The Accidental Empire: Israel and the Birth of the Settlements, 1967-1977 (65 page)

107.
Merom Golan: Reshit
, 166.

10. Confrontation

1.
Gush Emunim–linked sources on the Hawarah settlement bid include:
Elon Moreh: Hiddush Hayishuv Hayhudi Beshomron
(Jerusalem: Gush Emunim, 5736); Shafat, 67ff; Shvut, 49–50, supplemented by interviews with Katzover and Etzion. Outside sources include: Yosef Walter, “‘Yom Krav Arokh’ Leyad Shekhem,”
Ma’ariv,
June 6, 1974; “Mefanim Bekhoah Hamitnahalim Mishekhem,”
Davar,
June 6, 1974; Demant, 312ff; Gazit,
Peta’im
, 231. There are factual discrepancies between accounts; for instance, Shvut describes the encampment as lasting two days and Gazit as three, but contemporary press reports show it was set up and evacuated on June 5.

2.
DC 67, letter to Rabin, May 31, 1974; DC 6, draft of letter to Peres.

3.
DC 5, minutes of a meeting of the group’s representatives with prime minister Meir; DC 95, “Duah Al Pe’ilut Hakvutzah,” report to members, early 1974; DC 43, “Daf Divuah Lahaverim,” report to members, Apr. 15, 1974; Demant, 306–9; Katzover, interview.

4.
A striking example of such thinking is Gershon Shafat’s
Gush Emunim
. Shafat, a founder of Gush Emunim, consistently uses strength and weakness as his standard for judging politicians and activists, and consistently finds Laborites weak. The Gush Emunim platform written by Porat (see page 267), shows the same mind-set.

5.
Etzion, interview.

6.
DC 43, “Daf Divuah Lahaverim,” Apr. 15, 1974; Shvut, 48; Katzover, interview; Porat, interview.

7.
“Statement to the Knesset by Prime Minister Rabin, 3 June 1974,”
www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/Foreign%20Relations/Israels%20Foreign%20Relations%20since%201947/1947–1974/31%20Statement%20to%20the%20Knesset%20by%20Prime%20Minister%20Rabi
;
Davar,
June 3–4, 1974.

8.
Porat, interview; Katzover, interview; Walter, “‘Yom Krav,’”
Ma’ariv
, June 6, 1974. Where not otherwise cited, the rest of my account of the Hawarah incident is based on the sources in note 1 above.

9.
Walter, “‘Yom Krav’”; Shvut, 49, gives a similar account, citing Porat as present at the meeting. Porat have been Walter’s source as well. The account, in any case, is consistent with Peres’s known views at the time. Peres’s memoir—Shimon Peres,
Battling for Peace: Memoirs
, ed. David Landau (London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1995)—does not mention this meeting.

10.
Walter, “‘Yom Krav’”; Shvut, 49, citing Porat.

11.
Gazit,
Peta’im
, 233, citing internal army reports, says the base offered was Kaddum, west of Nablus; Demant, 316, says it was Yosef, close to the Jordan Rift area that was part of the government’s settlement map.

12.
Davar,
June 7, 1974, 2.

13.
Berman, 32.

14.
Cf. Berman, 59–62, on student-left organizations of the late 1960s that created an “atmosphere of confrontation, which turned giddy and hot, which created a festival atmosphere, which got hotter.”

15.
Kissinger,
Years of Upheaval
, 1123–43; Quandt, 215–17; Bundy, 464.

16.
The risk of renewed war is a motif running through Kissinger’s talks in this period. NARA, RG59, Records of Henry Kissinger 1973–1977, Box 8.

17.
Kissinger,
Years of Renewal
, 360–61.

18.
NARA, RG59, Records of Henry Kissinger, 1973–1977, Box 8, Kissinger-Allon Memcon, July 31, 1974.

19.
NARA, RG59, Records of Henry Kissinger, 1973–1977, Box 8, Kissinger-Rabin Memcon, June 17, 1974.

20.
“Political Program Adopted at the 12th Session of the Palestine National Council,”
www.palestine-un.org/plo/doc_one.html
.

21.
Kissinger,
Years of Renewal
, 375–76; cf. Shapira,
Aviv Heldo
, 487–88, on Rabin’s impatience with his former mentor.

