by Jeremy Bowen
‘When we received word’: see www.ussliberty.org.
‘Before the torpedo attack’: flag details from report by Clark Clifford, chairman of President’s Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board, 18 July 1967, NSF, Box 115.
‘Walt Rostow dictated’: Memos from Rostow to President, 8 June 1967, NSC, Box 18.
‘An hour or so later’: ibid.
‘They ordered them to’: Cable from flagship COMSIXTHFLT, 8 June 1967, NSF, Box 107.
‘The commander of the Sixth Fleet’: Memo for the record, ‘The USS Liberty (AGTR-5), struck by Torpedo’, 8 June 1967, NSF, Box 107.
‘Secretary of Defense’: details from Dead in the Water.
‘Tersely, he cabled’: Cairo Cable 8705 to State 8 June 1967, NSC, Box 24.
‘On Cairo Radio’: excerpt of commentary by Ahmed Said, Cairo Radio in Arabic, SWB Vol. 2479-2504, 1–30 June 1967.
‘In the Situation Room’: Memo, 8 June 1967, NSC, Box 18.
‘The next morning’: handwritten notes of NSC Special Committee meeting, 9 June 1967, NSC, Box 19.
‘Rusk always believed’: Rusk, p. 338.
‘Letters of apology’: Letters, 8 June 1967, NSC, Box 18.
‘Secretary of State Rusk replied’: Memo, 10 June 1967, NSF, Box 107.
‘Israel’s first response’: Minutes of Special Committee, 12 June 1967, NSC, Box 19.
‘they might find it hard’: President’s evening reading, 16 June 1967, NSC, Box 19.
‘Israel accepted full responsibility’: details of Israel’s explanations from report by Clark Clifford, 18 July 1967, NSF, Box 115.
‘On the face of it’: Report by Clark Clifford, 18 July 1967, NSF, Box 115.
‘In his memoirs he wrote’: see www.ussliberty.org.
‘In July 1967’: IDF Preliminary Enquiry File 1/67 before Sgan Aluf Y. Yerushalami, 21 July 1967, NSF, Box 143.
‘As well as Rusk and Clifford’: quotes from Dead in the Water.
‘Admiral Thomas Moorer’: see www.ussliberty.org.
‘A serviceman’: Udi Erel in Dead in the Water.
‘For Assistant Secretary’: details from Dead in the Water.
‘The Amir of Kuwait’: PRO/FCO 8/679: talk with Amir; Arthur (Kuwait), Telegram No. 252, 8 June 1967.
‘The Saudi ruling family’: PRO/FCO 8/756: Gore-Booth minute on talk with Saudi ambassador, 12 June 1967.
‘Before the fighting started’: PRO/FCO 8/679: Graham (Kuwait) to Weir (Arabian Dept, FCO), 12 June 1967.
‘General David Elazar’: Rabin, p. 88.
‘A less than veiled threat’: Tel Aviv Cable 4015 to State, NSC, Box 24.
‘Rabin, on Dayan’s orders’: Rabin, pp. 89–90.
‘He told Peled’: interview with Elad Peled.
‘Just before dawn’: all Eshkol quotes from www.ok.org; ‘The Golan in the Balance’, 4 November 2002; also Jerusalem Post, 1 February 2000.
‘Maybe it’s a decisive time’: Lammfrom, pp. 562–9, document 174.
‘Egypt accepted’: Dupuy, pp. 278–9.
Day Five
‘Without bothering to tell’: Rabin, p. 90; also Mayzel, pp. 142–3.
‘Elazar said he could “tight now”’: quoted in Jerusalem Post, 1 February 2000.
‘But even if the’: Dayan, p. 90.
‘Two other thrusts’: Barker, Arab–Israeli Wars, p. 92.
‘By Thursday evening’: General David Elazar press conference, 16 June 1967; quoted in Mission Survival, p. 348.
‘One Israeli paratrooper commented’: Churchill, p. 184.
‘On Friday morning’: Mayzel, p. 143.
‘The town of Suez’: interview with Khalil.
‘Cairo Radio was playing’: interview with Leila Sharaf.
