Six Days of War

by Michael B. Oren

  105. USNA, Middle East Crisis files, 1967, Situation Reports, box 14: Moscow to the Secretary of State, May 24, 1967; Arab-Israeli Crisis, box 9: Moscow to the Secretary of State, May 23, 1967; box 13: Chronology of U.S.-USSR Consultations on the Middle East, May 18-June 10, 1967; box 4: London to the Secretary of State, May 30, 1967. LBJ, National Security files, NSC Histories, Middle East Crisis, box 18: Paris to the Secretary of State, May 23, 1967; LBJ, National Security files, NSC Histories, Middle East Crisis, box 18: Paris to the Secretary of State, May 24, 1967.

  106. LBJ, National Security file, History of the Middle East Crisis, box 19, State Department Activities Report, May 23, 1967. USNA, Middle East Crisis files, 1967, NN3.059.96089, box 1: Chronology of U.S.-Jordanian Consultations on the Middle East: May 23, 1967; Arab-Israeli Crisis, box 9: Moscow to the Secretary of State, May 23, 1967. ISA, Foreign Ministry files, 4083/3, Contacts with the Soviet Union, Katz to Foreign Ministry, May 23, 1967; 7920/2, Levi Eshkol Papers, Diplomatic Telegrams, USSR: Soviet Desk Memorandum, June 4, 1967. Vassiliev, Russian Policy in the Middle East, pp. 67-72 (Soviet scholar quote). Dagan, Moscow and Jerusalem, p. 214. Riad, The Struggle for Peace in the Middle East, pp. 340-35. Soviet statement in Gilboa, Shesh Shanim, Shisha Yamim, pp. 114-15.

  107. Heikal, Al-Infijar, pp. 623-24 (Kosygin quote); Heikal, The Cairo Documents (Garden City, New York: Doubleday, 1973) p. 242; Heikal, The Sphinx and the Commissar, pp. 178-79; Brown, “Nasser and the June 1967 War,” p. 123. Govrin, Israeli-Soviet Relations, pp. 311-12. Arkady N. Shevchenko, Breaking with Moscow (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1985), p. 136. Parker, The Six Day War, pp. 38-39. Oral history interview with Gen. Makhmut A. Gareev, May 24, 1999.

  108. Heikal, Al-Infijar, pp. 614-15, 624-25. Al-Jiyyar, “Rajulan Qatala al-Mushir ‘Amer,” pp. 9-11. Vatikiotis, Nasser and His Generation, p. 163. Fawzi, Harb al-Thalath Sanawat, p. 96. Parker, The Politics of Miscalculation in the Middle East, pp. 32, 50; Parker, The Six Day War, pp. 38-39. Stephens, Nasser, p. 484. Klinghoffer, Vietnam, Jews and the Middle East, p. 103. Gawrych, The Albatross of Decisive Victory, p. 13. 7920/2, Levi Eshkol Papers, Diplomatic Telegrams, USSR: Research Memorandum, May 28, 1967. Badran quote from Al-Hawadith, Sept. 2, 1977. Oral history interview with Nikolai Yegoroshev, Dec. 23, 2000.

  109. LBJ, National Security file, History of the Middle East Crisis, box 17: Kosygin to Johnson, May 27, 1967. PREM 13 1618: Kosygin to Wilson, May 27, 1967. ISA, 4091/23, Foreign Ministry files, Exchange of Messages Before the War: Kosygin to Eshkol, May 27, 1967. Dagan, Moscow and Jerusalem, p. 217.

  110. ISA, 4048/27, Foreign Ministry files, Diplomatic Relations with the Soviet Union: Foreign Ministry to Moscow, May 27, 1967; 7920/4, Levi Eshkol Papers, Prime Minister’s Reports and Surveys, Meeting of the Cabinet, May 27, 1967. Gilboa, Shesh Shanim, Shisha Yamim, p. 152. Nakdimon, Likrat Sh‘at ha-Efes, pp. 110-13. Oral history interview with Miriam Eshkol, Aug. 30, 1999.

