Six Days

by Jeremy Bowen

  ‘Just after dawn’: account of Hussein in Cairo from Hussein of Jordan, My War With Israel, as told to Vick Vance and Pierre Lauer.

  ‘I knew that war was inevitable’: King Hussein speaking to Avi Shlaim, 3 December 1996, New York Review of Books, 15 July 1999.

  ‘He told the officers’: interview with Prince Zaid Ben Shaker, Amman, 7 June 2002.

  ‘The official army minder’: interview with Winston Churchill, London, 17 June 2002.

  ‘The crisis was especially frightening’: letters in ISA G 6301/1051; letters to Eshkol in Prime Minister’s Office file.

  ‘We have nothing for Israel except war’: Cairo, Voice of the Arabs in Arabic, 1738 GMT, 18 May 1967, BBC SWB ME/2470/A/6.

  ‘Black jokes about’: interview with David Rubinger, Jerusalem, 24 November 2002.

  ‘Suddenly everyone was talking about Munich’: Muki Tzur from Kibbutz Ein Gev in The Seventh Day, p. 19.

  ‘During May, more and more men’: MER, pp. 373–4.

  ‘sunny, sparsely populated’: New Yorker, 17 June 1967; reprinted in Chace, pp. 101–11.

  ‘Had there been an injury in the family?’: Schliefer, p. 148.

  ‘nothing had changed’: Morning and Afternoon Intelligence Sitrep, 28 May 1967, NSC, Box 17.

  ‘running around like mice’: Bregman and el-Tahri, p. 77.

  ‘We felt as if the burden was on our shoulders’: Sharon, p. 184.

  ‘Nobody offered Eshkol any refreshments’: Narkiss, p. 67.

  ‘tongue-lashing’: Rabin, p. 72.

  ‘the IDF’s power to deter’: an account of meeting from Haber, pp. 195–9; also interviews with Gavish, and with General Elad Peled, Jerusalem, 25 November 2002.

  ‘My purely military’: interview with Gavish.

  ‘One of them’: Elon, A Blood-Dimmed Tide, p. 9.

  ‘Letters criticising’: ISA G 6301/1054–II, Prime Minister’s Office, correspondence.

  ‘non-committal, uninspiring’: Yael Dayan, p. 9.

  ‘Most Israelis thought her father’: Henry (ed.), The Seventh Day, p. 23.

  ‘the leadership of the nation’: Peres, David’s Sling, p. 234.

  ‘Public doubt and derision’: Moshe Dayan, p. 266.

  ‘He had two hobbies’: interview with Lova Eliav, Tel Aviv, 2 December 2002.

  ‘walked in with a heavy revolver’: Moshe Dayan, p. 28.

  ‘munching raw onions’: ibid., p. 30.

  ‘the fate of our generation’: quoted in Naphtali Lau-Lavie, Moshe Dayan, p. 142.

  ‘playing politics’: Haber, p. 157.

  ‘high command of the army’: PRO/Tel Aviv to FCO, Ambassador Hadow reporting interview with Gen Yariv, 31 May 1967, FCO 17/487.

  ‘a thundering voice’: Haber, pp. 199–201.

  ‘He told the cabinet’: MER, p. 371.

  ‘Nobody had told Gavish’: interview with Gavish.

  ‘He said “come quickly to Tel Aviv”’: interview with Miriam Eshkol, Jerusalem, 9 May 2002.

  ‘The British police chief’: Segev, p. 475.

  ‘He acted quite naturally’: Haber, p. 202.

  ‘It wasn’t just a personal insult’: interview with Gavish.

  ‘The IDF has never’: Haber, p. 215.

  ‘Even Colonel Lior’: ibid., p. 202.

  ‘Arab confidence hung in the air’: Abdullah Schliefer, pp. 143–45.

  ‘Adnan Abu Odeh’: interview with Adnan Abu Odeh, Amman, 6 June 2002.

  ‘I am impressed’ Lisbon cable 1517, 2 June 1967 eyes only for President and Secretary of State from Robert Anderson NSF Box 115.

  ‘sport clothes’ ibid.

  ‘Riad told him’: Riad, p. 21.

  ‘not economic but purely psychological’ Cairo cable 8349, 2 June 1967 NSC Box 18.

  ‘a terrible bloodbath’: Memo to President from Rostow, 2 June 1967, NSC, Box 18.

