From: dzk@cs.brown.edu (Danny Keren)
Subject: Answer to Aleksander About '67 Arab-Israeli War (was: Polish..)
Organization: Brown University Department of Computer Science
Date: Thu, 15 Oct 1992 14:35:43 GMT

aleks@cray.com (Aleksander Mazur) writes:

#I saw
#discussion with Israelis - it was said, that 1967 war did not
#erupt suddenly. Entire Israeli cabinet was waiting for chief
#of Mossad, who went to Washington to get acceptance of action
#against Arab countries. It started when he returned assuming
#that it was agreed upon in Washington. 

I apologize for posting something which does not really belong
in SCP. I suggest to Aleksander to switch the discussion to
talk.politics.mideast.

It is a great achievement for Arab propaganda to claim that Israel
shares the responsibility for the '67 war. However, it is not supported
by reality. Egypt blocked a vital waterway for Israel, fully knowing
it will bring war. The witness for that is no other than the
late Egyptian president, Anwar Sadat, who write in his autobiography:

---------------------------------------------------------------------
"Nasser said 'now, with our concentrations in Sinai, the chances of war are
 fifty-fifty. But if we close the strait, war will be one hundred percent
 certainty' Then, turning to Amer, he asked 'are the armed forces ready,
 Abdel Hakim?' Amer pointed to his neck and said 'on my neck be it, boss!
 Everything's in tip-top shape'"
------------------------------------------------------------------

("In search of idenitity", p. 172. Nasser was the president of Egypt
 and the most powerful man in the Arab world. Amer was Egyptian
 chief of staff, later executed for his failure in the war).

After that, Egypt kicked the UN out of Sinai - another blatant act
of agression, and moved huge forces into Sinai (which was demiliterized
at the time). This was accompanied by Jordan, Syria and Iraq
moving their own forces towards the Israeli borders, and flaming
up war hysteria in the Arab world:

------------------------------------------------------------------
a) TIME, June 2, p. 20: Damascus radio called on all Arabs to "undertake
   the liberation battle that will tear the hearts from the bodies of
   the hatefull jews and trample them in the dust".

b) TIME, June 16, p. 22: ..Presiden Nasser had welcomed Iraq to the
   Egypto-Jordanian alliance against Israel, and proclaimed: "we are so eager
   for the battle in order to force the enemy to wake from his dreams
   and meet Arab Reality face to face".

c) TIME, June 2, p. 20: "At week's end Nasser once more went to the radio
   to say that "any war with Israel will be total, and the objective
   will be to destroy Israel".

d) Skousen, "fantastic victory" p. 3: "every two hours new bulletins from
   Cairo called for a Jihad - a holy war against Israel".

e) skousen, p. 31: Syrian defense minister Hafez Assad declared "we
   shall never call for nor accept peace...we have resolved to drench
   this land with our blood, to oust you agrresors and throw you into
   the sea for good".

f) Churchill and Churchill, p. 51: In Cairo on May 29 President Nasser
   ... Speaking of the military situation, he declared that "preparations
   by the UAR and her allies for the liberation of Palestine are complete".

g) Chrchill and Churchill, p. 77, quoting the command of the day for June 3
   issued by Egyptian Commander in chief General Mortagi to the soldiers
   in Sinai: "The results of this unique moment are of historic importance
   for our Arab nation and for the holy war through which you will restore
   the rights of the Arabs which have been stolen in Palestine and reconquer
   the plundered soil of Palestine".

h) Churchill and Churchill, p. 52, quoting Shkairy (PLO chief) that "the
   surviving Jews would be helped to return to their native countries, but
   my estimation is that none will survive".

i) On May 31, the President of Iraq, Abdel Rahman Aref, stated:

   "The existence of Israel is an error which must be
   rectified.  This is our opportunity to wipe out the
   ignominy which has been with us since 1948. our goal
   is clear--to wipe Israel off the map."
---------------------------------------------------------------------

The idea was very simple - to economicaly exhaust Israel and then
strike from all directions:

       "Israel will not be able to bear the burden of mobilization
        for a long time.  Mobilization has already brought total
        paralysis of the Israel economy.  In the meantime, two
        important developments have taken place in the Arab arena:
        Jordan has signed a defense agreement with Egypt; Iraq has
        decided to participate in the battle with great force,
        from Jordan's territory".

Egyptian Field Marshal Abdel Hakim Amer,
        Deputy Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces, June 2, 1967


"There was in the country and all over the Arab world what you
might call a mass euphoria about the possibility of war and that
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
this was something we have been waiting for a long time - we
were going to defeat Israel once and for all".

As told to Jordanian journalist Samir Mutawi in an 1983 interview
by Zaid Rifai, a senior aid to king Hussein, and two times
Jordanian prime minister.




Sorry to pour all this here; this is the result of a long debate I
had on this issue at TPM. History should not be re-written.

-Danny Keren.

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