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Thirteen Days in September

Page 35

by Lawrence Wright


  “so glamorous”: Carter, First Lady from Plains, p. 22.

  By now she was following: Kaufman, Rosalynn Carter, p. 8.

  “That’s that”: Carter, First Lady from Plains, p. 23.

  The submarines of the era: Interview with Jimmy Carter; Bourne, Jimmy Carter, p. 66.

  If she needed to stop: Kaufman, Rosalynn Carter, p. 12.

  “We’re home!”: Carter, First Lady from Plains, p. 36.

  The first year Jimmy: Carter, Why Not the Best?, p. 65.

  Jimmy was seen as: Interview with Philip J. Wise Jr.

  COONS AND CARTERS: Carter, First Lady from Plains, p. 49.

  The election was fifteen: Carter, Turning Point, p. 56.

  Rosalynn was thrilled: Carter, First Lady from Plains, p. 50.

  When one elderly couple: Bourne, Jimmy Carter, p. 119.

  Carter was leading by 70: Ibid., p. 120.

  Joe Hurst sent Rosalynn: Carter, First Lady from Plains, p. 52.

  “What do the constitutions”: Carter, Turning Point, p. 24.

  “How long is”: Bourne, Jimmy Carter, p. 144.

  “Negroes and other agitators”: Ibid., p. 147.

  every Kmart in the state: Carter, First Lady from Plains, p. 68.

  The man responded by spitting: Ibid., p. 60.

  Carter had dropped 22 pounds: Carter, Why Not the Best?, p. 98.

  He kept a running tally: Jimmy Carter remarks at “The Civil Rights Summit,” LBJ Library, April 8, 2014.

  “I want to know what you”: Carter, First Lady from Plains, p. 73.

  By the end of the campaign: Bourne, Jimmy Carter, p. 264.

  Those close to the president: Interviews with Gerald Rafshoon and Walter Mondale.

  Rosalynn topped Mother Teresa: Kaufman, Rosalynn Carter, p. ix.

  “And now look where we are!”: Kamel, The Camp David Accords, p. 314.

  DAY FOUR

  “See, this is what”: Rosalynn Carter diary of Camp David.

  According to Jordan’s: Jordan, Crisis, p. 47.

  “Proceed with the American”: Carter, First Lady from Plains, p. 249.

  “I think we ought”: Rosalynn Carter diary of Camp David.

  “You can go down”: Carter, First Lady from Plains, p. 250.

  Begin now had the important: William Quandt states that, from this moment, Begin’s position on settlements in Sinai became unyielding; but, as we have seen, he was already intransigent on this issue. Quandt, Camp David, p. 225.

  “I will never personally”: Carter, Keeping Faith, p. 365.

  “We are going to produce”: Ibid., p. 367.

  “Mr. President, please do not”: Ibid., p. 366.

  “You promised me”: Carter, First Lady from Plains, p. 250.

  Gefilte fish and challah: Gordis, Menachem Begin, p. 172.

  He said that his father: Shilon, Menachem Begin, p. 269. Begin’s sister, Rachel, claims this story is not true.

  liked to read Virgil: Gervasi, The Life and Times of Menahem Begin, p. 326.

  She was known by: Interview with Elyakim Rubinstein.

  raising their three children: Gervasi, The Life and Times of Menahem Begin, p. 326.

  Aliza strained to keep: Haber, Menachem Begin, p. 300.

  She made her own clothes: Ibid., p. 301.

  Even when her husband: Ibid., p. 302.

  Such austerity was: Interview with Zev Chafets.

  “I can’t afford that!”: Ibid.

  “Jimmy is a fighter”: Rosalynn Carter diary of Camp David.

  “Oh, he’ll be reelected”: Ibid. According to Gerald Rafshoon, Dayan never did make such a testimony, but Weizman traveled with the Carter campaign in its last week.

  “He was a man”: Dayan, My Father, His Daughter, p. 249.