  ‘the capability of these forces’: Memo to the Secretary of Defense from Wheeler, Chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff, 2 June 1967; NSC, Box 18.

  ‘On 2 June’: IDF 3/46/1980: minutes of Special Meeting of the General Staff with the cabinet defence committee, 2 June 1967.

  ‘barbaric and inhuman’: Brown, p. 35.

  ‘He was very impressive’: interview with Meir Amit, 26 November 2002.

  ‘the strident Arab nationalism’: PRO/FCO 17/489: Pullar (Jerusalem) to FCO, 3 June 1967.

  ‘Late in the afternoon’: Narkiss, pp. 87–92.

  ‘If the chief of staff’: interview with Mordechai Hod, Tel Aviv, 7 May 2002.

  ‘He gave a terrific show’: interview with Churchill.

  ‘I propose to discontinue’: PRO/FCO 17/489: Hadow (Tel Aviv) to FCO, 4 May 1967.

  ‘At Kibbutz Nachshon’: Kibbutz Nachshon bulletin.

  ‘Ran Pekker’: interview with Ran Pekker Ronen, Herzliya, 25 November 2002.

  ‘The air force’s own intelligence’: interview with Air Vice Marshal Abdel-Hamid El-Dighidi, quoted in Egyptian weekly Al-Ahali, 29 June 1983; reprinted in al-Ahram, 5–11 June 1997.

  ‘It is now increasingly clear’: Memo from Rostow to LBJ, 4 June 1967, NSC, Box 18.

  ‘The Soviet ambassador to the UN’: Shevchenko, p. 133.

  ‘Tomorrow it will start’: interview with Miriam Eshkol, Jerusalem, 9 May 2002; also Bregman and El Tahri.

  ‘War looked inescapable’: Cable Amman 4040 to State, 4 June 1967, NSC, Box 23.

  Day One

  ‘Brigadier-General Ariel Sharon’: Yael Dayan, pp. 33–4.

  ‘Hod managed four hours’ sleep’: interview with Mordechai Hod, Tel Aviv, 7 May 2002.

  ‘Battle order of the officer’: AP, Lightning Out of Israel, p. 53.

  ‘Secrecy and surprise’: interview with Hod.

  ‘Ran Pekker’s alarm’: Weizman, p. 179; Ran Ronen, ‘Hawk in the Sky’, Yediot Aharonot, 2002.

  ‘The same thing’: interview with Hod.

  ‘King Hussein’s warnings’: interview with Ihsan Shurdom, Amman, 5 June 2002.

  ‘Pekker … made sure coffee’: Ronen, interview and ‘Hawk in the Sky’, Yediot Aharanot, 2002.

  ‘Similar briefings’: Avihu Bin-Nun’s eyewitness account from Bamahane, IDF Magazine, reprinted in Jerusalem Post.

  ‘In those days’: Weizman, p. 69.

  ‘By 1963’: interview with Herzl Bodinger, Yad Mordechai, 1 December 2002.

  ‘The pilots made models’: PRO/AIR 77/581.

  ‘Hod and his commanders’: interview with Hod.

  One of the pilots’: interview with Uri Gil, Einhod, 6 November 2002.

  ‘The next stage’: interview with Bodinger.

  ‘The soldiers of’: Orr’s eyewitness account from Bamahane, IDF Magazine, reprinted in Jerusalem Post.

  ‘The headquarters’: interview with Major-General Salahadeen Salim, Cairo, 14 December 2002.

  ‘down 30 per cent’: official Egyptian government figures quoted by Salim.

  ‘The IAF had five’: IAF summary of statistics, IDF 1983/1210/147.

  ‘dinned into them’: Avihu Bin-Nun, ‘Bamahane’, IDF magazine reprinted http://info.jpost.com/supplements

  ‘Ran Pekker thought’: Ronen, Yediot Aharonot, 2002.

  ‘Herzl Bodinger and’: interview with Bodinger.

  ‘The suspense was incredible’: Weizman, p. 211.

  ‘In 1966, he had claimed’: Schiff, p. 198.

  ‘The routes the aircraft’: interview with Hod.

  ‘Bin-Nun swung his Mystere’: Avihu Bin-Nun, ‘Bamahane’.

  ‘Cairo was an hour’: interview with Hod.

