Six Days of War

by Michael B. Oren

  68. Murtagi, Al-Fariq Murtagi Yarwi al-Haqa’iq, pp. 78-83. Fawzi, Harb al-Thalath Sanawat, pp. 105-9. Mazhar, I’tirafat Qadat Harb Yunju, p. 124. Darraz, Dubbat Yunju Yatakallamun, pp. 36-37. O’Balance, The Third Arab-Israeli War, p. 98. UN, S-0316-box 9, file 7, UNEF-Withdrawals: Rikhye to Bunche, May 25, 1967. Oral history interview with Shlomo Merom, Dec. 7, 1999. The presence of a civilian occupation force in Gaza was discovered by the American consul general from Jerusalem while talking to Egyptian POWs. See USNA, Central Foreign Policy files, 1967-1969, POL 27-7 ARAB-ISR, box 1830: Tel Aviv to the Secretary of State, Sept. 13, 1967. Oral history interview with Amin Tantawi, July 4, 2001.

  69. Rabin, Memoirs, p. 86. Gilboa, Shesh Shanim, Shisha Yamim, p. 129. Haber, Ha-Yom Tifrotz Milhama, p. 177. Dayan, My Life, p. 332. Oral history interview with Meir Amit, Feb. 9, 1999. Yossi Peled, Ish Tzava (Tel Aviv: Ma’ariv, 1993), p. 103. Jonathan Netanyahu, Self-Portrait of a Hero: The Letters of Jonathan Netanyahu (New York: Random House, 1980), p. 133.

  70. Rabin, Memoirs, p. 83. Carmit Guy, Bar-Lev (Tel Aviv: Am Oved, 1998), p. 125.

  71. Haber, Ha-Yom Tifrotz Milhama, pp. 185-87. Elinar Ben Akiva and Aner Guvrin, “Sh’at ha-Mirage—Esrim Shana le-Milhemet Sheshet ha-Yamim,”Bit’on Hail ha-Avir 57 (May 1987). Rabin, The Rabin Memoirs, pp. 85-88. Slater, Rabin of Israel, p. 134. Parker, The Six Day War, pp/ 135-36. Oral history interview with Ezer Weizman, March 1, 1999. On Israeli fears for Dimona, see Cohen, Israel and the Bomb, pp. 259-76.

  72. Haber, Ha-Yom Tifrotz Milhama, p. 108. Oral history interview with Miriam Eshkol, Aug. 30, 1999.

  73. ISA, 4091/23, Foreign Ministry files, Exchange of Messages Before the War: Eban to Couve de Murville, May 19, 1967. PRO, PREM 13 1617, The Middle East Crisis: Eban to Brown, May 23, 1967 (a similar note was sent by Eban to his French counterpart, Couve de Murville). On the continued supply of French arms to Israel see BGA, Diary, Entry for June 19, 1967. 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. 50-51. USNA, Subject-Numeric files, POL ARAB-ISR, box 1789: Department of State to London, May 27, 1967. See also Crosbie, A Tacit Alliance, 1977.

  74. ISA, 5937/30: Secret Memoranda Prior to the Six Day War: Paris to Foreign Ministry, Protocol of Eban Meeting with President de Gaulle, May 25, 1967. Eban, Personal Witness, pp. 372-77. Lacouture, De Gaulle, p. 439. 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. 39-40. “Superficial sympathy” quote from PRO, PREM 13 1622: Record of Conversation, President de Gaulle and Prime Minister Wilson, June 19, 1967.

  75. Maurice Couve de Murville, Une politique étrangère 1958-1969 (Paris: Plon, 1971), p. 469. Gilboa, Shesh Shanim, Shisha Yamim, p. 141. Raviv, Israel at Fifty, pp. 96-97. ISA, 7920/2, Levi Eshkol Papers: Diplomatic Cables - Frances: Eytan to Levavi: Conversation with Couve, May 24, 1967.