  111. Al-Baghdadi, Mudhakkirat, p. 274. Fawzi, Harb al-Thalath Sanawat, pp. 93-94. Heikal, Al-Infijar, pp. 573-74. Riad, The Struggle for Peace in the Middle East, p. 23. Mazhar, I‘tirafat Qadat Harb Yunyu, pp. 144, 149-50. Sela, The Decline of the Arab-Israeli Conflict, pp. 90-91. Al-Sabbagh, Mudhakkirat Qadat al-‘Askaraiyya al-Misriyya 5, pp. 1-3.

  112. Mahmud Riad. Mudhakkirat Mahmoud Riad 2 (Beirut: Al-Mu’assasa al-‘Arabiyya lil-Dirasa wal-Nashr, 1987), p. 63. Al-Sabbagh, Mudhakkirat Qadat al-‘Askaraiyya al-Misriyya 5, pp. 18-19, 24-25. Fawzi, Harb al-Thalath Sanawat, pp. 115-126. Heikal, Al-Infijar, pp. 573-74. ‘Abd al-Hamid, Al-Mushir wa-Ana, pp. 211-22 (‘Amer quote to Nasser). ‘Amer-Sidqi Mahmud conversation in Mazhar, I‘tirafat Qadat Harb Yunyu, pp. 141-42. Murtagi, Al-Fariq Murtagi Yarwi al-Haqa’iq, pp. 91-93. Parker, The Six Day War, p. 45 (‘Amer cable to Badran). See also USNA, Central Policy files, 1967-1969, POL 2 UAR: Jidda to the Department of State, May 27, 1967. Oral history interview with ‘Abd al-Mun‘im Hamza, July 4, 2001.

  113. 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. 43-44; box 18: Tel Aviv to the Secretary of State, May 27, 1967 (Barbour quote); box 17: Arab-Israel Situation Report, May 28, 1967 (Davar headline). USNA, Subject-Numeric files, POL ARAB-ISR, box 1789: Baghdad to Department of State, May 27, 1967. Mustafa, Harb Haziran, pp. 277-79. Cairo Radio quote in Mutawi, Jordan in the 1967 War, pp. 88-89.

  114. ISA, 7920/4, Levi Eshkol Papers, Prime Minister’s Reports and Surveys, Meeting of the Cabinet, May 27, 1967; 7920/2, Diplomatic Telegrams, USSR: Allon to Eban, May 21, 1967; 3977/22, Foreign Ministry files, Relations with the United States: Foreign Ministry to Embassies, May 27, 1967; 5937/30, Secret Memoranda Prior to the Six-Day War: Evron to Foreign Ministry, May 27, 1967. Haber, Ha-Yom Tifrotz Milhama, p. 192. Rabin, Memoirs, pp. 89-90. Eban, Personal Witness, pp. 396-99. Raviv, Israel at Fifty, pp. 102-3. Johnson cables in LBJ, National Security file, National Security Council History, Middle East Crisis 2, box 17: Johnson to Eskhol, May 27, 1967; Johnson to Barbour, May 27, 1967. USNA, POL ARAB-IS, Tel Aviv files, Tel Aviv to the Secretary of State, May 28, 1967 (Allon quote). Aran quote from MPA, Party Secretariat Protocols, 2/24/66/88: June 1, 1967. See also Brecher, Decisions in Israel’s Foreign Policy, p. 400 and Decisions in Crisis, p. 146. Gluska, Imut bein ha-Mateh ha-Klali u-bein Memshelet Eshkol bi-Tkufat ha-Hamtana, pp. 17-22.

