The Sword And The Olive
Page 1
Table of Contents
Title Page
Dedication
NOTE ON SOURCES, TRANSLATIONS, TRANSLITERATIONS, AND ACRONYMS
GLOSSARY OF ACRONYMS AND HEBREW TERMS USED IN THE TEXT
PREFACE TO THE PAPERBACK EDITION
Introduction
THE SWORD AND THE OLIVE
I - THE SURGE, 1907-1949
CHAPTER 1 - “BATTLE-WORTHY GUARDS”
CHAPTER 2 - FOUNDING HAGANA
CHAPTER 3 - “BEYOND THE FENCE”
CHAPTER 4 - TOWARD STATEHOOD
CHAPTER 5 - AT WAR FOR INDEPENDENCE
CHAPTER 6 - REPELLING INVASION
CHAPTER 7 - THE ACHIEVEMENT AND THE PRICE
II - THE YEARS OF GREATNESS, 1949-1973
CHAPTER 8 - THE ARMY OF THE STATE
CHAPTER 9 - TRIALS BY FIRE
CHAPTER 10 - BUILDING A MODERN ARMY
CHAPTER 11 - THE APOGEE OF BLITZKRIEG
CHAPTER 12 - AT BAY
CHAPTER 13 - OCTOBER EARTHQUAKE
CHAPTER 14 - THE RECKONING
III - RUNNING OUT OF STEAM, 1974-1997
CHAPTER 15 - RECOVERY AND EXPANSION
CHAPTER 16 - GRENADES INTO MUSHROOM CLOUDS
CHAPTER 17 - “THE LEBANESE MORASS”
CHAPTER 18 - AN INDIAN SUMMER
CHAPTER 19 - IMPOTENT AT THE GULF
CHAPTER 20 - COPING WITH Intifada
CHAPTER 21 - THE BETRAYAL OF FAITH
THE GOOD AND THE EVIL
NOTES
INDEX
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Copyright Page
ALSO BY MARTIN VAN CREVELD
Men, Women and War
The Art of War: War and Military Thought
The Rise and Decline of the State
Airpower and Maneuver Warfare
Nuclear Proliferation and the Future of Conflict
The Transformation of War
The Training of Officers: From Military Professionalism to Irrelevance
Technology and War: From 2000 B.C. to the Present
Command in War
Fighting Power: German and U.S. Army Performance, 1939-1945
Supplying War: Logistics from Wallenstein to Patton
Hitler’s Strategy, 1940-41: The Balkan Clue
In memory of Miki Levanon (1971-1992),
who died by friendly fire.
NOTE ON SOURCES, TRANSLATIONS, TRANSLITERATIONS, AND ACRONYMS
AS NECESSARILY follows from the nature of the subject, the great majority of sources used in this study are in Hebrew. Some of them, notably the memoirs of such famous personalities as Moshe Dayan, Yitschak Rabin, and Ariel Sharon, have been translated into English. Nevertheless I have normally made use of, and referred to, the Hebrew originals—the reason being that they are often much more detailed and contain important documentary material that has been omitted from the English editions. To give the non-Israeli reader at least an idea of the nature of the source in question I have quoted each Hebrew title and provided it with a translation. Those translations are my own and by no means always correspond to the “official” English titles that are carried on the front pages and that all too often sacrifice accuracy for literary effect. It is my hope that this system will enable the non-Israeli reader, if not to check on my facts, then at least to obtain some kind of feel for the sources that I have used.
As foreigners driving around Israel and trying to read the road signs will note, transliteration represents a problem; occasionally it seems there are as many transliterations as there are people, if not more. I tried to be as simple, consistent, and phonetically correct as I could, even if this meant ignoring the normal system (e.g., kibbuts instead of “kibbutz,” Chayim instead of Haim) and substituting one of my own.
Finally, and for consistency’s sake, I have treated Hebrew acronyms as I would English ones: for example, in writing TSAHAL (for Tsva-Hagana Leyisrael) rather than the more normal Tsahal (let alone Zahal, which does not correspond to the way in which the word is pronounced); and PALMACH (for Plugot Machats) rather than Palmach. The reason for this is to make the informed reader, who may well have heard these terms before, aware that they do in fact represent acronyms. And indeed acronyms are something that the Israeli armed forces, like their opposite numbers in other countries, have been spouting forth in prodigious numbers.
Still there is no denying that, for all but Hebrew-speakers, access both to the numerous Hebrew terms and to the sources remains difficult if not impossible. Therefore, as in any good restaurant, please feel free to ignore the kitchen and enjoy the meal.