  ‘In his Vautour Bodinger’: interview with Bodinger.

  ‘The defence minister’: Weizman, p. 214.

  ‘Bin-Nun and his flight’: Avihu Bin-Nun, ‘Bamahane’.

  ‘Israel had deliberately kept’: Weizman, p. 215.

  ‘They had good maps’: PRO/AIR 77/581.

  ‘Thanks to excellent, extremely comprehensive intelligence’: Black and Morris, pp. 206–35.

  ‘Pilots had a target book’: inte
rview with Shurdom.

  ‘Giving details of the layout’: interview with Hod.

  ‘Tahsen Zaki’: Tahsen’s story in Draz, pp. 5–20.

  ‘the beating heart of Arabism’: Foreign Broadcast information service daily report No. 108, 5 June 1967, NSC, Box 19.

  ‘He was about to get’: interview with Shafei.

  ‘He could not break’: Hod in Paris Match, quoted in Hussein of Jordan, p. 103.

  ‘The daughters of Colonel’: interview with Mordechai Bar, Jerusalem, 25 November 2002.

  ‘Israeli pilots were going to dive-bomb’: PRO/AIR 77/581, March 1968: altitude and operational details in PRO/FCO 17/576, 29 June 1967.

  ‘Everybody started to talk’: interview with Hod.

  ‘We were sure that our Egyptian fighters’: quote from Murtagi in El-Gamasy, p. 53.

  ‘At General Salah Muhsin’s’: interview with Salim.

  ‘It was the day of the final’: interview with Kamel Sulaiman Shaheen, Deiral Balah, 30 November 2002.

  ‘His job was to keep an eye’: interview with General Ibrahim El Dakhakny, Cairo, 19 December 2002.

  ‘Chief of Staff Rabin phoned’: from IDF Southern Command publication, quoted in Mission Survival, p. 175.

  ‘Further south’: Barker, Six-Day War, pp. 79–80; Pollack, p. 64.

  ‘Orr gave his men a last briefing’: Orr, ‘Bamahane’, http://info.jpost.com.

  ‘simple messages’: IDF press release, 6 June 1967, quoted in Mission Survival, p. 177.

  ‘In his final briefing Tal’: Bar On, p. 38.

  ‘King Hussein was at home with his family’: Snow, p. 139.

  ‘Ihsan Shurdom lay’: interview with Shurdom.

  ‘They asked us to give them’: Hussein, My ‘War’ With Israel, pp. 60–1.

  ‘When the King and the others’: ibid., p. 66.

  ‘before the war the Royal Jordanian Air Force’: IDF 1983/1210/147.

  ‘on Beni Sweif’: interview with Bodinger.

  ‘At Inshas base’: interview with Ronen.

  ‘Murtagi’s command post’: interview with Murtagi.

  ‘Among the weaknesses’: PRO/AIR 77/581, March 1968.

  ‘Egypt’s entire air defence’: interview with Hadidi: he presided over the first court martial of the heads of the air force and the air defence system after the war.

  ‘In Tel Aviv’: Weizman, p. 216.

  ‘Israel’s air force commander’: interview with Hod.

  ‘Mohamed Heikal told his readers’: Heikal in al-Ahram, 13 October 1967, quoted in MER, p. 214.

  ‘But it was yet another bonus’: Barker, p. 62.

  ‘At Egypt’s base at Bir Tamada’: interview with Ali Mohammed, Cairo, 14 December 2002.

  ‘Vice President Shafei’: interview with Hussein al Shafei, Cairo, 15 December 2002.

  ‘Mahmoud Riad, the foreign minister of Egypt’: Riad, p. 23.

  ‘Trevor Armbrister’: Trevor Armbrister, ‘Letter from Cairo’, Saturday Evening Post, 29 July 1967, quoted in Chace, pp. 111–12.

  ‘Winston Burdett’: Burdett, p. 317.

  ‘No one at the Soviet Embassy’: Sergei Tarasenko, ‘Blitzkrieg in Sinai’, Novoe Vremya, No. 21, 1997, pp. 32–3.

  ‘On the streets’: Armbrister in Chace, pp. 111–12.

  ‘At first, Cairo Radio’: both quotes from Cairo Radio in War File, p. 71.

  ‘I lay down’: Draz, pp. 49–54.