  115. USNA, Pol ARAB-ISR, box 1789: New York to Department of State, May 28, 1967. ISA, 5937/30, Secret Memoranda Prior to the Six-Day War: Evron to Foreign Ministry, May 27, 1967; 4086/2, Foreign Ministry files, Security Council Meetings; M. Aruch: Summary of Security Council Meetings: New York to Foreign Ministry, May 29, 1967. Lall, The UN and the Middle East Crisis, pp. 32-39. U Thant, View from the UN, pp. 246-47. Haber, Ha-Yom Tifrotz Milhama, p. 193. Heikal, The Sphinx and the Commissar, p. 177. Rikhye, Sinai Blunder, pp. 81-83.

  116. LBJ, National Security files, NSC Histories, Middle East Crisis, box 17: Walt Rostow to the President, May 28, 1967; Tel Aviv to the Secretary of State, May 28, 1967; Memos to the President (W. Rostow), box 16: Rostow to the President, May 28, 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. 66-70. ISA, 7919/1, Levi Eshkol files, Diplomatic Telegrams: U.S.A.: Evron to Eshkol, May 31, 1967. Haber, Ha-Yom Tifrotz Milhama, p. 193. Prittie, Eshkol, pp. 99-101.

  117. 7920/2, Levi Eshkol Papers, Diplomatic Telegrams, USSR: Paris to Foreign Ministry, June 1, 1967. Grechko quote from Heikal, Al-Infijar, pp. 625, 1024. Heikal, The Sphinx and the Commissar, pp. 179-80, and Heikal, The Cairo Documents, p. 242. Badran quotes from Imam, Nasir wa-‘Amer, p. 147; Kayfa Hakama Misr, p. 261, and Fawzi, Harb al-Thalath Sanawat, p. 95. Nasser quote from al-Baghdadi, Mudhakkirat 2, p. 274. Atassi quote from Mustafa, Harb Haziran, p. 183. See also Parker, The Six Day War, pp. 38-39, 44, and The Politics of Miscalculation in the Middle East, p. 50. Govrin, Israeli-Soviet Relations, pp. 311-12. Stephens, Nasser, pp. 483-84.

  118. USNA, POL ARAB-IS, box 1788: Rusk to Tel Aviv, May 29, 1967. ISA, 4086/2, Foreign Ministry files, Security Council Meetings; M. Aruch: Summary of Security Council Meetings, May 29, 1967; 7920/1, Levi Eshkol Papers, Diplomatic Telegrams: Rafael to Eban, May 27, 1967. LBJ, National Security files, NSC Histories, Middle East Crisis, box 21: Chronology of the Soviet Delay on the Security Council Meetings (J. Baker), June 26, 1967; box 17: Department of State to Paris, May 25, 1967. Shevchenko, Breaking with Moscow, p. 133. Rikhye, Sinai Blunder, p. 85. Lall, The UN and the Middle East Crisis, pp. 329-32. U Thant, View from the UN, p. 246. Federenko quote from Dagan, Moscow and Jerusalem, p. 216.

  119. UN, S-316-box 9, file 12, UNEF Withdrawals: U Thant to Eshkol, May 29, 1967. USNA, POL ARAB-ISR, box 1789: Rusk to Certain Embassies, May 26, 1967. LBJ, National Security file, History of the Middle East Crisis, box 17: Walt Rostow to the President, May 26, 1967. Rafael, Destination Peace, pp. 147-48. Parker, The Six Day War, p. 95. Heikal, The Sphinx and the Commissar, p. 177.

  Countdown

  1. US
NA Central Foreign Policy files, 1967-1969, POL Arab-Jordan, box 1844: Amman to the Department of State, May 12, 1967, box 2554: Amman to Department of State, May 23, 1967, Rusk to Jidda and Amman, May 20, 1967. LBJ, National Security files, NSC Histories, Middle East Crisis, box 22: Amman to the Secretary of State, May 3, 1967, box 18: Amman to the Secretary of State, May 23, 1967. Parker, The Politics of Miscalculation in the Middle East, p. 8; Parker, The Six Day War, p. 157. Zak, Hussein Ose Shalom, p. 103.