  “almost insane daring”: Bar-On, Moshe Dayan, p. 109.

  Ben-Gurion responded: Ibid., pp. 111–12.

  In 1915, Moshe became: Dayan notes that another child, Gideon Baratz, was the first kibbutz child, but he had actually been delivered in another community. Dayan, Story of My Life, p. 27.

  When Shmuel Dayan: Ibid., p. 30.

  “From my boyhood days”: Ibid., p. 31.

  “I could understand”: Ibid., pp. 37–38.

  Several hundred Jews: Morris, Righteous Victims, p. 160.

  The British authorities: Rashid Khalidi, “The Palestinians and 1948: The Underlying Causes of Failure,” in Rogan and Shlaim, The War for Palestine, p. 26.

  “It became clear to me”: Dayan, Story of My Life, p. 41.

  At the outbreak of : Ibid., pp. 66–71.

  An Arab scout named Rashid: Bar-On, Moshe Dayan, p. 24.

  “Who will hire a”: Ibid., p. 26.

  “Gaza shall be forsaken”: Zephaniah 2:4–5.

  In rabbinical literature: Sotah 9b.

  “If I am shaved”: Judges 16:17.

  “Those he killed”: Judges 16:30.

  “The greatness of Samson”: Dayan, Living with the Bible, p. 129.

  “I would leave early”: Ibid., p. 131.

  “Thousands of youngsters”: Ibid., p. 165.

  The official Israeli army: Morris, Righteous Victims, p. 272.

  “We shoot from among”: Ibid., p. 275.

  “an eye for an eye”: Ibid., p. 283.

  His strategy was to provoke: Ibid., p. 286.

  Fifty-eight civilians: Ibid., p. 287.

  “Yesterday morning Roy was”: Bar-On, Moshe Dayan, pp. 74–76; Dayan, Living with the Bible, pp. 165–66.

  The phased departure of: Neff, Warriors at Suez, pp. 55–56.

  “The Suez Canal was”: Turner, Suez 1956, p. 180.

  Although Britain had: Neff, Warriors at Suez, p. 18.

  The scheme was: Dayan, Story of My Life, p. 202.

  That would become: Grief, The Legal Foundation and Borders of Israel under International Law, p. 233.

  Finally, Israel would: Ibid., p. 215; Neff, Warriors at Suez, pp. 342–43; Sand, The Invention of the Land of Israel, p. 238.

  Lloyd even proposed that: Sachar, A History of Israel from the Rise of Zionism to Our Time, p. 491.

  “real act of war”: Dayan, Story of My Life, p. 219.

  Dayan offered a plan: Neff, Warriors at Suez, p. 348.

  Within an hour: The soldiers who killed the villagers were sentenced to lengthy prison terms, but all were pardoned. The commander who ordered the slayings was convicted and made to pay a fine of 10 prutot, equivalent to a penny. The tally of victims killed varies between forty-seven and forty-nine, with the higher number being the more recent figure. Yoav Stern, “President Peres Apologizes for Kafr Qasem Massacre of 1956,” Haaretz, Dec. 21, 2007; Yoav Stern, “50 Years after Massacre, Kafr Qasem Wants Answers,” Haaretz, Oct. 29, 2006; Neff, Warriors at Suez, p. 368. The Jerusalem District Court found that the orders were patently illegal and should have been disobeyed. Louise Fischer, personal communication.

  About half of those: Shira Robinson, “Commemoration under Fire: Palestinian Responses to the 1956 Kafr Qasim Massacre,” in Makdisi and Silverstein, Memory and Violence in the Middle East and North Africa, p. 105.

  The war began when: Dayan, Story of My Life, p. 236.

  The Israelis finally took: Neff, Warriors at Suez, p. 381.

  “In general, they fought”: Dayan, Story of My Life, p. 246.

  “He had been abandoned”: Ibid., p. 248.

