Six Days of War

by Michael B. Oren

  11. LBJ, National Security file, NSC Histories, Middle East Crisis, box 21: Chronology of the Soviet Delay on the Security Council Meetings (J. Baker), June 26, 1967 (Federenko quote); Memorandum for Mr. W.W. Rostow (Davis), June 9, 1967; Tel Aviv to the Secretary of State, June 8, 1967 (Barbour quote). ISA, 4086/6, Foreign Ministry files, Security Council Meetings: Rafael to Tekoah, June 9, 1967. PRO FO17/ 495: Israel - Political Affairs: Tel Aviv to Foreign Office, June 9, 1967. UN, DAG 1/5.2.2.1.2-2, Middle East: Rafael to the Secretary-General, June 9, 1967; Tomeh to the Secretary-General, June 9, 1967. Rafael, Destination Peace, p. 163 (Rafael quote to Nesterenko). Lall, The UN and the Middle East Crisis, pp. 77-78 (Rafael quote in the Security Council). Mansoor, Arab World, entry for June 9, 1967 (Tomeh and Rafael quotes).

  12. USNA, POL ARAB-ISR, Tel Aviv file, box 6: Tel Aviv to the Secretary of State, June 10, 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. 145-46 (Rusk cable), pp. 148-52; box 19: NSC Special Committee Meeting (handwritten notes), June 9, 1967; NSC Histories, Middle East Crisis, box 23: Secretary of State to Tel Aviv, June 9, 1967 (Rusk quote); box 17: The President in the Middle East Crisis, Dec. 19, 1968. ISA, 7919/1, Levi Eshkol files, Diplomatic Telegrams: U.S.A.: Harman to Eshkol, June 9, 1967.

  13. Baron, Hotam Ishi, pp. 94-95. Haber, Ha-Yom Tifrotz Milhama, pp. 253-56. BGA, Diary, Entries for June 9 and 11, 1967. Mayzel, Ha-Ma‘arakha al ha-Golan, pp. 317-18. All quotes from Warhaftig, Hamishim Shana ve-Shana, pp. 196-99.

  14. Bartov, Dado, pp. 104-5. Baron, Hotam Ishi, p. 96. Hareuveni and Arye, Ha-Hativa Shelanu be-Milhemet Sheshet ha-Yamim, p. 60. Naor and Aner, Yemei Yuni, p. 239. Elazar quote from Rabin, Memoirs, pp. 116-17, and from Arye Yitzhaki, “Ha-Ma‘arakha le-Kibush ha-Golan be-Milhemet Sheshet ha-Yamim,”Ariel, no. 50-51 (1987). IDF Intelligence Library, Internal Syrian Army Papers: The Southwestern Front, June 29, 1967. Mayzel, Ha-Ma‘arakha al ha-Golan, pp. 147, 293. Hammel, Six Days in June, p. 423. Eshkol and Dayan quotes from Haber, Ha-Yom Tifrotz Milhama, pp. 255-56. Assad quote from Hame’iri, Mi-Shnei Evrei ha-Rama, p. 123.

  Day Six, June 10

  1. Hame’iri, Mi-Shnei Evrei ha-Rama, pp. 168-70, 179 (Rabin-Elazar conversation), 180 (Elazar order to his officers). Bartov, Dado, p. 105. Mayzel, Ha-Ma‘arakha al ha-Golan, pp. 331-32; Finkelstein quote on pp. 407-8. Hammel, Six Days in June, pp. 417-18.

  2. Dayan, Me-Hermon ad Suez, pp. 254-57. Mayzel, Ha-Ma‘arakha al ha-Golan, p. 286. Hammel, Six Days in June, pp. 417-18. Rabin, Memoirs, pp. 117-18. Mendler quote from Gilboa, Shesh Yamim, Shisha Yamim, p. 242. Eshkol, ed., Milhemet Sheshet ha-Yamim, p. 108. Radio Damascus quote from Hame’iri, Mi-Shnei Evrei ha-Rama, p. 214.