GLOSSARY OF ACRONYMS AND HEBREW TERMS USED IN THE TEXT
Achdut Ha-avoda Unity of Labor; a left-wing activist party led by Yisrael Galili and Yigal Allon
AEW airborne electronic warfare
AFV armored fighting vehicle
aluf, alufim (pl.) brigadier (later major) general
APC armored personnel carrier
APSDFS armor-piercing, sabbot-discarding, fin-stabilized ammunition
BAKUM (Basis Klita U-miyun) Recruit Absorption and Classification Base
Bar Giora first Jewish self-defense organization in Palestine (1907)
Betar right-wing nationalist organization founded in 1925
chalutsim pioneers
chared, charedim (pl.) “the anxious ones”; non-Zionist orthodox Jews
chatatsit gravel thrower; a contraption dreamed up by TAAS for combating Palestinian demonstrators
CHEN (Chel Nashim) Women’s Army Corps
Cherut Freedom; a right-wing political party, the ancestor of the modern Likud Party
Chets Arrow: (1) type of elongated, armor-piercing ammunition developed for the Merkava tank; (2) antiballistic missile developed by IAI
CHIM (Chel Mishmar) Garrison Force; Hagana’s stationary force
CHISH (Chel Sadeh) Field Force; one of Hagana’s strike forces
Chok Sherut Bitachon National Service Law of 1949
CIC commander in chief
CO comanding officer
COS chief of staff
dunam a parcel of land measuring 1,000 square meters
en brera “no choice”; the ideological justification for Israeli wars until 1973
ECM electronic countermeasures
ETSEL (Irgun Tsvai Leumi) National Military Organization; pre-1948 right-wing terrorist organization
fashla, fashlot (pl.) slang for “blunder”
FLIR forward-looking infrared; a night-vision system for aircraft and helicopters
FOSH (Plugot Sadeh) Field Companies; organized by Hagana in 1937-1938
GADNA (Gdudei Noar) Youth Battalions; a paramilitary organization for youths run by the IDF
gafir, gafirim (pl.) Jewish police officer working for the British authorities
Galil Israeli-made assault rifle
garin, garinim (pl.) “cores” of NACHAL youths earmarked for new settlements
gesher ha-glilim roller bridge used in the 1973 October War to cross the Suez Canal
GHQ general headquarters
Gush Emunim Bloc of the Faith; a group of extreme right-wing nationalist Jews in the Occupied Territories
hachshara, hachsharot (pl.) PALMACH training group
HAGA (Hagana Ezrachit) Civil Defense Organization
Hagana Defense; the Jewish self-defense force in Palestine before 1948
hagana merchavit territorial defense
Ha-shomer The Guard; the second Jewish self-defense organization in Palestine after Bar Giora
Histadrut Labor Federation
IAF Israel Air Force
IAI Israel Aircraft Industries
IDF Israeli Defense Force
KABA (Kvutsat-ech
ut) Quality Group; a system of classifying recruits by quality
KABAN, KABANIM (pl.) (ktsin beriut nefesh) mental health officer
Kfir Lion Cub; the Israeli-built light fighter-bomber
kibbuts, kibbutsim (pl.) communal settlement where all property is held in common
kippot sruggot literally, “knitted yarmulkes”; the nickname for right-wing nationalist orthodox Jews
Knesset the Israeli parliament
kofer ha-yishuv the Yishuv’s ransom; the tax imposed by the Jewish community in Palestine in 1929
Lavi Young Lion; the Israeli-built fighter-bomber that never flew
LECHI (Lochame Cherut Yisrael) Israel’s Freedom Fighters; a pre-1948 right-wing terrorist organization
LIC low intensity conflict
Likud Unity; the right-wing political party that has dominated Israel during most of the years since 1977
Maarachot Campaigns; the IDF’s periodical (monthly)
maarav, maaravim (pl.) ambush
MABAT (Mifalim Bitchoniyim) Defense Plants; an arms-manufacturing subsidiary of IAI
MADAS, MADASit (fem.) Madrich Sport; a physical training instructor
maoz, meozim (pl.) bunker
MAFCHASH (Mifkedet Kochot Ha-sadeh) ground forces headquarters
MAFDAL (Miflaga Datit Leumit) National Religious Party
MAPAI (Mifleget Poale Erets Yisrael) Workers’ Party of the Land of Israel; ancestor of the modern Labor Party
mateh staff
MATKAL (Mateh Klali) General Staff
mechdal oversight
Merkava Chariot; an Israeli-built tank
milchemet brera “war of choice”; the biblical term sometimes used in modern Israel to describe a war in which it took the initiative
mirdaf, mirdafim (pl.) pursuit