  ‘Tal’s division’: Van Creveld, p. 184; Barker, pp. 80–1; Dupuy, pp. 249–52.

  ‘Orr, following on up the road’: Orr, ‘Bamahane’.

  ‘Ramadan Mohammed Iraqi’: interview with Ramadan Mohammad Iraqi, Cairo, 17 December 2002.

  ‘UNEF troops’: UN S/7930, 5 June 1967, http://domino.un.org

  ‘Major El Dakhakny’: interview with El Dakhakny.

  ‘Fayek Abdul Mezied’: interview with Fayek Abdul Mezied, Qalqilya, 29 November 2002.

  ‘The bloodiest battle’: Morris, pp. 413–18; Van Creveld, p. 141.

  ‘On 5 June’: Mutawi, p. 135.

  ‘As well as the Jordanian army’: interview with Tawfik Mahmud Afaneh, Qalqilya, 29 November 2002.

  ‘Memdour Nufel had always wanted’: interview with Memdour Nufel, Ramallah, 25 November 2002.

  ‘Various estimates’: Sayigh, p. 139.

  ‘Dayan did a very clever thing’: interview with Meir Amit, Herzliya, 26 November 2002.

  ‘This morning Egypt’: Tel Aviv Cable 3924 to State, 5 June 1967, NSF, Box 23.

  ‘Hussein told Bull’: Hussein, pp. 64–5.

  ‘Bullets narrowly missed’: PRO/FCO 17/489: Pullar (Jerusalem) to FCO, 5 June 1967.

  ‘In a “distinctly chilly” way’: PRO/FCO 17/492: Pullar (Jerusalem) to FCO, 5 June 1967.

  ‘John Tleel, a Palestinian dentist’: Tleel, p. 156; interview with Tleel, Jerusalem, 8 May 2002.

  ‘Anwar Nusseibeh heard the news’: Nusseibeh quote from Moskin, p. 104.

  ‘One crackpot scheme’: Schliefer, p. 168.

  ‘260 Enfield rifles, 20 Sten’: ibid., p. 174.

  ‘In Amman the Jordanian minister’: interview with Leila Sharaf, 8 June 2002.

  ‘In Tel Aviv at midday’: Memo for LBJ from McPherson, 11 June 1967, NSC, Box 18.

  ‘At the end of June’: report of Hod news conference, Maariv, 30 June 1967, quoted in Mission Survival, p. 162.

  ‘By 0430 Walt Rostow’: interview with Rostow.

  ‘The CIA recalled that’: President’s Daily Brief, 5 June 1967, NSC, Box 19.

  ‘Johnson, still in his bedroom’: Memo for the record: Walt Rostow’s Recollections of 5 June 1967, Box 18; also Memo from George Christian, 7 June 1967, NSC, Box 19.

  ‘Bundy was made executive secretary’: Memo for the record by Harold Saunders, 16 May–13 June, 20 December 1968, NSF.

  ‘A group of foreign correspondents’: Armbrister in Chace, pp. 111–12.

  ‘US diplomats reported’: Cairo Cable 8504 to State, NSC, 5 June 67, Box 23.

  ‘Outside, the sky’: Hewat (ed.), War File, pp. 66–7.

  ‘At 1110 Bakr’: Armbrister in Chace, pp. 111–12.

  ‘Eric Rouleau’: E. Rouleau, J. F. Held, S. Lacouture, Israel et les Arabes: le 3me Combat, quoted in MER, p. 217.

  ‘The speaker of the Egyptian’: Sadat, p. 174.

  ‘The Jordanians gave up waiting’: Mutawi, p. 127: Hussein, p. 65.

  ‘In Damascus in the morning’: PRO/FCO 17/489: Evans (Damascus) to FCO, 5 June 1967.

  ‘At 5 a.m. Gideon Rafael’: USUN Cable 5623 to State, 5 June 1967, NSC, Box 23.

  ‘Within minutes’: interview with General Salahadeen Hadidi, Cairo, 12 December 2002.

  ‘Anwar El Sadat’: Sadat, p. 175.

  ‘Around 11 o’clock’: Boghdady’s account from Abu Zikri, pp. 295–304.

  ‘The forces in the Sinai’: Dupuy, p. 265.

  ‘The next phone call came from Nasser’: El-Gamasy, p. 57.