  76. PRO, FO17/497: Israel - Political Affairs: Draft Paper for Cabinet - Middle East Crisis, May 24, 1967; CAB 128/42 31st Conclusions: May 24, 1967; PREM 13 1617: The Middle East Crisis, May 23, 1967. ISA, 4080/5, Foreign Ministry files, Contacts with Great Britain: Raviv to Foreign Ministry, May 24, 1967; 7920/1, Levi Eshkol Papers, Diplomatic Telegrams: The Wilson-Eban Conversation, May 24, 1967. 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. 27-28. Eban, Personal Witness, pp. 377-79. Harold Wilson, The Chariot of Israel: Britain, America, and the State of Israel (New York: Norton, 1981), pp. 333-34. Wilson quote from www.bemorecreative.com/one/480.htm.

  77. First Eban quote from Eban, Personal Witness, p. 381. ISA, 4078/7, Foreign Ministry files, Six-Day War: Eban to Washington, Instructions for Conversations with Administration, May 23, 1967 (second Eban quote); New York to Ministry, Rafael Meeting with Goldberg, May 23, 1967; Harman to Rafael, May 23, 1967; Harman to Eban, May 23, 1967.

  78. ISA, 5937/30, Secret Memorandum Prior to the Six Day War: Harman to Foreign Ministry, May 24, 1967 (Eisenhower quote); Prime Minister’s Office to the Foreign Ministry, May 24, 1967 (Barbour quote). 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. 52-53. Oral history interview with Meir Amit, Feb. 9, 1999. Eban, Personal Witness, pp. 385-86.

  79. ISA, 7919/1, Levi Eshkol files, Diplomatic Telegrams: U.S.A.: Eshkol to Eban, May 25, 1967. Eban, Personal Witness, pp. 382-83. USNA, POL ARAB-IS, box 1788: Secretary of State to Tel Aviv, Cairo and Damascus, May 25, 1967. Message quoted in Haber, Ha-Yom Tifrotz Milhama, p. 187. Amit, Rosh be-Rosh, p. 236.

  80. 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. 52-53; Middle East Crisis, box 22-23: Barbour to Rostow, May 23, 1967. PRO, PREM 13 1618, Wilson to Johnson, May 24, 1967. ISA, 3977/22, Foreign Ministry files, Relations with the United States: Bitan Conversation with Barbour, May 23, 1967.

  81. LBJ, National Security file, History of the Middle East Crisis, box 17: Saunders to Rostow, May 15, 1967; Memos to the President (W. Rostow), box 16: Saunders to Rostow, May 15, 1967; Middle East, Israel boxes 140, 141: W. Rostow to the President, May 15, 1967. USNA, Lot files, USUN, box 6: CINSTRIKE to AIG 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.

  82. LBJ, National Security file, Middle East Crisis, box 22-23: Saunders to W. Rostow, May 18, 1967; History of the Middle East Conflict, box 17: W. Rostow to the President, May 17, 1967; box 20: United States Policy and Diplomacy in the Middle East Crisis, May 15-June 10, 1967, pp. 10-11, 27-28; Middle East Crisis, boxes 144 and 145: W. Rostow to the President, May 19, 1967. USNA, Middle East Crisis files, 1967, Lost file 68D135, box 2: Rostow to Rusk, May 23, 1967. PRO, PREM 13 1617, The Middle East Crisis: Washington to Foreign Office, May 22, 1967. 7920/2, Levi Eshkol Papers,Diplomatic Telegrams, USSR: Research Branch to Eban, May 24, 1967. See also Johnson, The Vantage Point, p. 291.

  83. LBJ, National Security file, Memos to the President (W. Rostow), box 16: Overall Arab and Israeli Military Capabilities, May 23, 1967; NSC Histories, Middle East Crisis, box 17: The President in the Middle East Crisis, Dec. 19, 1968. Oral history interview with Robert McNamera, Feb. 11, 2000.

  84. LBJ, National Security file, History of the Middle East Crisis, box 17: Rusk to Cairo, May 22, 1967; box 20: United States Policy and Diplomacy in the Middle East Crisis, May 15-June 10, 1967, pp. 44, 51-52. Oral history interview with Walt W. Rostow, July 27, 1999.