‘Nasser’s advisers’: interview with General Gamal Haddad, 15 December 2002.
‘Winston Churchill’: interview with Churchill.
‘Some injured men’: Uri Oren, ‘Prisoner of War’, Yediot Aharonot, 14 July 1967, quoted in Bondy, pp. 214–16.
‘But according to Israeli witnesses’: quotes from AP report by Karin Laub, August 1995, www.mideastfacts.com; and from chronological review of events, 16 August 1995, http://domino.un.org.
‘Declassified IDF documents’: IDF 100/438/1969 order issued 11 June 1967 at 2310, sent to all three territorial commands, to G1 branch and some other departments of the General Staff.
‘According to an Israeli’: Bron’s article in Yediot Aharonot, 17 August 1995; also phone interview with Gabby Bron, 22 November 2002.
‘By all the laws of war’: Pollack, p. 464; also PRO/AIR 771/581: Air Ministry office of the scientific adviser, March 1968.
‘After the battle General Elazar’: Elazar quote from press conference, 16 June 1967 in Mission Survival, p. 349; also Dupuy, pp. 322–4; Churchill, p. 186; Barker, Arab–Israeli Wars, p. 92; Pollack, pp. 463–8.
‘The Americans wanted’: Amman Cable 4181, 9 June 1967, NSC, Box 24.
‘Hussein’s biggest problem’: Amman Cable 4180, 9 June 1967, NSC, Box 24.
‘Refugees were pouring over’: PRO/FCO 17/214, Amman to FCO, 13 June 1967.
‘But Mary Hawkins’: details of camp from Save the Children archives, Mary Hawkins, Jordan Report, 9 November 1967; and from Save the Children Fund Jordan, Quarterly Report for the quarter ending 30 June 1967.
‘One of the best UNRWA’: PRO/FCO 17/214, ‘The Refugee Problem in Jordan’, 3 August 1967.
‘Any Arabs who tuned’: PRO/FCO 8/679: Arthur (Kuwait) to Brenchley (FCO), 9 June 1967.
‘Brigadier General Hod recalled’: Bregman and El-Tahri, p. 94.
‘When Israeli soldiers’: FCO 17/534, AA/TEL/S.13/7, 5–10 June 1967. 283 ‘Before the war a small group’: Pollack, p. 459.
‘As darkness fell’: Bamahane, IDF Magazine, 18 July 1967, quoted in Mission Survival, p. 362.
‘By the evening Israeli’: CIA Sitrep, 9 June 1967, NSC, Box 21.
‘During the fighting’: Sister Marie Therese, War in Jerusalem, quoted in Schliefer, p. 208.
‘Major-General’: interview with Shlomo Gazit, Tel Aviv, 5 June 2002.
‘Various orders were issued’: example of order by logistics officer of Southern Command, 8 June 1967, IDF 100/438/1969.
‘Some of the fighting units’: The Seventh Day, pp. 117–18.
‘Fifty paratroopers’: diary of Frieda Ward, unpublished. ‘They were “shooting the locks”’: Schliefer, pp. 201–2.
‘When Palestinian shops’: PRO/FCO 17/212: Pullar (Jerusalem) to FCO, 19 June 1967.
‘Israeli troops in Gaza’: UNRWA for Palestine Refugees in the Near East; details of survey in UNRWA file LEG/480/5 (14–1).
‘The survey documented’: UNRWA File Sec/6, 1967 Emergency.
‘The peacekeeping troops’: PRO/FCO 17/214: Craig (Beirut) to Moberly (Eastern Dept, FCO), 7 July 1967.
‘The UN had intended’: PRO/FCO 17/123: report of interview with General Rikhye, commander of UNEF, New York, 7 July 1967.
‘The parts of the Dead’: Schliefer, p. 203.
‘Dayan took his leave’: Moshe Dayan, pp. 258–9.
‘They say that his’: al-Ahram, 5–11 June 1997, issue 328.
‘The minister of information’: interview with Mohamed Fayek, Cairo, 16 December 2002.
‘According to Eric Rouleau’: MER, p. 553.
‘He told them that they had all suffered’: Armbrister in Chace, p. 117.