  3. USNA Central Foreign Policy files, 1967-1969, POL 12 SY, box 2511: Goldberg to Rusk, June 10, 1967. Hame’iri, Mi-Shnei Evrei ha-Rama, p. 190. Mustafa, Harb Haziran, pp. 229-32.

  4. LBJ, National Security file, NSC Histories, Middle East Crisis, box 21: Chronology of the Soviet Delay on the Security Council Meetings (J. Baker), June 26, 1967; Report by Bureau of International Organizations Affairs (Arthur Day), n.d. ISA, 4086/6, Foreign Ministry files, Security Council Meetings: Rafael to Eban, June 10, 1967; Rafael to Tekoah, June 10, 1967. UN, DAG 13/3.4.0: 83 Chief of Staff, UNTSO to Chairman, ISMAC, June 10, 1967; Mission and Commissions: Chron-9/06 to 24/06, June 10, 1967. Rafael, Destination Peace, pp. 163-64. Bull, War and Peace in the Middle East, p. 120. Dagan, Moscow and Jerusalem, p. 232. Lall, The UN and the Middle East Crisis, pp. 77-94 (includes Federenko quote).

  5. LBJ, National Security file, Middle East Crisis: Soviet Official’s Comments on Soviet Policy on the Middle Eastern War, June 8, 1967; box 19: State Department Activities Report, June 9, 1967. N.S. Khrushchev, Vospominaniya 3: Vremia. Lyudi. Vlast’, pp. 461-62. Schevchenko, Breaking with Moscow, p. 135.

  6. LBJ National Security file, Middle East Crisis: Soviet Role in the Middle East Crisis, June 14, 1967; box 23: USUN to the Secretary of State, June 8, 1967. USNA, POL ARAB-IS, Chronology, box 8: Ankara to the Secretary of State, June 8, 1967; box 9: Moscow to the Secretary of State, June 6, 1967. ISA, 4048/27, Foreign Ministry files, Diplomatic Relations with the Soviet Union: Bonn to Foreign Ministry, June 8, 1967; 4079/11, Foreign Ministry files, Contacts with the United States with the Entry of Egyptian Forces into Tiran: Foreign Ministry to Embassies, June 8, 1967. PRO, FO17/496: Israel - Political Affairs: NATO Intelligence Assessment, June 10, 1967; PREM 13 1622: The Soviet Role in the Middle East Crisis, July 20, 1967 (“bad six weeks”). Dagan, Moscow and Jerusalem, pp. 234-35. I. L. Blishchenko and V. D. Kudriavtsev, Agressia Izrailia 1 Mezhdunarodnoie Pravo (Moscow: Mezhdunorodnyie Otnosheniya, 1970) p. 11. Vassiliev, Russian Policy in the Middle East, p. 70 (Soviet official quote). Rumors of Soviet intervention in Isabella Ginor, “The Russians Were Coming: The Soviet Military Threat in the 1967 Six-Day War,”Middle East Review of International Affairs 4, no. 4 (Dec. 2000). A. Khaldeev, “Nesostoiavshiisia desant,”Vesti (Israel), Sept. 14, 2000.

  7. LBJ, National Security file, History of the Middle East Crisis, box 19: Memorandum for the Record, Washington-Moscow “Hot-line” Exchange, Oct. 22, 1968; Kosygin to Johnson, June 10, 1967 (10:00 A.M.); Johnson to Kosygin (10:58 A.M.); Movements of Sixth Fleet, June 10, 1967; NSC Histories, Middle East Crisis, box 20: Memorandum of Conversation: The Hotline Exchanges, Nov. 4, 1968 (Thompson quote). Sedov quote in USNA, Middle East Crisis, Miscellaneous Reports, box 15: Garthoff to Kohler, June 10, 1967. PRO, PREM 13 1620, Middle East Crisis: Moscow to the Foreign Office, Text of Communiqué from the Representatives of Ten Socialist Countries, June 10, 1967. Dobrynin, In Confidence, p. 160. Vassiliev, Russian Policy in the Middle East, p. 69. Quandt, Peace Process, p. 52. P. Demchenko, Arabskii Vostok v chas ispytanii (Moscow: Politicheskaia Literarura, 1967), pp. 118-19. LBJ, Richard Helms Oral History; Llewellyn Thompson Oral History. Oral history interview with Robert McNamara, Feb. 11, 2000.