  85. LBJ, National Security file, History of the Middle East Conflict, United States Policy and Diplomacy in the Middle East Crisis, May 15-June 10, 1967, pp. 32, 37-38, 45-49; box 17: Rusk to Cairo, May 23, 1967. USNA, POL ARAB-ISR: box 7: Rusk-Mideast Sitrep, May 25, 1967; The Department of State to London, May 29, 1967 (“marching orders”); Minutes of the Control Group, box 17: Third Meeting of the Middle East Control Group, May 24, 1967. Rostow, The Diffusion of Power, pp. 258-59. Israel’s convoy proposal during the Suez crisis in USNA, 976.7301/9-1056: Dulles Conversation with Eban and in PRO, FO371/11191501/2008: Shepherd Minute, Oct. 28, 1956.

  86. USNA, Middle East Crisis files, 1967, NN3.059.96089, box 1: Chronology of U.S.-Jordanian Consultations on the Middle East: Rostow Conversation with Harman, May 24, 1967. 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. 37-38, 52-55; NSC Histories, The Middle East Crisis, box 17: Luncheon Conversation with Saudi Prince Mohammad, May 31, 1967; President’s Conversation with the Prime Minister of Canada, May 25, 1967. PRO, PREM 13 1618: Wilson to President Johnson, May 26, 1967; The Middle East Crisis: Washington to Foreign Office, May 24, 1967; CAB 128/42 32nd Conclusions, May 25, 1967. ISA, 7919/1, Levi Eshkol files, Diplomatic Tele
grams: U.S.A.: Evron to Eban, May 27, 1967. Dean Rusk, As I Saw It (New York: Penguin Books, 1990), p. 384. Quandt, Peace Process, pp. 34-35.

  87. Rusk, As I Saw It, pp. 153, 378, 383. ISA, 3975/14, Foreign Ministry files, Diplomatic Relations with the United States: Evron to Bitan. Meeting Between Eban and Rusk at the Waldorf Astoria, Oct. 7, 1966.

  88. 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. 55-56; box 18: Memorandum of Conversation, the Secretary and Foreign Minister Eban, May 25, 1967. USNA, POL ARAB-ISR, box 17: Rusk to Tel Aviv, Cairo, and Damascus, May 25, 1967; Memoranda of Conversations, UK, USSR, US, Israel, 1967, box 14: Your Conversation with the Israeli Foreign Minister, May 25, 1967; USUN, box 6: CINSTRIKE to AIG, May 26, 1967; Middle East Crisis files, 1967, Chronology, box 7: Tel Aviv to the Secretary of State, May 25, 1967 (Barbour report); POL ARAB-ISR, Cairo, box 1789: Cairo to the Secretary of State, May 26, 1967. ISA, 5937/30 Secret Memoranda Prior to the Six-Day War: Washington to Ministry, Eban Memoranda on a Conversation with Rusk, May 25, 1967; 7919/1, Levi Eshkol files, Diplomatic Telegrams: U.S.A.: Harman to Eshkol, May 26, 1967. Eban, Personal Witness, p. 383. Rafael, Destination Peace, pp. 143-45 (“horrendous error” quote). Rusk, As I Saw It, p. 385. Quandt, Peace Process, pp. 38-39. Parker, Six Day War, pp. 216-17.

  89. ISA, 5937/30 Secret Memoranda Prior to the Six-Day War: Summation of Conversation between Foreign Minister Eban and Undersecretary Rostow during the Evening of May 25, 1967. USNA, POL ARAB-IS: Department of State to Tel Aviv, May 25, 1967; MemCon between Ambassador Dean and Under Secretary Rostow, May 27, 1967; Israeli-U.S. Working Dinner, May 25, 1967. LBJ, National Security files, NSC Histories, Middle East Crisis, box 18: Memorandum of Conversation between Undersecretary Rostow and Foreign Minister Eban, May 25, 1967. Eban, Personal Witness, pp. 383-84. Raviv, Israel at Fifty, p. 98.

  90. USNA, Memoranda of Conversations, UK, USSR, US, Israel, 1967, box 14: Your Conversation with the Israeli Foreign Minister, May 25, 1967; POL ARAB-ISR, box 17: MemCon between Ambassador Dean and Undersecretary Rostow, May 27, 1967.