22.
Kissinger,
Years of Renewal
, 364. Peres, 164–65, 301, describes his views on “functional compromise.” Cf. NARA National Security Council files, Box 612, Israel, vol. 16, State Department briefing paper, July 1974, describing three possible outlines of an interim agreement with Jordan. Though unattributed, the first is Hussein’s, the second roughly fits Allon’s, and the third is apparently Peres’s.

23.
NARA, RG 59, Central Files, 1967–69, Pol 28 Jordan, airgram A-113.

24.
NARA, RG 59, Central Files, 1967–69, POL Israel-US, Memo 12241, Sept. 9, 1968.

25.
NARA, National Security Council files, Box 612, Israel, vol. 16, memo 3229.

26.
YAOH XVII:13.

27.
Admoni,
Asor
, 128; Ad. MS 74:25;
Davar
, July 18, 1974, 1.

28.
NARA, National Security Council files, Box 612, Israel, vol. 16, State Department cable 159161, July 23, 1974.

29.
NARA, National Security Council files, Box 612, Israel, vol. 16, Tel Aviv cable 4185, July 25, 1974.

30.
YTA 15Galili/4/10/1; Shemtov, 97–100; YAOH XVII:21; “Israelis Affirm Ban on Any Talks With Palestinians,”
New York Times
, July 22, 1974, 3. Reflecting Peres’s views, Golan,
Secret Conversations,
220, interprets the decision as barring an interim agreement. Rabin’s later actions indicate that he, too, took this position.

31.
YTA 15Allon/25/7, 29 Tamuz 5734 (July 19, 1974). A second Gush Emunim letter, YTA 15Allon/25/8, 19 Av 5734 (Aug. 7, 1974) complains that Allon has not responded to the original request. A notation indicates that a meeting may have been set for Aug. 14.

32.
Katzover, interview; Demant, 317–18; cf. Admoni,
Asor
, 144.

33.
Meir Harnoy,
Hamitnahalim
(The Settlers) (Or Yehudah: Maariv, 1994), 10–15. Harnoy’s memoir does not date the events, but his description fits the early months of Gush Emunim’s public campaign.

34.
Katzover, interview.

35.
Yeshayahu Ben-Porat, “Beshevah Hahitapkut Vehametinut,”
Yediot Aharanot,
July 31, 1974; Demant, 320.

36.
Jerusalem Post,
July 26, 1974, says Porat was open to the compromise but the Elon Moreh group rejected it.

37.
Account of Sharon’s “diversion” from Shafat, 78–79. Other sources on the first Sebastia bid include
Elon Moreh: Hiddush;
Demant, 320–26; Katzover, interview;
Davar, Ma’ariv, Yediot Aharonot,
July 26–31, 1974.

38.
Elon Moreh: Hiddush
.

39.
Moshe Shamir, “Pitom, Ba’emtza Dibra Hatzionut,”
Ma’ariv
, Aug. 2, 1974, 2.

40.
Ma’ariv,
July 30, 1974, 3; Demant, 320; Katzover, interview.

41.
Ben-Porat, “Beshevah Hahitapkut.”

42.
Davar,
July 28, 1974, 1.

43.
Shafat, 83.

44.
Ma’ariv,
July 30, 1974, 3.

45.
Davar,
July 30, 1974, 3;
Ma’ariv,
July 30, 1974, 13.

46.
Negbi, 36.

47.
Ma’ariv,
July 30, 1974, 3;
Davar,
July 30, 1974, 1; DK, July 31, 1974, 2569. Peres’s dovish critics included Yossi Sarid and Yitzhak Ben-Aharon; the supporter of the Sebastia settlers was David Coren.

48.
Shafat, 98.

49.
NARA, RG59, Records of Henry Kissinger, 1973–1977, Box 8, Kissinger-Allon Memcon, July 31, 1974.

50.
Dorothy McCardle, “17 Years After the Seminar,”
Washington Post
, July 31, 1974, B1.

51.
YAOH XX:16.

52.
NARA, RG59, Records of Henry Kissinger, 1973–1977, Box 9, Kissinger-Allon Memcon, Aug. 1, 1974.

53.
YTA 15Allon/25/8. The text is in English, with a handwritten annotation in Hebrew, “Oral message transmitted at my request to Kissinger by Dinitz before I left U.S. Aug. 4, 1974.”