  8. 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. 147-49; NSC Histories, Middle East Crisis, box 23: Tel Aviv to the Secretary of State, June 10, 1967; Washington to Tel Aviv, June 10, 1967 (Eban and Barbour quotes). USNA, Central Foreign Policy files, 1967-1969, POL 77-14 ARAB-ISR, box 1832: Department of State to Tel Aviv, June 10, 1967. ISA, 4078, Foreign Ministry files, Contacts with the United States with the Entry of Egyptian Forces into Tiran: Rafael to Eban, June 10, 1967; 7919/1, Levi Eshkol files, Diplomatic Telegrams: U.S.A.: Harman to Eban, June 10, 1967; Evron to Eban, June 10, 1967. Rabin, Memoirs, pp. 116-17. Parker, The Six Day War, p. 233. Baron, Hotam Ishi, p. 97. Goldberg quote in Rafael, Destination Peace, pp. 164-65. I. I. Mintz., Sionizm: Teoria I Praktika (Moscow: Izdetelstvo Politicheskoy Literatury, 1970), pp. 111-12.

  9. ISA, 4083/3, Foreign Ministry files, Contacts with the Soviet Union: Katz to Foreign Ministry, June 10, 1967; 7920/2, Levi Eshkol Papers, Diplomatic Telegrams, USSR: Katz to the Prime Minister, June 10, 1967. LBJ, National Security file, NSC Histories, Middle East Crisis, box 23: Washinton to Tel Aviv, June 9, 1967. Mintz, Sionizm, p. 113. Dagan, Moscow and Jerusalem, p. 232. Parker, The Six Day War, p. 230. Mintz, Sionizm, p. 113. Chuvakhin quote from Eban, Personal Witness, pp. 425-26. See also Eban, Diplomacy for the Next Century, pp. 101-2.

  10. Hame’iri, Mi-Shnei Evrei ha-Rama, pp. 187-88 (text of meeting with Eshkol, Dayan, and Elazar), 204-5. Bartov, Dado, p. 106. Warhaftig, Hamishim Shana ve-Shana, pp. 191-92, 200. Baron, Hotam Ishi, pp. 97-98. Mayzel, Ha-Ma‘arakha al ha-Golan, pp. 332-33, 342-43. Rabin, Memoirs, pp. 117-18. Amos Gilboa, “Milhemet Sheshet Ha-Yamim 30 Shana,”Ma‘ariv, June 6, 1997. Ze’evi quote from Shashar, Sihot im Rehavam-Gandhi-Ze’evi, p. 166.

  11. USNA, Central Foreign Policy files, 1967-1969, POL Arab-Jordan, box 1844: Amman to the Department of State, June 10, 1967. PRO FCO17/576: Israel - Report of Defense Attaché, July 13, 1967. Rabin, Memoirs, p. 118. Mayzel, Ha-Ma‘arakha al ha-Golan, pp. 81, 335, 338-39. Ezra
Sadeh, Amud Ha-Esh: Yoman ha-Milhama shel Yirmi (Tel Aviv: Yosef Shimoni, n.d.), pp. 203-4. Oral history interviews with Ibrahim Isma’il Khahya and Muhammad ’Amer, Jan. 10, 2001; with Marwan Hamdan al-Khuli, Jan. 11, 2000. Suweidani quote from Hame’iri, Mi-Shnei Evrei ha-Rama, p. 212. Mustafa Tlas, Mir’at Hayati (Damascus: Tlasdar, 1995), p. 857. Darwish and Hassan quotes from Saqr Abu Fakhr, “Al-Julan: Shahadat Nazihin ‘an Ayyam al-Harb wal-Hadir,”Majallat al-Dirasat al-Filastiniyya 42 (Spring 2000) pp. 135-39.