‘In the morning of last Monday’: speech and details quoted in War File, p. 104.
‘General Salahadeen Hadidi’: interview with Hadidi.
‘Amin Howedi’: interview with Howedi.
‘From all sides’: Rouleau, quoted in MER, p. 554.
‘The crazy Egyptians’: Armbrister in Chace, p. 117.
‘Others gathered outside’: MER, p. 554, quoting Cairo Radio and Radio Beirut.
‘In Port Said’: MER, p. 554, quoting Radio Beirut, 9 June 1967; The Egyptian Mail, 10 June 1967, and Rouleau.
‘Before the broadcast, Moham
ed Fayek’: interview with Fayek.
‘The wife of Amin Howedi’: interview with Howedi.
‘The ruling party, the Arab Socialist’: Tanjug correspondent reporting 21 June, quoted in MER, p. 554.
‘Some hapless officials’: Pravda, 31 July 1967; and Rouleau, quoted in MER, p. 554.
‘Gamal Haddad’: interview with Gamal Haddad, Cairo, 16 December 2002.
‘In Damascus the government’: CIA Intelligence Information Cable, 31 July 1967: conflict between the Syrian army and the Syrian government, NSF, Box 115.
‘But during the night’: Seale, Asad, p. 140.
Day Six
‘Ahmad al-Mir’: Seale, Asad, p. 141.
‘Some reserve officers’: Jeune Afrique, 6 August 1967, quoted in MER, p. 230.
‘Later, Ba’th party’: Le Monde, 28 June 1967, quoted in MER, p. 230.
‘A senior Israeli officer grumbled’: MER, p. 230.
‘General Fawzi’: interview with Hadidi.
‘A week later, Michael Wall’: quoted in War File, p. 107.
‘In his office’: interview with Howedi.
‘In Cairo the CIA’: CIA Intelligence Information Cable, 15 June 1967.
‘Major Ibrahim El Dakahakny’: interview with El Dakhakny.
‘Once the ceasefire held’: Draz, pp. 135–46.
‘Amos Elon drove back’: Elon, A Blood-Dimmed Tide, pp. 19–20.
‘Ramadan Mohammed Iraqi’: interview with Iraqi.
‘What Kollek called’: Kollek, p. 197.
‘Herzog later said’: Herzog, quoted in Gazit, pp. 41–2.
‘Abd el-Latif Sayyed’: interview with Abd el-Latif Sayyed, 1 December 2002.
‘Nazmi Al Ju’beh’: interview with Nazmi Al Ju’beh, 24 November 2002.
‘Major Eitan Ben Moshe’: Eitan Ben Moshe interview quoted in Tom Abowd, The Moroccan Quarter, Winter 2000.
‘A middle-aged woman’: ibid.
‘It was the best thing we did’: Elon, A Blood-Dimmed Tide, pp. 19–20.
‘In two days it was done’: Kollek, p. 197.
‘Rabin had ordered Elazar’: Rabin, p. 91.
‘One of the commanders reported’: quoted in MER, p. 230.
‘When Nils-Goran Gussing’: Gussing report in PRO/FCO 17/124, p. 10.
‘From the outset’: Tel Aviv Cable 4015 to State, NSC, Box 24; Bull, p. 118.
‘Lord Caradon’: PRO/FCO 17/496: Caradon (NY) to FCO, 10 June 1967.
‘Eshkol’s wife’: interview with Miriam Eshkol; also Bregman and El-Tahri, p. 98.
‘Walt Rostow’: interview with Rostow.
‘The translation of Kosygin’s’: hotline details and Situation Room meeting from Oral History; Helms and McNamara; Memos for the Record on hotline meetings, 7 November 1968, Llewellyn Thompson, 4 November 1968 and Richard Helms, 22 October 1968: all from NSC, Box 19.
‘Britain’s Joint Intelligence Committee’: PRO/FCO 17/496: Secretary JIC to NAMILCOM, Washington, 13 June 1967.
‘Before the offensive even began’: Tel Aviv Cable 4015 to State, NSC, Box 24.
‘Since 20 May’: movements of the Sixth Fleet, (undated), NSF.