  “These troops, abandoned by”: Quoted in Turner, Suez 1956, pp. 340–41.

  The British and French assembled: Neff, Warriors at Suez, p. 313.

  The troops came ashore: Ibid., p. 408.

  which killed 2,700 Egyptians: Heikal, Secret Channels, p. 111.

  and left tens of thousands: Varble, The Suez Crisis 1956, p. 90.

  “all contemporary forms”: Letter from Prime Minister Bulganin to President Eisenhower, Nov. 5, 1956, http://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1955-57v16/d505.

  It was President Dwight Eisenhower: Eban, An Autobiography, p. 212.

  The Israelis were
harder: Ibid., pp. 215–19.

  “Egypt has lost its sovereignty”: Gamasy, The October War, pp. 13–14.

  “If we agreed that”: Neff, Warriors at Suez, p. 434.

  Britain had been motivated: Ibid., p. 438.

  France’s colonial empire: Eban, An Autobiography, p. 233.

  Within a few decades: Varble, The Suez Crisis 1956, p. 12.

  “I owe the bomb to them”: Hersh, The Samson Option, p. 43.

  Begin savored the company: Interview with Rosalynn Carter.

  he didn’t care to go: Shilon, Menachem Begin, p. 43.

  Whenever he served as: Ibid., p. 100.

  Sentimental scenes would: Interview with Zev Chafets.

  At home, the Begins: Gervasi, The Life and Times of Menahem Begin, p. 24; Silver, Begin, p. 182. Zev Chafets told me that when the cast of Dallas came to Israel to promote a new season, Begin pulled Larry Hagman, the actor who played J. R. Ewing, aside and asked if he could confide who shot J.R.

  So far, the only movie: Edward Walsh, “At the Summit’s End, Two Intractable Issues …” Washington Post, Sept. 20, 1978.

  “He is intoxicated with”: Shmuel Katz quoted in Shilon, Menachem Begin, p. 175.

  “Begin, the King of Israel!”: Carter, The Blood of Abraham, p. 8.

  “magic influence”: Interview with Aharon Barak.

  “They say that Germany”: Shilon, Menachem Begin, p. 169.

  “In Zion Square”: Ben-Gurion, Israel, p. 400.

  German money helped build: Gordis, Menachem Begin, p. 112.

  “Much of the land”: Begin speech to Knesset, Nov. 7, 1956.

  “This is the land”: Deuteronomy 34:4.

  “Every place where you set foot”: Book of Joshua 1:3.

  “Be strong and steadfast”: Book of Joshua 1:9.

  “reproach of Egypt”: Book of Joshua 5:9.

  “And it came to pass”: Book of Joshua 6:20–21.

  “made it an heap”: Book of Joshua 8:28.

  “all the souls that”: Book of Joshua 10:40.

  “a very large part”: Book of Joshua 13:1.

  “all the Lebanon”: Book of Joshua 13:5.

  “I gave you a land”: Book of Joshua 24:13–14.

  For Begin, however: Interview with Zev Chafets.

  “Look at these Jews”: Quoted in Neff, Warriors at Suez, p. 46.

  Neither Jericho nor Ai: Finkelstein and Silberman, The Bible Unearthed, p. 82.

  The story was probably: Cline, From Eden to Exile, pp. 96–98.

  The most likely explanation: Finkelstein and Silberman, The Bible Unearthed, p. 118.

  The first time that: Cline, From Eden to Exile, p. 116.

  DAY FIVE

  “Thus says the Lord”: Ezekiel 37:21–22.

  “You must not be taken”: Oren, Six Days of War, p. 54.

  But he was wrong: Richard B. Parker has an extensive analysis of this question in The Politics of Miscalculation in the Middle East. Nutting, in Nasser, makes the case for an Israeli trap to draw Egypt into war, pp. 397–98; while Oren, in Six Days of War, p. 54, simply concludes that the reasons are “obscure.” Lyndon Johnson, in The Vantage Point, p. 289, says that the Soviets manufactured the lie in order to pressure Egypt into supporting Syria.