54.
NARA, RG59, Records of Henry Kissinger, 1973–1977, Box 9, Kissinger-Rifai Memcon, Aug. 6, 1974.

55.
NARA, RG59, Records of Henry Kissinger, 1973–1977, Box 9, Kissinger-Hussein Memcon, Aug. 16, 1974. Cf. Kissinger,
Years of Renewal
, 368–70. Stein, 170; and Zak, 164–166, assert that in a secret meeting with the Israeli troika on August 29, Hussein and Rifai rejected the Jericho plan and insisted on a pullback all along the Jordan. It is unclear, though, whether Israel offered as much in direct talks as Kissinger had in his own name. In any case, it appears that the decisive obstacle was not the differences in maps, but Rabin’s opposition to holding elections over an interim accord, and Hussein’s uncertain position before the Rabat summit.

56.
Kissinger,
Years of Renewal
, 374–81.

57.
Harold H. Saunders and Cecilia Albin,
Sinai II: The Politics of International Mediation, 1974–1975 (FPI Case Studies Number 17)
(Washington, DC: Foreign Policy Institute, John Hopkins University, 1993), 30.

58.
YAOH VIII:16–17.

59.
Saunders and Albin, 36.

60.
Demant, 356–57, 503–8; Netzer, 283–84; Golan,
Shimon Peres
, 149.

61.
YTA 15Galili/4/6/1.

62.
Admoni,
Asor
, 102.

63.
YAOH IV:25, VI:17, XIX:32–34.

64.
Admoni,
Asor
, 101–2; Netzer, 287–88; Demant, 357, states that the area was declared closed in 1972.

65.
Demant, 327;
Ma’ariv
, Aug. 5, 1974.

66.
Demant, 481–85. Demant gives a Jewish population of 1,200 in 1976, after some growth in the intervening two years.

67.
Vered Dror, interview; Amia Lieblich,
Gilgulo Shel Makom
(Tel Aviv: Schocken, 2000), 30–31;
Gilgalon
, Sept. 30, 1974.

68.
Lieblich, 35–36; Dror, interview. Buildings from this period still stood at the time of my visit.

69.
Lieblich, 30–44; Hedva Ben-Tzedek, interview; Dror, interview. At its peak in 1984, the kibbutz had nearly 100 adult members. In 2004 it had about 50. Lieblich, 27; Dror, interview.

70.
YTA 15Galili/2/2/35, letter of Sept. 19, 1974, to Benny, apparently Benny Marshak.

71.
Elon Moreh: Hiddush
; Shafat, 105–18.

72.
Zra’im
, Adar, 5735 (Feb.–Mar. 1975).

73.
Shlomo Aviner, “Veyatza Hashem Venilham Bagoyim,”
Zra’im
, Heshvan-Kislev 5734 (Oct.–Dec. 1973), 4.

74.
Yehudah Amital, “Tzionut Shel Ge’ulah…,”
Zra’im
, Tamuz-Av 5734 (June–Aug. 1974), 3.

75.
Avraham Rekanti, “Kol Eretz Yisrael Lekhol Am Yisrael,”
Zra’im
, Sivan 5734 (May–June 1974).

76.
Osnat, “Ha’aretz Hazot Einah Stam Od Ahat,”
Zra’im
, Sivan 5734 (May–June 1974).

77.
David Zohar, “Lo Zo Haderekh,”
Zra’im,
Elul 5734 (Aug.–Sept. 1974).

78.
Osnat, “Emunah Be’at’haltah Dige’ulah…,”
Zra’im
, Tishrei 5735 (Sept.–Oct. 1974).

79.
Saunders and Albin, 36–37; Kissinger,
Years of Upheaval
, 382–83; “Seventh Arab League Summit Conference, Resolution on Palestine,”
mondediplo.com/focus/mideast/a2287
.

80.
Ma’oz, 111–116.

81.
The party joined the government on Oct. 30, 1974.
www.knesset.gov.il/history/eng/eng_hist8_s.htm
.

82.
NARA, RG59, Records of Henry Kissinger, 1973–1977 Box 25, Memcon, Nov. 7, 1974.

83.
“Speech by PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat, United Nations General Assembly, New York 13 Nov. 1974,”
www.jmcc.org/documents/arfatun74.htm
; Paul Hofmann, “Palestinians Win Right to Appear in U.N. Assembly,”
New York Times,
Oct. 15, 1974, 1; Marilyn Berger, “Arafat Offers ‘Olive Branch, Gun’ at U.N.,”
Washington Post
, Nov. 14, 1974, A1.