  91. ISA, 5937/30 Secret Memoranda Prior to the Six-Day War: Note on Thursday dinner at State Department, May 26, 1967. Harman’s cable and message to Eban are both cited in Rabin, The Rabin Memoirs, pp. 85-89. See also Dayan, My Life, p. 328. Slater, Rabin of Israel, p. 134. Rafael, Destination Peace, p. 145. Parker, The Six Day War, pp. 135-36.

  92. ISA, 5937/30, Foreign Ministry files, Secret Memoranda Prior to the Six-Day War: Eban to Eshkol, Conversation with Secretary of State Rusk, May 26, 1967; Eban to Eshkol, Meeting with McNamara and Chairman JCS Wheeler, May 26, 1967; 7919/1, Levi Eshkol files, Diplomatic Telegrams: U.S.A.: Evron to Eshkol, May 26, 1967. LBJ, May 27, 1967. Johnson, Vantage Point, p. 294. Eban, Personal Witness, p. 384. Oral history interview with Robert McNamara, Feb. 11, 2000. Raviv, Israel at Fifty, p. 99. McNamara and Wheeler were referring to U.S. intelligence estimates found in LBJ, National Security file, Memos to the President (W. Rostow), box 16: Overall Arab and Israeli Military Capabilities: May 23, 1967.

  93. LBJ, National Security file, Memos to the President (W. Rostow), box 16: Rusk to Cairo and Tel Aviv, May 25, 1967; History of the Middle East Conflict, box 20: United States Policy and Diplomacy in the Middle East Crisis, May 15-June 10, 1967, pp. 30-33; NSC Histories, Middle East Crisis, box 17: Department of State to USUN and Cairo, May 25, 1967; box 18: New Delhi to the Secretary of State, May 22, 1967. Heikal, Al-Infijar, pp. 564-65.

  94. LBJ, Richard Helms Oral History, pp. 11, 37. Oral history interview with Walt W. Rostow, July 27, 1967 and Eugene Rostow, Aug. 5, 1999. Robert A. Caro, The Years of Lyndon B. Johnson: The Path to Power (New York: Vintage, 1990), p. xix.

  95. ISA, 3975/12, Diplomatic Relations with the United States, Harman to Bitan, June 13, 1966. William B. Quandt, “The Conflict in American Foreign Policy” in Rabinovich and Shaked, From June to October, pp. 5-6. Klinghoffer, Vietnam, Jews and the Middle East, p. 94. Douglas Little, “The Making of a Special Relationship: The United States and Israel, 1957-68,”International Journal of Middle East Studies 25, no. 4 (Nov. 1993), pp. 274-75 (Roche quote). R. Evans and R. Novak, Lyndon B. Johnson: The Exercise of Power (New York: The New American Library, 1966), p. 175.

  96. ISA, 3976/9, Foreign Ministry files, Relations with the United States: Eban Conversation with President Johnson, Sept. 2, 1966; Harman to Eban, June 24, 1966; 3977/15, Foreign Ministry files, United States-Reports and Analyses: Evron to Foreign Ministry, Aug. 25, 1966; 3975/15, Foreign Ministry files, Diplomatic Relations with the United States: Foreign Ministry Memorandum, Feb. 14, 1967 (Johnson quote); Written Communication with Harry McPherson, May 16, 2000. See also LBJ, National Security file, Middle East, Israel box 140, 141: Conflicting U.S. Attitudes Toward Military Aid to Israel, April 20, 1967; U.S.-Israel Relations, Nov. 3, 1967.

  97. LBJ, National Security file, Memoranda to the President (W. Rostow), box 16: W. Rostow to the President, May 26, 1967; Congress-Middle East, May 26, 1967; History of the Middle East Crisis, box 17: Memorandum for the President, May 26, 1967. USNA, ARAB-ISR POL, box 1788: Rusk to Tel Aviv, May 26, 1967; Johnson to Wilson, May 25, 1967 (Also in PRO, PREM 13 1618). ISA, 5937/30 Secret Memorandum Prior to the Six Day War: Evron to Foreign Ministry, May 26, 1967 (Rostow quote). Oral history interview with Walt W. Rostow, July 27, 1967, and Eugene Rostow, Aug. 5, 1999. Parker, The Six Day War, pp. 200-202.