  12. Eshkol, Milhemet Sheshet ha-Yamim, pp. 108-9. Hammel, Six Days in June, pp. 419-20. Harel, El Mul Golan, p. 130. PREM 13 1620, Middle East Crisis: New York to Foreign Office, June 10, 1967. Mayzel, Ha-Ma‘arakha al ha-Golan, pp. 418-20. Hame’iri, Mi-Shnei Evrei ha-Rama, pp. 165-67. Allon quote from YAD, Remarks by Ephraim Reiner June 20, 1996.

  13. Bartov, Dado, pp. 107-9. Baron, Hotam Ishi, p. 98. Mayzel, Ha-Ma‘arakha al ha-Golan, pp. 109-14, 359. Ma’oz, Syria and Israel, pp. 101-2. Schiff, A History of the Israeli Army, p. 141. Golan, Albert, pp. 134-35. Inbar quote from Ran Bin-Nun, Krav ha-Havka‘a shel Hativat ‘Golani’ be-Milhemet Sheshet ha-Yamim, unpublished thesis, Kedourie School, Feb. 1988, p. 12.

  14. UN, DAG 13/3.4.0.:83: Mission and Commissions: Chron-9/06 to 24/06, O’Hora to the Chief of Staff, June 10, 1967. ISA, 4086/6, Foreign Ministry files, Security Council Meetings: Sasson to Washington, June 10, 1967. Baron, Hotam Ishi, pp. 98-99. Hame’iri, Mi-Shnei Evrei ha-Rama, p. 187. Mayzel, Ha-Ma‘arakha al ha-Golan, p. 342.

  15. Hame’iri, Mi-Shnei Evrei ha-Rama, p. 187. YAD, Interview with Ephraim Reiner, June 20, 1996; with Elad Peled, June 20, 1967. Hofi quote from Bartov, Dado, p. 108. Mayzel, Ha-Ma’arakha al ha-Golan, pp. 343-44, 354-57. Oral history interview with Yitzhak Hofi, July 14, 1999.

  16. ISA, 4086/6, Foreign Ministry files, Security Council Meetings: New York to Foreign Ministry, June 10, 1967. USNA, Middle East Crisis files, 1967, Chronology, box 7: Tel Aviv to the Secretary of State, June 10, 1967. PRO, PREM 13 1620, Middle East Crisis: New York to Foreign Office, June 11, 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, p. 152 (Barbour quote); NSC Histories, Middle East Crisis, box 21: Report by Bureau of International Organizations Affairs (Arthur Day), n.d. (Goldberg quote); box 19: Kosgyin to Johnson, June 10, 1967; Johnson to Kosygin, June 10, 1967. Rabin, Memoirs, p. 118. Baron, Dado, pp. 101-2.

  Aftershocks

  1. USNA, Middle East Crisis files, box 4: Circular to all American Diplomatic Posts, June 12, 1967. Hammel, Six Days in June, p. 383. Schiff, A History of the Israeli Army, pp. 135, 141. Mutawi, Jordan in the 1967 War, p. 164. Mustafa, Harb Haziran, pp. 242-44. Fawzi, Harb al-Thalath Sanawat, pp. 160-61. Donovan, Six Days in June, p. 123. Mayzel, Ha-Ma‘arakha al ha-Golan, p. 425. Adnan Abu Oudeh, Jordanians, Palestinians, and the Hashemite Kingdom in the Middle East Peace Process (Washington, D.C.: United States Institute of Peace, 1998), p. 137.