‘General Vassily Reshetnikov’: Bregman and El-Tahri, p. 95.
‘An Israeli journalist’: Isabella Ginor, Guardian, 10 June 2000; also ‘The Russians were coming: the Soviet Military Threat in the 1967 Six-Day War’, Middle East Review of International Affairs, Vol. 4, No. 4, December 2000.
‘A local official’: Al Hareches (On the Ridge), newsletter of Kibbutz Nachshon, 6 June 1968.
‘Hikmat Deeb Ali’: Homeland, p. 58.
‘One of the soldiers’: interview with Amos Kenan, 21 November 2002.
‘Kenan wrote and almost’: Amikam, Israel: A Wasted Victory, pp. 18–21.
‘In the refugee camp’: PRO/FCO 17/217: ‘Jordan’s 1967 Refugees’, a research report by the American University of Beirut, 31 October 1967.
‘Goldberg, the American ambassador’: Rafael, pp. 164–5.
‘They would stop’: CIA Sitrep, 10 June 1967, NSC, Box 21.
‘In June 1967’: Martha Gellhorn, The Face of War, p. 257.
‘But Abba Eban’: Eban, Personal Witness, p. 416.
‘Eshkol, Eban and the rest’: ibid., p. 412.
‘The Israeli newspapers’: Elon, A Blood-Dimmed Tide, pp. 19–20.
‘Ezer Weizman’: Weizman from Haaretz, 29 March 1972; Peled from Le Monde, 3 June 1972; Herzog from Maariv, 4 April 1972.
‘One condemned the way’: Cecil Hourani in El Nanar; reprinted in Encounter, November 1967, quoted in Laquer, p. 244.
‘Amer Ali’: PRO/FCO 17/334: ‘Lessons to be learned from the Arab débâcle following the Israeli aggression of June 1967’, 15 July 1968.
‘Another Arab military critic’: PRO/FCO 17/334: ‘The Middle East War and its Consequences’, 30 May 1968.
‘A few days after he emerged’: interview with El Dakhakny.
Consequences
‘cowards and bastards’: quote by Egyptian General Riyadh to Jordanian General Khammash, in Amman 4945, NSF, Box 110.
‘Israelis were not impressed’: NSF, Box 110.
‘By the end of July’: CIA Intelligence Information Cable, 31 July 1967, NSF, Box 110.
‘Nasser’s biggest problem’: interview with Howedi.
‘On 13 September’: interview with Salah Amer, Cairo, 17 December 2002.
‘Thirty-five years on’: interview with Howedi.
‘A week before he died’: copy of testimony, along with inquest report and reopened investigation report provided by Amer’s son Salah.
‘main source of danger’: CIA Intelligence Information Cable, 22 September 1967.
‘many are saying that Zion’: Cameron, p. 344.
‘reversed the policy of twenty years’: NSC, 31 May 1967, Box 18.
‘after the doubts, confusions’: Memo for LBJ from Harry C. McPherson, 11 June 1967: NSC, Box 18.
‘the time has passed’: CIA Memo for J. P. Walsh, 3 August 1967, www.foia.cia.gov.
‘it would create a revanchism’: Notes of NSC Special Committee meeting, 14 June 1967, NSF.
‘not a prescription for peace’: Remarks of the president at the National Foreign Policy Conference for Educators, 19 June 1967, NSC, Box 18.
‘We’ve lost something’: The Seventh Day, p. 159.
‘Just after the war’: Arthur Hertzberg, New York Review of Books, 28 May 1987.
‘not a guarantee of peace’: Eban, Personal Witness, p. 451.
‘an isolated realm of anxiety’: ibid., p. 450.
‘taste for flags’: ibid., p. 464.
‘Being a conqueror’: The Seventh Day, pp. 113–14.
‘In November 1967’: David Holden, Sunday Times, 19 November 1967.
‘He was stretching one hand’: Yael Dayan, pp. 107–11.
‘Hebron and Nablus’: Weizman, pp. 156, 207.
‘emptied of their Jews’: Wiesel, p. 80.
‘we’ve liberated Jerusalem’: The Seventh Day, p. 139.