  ‘Mohamed Hassanein Heikal’: Mohamed Hassanein Heikal, The Cairo Documents, p. 247.

  ‘Vice-President Shafei’: interview with Hussein al Shafei.

  ‘A reporter from the Israeli army’: Yosef Bar Yosef, IDF Magazine.

  ‘Somehow, six Tupolev’: Riad, pp. 24–5.

  ‘In Libya, the US’: Cable from Benghazi to State, 5 June 1967, NSC, Box 23.

  ‘Two hours later’: ibid.

  ‘In Yemen’: Cable 750 to State, 5 June 1967, NSC, Box 23.

  ‘In Basra, in southern Iraq’: Baghdad Cable 2089 to State, 5 June 1967, NSC, Box 23.

  ‘Aharon Yariv’: IDF 1076/192/1974: Rabin and his staff meet.

  ‘Saad el Shazli’: interview with General Saad el Shazli, 16 December 2002.

  ‘Ihsan Shurdom’: interview with Ihsan Shurdom, Amman, 5 June 1967.

  ‘Below them, on the runway’: interview with Jordanian air force engineer, name withheld on request.

  ‘The squadron commander’: Hussein, p. 72.

  ‘Israel bombed our airbases’: ibid., p. 71.

 
‘A year later’: Dept of State from American Embassy, Amman, 3 June 1968; Memo of interview, 30 May 1968.

  ‘It was called Operation Tariq’: Muttawi, p. 125.

  ‘According to Ziad Rifai’: Hussein, p. 70.

  ‘Pressing hard’: Weizman, p. 205.

  ‘Throughout the morning’: IDF 1076/192/1974: discussion of war in Jerusalem.

  ‘In charge was Aaron Kamera’: interview with Aaron Kamera, 5 May 2002.

  ‘A group of men’: Kibbutz Nachshon bulletin courtesy Moshe Yotvat.

  ‘Israel’s 55th Paratroop Brigade’: interviews with Jacov Hetz (Chaimowitz), Yokneam, 26 November 2002, and Arie Weiner, Jerusalem, 9 May 2002.

  ‘Old municipal buses’: interview with Hanan Porat, Kfar Etzion, 3 December 2002.

  ‘He shouted’: Roth, p. 212.

  ‘General Rabin at GHQ’: Narkiss, p. 117.

  ‘The Israelis had a plan’: account of Government House battle interview with Asher Dar (Drizen), Tel Aviv, 19 April 2002; Hammel, p. 297; Pollack, p. 300.

  ‘An Israeli corporal’: Rabinovich, pp. 116–17; Narkiss, p. 127.

  ‘For the second time’: Bull, p. 115.

  ‘Abu Agheila was’: Dupuy, pp. 257–8.

  ‘General Narkiss’s mobile’: Narkiss, p. 123.

  ‘They put the line’: Ambassador Llewellyn Thompson, Memo: ‘The Hot Line Exchanges’, 4 November 1968, NSC, Box 19.

  ‘At 0730’: note from President’s Appointment File, 5 June 1967, NSF, Box 67.

  ‘The runway was unusable’: interview with Jordanian aircraft engineer; name withheld at his request.

  ‘After the capture of Government House’: interview with Asher Dar (Drizen)

  ‘Teddy Kollek … picked up Ruth Dayan’: Kollek, pp. 190–3.

  ‘We will dine in Tel Aviv’: Schliefer, p. 174.

  ‘Colonel Uri Ben Ari’: interviews with Uri Ben Ari, Tel Aviv, 18 April 2002 and Hagai Mann, Jerusalem, 24 November 2002; Dupuy pp. 281, 295; Muttawi, p. 130; Pollack, pp. 303–4.

  ‘An Israeli tank commander’: IDF 1076/192/1974: discussion of war in Jerusalem.

  ‘At about five’: Kahalani, pp. 54–5.

  ‘Major Ehud Elad’: Teveth, pp. 190–201.

  ‘At the State Department in Foggy Bottom’: Memo from Joe Califano to LBJ; Press statement by Dean Rusk; Memo from Larry Levinson and Beu Wattenberg to LBJ; Memo from Walt Rostow to LBJ: all documents in NSC, Box 18.

  ‘The Soviet delegation’: Shevchenko, p. 133.

  ‘As he was kissing’: Eban, Personal Witness, p. 413.