  2. USNA, USUN, box 6: Circular to All American Diplomatic Posts, June 10, 1967; POL 27-7 ARAB-ISR, box 1830: Cairo to the Secretary of State, Aug. 31, 1967. LBJ, National Security file, History of the Middle East Crisis, box 21: CIA Intelligence Memorandum, Arab-Israeli Situation Report, June 11, 1967. PRO, FCO17/577: Report of Air Attaché, Aug. 8, 1967. ISA, 4086/8, Foreign Ministry files, Red Cross: Foreign Ministry Circular, June 7, 1967; 4089/3, Foreign Ministry files, Report on the Gossing Visit, July 26, 1967. Schiff, A History of the Israeli Army, p. 135. Mayzel, Ha-Ma‘arakha al ha-Golan, p. 425. Mutawi, Jordan in the 1967 War, p. 164. Kimche, The Sandstorm, p. 237. Shashar, Milhemet ha-Yom ha-Shvi‘i, p. 45.

  3. USNA, Central Foreign Policy files, 1967-1969, POL 27-7 ARAB-ISR, box 1830: Amman to the Secretary of State, June 30, 1967. ISA, Foreign Ministry files, 4089/2, Refugees: Jerusalem to Embassies, June 23, 1967; Comay to Bitan, July 3, 1967. PRO, FCO17/577: Israel - Defense: Report of Defense Attaché, Oct. 9, 1967; PREM 13 1623: Record of Meeting, The Foreign Secretary and the Israeli Ambassador, July 30, 1967. Shashar, Milhemet ha-Yom ha-Shvi‘i, pp. 24, 66-67, 76-77, 105, 165, 212. Gazit, Pta’im be-Malkodet, pp. 29, 36-39, 48-49. Mayzel, Ha-Ma‘arakha al ha-Golan, p. 82. Susser, On Both Banks of the Jordan, p. 25. Abu murshid, Butrus, and Jabber, Silsilat al-Kitab al-Sanawi lil-Qadiyya al-Filastiniyya, pp. 509-10, 532, 540-41, Yosef Levita, “Ma Ya‘ase Zahal ba-Shalal,”Bamahane 48 (August, 1967). IDF order in Mayzel, Ha-Ma‘arakha al ha-Golan, p. 364; see also pp. 433-35.

  4. LBJ, National Security file, Memos to the President, box 22: Wine to E. Rostow, Aug. 16, 1967. USNA, Central Foreign Policy files, 1967-1969, POL 27-7 ARAB-ISR, box 1830: The Hague to the Secretary of State, July 7, 1967; POL 12 SY, box 2511: Beirut to the Secretary of State, Sept. 6, 1967. ISA Foreign Ministry file 4091/7: Speeches and Decisions (Comay): Foreign Ministry to Washington, June 16, 1967; 4085/1: Emergency Situation 1967 - Prisoners: Geneva to Tekoah, June 13, 1967. PRO, FCO17/531 Isreal - Political Affairs (External): Condition of the Jews of the Arab States in the Light of the Six-Day War, Sept. 27, 1967.

  5. USNA, Central Foreign Policy files, 1967-1969, POL 27-7 ARAB-ISR, box 1830: Jerusalem to the Secretary of State, June 13, 1967; Jerusalem to the Secretary of State, June 23, 1967; Jerusalem to the Secretary of State, Aug. 30, 1967. Abu Murshid, Butrus, Jabber, Silsilat al-Kitab al-Sanawi lil-Qadiyya al-Filastiniyya, pp. 525, 531. Shashar, Milhemet ha-Yom ha-Shvi‘i, pp. 66-69, 131-32, 148. Dayan, My Life, pp. 393, 403. Susser, On Both Banks of the Jordan, pp. 24-26, 36.

  6. LBJ, National Security Council file, History of the Middle East Crisis, box 18: McPherson to the President, June 11, 1967. Eban quote in Ha’aretz, June 11, 1967; “victory cake” recipe in June 12, 1967. Slater, Rabin of Israel, p. 148. PRO, PREM 13 1622: The Second Arab-Israel War (Hadow), July 6, 1967. Avraham Shapira, ed., The Seventh Day, pp. 100. 124-25. Lyrics to “Song of Peace” by Yankele Rotblitt; translation by Michael Oren.