‘Some suggestions emerged’: CIA Sitrep, 13 June 1967, NSC, Box 21.
‘I had the sense’: interview with Hanan Porat.
‘The IDF is total sanctity’: Kook, quoted in Eban, p. 469.
‘an astounding divine miracle’: Rabbi O. Hadya, quoted in Roth, p. 220.
‘Gershom Scholem’: Amos Elon, New York Review of Books, 10 April 2003.
‘The Old City of Jerusalem’: Rostow to LBJ, 6 July 1967, NSF, Box 110.
‘with all my soul’: The Seventh Day, p. 219.
‘Jerusalem is ours’: ibid., p. 100.
‘On 28 June’: PRO/PREM 13/1622: Lewen (Jerusalem) to FCO, 29 June 1967.
‘administrative action’: PRO/PREM 13/1622: Dean (Washington) to FCO, 29 June 1967.
‘the annexation of the Old City’: PRO/PREM 13/1621: SoSFA to Tel Aviv, 16 June 1967 (sent 17 June).
‘Israelis wanted to believe’: CIA Sitrep, 13 June 1967, NSC, Box 21.
‘as it waited for the Arabs’: Gazi
t, p. 120.
‘By August Gideon Rafael’: PRO/PREM 13/1623: Dean (Washington) to FCO, 19 August 1967.
‘the Arabs “seemed capable”’: Hadow quotes from PRO/FCO 17/468, Israel: Annual Review for 1967, 22 January 1968.
‘Israeli leaders are deeply divided’: Saunders Memo for Rostow, 4 December 1967, NSC, Box 104.
‘The overwhelming sentiment’: New York Times, 6 December 1967.
‘Moshe Dayan said’: MER, p. 275
‘No one at all’: Dean interview with Eban, 24 July 1967, NSF, Box 110.
‘Realising that trying’: Pedatzur, pp. 40–8.
‘When, on 18 June’: ISA G6304/10, Prime Minister’s Office: Yael Uzai to Eshkol, 18 June 1967.
‘Various schemes for the future’: Pedatzur, pp. 39–40.
‘Three days later’: ISA 6303/3 Prime Minister’s Office: Occupied Territories, July–December 1967.
‘The most influential plan’: ISA G6304/10, Prime Minister’s Office: Yigal Allon to Eshkol, 25 July 1967.
‘if Hussein embarks’: PRO/PREM 13/1623: SoSFA to Washington, 27 July 1967.
‘an assassin’s bullet’: PRO/PREM 13/1623: Adams (Amman) to FCO, 8 September 1967.
‘At the end of August’: PRO/FCO 17/36, 13 September 1967; FCO 17/36, 6 September 1967.
‘Caradon wanted it vague’: PRO/PREM 13/1624: Caradon to FCO, 2 November 1967; PREM 13/1624, 22 November 1967.
‘greatly concerned’: PRO/PREM 13/1621: Caradon to FCO, 12 June 1967 (sent 13 June).
‘The Arabs signed up’: NSC, Tel Aviv Cables 4118 and 4137 to State Dept, 14/15 June 1967.
‘A CIA source in Israel’: CIA Intelligence Information Cable, 14 July 67.
‘to blacken Hussein’s image’: NSF, Box 104.
‘If the Arabs were suddenly’: PRO/FCO 17/468 Israel: Annual Review for 1967, 22 January 1968.
‘Don’t allow yourself’: interview with Churchill.
‘One such person’: details of Kfar Etzion from Jewish Action, Winter 1999; interview with Hanan Porat; PRO/FCO 17/214, Hadow (Tel Aviv) to FCO, 26 June 1967.
‘the future of the West Bank’: ISA G 6303/3, Prime Minister’s Office: Occupied Territories, July–December 1967.
‘The plans for the establishment’: PRO/FCO 17/230, 26 September 1967.
‘The Americans sent’: PRO/FCO 17/214: Dean (Washington) to FCO, 30 June 1967.
‘only temporary military’: PRO/FCO 17/230: FCO to Tel Aviv, 28 September 1967.
‘At the foreign ministry’: PRO/FCO 17/230: Hadow (Tel Aviv) to FCO, 28 September 1967.