  2. USNA, Subject-Numeric files, Pol ARAB-ISR, box 1789: Amman to Department of State, May 27, 1967 (Touqan quote); Central Foreign Policy files, 1967-1969, POL 12 SY, box 2511: Amman to the Department of State, May 23, 1967. El Edroos, The Hashemite Arab Army, pp. 390-92. Al-Rifa’i quote in Mutawi, Jordan in the 1967 War, p. 101. Oral history interview with Adnan Abu-Oudeh, Nov. 16, 1999.

  3. 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. 14-15. USNA, Middle East Crisis files, 1967, box 1: Chronology of U.S.-Jordanian Consultations on the Middle East: May 20, 1967; May 23, 1967 (“rock the boat”); ARAB-ISR, box 1789: Amman to Department of State, May 25, 1967 (Burns quote). ISA, 4080/5, Foreign Ministry files, Contacts with Great Britain, Foreign Ministry to London, May 23, 1967. Mustafa, Harb Haziran, pp. 277-79. Hussein, My “War” with Israel, pp. 38-39. Mutawi, Jordan in the 1967 War, pp. 104-5. Heikal, Al-Infijar, p. 650.

  4. USNA, POL ARAB-ISR, box 9: Amman to the Secretary of State, May 23, 1967, Amman to the Secretary of State, May 27, 1967, Amman to the Secretary of State, May 30, 1967. Hussein quotes from Mutawi, Jordan in the 1967 War, pp. 98-99 and from LBJ, National Security file, History of the Middle East Conflict, box 18: Amman to the Secretary of State, May 26, 1967, box 20: United States Policy and Diplomacy in the Middle East Crisis, May 15-June 10, 1967, p. 43. PRO, PREM 13 1617, The Middle East Crisis: Amman to Foreign Office, May 23, 1967.

  5. USNA, USNA, Middle East Crisis files, 1967, box 1: Chronology of U.S.-Jordanian Consultations on the Middle East: Amman to the Department of State, May 25, 1967, Amman to the Department of State, May 27, 1967 (Touqan quote); Rusk to Tel Aviv, May 26, 1967 (Hussein oral message), POL ARAB-ISR, box 1789: Subject-Numeric files, box 1788: Amman to the Department of State, May 27, 1967, Central Policy files, 1967-1969, POL 7 UAR, box 2554: Amman to Department of State, May 27, 1967. LBJ, National Security files, NSC Histories, Middle East Crisis, box 17: Amman to the Secretary of State, May 27, 1967. ISA, Foreign Ministry files, 6444/5, North America, telegrams: Foreign Ministry to Embassies, June 1, 1967. Mustafa, Harb Haziran, pp. 277-79. Hussein, My “War” with Israel, p. 39. Mutawi, Jordan in the 1967 War, pp. 105-6. Kamm, Hussein Poteah be-Milhama, pp. 203, 277, 283. El Edroos, The Hashemite Arab Army, p. 390.

  6. Mutawi, Jordan in the 1967 War, p. 162. Susser, On Both Banks of the Jordan, pp. 122-23. Zak, Hussein Ose Shalom, pp. 107-8.

  7. Hussein’s visit to Cairo has been reconstructed from several sources. See USNA, POL ARAB-ISR, box 9: Amman to the Secretary of State, May 31, 1967. Heikal, Al-Infijar, pp. 656-57. Mutawi, Jordan in the 1967 War, pp. 108-10. Hussein, My “War” with Israel, pp. 43-48. Dhabbah, Wa-Madha Ba’du?, pp. 39-41. El Edroos, The Hashemite Arab Army, p. 395. Al-Shuqayri, Mudhakkirat 3, pp. 191-200. Kimche and Bawly, The Sandstorm, p. 106. Kamm, Hussein Poteah be-Milhama, p. 283. Mohamad Ibrahim Faddah, The Middle East in Transition: A Study of Jordan’s Foreign Policy (New York: Asia Publication House, 1974), p. 75. See also Sayigh, Armed Struggle and the Search for State, p. 138.