  7. Haber, Ha-Yom Tifrotz Milhama, p. 256 (Bar-Lev quote). Fuad Ajami, The Arab Predicament: Arab Political Thought and Practice Since 1967 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1981), pp. 12 (Middle East historian’s quote), 25-40, 50-62. Ramadan, Tahtim al-Aliha, p. 88. Hussein, My “War” with Israel, p. 97. Riad, Mudhakkirat 2, pp. 310-12. Al-Khuli, Harb Yunyu 1967, pp. 50-66, 81-101. Gawrych, The Albatross of Decisive Victory, pp. 84-88. USNA Central Foreign Policy files, 1967-1969, POL Arab-Jordan, box 1844; Beirut to the secretary of State, June 10, 1967 (reference to Assad). Suweidani and Makhous quotes in Khalil Shukut al-Julan, pp. 190-92. Assad quote in Hani al-Shum‘a, Ma‘arik Khalida fi Ta‘rikh al-Jaysh al-‘Arabi al-Suri, p. 35.

  8. Hadidi quote in Al-Sabbagh, Mudhakkirat Qadat al-‘Askaraiyya al-Misriyya, 3 p. 17. Fawzi quote in Ramadan, Tahtim al-Aliha, p. 109. Al-Sabbagh, Mudhakkirat Qadat al-‘Askaraiyya al-Misriyya, 4 p. 32 (Sadiq quote), Mazhar, I‘tirafat Qadat Harb Yunyu, pp. 157-58 (Sidqi Mahmud quote), 193-95. Muhieddin quote from LBJ National Security file, Memos to the President, box 20: CIA Intelligence Cable: Egypt, July 31, 1967. Imam, “Ali Sabri Yatadhakkar, pp. 89-90. Badran, Al-Hawadith, Sept. 2, 1977, p. 19.

  9. PRO, PREM 13 1622: The Second Arab-Israel War (Hadow), July 6, 1967. Moshe Dayan, “Before and After the Battle,” pp. 11-18. Dayan, My Life, pp. 382-83. For further explanations of Israel’s victory, see IDF, 717/77, file 86: Battle for the Southern Front, General Tal on the Lessons of War, pp. 113-16.

  10. LBJ, National Security file, NSC Histories, Middle East Crisis, box 17: The President in the Middle East Crisis, Dec. 19, 1968; box 21: Memos to the President: CIA Intelligence Cable, July 11, 1967. PRO, FCO 27/1 Arab-Israel Dispute—Peace Negotiations: The Middle East Situation, Aug. 14, 1967. ISA, 4078/7, Foreign Ministry files, Contacts with the United States with the Entry of Egyptian Force into Tiran: Eban to Harman and Rafael, June 12, 1967 (Eban quote); Eban to Harman and Rafael, June 26, 1967 (”Constructive deadlock”). Rafael, Destination Peace, p. 177. Gazit, Pta’im be-Malkodet 32, pp. 136-37. Pedatzur, “Coming Back Full Circle.” Mayzel, Ha-Ma‘arakha al ha-Golan pp. 381-83. Rabinquote fro
m Beni Michelson, Avraham Zohar, and Effi Meltzer, eds., Ha-Ma’avak le-Bithon Yisrael (Tel Aviv: Ha-Amuta ha-Yisraelit le-Historia Tzva’it leyad Universitat Tel Aviv, 2000), pp. 150-51. Eban quote from ISA, 4078/7, Foreign Ministry files, Contacts with the United States with the Entry of Egyptian Forces into Tiran: Eban Conversation with Goldberg, July 18, 1967.

  11. BGA, Diary: Entry for June 11, 1967. Bartov, Dado, pp. 112-13. Gazit, Pta’im be-Malkodet, pp. 144-46. Shashar, Milhemet ha-Yom ha-Shvi’i, p. 175. Profiles of Yigal Allon, Menachem Begin, David Elazar Weizman, and Ariel Sharon can be found at www.us-israel.org/jsource/biography. Allon and Begin quotes from www.research.haifa.ac.il/~eshkol/peace.