  Each time, the Soviets: Parker, The Politics of Miscalculation in the Middle East, p. 8.

  “There is nothing there”: Oren, Six Days of War, p. 64.

  Still, Nasser felt: Nutting, Nasser, p. 408, suggests that Nasser was convinced he could “ride out the storm” if he offered no further provocation.

  nearly half of the: Ibid., p. 383.

  In addition, a third: Oren, Six Days of War, p. 93.

  “If war comes”: Ibid.

  “totally exterminate”: Sachar, A History of Israel, p. 633.

  “Nasser was carried away”: Sadat, In Search of Identity, p. 173.

  The Israelis stockpiled: Yossi Alpher, personal communication.

  “We must strike now”: Oren, Six Days of War, p. 87.

  Dayan took immediate charge: Bar-On, Moshe Dayan, p. 130.

  A message, which Dayan: Oren, Six Days of War, p. 169.

  Dayan coolly had breakfast: Bar-On, Moshe Dayan, p. 131.

  “The whole plan rested”: Weizman, On Eagles’ Wings, pp. 222–23.

  one of its spies was: Oren, Six Days of War, p. 171.

  The commander in chief: Ibid., pp. 171–74; Sadat, In Search of Identity, p. 174.

  “Well, they’ll be taught”: Sadat, In Search of Identity, p. 174.

  “Good morning!”: Ibid., p. 175.

  “Quickly take possession”: Oren, Six Days of War, p. 185.

  “Shall we say that”: Ibid., p. 226.

  After Israel released: Telushkin, Jewish Literacy, p. 310.

  Meantime, mobs attacked: Oren, Six Days of War, p. 217.

  “I was dazed and”: Sadat, In Search of Identity, pp. 175–76.

  “I know exactly what”: Weizman, On Eagles’ Wings, p. 244.

  Within a few days: Gordis, Menachem Begin, p. 128.

  “What a divine view!”: Lawrence Wright, “Forcing the End,” New Yorker, July 20, 1998.

  Professor Weizmann’s papers: Weizman, On Eagles’ Wings, p. 246.

  “Under no circumstances”: Oren, Six Days of War, p. 232.

  “We must not wait”: Ibid., p. 242.

  “May peace descend”: Dayan, Story of My Life, p. 16.

  “We have returned to”: Ibid.

  It would be at least: Chafets, Heroes and Hustlers, Hard Hats and Holy Men, p. 38.

  Before Camp David: Interview with Harold H. Saunders.

  suspicion on Carter’s part: Interview with Jimmy Carter.

  The main idea that: Bruce Patton, personal communication.

  “Governor, I’ve got a”: Interview with Jimmy Carter; “To Cool Arms Race in Ga.,” Gettysburg Times, Oct. 2, 1971; Randall H. Harber, “Georgia’s Arms Race,” UPI, Nov. 6, 1971.

  “Necessary Elements of Agreement”: Jimmy Carter handwritten notes.

  “The president was very frank”: Quandt, Camp David, p. 228.

  it was also home: Neff, Warriors at Suez, p. 29.

  Members of the Israeli: Aharon Barak told me, “I myself suggested many times to Sadat, ‘Take Gaza! Take Gaza!’ He said, ‘I don’t want Gaza.’ ”

  but he didn’t want: Shilon, Menachem Begin, p. 293; Iris Berlatzky interview with Elyakim Rubinstein, Menachem Begin Archives.

  “a concentration camp de luxe”: Silver, Begin, p. 191.

  “It all reminded me”: Weizman, The Battle for Peace, p. 359.

  Carter observed that Weizman: Interview with Jimmy Carter.

  “What makes things even gloomier”: Kamel, The Camp David Accords, pp. 321–22.

  “I get the feeling that”: Weizman, The Battle for Peace, p. 359.