  8. Mutawi, Jordan in the 1967 War, p. 111; Hussein, My “War” with Israel, p. 50; Jum’a quote in Kamm, Hussein Poteah be-Milhama, pp. 283-84; LBJ, National Security files, Country file, box 104/107: “Reactions to ME Crisis in UN Circles,” June 8, 1967, USNA, Middle East Crisis files, 1967, box 1: Chronology of U.S.-Jordanian Consultations on the Middle East, May 31, 1967; POL ARAB-ISR, box 9: Amman to the Secretary of State (“political and military insurance”), June 1, 1967, Amman to the Secretary of State (“shifted the burden”), June 3, 1967. Cairo Radio quote from El Edroos, The Hashemite Arab Army, p. 395.

  9. Mutawi, Jordan in the 1967 War, pp. 161, 184. Oral history interview with Adnan Abu-Oudeh, Nov. 16, 1999. LBJ, National Security file, NSC Histories, Middle East Crisis, box 21: White House Situation Room to the President, May 30, 1967. USNA, Middle East Crisis files, 1967, box 1: Chronology of U.S.-Jordanian Consultations on the Middle East, Amman to the Department of State, May 31, 1967 (“Pandora’s box”); Amman to the Department of State, June 2, 1967 (“August 1914”), Central Foreign Policy file, 1967-1969, box 1789: Egyptian-Jordanian Mutual Defense Treaty—Information Memorandum (Meeker), June 2, 1967. The complete text of the Egyptian-Jordanian Mutual Defense Treaty appeared in the May 31 edition of the New York Times.

  10. On the Egyptian commando units, see Mutawi, Jordan in the 1967 War, p. 129. Shuqayri quotes from Kamm, Hussein Poteah be-Milhama, pp. 284-85, and BBC, Daily Report, Middle East, Africa, and Western Europe, No. D-1. Oral history interview with ‘Awad Bashir Khalidi, Nov. 16, 1999. See also Uzi Benziman, Yerushalayim: Ir lelo Homa (Jerusalem: Schocken, 1973), pp. 23-24.

  11. Haber, Ha-Yom Tifrotz Milhama, p. 194; Oral history interview with Miriam Eshkol, Aug. 30, 1999; Schiff column in Ha’aretz, May 28, 1967.

  12. ISA, 7919/1, Levi Eshkol files, Diplomatic Telegrams: U.S.A.: Geva to Rabin, May 26, 1967. LBJ, National Security files, NSC Histories, Middle East Crisis, box 17: Tel Aviv to the Secretary of State, May 28, 1967 (Ha’aretz quote). Ariel Sharon, Warrior (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1989), pp. 181-84. Haber, Ha-Yom Tifrotz Milhama, pp. 194-98. Baron, Hotam Ishi, pp. 25-26. Gluska, Imut bein ha-Mateh ha-Klali u-bein Memshelet Eshkol bi-Tkufat ha-Hamtana, pp. 23-27. Rabin, Memoirs, pp. 92-93, Weizman, On Eagles’ Wings, pp. 214-16. IDF, 1977/1786: The Regular Paratrooper Brigade in the Six-Day War, Commander 35th Brigade, p. 626. Oral history interviews with Miriam Eshkol, Aug. 30, 1999, with Yeshayahu Gavish, Dec. 7, 1999, with Rehavam Ze’evi, Sept. 9, 2001.

  13. Teddy Kollek, For Jerusalem (London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1978), p. 190. Dayan, My Life, pp. 333-35.

  14. BGA, Diary, Entries for May 24, 28, 31, and June 1, 1967, Shabtai Teveth, Moshe Dayan, Biografia (Jerusalem: Schocken Press, 1971), pp. 561-62. Peres, Battling for Peace, pp. 90-93. Haber, Ha-Yom Tifrotz Milhama, p. 182. Moshe Dayan, Diary of the Sinai Campaign, 1956 (London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1967), p. 180. Zaki Shalom and S. Ilan Troen, “Ben-Gurion’s Diary for the 1967 Six-Day War: An Introduction,”Israel Studies 4, no. 2 (Fall 1999), p. 197.