Mishmar Ha-gvul Frontier Guard
Mispenot Yisrael Israeli Shipyards
mistanen, mistanenim (pl.) infiltrators
Moav (Moab) long-range UAV reportedly being considered by the IDF for combating surface-to-surface missiles
MLRS multiple rocket launching system
MOS military occupation specialty
moshav different types of communal settlements in which the land, but not agricultural implements, are owned in common
Mossad Institution; Israel’s foreign secret service
NACHAL (Noar Chalutsi Lochem) Fighting-Pioneer Youth, the army’s corps of pioneers in uniform
NAGMASH, NAGMASHim (pl.) (nose geyasot meshuryan) armored personnel carrier
NAGMASHA, NAGMASHot (pl.) (noset geyasot meshuryenet) heavy armored personnel carrier on tank chassis
NCO noncommissioned officer
NILI (Netsach Yisrael Lo Yeshaker) Israel Will Live Forever; Jewish espionage ring in Palestine during World War I
noter, notrim (pl.) Jewish police officer working for the British authorities
Ofek Horizon; generic name for Israeli satellites
PALMACH (Plugot Machats) Hagana’s pre-1948 strike force
PALYAM (PALMACH-YAM) PALMACH’s naval company
PAZAM (pesek zman minimali) minimum periods between promotions
PGMs precision-guided munitions
pkida plugatit, pkiddot plugatiyot (pl.) company clerk (female)
POUM (1) Plugot Meyuchadot (Special Companies); Hagana intelligence organization set up in 1941; (2) Pikkud U-mateh (Command and General Staff College)
PTSD posttraumatic stress disorder
RAFAEL (Rashut Le-pituach Emtsaei Luchama) Weapon Development Authority
RAFI (Reshimat Poalei Yisrael) Israeli Workers’ List; a party founded by Ben Gurion after his resignation as prime minister in 1963
Rechesh Acquisition; Hagana’s arms-procurement organization
Reshef Spark; a class of Israeli missile boats
rosh mateh klali chief of the General Staff
rosh mifkada artsit chief of country headquarters, the title carried by Hagana’s chief of staff
RPV remotely piloted vehicle
Saar Tempest; a class of Israeli missile boats
sabra “the fruit of the cactus,” a nickname for Israeli-born Jews
sayarot commando units
SAM surface-to-air missile
Shavit Comet 2, an (unsuccessful?) surface-to-surface missile built by RAFAEL during the early 1960s
Sherut Aviri Air Service; PALMACH’s underground air arm
Sherut Zehirut Prudence Service; Hagana’s security service
Shin Bet (Sherut Bitachon) Israel’s domestic Security Service
shomer, shomrim (pl.) guard
SIGINT signals intelligence
siyur, siyurim (pl.) patrol
slik, slikkim (pl.) an underground chamber where arms were hidden
SNS Special Night Squads; commando units organized by Capt. Orde Wingate during the disturbances of 1936-1939
TAAS (Taasiya Tsvait) Israel Military Industries Ltd.
tachkir, tachkirim (pl.) debriefing
tadrich, tadrichim (pl.) briefing
taoz, teozim (pl.) bunker
timsach, timaschim (pl.) crocodiles; code name for rafts used in crossing the Suez Canal in 1973
TOW tube-launched, optically tracked, wire-guided antitank missile
TSAHAL (Tsva Hagana Le-Yisrael) IDF
tsva keva standing forces
UAV unmanned airborne vehicle
ugda division
Uzi Israeli-made submachine gun
YAMACH, YAMACHim (pl.) (yechidat machsanei cherum) emergency depot
yeshive, yeshivot (pl.) talmudic high school
yeshivot hesder arrangement yeshives; Talmudic high schools in which students split time between the military and study
Yishuv pre-1948 Jewish community in Palestine
zroa ha-hachraa the decisive arm; applied to each arm and service to itself
PREFACE TO THE PAPERBACK EDITION
THE AUTUMN OF 1998 was perhaps the most hopeful moment in the entire hundred-year history of the Arab-Israeli conflict. At Wye Plantation, Maryland, Israeli, Palestinian, and American representatives were hard at work. Their purpose was to hammer out an agreement that would enable the Israel Defense Force (IDF) to withdraw from parts of the City of Hebron. At the head of the Israeli delegation to the talks was Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, political hardliner and leader of the Likud Party. Many observers believed that should the negotiations succeed, the most important obstacle to peace would have been overcome and the end of the conflict would be in sight.