, S-0316 box 8, file 8: UNEF-Withdrawals, Correspondence with the United States: U Thant to Goldberg, May 31, 1967. Samir N. Anabtawi, “The United Nations and the Middle East Conflict of 1967,”The Arab World 14 (1968). Oral history interview with Indar Jit Rikhye, Feb. 22, 2000. Quote from Lall, The UN and the Middle East Crisis, pp. 12-13. Bull, War and Peace in the Middle East, p. 96.
17. Rikhye, Sinai Blunder, pp. 13-21. UN, S 0316-box 9, file 2: UNEF Withdrawals, Exchange with UAR, Aide-Mémoire, U Thant to UAR, May 17, 1967. ISA, Foreign Ministry files, 4085/2: Emergency Force, Amir to Rafael, May 17, 1967. Oral history interview with Indar Jit Rikhye, Feb. 22, 2000.
18. UN, S 0316-box 9, file 2: UNEF Withdrawals, Exchange with UAR, Aide-Mémoire, U Thant to UAR, May 17, 1967. Bull, War and Peace in the Middle East, p. 96. LBJ, National Security files, NSC Histories, Middle East Crisis, box 21: USUN to the Secretary of State, May 18, 1967 (Bunche quote). Yost, “How It Began,” pp. 311-12. Rikhye, Sinai Blunder, pp. 21-22. Urquhart, A Life in Peace and War, p. 209. U Thant, View from the UN, pp. 221-22. Heikal, Al-Infijar, pp. 468-77. Parker, Six Day War, p. 86; Parker, The Politics of Miscalculation in the Middle East, p. 45. George Tomeh oral history, Nov. 17, 1999.
19. LBJ, National Security file, History of the Middle East Conflict, box 20: United States Policy and Diplomacy in the Middle East Crisis, May 15-June 10, 1967, pp. 12-13. UN, S 0316-box 9, file 2: UNEF Withdrawals, Exchange with UAR, Aide-Mémoire, U Thant to UAR, May 17, 1967. ISA, 4085/2, Foreign Ministry files, Emergency Force: Rafael to Foreign Ministry, May 17, 1967. Yost, “How It Began,” p. 312. Rikhye, Sinai Blunder, p. 25. Parker, Six Day War, pp. 86-89. Rostow, The Diffusion of Power, pp. 256-57.
20. UN, S-0316 box 8, file 8: UNEF-Withdrawals, Correspondence with the United States: U Thant to Goldberg, May 31, 1967 (U Thant quote); box 8, file 12: UNEF Withdrawals, Legal Matters: C. A. Stavropoulos, Under-Secretary for Legal Counsel, to U Thant, May 17, 1967. PRO, PREM 13 1617, The Middle East Crisis: Caradon to Foreign Ministry (Conversation with U Thant), May 22, 1967; FCO 17/498: Israel-Political Affairs: Record of Meeting, Harold Wilson and U Thant, June 3, 1967.
21. UN, S 0316 box 8, file 11: Verbatim Record of the Meeting of the UNEF Advisory Committee, May 17, 1967. PRO FCO 17/498: Israel-Political Affairs: Record of Meeting, Harold Wilson and U Thant, June 3, 1967. Rikhye, Sinai Blunder, pp. 26, 54-55, 169. U Thant, View from the UN, pp. 222-23. Yost, “How It Began,” p. 312.
22. George Tomeh oral history, Nov. 17, 1999. Urquhart, A Life in Peace and War, pp. 190-91. LBJ, oral histories, Eugenie Moore Anderson, p. 30.
23. UN, S-0316 box 8, file 8: UNEF-Withdrawals, Correspondence with the United States: U Thant to Goldberg, May 31, 1967. Indar Jit Rikhye oral history, Feb. 22, 2000. NAC, RG 25, box 10050: Political Affairs-Canada’s Foreign Policy Trends and Relations-Israel: New York to Ottawa, Sept. 22, 1967.
24. ISA, Foreign Ministry files, 4085/2: Emergency Force: Rafael to Foreign Ministry, May 18, 1967; 7920/1, Levi Eshkol Papers, Diplomatic Telegrams: Rafael to Eban, May 22, 1967. PRO FCO 17/498: Israel-Political Affairs: Washington to Foreign Office, June 3, 1967. Rafael, Destination Peace, pp. 139-40. U Thant, View from the UN, p. 222. Eban, Personal Witness, p. 359.
25. Rikhye, Sinai Blunder, pp. 32-38. U Thant, View from the UN, pp. 222-23.
26. In an angry letter to the New York Times on June 11, 1967, Bunche wrote that there was “not a shred of truth” in Nasser’s claim that he wanted UNEF retained in Gaza and Sharm al-Sheikh. A similar interpretation of Nasser’s thinking during this time was presented by Ambassador Charles Yost to Dr. Ya’akov Herzog of the Israel Foreign Ministry. See ISA, Prime Minister’s Office, 7854/6a: Conversation Between Ambassador Charles Yost and Dr. Herzog, July 7, 1969. See also Heikal, Al-Infijar, pp. 474-77. Rikhye, Sinai Blunder, p. 165. Parker, Six Day War, pp. 88-99. UN, S-0316, UNEF-Withdrawals/UN Missions-EIMAC, box 9: Riad to U Thant, May 18, 1967.
27. UN, S 0316-box 9, file 2: UNEF Withdrawals, Exchange with UAR: Riad to U Thant, May 18, 1967; U Thant to Riad, May 18, 1967. Urquhart, A Life in Peace and War, p. 210. U Thant, View from the UN, pp. 222-23. Heikal, Al-Infijar, pp. 474-77.
28
. UN, S-0316, UNEF-Withdrawals/UN Missions-EIMAC, box 9: Bull to Bunche, May 19, 1967; Bunche to Rikhye, May 20, 1967. Rikhye, Sinai Blunder, pp. 40-45. Indar Jit Rikhye oral history, Feb. 22, 2000. Parker, Six Day War, p. 75. Parker, “The June 1967 War: Some Mysteries Explored,” pp. 189-90.
29. LBJ, National Security file, History of the Middle East Conflict, box 20: United States Policy and Diplomacy in the Middle East Crisis, May 15-June 10, 1967, p. 14; NSC Histories, Middle East Crisis, box 21: USUN to the Secretary of State, May 18, 1967. U Thant’s reports and comments on them in U Thant, View from the UN, pp. 227-30. ISA, Foreign Ministry files, 4085/2: Emergency Force, Rafael to Foreign Ministry, May 19, 1967. Rafael, Destination Peace, p. 140. Parker, The Politics of Miscalculation in the Middle East, p. 71. Urquhart, A Life in Peace and War, p. 210. Eban, Personal Witness, p. 360. U Thant’s reliance on horoscopes from Indar Jit Rikhye oral history, Feb. 22, 2000.
Six Days of War Page 58