  98. LBJ, National Security file, Memoranda to the President (W. Rostow), box 16: Minutes of Meeting (Saunders), May 26, 1967; NSC Histories, Middle East Crisis, box 17: Memorandum for the Record, the Arab-Israeli Crisis, May 27, 1967. Quandt, Peace Process, pp. 37-40.

  99. LBJ, National Security files, NSC Histories, Middle East Crisis, box 17: the President in the Middle East Crisis, Dec. 19, 1968. ISA, 3975/12, Diplomatic Relations with the United States. Eran to Bitan, June 22, 1966; Harman to Bitan, June 13, 1966. LBJ, National Security file, Memos to the President (W. Rostow), box 17: Evron to the President, May 26, 1967. Oral history interview with Mordechai Gazit, Feb. 4, 1999.

  100. ISA, 5937/30, Secret Memoranda Prior to the Six-Day War: Evron to Foreign Ministry, May 26, 1967. LBJ, National Security files, NSC Histories, Middle East Crisis, box 17: Walt Rostow to the President, May 26, 1967. Raviv, Israel at Fifty, pp. 99-100. Quandt, Peace Process, pp. 40, 513-14, ft. 50. Michael Brecher, Decisions in Israel’s Foreign Policy (New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 1975), pp. 390-91.

  101. 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. 56-59. ISA, 5937/30 Secret Memoranda Prior to the Six-Day War: Evron to Ministry, Report on 1.5 Hour Meeting Between Foreign Minister Eban and President Johnson at the White House, May 26, 1967; 7919/1, Levi Eshkol files, Diplomatic Telegrams: U.S.A.: Eban to Eshkol, May 26, 1967. “A Step-by-Step Account of Moves in Israel Before War with Arabs,”New York Times, July 10, 1967. Oral history interview with Robert McNamara, Feb. 16, 2000. Eban, Personal Witness, pp. 386-91. Raviv, Israel at Fifty, pp. 100-101.

  102. 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. 56-57; NSC Histories, Middle East Crisis, box 17: Rusk to Johnson (handwritten note), May 26, 1967. The President in the Middle East Crisis, Dec. 19, 1968 (President’s diary); John P. Roche Oral History, pp. 67-68. ISA, 5937/30 Secret Memoranda Prior to the Six-Day War: Evron to Ministry, Report on the 1.5 Hour Meeting Between Foreign Minister Eban and President Johnson at the White House, May 26, 1967. Rafael, Destination Peace, p. 145. Raviv, Israel at Fifty, pp. 100-101. Quandt, Peace Process, p. 514, ft. 53. Eban, Personal Witness, pp. 389-94. Johnson, The Vantage Point, pp. 293-94. Rostow, The Diffusion of Power, p. 417. Little, “The United States and Israel, 1957-1968: The Making of a Special Relationship,” p. 578.

  103. ISA, 5937/30, Secret Memoranda Prior to the Six-Day War: H
arman to Ministry, May 27, 1967. USNA, Middle East Crisis files, 1967, Chronology, box 7: Memorandum of Telephone Conversation, Mr. Rostow and Minister Ebron, May 26, 1967. LBJ, National Security files, NSC Histories, Middle East Crisis, box 17: USUN to the Secretary of State, May 27, 1967; Arthur J. Goldberg Oral History, p. 22. Eban, Personal Witness, pp. 393-94. Raviv, Israel at Fifty, p. 101. Rafael, Destination Peace, p. 145.

  104. ISA, 4083/3, Foreign Ministry files, Contacts with the USSR-Closure of Tiran: Katz to Foreign Office, May 17, 1967; Katz to Foreign Ministry, May 24, 1967. LBJ, National Security file, History of the Middle East Crisis, box 17: State Department Circular, May 18, 1967, The Middle East, May, 1967; Moscow to the State Department, May 19, 1967; box 22-23: Arab-Israel Situation Report, May 22, 1967; box 20: United States Policy and Diplomacy in the Middle East Crisis, May 15-June 10, 1967, p. 58; NSC Histories, Middle East Crisis, box 17: London to the Secretary of State, May 25, 1967; box 19: George C. Denney to the Secretary, May 19, 1967 (“brinkmanship” quote). Dagan, Moscow and Jerusalem, pp. 209-10.