  15. ISA, 4086/8, Foreign Ministry files, Red Cross: Foreign Ministry to Le Hague, May 30, 1967, Stockholm to Foreign Ministry, June 4, 1967; 4087/1: Egyptian Army Entry into Sinai and Closure of the Tiran Straits. Copenhagen to Foreign Ministry, June 3, 1967. PRO, PREM 13 1619, The Middle East Crisis: Tel Aviv to Foreign Office, June 4, 1967. Abraham Rabinovich, The Battle for Jerusalem, June 5-7, 1967 (Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society of America, 1972), pp. 23-27, 51, 59. On Weizman’s resignation, see Haber, Ha-Yom Tifrotz Milhama, pp. 183, 203. Weizman, On Eagles’ Wings, pp. 217-18. Baron, Hotam Ishi, pp. 26-27. Avraham Rabinovich, “The War That Nobody Wanted,”Jerusalem Post, June 13, 1967.

  16. ISA, Foreign Ministry files, 4087/6, Emergency Appeal: Rothschild to Sapir, May 28, 1967, Eytan to Foreign Ministry, May 29, 1967; 4089/8, Foreign Ministry files, Volunteers, Foreign Ministry to South American Embassies, May 28, 1967; 7920/3, Levi Eshkol Papers, Diplomatic Telegrams, General: Bonn to the Foreign Ministry, June 1, 1967. LBJ, National Security files, NSC Histories, Middle East Crisis, box 17: Item for the President’s Evening Reading, May 19, 1967. Mansoor, Arab World, entry for May 28.

  17. Robert J. Donovan, Six Days in June: Israel’s Fight for Survival (New York: The New American Library, 1967), p. 15. Rabin, Memoirs, pp. 93 (Rabin quote), 100. USNA, Summary of MEDAC, box 7: Tel Aviv to the Secretary of State, June 1, 1967. LBJ, National Security file, NSC Histories, Middle East Crisis, box 21: White House Situation Room
to the President, May 30, 1967. See also Uzi Narkiss, Soldier of Jerusalem, trans. Martin Kett (London: Mitchell Vallentine, 1998), p. 203. Zemer quote from Rabinovich, “The War That Nobody Wanted.”

  18. UN, S-0316, UNEF-Withdrawals/UN Missions-EIMAC, box 9: Bull to Bunche, May 30, 1967. Eric Hammel, Six Days in June: How Israel Won the 1967 Arab-Israeli War (New York: Scribner’s, 1992), p. 157. Abu Murshid, Butrus, and Jabber, Silsilat al-Kitab al-Sanawi lil-Qadiyya al-Filastiniyya, p. 117. Eshkol’s Knesset speech from Prittie, Eshkol, pp. 101-2. Haber, Ha-Yom Tifrotz Milhama, p. 209.

  19. Hussein speech in BBC, Daily Report, Middle East, Africa, and Western Europe, No. B6. On Arab armed forces, see USNA, Summary of MEDAC, box 13: Middle East Sitrep as of June 1; POL ARAB-ISR, box 1789: Amman to Department of State, May 31, 1967. Mustafa, Harb Haziran, pp. 169-73, 278-79. 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. 107-9. Mutawi, Jordan in the 1967 War, pp. 112-17. Van Creveld, The Sword and the Olive, p. 179. Hammel, Six Days in June, pp. 286-87, 388-90. Seale, Asad of Syria, p. 117. Schiff, A History of the Israeli Army, p. 138. Shmuel Segev, Sadin Adom, p. 223. Nasser and Mahmud quotes from Gilboa, Shesh Shanim, Shisha Yamim, p. 191.