  “He heard you repeat”: Sabry, Al-Sadat, p. 451.

  “There is no argument”: Weizman, The Battle for Peace, p. 362.

  “He could hardly cross”: Kamel, The Camp David Accords, p. 323.

  “Jerusalem has been put”: Ibid.

  “Tohamy!”: Ibid., p. 196.

  A figure from the ancien régime: Michael Lind, “Alboutros,” New Republic, June 28, 1993.

  In 1910, a Muslim fanatic: Turner, Suez 1956, p. 41.

  Given his talents: Heikal, Autumn of Fury, p. 105.

  “I felt strange”: Boutros-Ghali, Egypt’s Road to Jerusalem, p. 141.

  Begin identified Brzezinski: Weizman, The Battle for Peace, p. 363.

  He was a political innovator: Interview with Jimmy Carter.

  He explained to the press: Avner, The Prime Ministers, pp. 439–40.

  “ocher Israel”: Sidney Zion and Uri Dan, “Untold Story of the Mideast Talks,” Part II, New York Times, Jan. 21, 1979.

  “Poles apart!”: Avner, The Prime Ministers, p. 439.

  “Don’t forget to tell”: Begin, White Nights, p. 19.

  Observing the match: Silver, Begin, p. 192.

&nb
sp; “Menachem just loves”: Haber, Schiff, and Yaari, The Year of the Dove, p. 246.

  Begin did win: Interview with Yechiel Kadishai; Haber, Schiff, and Yaari, The Year of the Dove, p. 246. Brzezinski maintains the score was actually a 1–1 tie. Brzezinski, Power and Principle, 259.

  “He thought it would”: Interview with Meir Rosenne.

  “Did we not agree”: Boutros-Ghali, Egypt’s Road to Jerusalem, p. 139.

  DAY SIX

  The Israeli team had: Sofer, Begin, p. 191.

  Dayan diplomatically suggested: According to Louise Fischer, the draft was not meant as a serious proposal but a rebuttal of the Egyptian plan, if it were to be published. Louise Fischer, personal communication.

  “and then we will go”: Interview with Aharon Barak. Louise Fischer believes this did not happen until September 12, but Barak has a clear memory of not being allowed to go to Gettysburg.

  The point that Chaplain: “Chaplain Reed Is Now the Person Who Preaches to Carter the Most,” Sarasota Herald-Tribune, Feb. 24, 1979.

  “You come against”: 1 Samuel 17:45.

  “The Arabs come to us”: Dayan, Living with the Bible, pp. 185–87.

  “long-forgotten brethren”: Ben-Zvi, The Exiled and the Redeemed, p. x.

  In a Talmudic account: Masechet Sotah 42b, Babylonian Talmud. There is an intricate and confusing commentary in various rabbinical sources about the possible relationship of David’s and Goliath’s mothers, or else David’s mother and Goliath’s great-grandmother.

  Sadat said that for: Rosalynn Carter diary of Camp David.

  “The audience began shouting”: Heikal, Autumn of Fury, p. 24.

  “certain nervous troubles”: Sadat, In Search of Identity, p. 76.

  “My relations with the”: Ibid., p. 77.

  He later noted that: Ibid., p. 85.

  “The bricks were sodden”: Ibid., p. 70.

  a “university” to him: Carter, First Lady from Plains, p. 253.

  When he was arrested: Begin, White Nights, p. 19. According to Begin’s biographer, the prison protocol says that he arrived with the Disraeli biography and a German-English dictionary. Shilon, Menachem Begin, p. 31.

  They passed the time: Rosalynn Carter diary of Camp David.

  “Citizen-Judge, we were”: Begin, White Nights, pp. 74–75.

  “I can testify that”: Ibid., p. 48.

  While in prison: Gordis, Menachem Begin, pp. 32–33.

  “guilty of having been”: Begin, White Nights, p. 95.

  “I never want to see”: Silver, Begin, p. 29.

 

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