The Accidental Empire: Israel and the Birth of the Settlements, 1967-1977 (63 page)

53.
Pedatzur, 242–42; Admoni, 60–61; Ad. MS 70:3–4 describes the decision as taking place in two stages, a cabinet debate on Jan. 18, 1970, and a meeting of the Cabinet Security Committee on Feb. 5.

54.
Katzover, interview.

55.
Demant, 224.

56.
MER V:358–59.

57.
The committee’s Hebrew name was
Va’adah Bein-mosadit Le’inyanei Hityashvut.
It could be more literally, and even more bureaucratically, translated as “Inter-Institutional Committee for Settlement Affairs.” In some documents the same committee is referred to as the Ministerial Committee on Settlement. For brevity, it is referred to hereafter as the Settlement Committee.

58.
Admoni,
Asor
, 60–61; Ad. MS 70:3–4. Beilin, 53, includes Sherf in a list of Mapai moderates sidelined by Meir.

59.
YAOH IV:27.

60.
Demant, 223–24.

61.
ISA 106/2993/1P, Mar. 24, 1970.

62.
Admoni, 59.

63.
Gazit,
Peta’im,
226.

64.
The insight that the new approach was nationalist religion, rather than religious nationalism—that the core was religious—is from Gideon Aran, “From Religious Zionism to Zionist Religion: The Roots of Gush Emunim,”
Studies in Contemporary Jewry
(Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1986), 116–35.

65.
Alon Shvut
, vol. I, no. 2, 8.

66.
Deuteronomy 8:17.

67.
Psalms 18:38.

68.
Alon Shvut,
vol. I, no. 6, 2–3.

69.
Alon Shvut,
vol. I, no. 3, 2–3.

70.
Gvilei Esh,
vol. 6, book 1 (Parchments of Fire: Representative selection of literary works of those who fell while serving in the Israel Defense Forces, Oct. 1973–Dec. 1980) (Ministry of Defense, 1986), 96; Menachem M. Kasher,
Hatekufah Hagedolah
(The Great Era: A Comprehensive Study in the Position of the Jewish People, the Holy Land, and the Stages of Redemption at This Time, Based on Talmudic and Rabbinic Sources) (Jerusalem: Torah Shlemah Institute, 1968), 22–23.

71.
Kasher, viii–xvi, 2–4, 14–15, 28–29.

72.
Hakohen, 11–13.

73.
Cf. Leon Festinger et al.,
When Prophecy Fails
(New York: Harper & Row, 1964), 28; Gorenberg,
End of Days,
47–49.

74.
Benjamin Ish Shalom,
Tahat Hupat Barzel: Masekhet Hayyav Shel Daniel Orlik
(Under a Canopy of Iron: The Story of Daniel Orlik) (Jerusalem: Moriah, 5735), 100–106.

75.
Demant, 226–27. Settlers moved in on June 25, 1970, according to Moskovic, interview, citing settlement records. The official founding ceremony was held on July 5, 1970.

76.
YAOH VI:16.

77.
Moskovic, interview.

78.
Eban, 465; Bundy, 129.

79.
Morris,
Victims
, 355–56; Eban, 465–66; Bundy, 131–32.

80.
“The Second United States initiative, 19 June 1970,” Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs,
www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/Foreign%20Relations/Israels%20Foreign%20Relations%20since%201947/1947-1974/16%20The%20Second%20United%20States%20Initiative%2019%20June%2019
.

81.
“Statement to the Knesset by Prime Minister Meir, 29 June 1970,” Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs,
www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/Foreign%20Relations/Israels%20Foreign%20Relations%20since%201947/1947-1974/17%20Statement%20to%20the%20Knesset%20by%20Prime%20Minister%20Meir
.

82.
“Israel Accepts the United States initiative, Government Statement, 31 July 1970,” Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs,
www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/Foreign%20Relations/Israels%20Foreign%20Relations%20since%201947/1947-1974/18%20Israel%20Accepts%20the%20United%20States%20Initiative-%20Go
.

83.
Beilin, 16.

84.
YTA 15Galili/40/1/30, Sept. 8, 1970.

85.
Admoni,
Asor
, 68; YAOH VII:12.

86.
YAOH VI:16.

87.
Azaryahu, interview.

88.
Admoni,
Asor
, 64–65.

89.
YTA 15Galili/40/1/2, Jan. 1970.

90.
Admoni,
Asor
, 65–68.

91.
Netzer, 265; Ad. MS 70:50. Ad. MS 71:15 suggests that the decision may have been made in the Settlement Committee, rather than in the cabinet.

92.
Netzer, 94, 105–6, 112–15, 264–65.

93.
Douer, 145.

94.
YAOH VII:14–15.

95.
Netzer, 264–65.

96.
Bundy, 184–86; Morris,
Victims
, 373–75.

97.
Kissinger,
White House Years
, 622–25; Bundy, 186–87; Quandt, 104–7.

98.
YAOH V:14–16.

99.
Quandt, 111–12.

100.
YAOH V:16–20.

101.
Quandt, 116–22; Beilin, 119–20.

102.
Quandt, 122–29; Kenneth W. Stein,
Heroic Diplomacy: Sadat, Kissinger, Carter, Begin and the Quest for Arab-Israeli Peace
(New York: Routledge, 1999), 60–61.

103.
Beilin, 124.

104.
Beilin, 124–25; Moshe Meisels, “Hamismakh Hasodi Shel Pinhas Sapir,”
Ma’ariv,
Apr. 15, 1971; Eliav,
Tabe’ot
, 298–301.

105.
Shehadeh, 85–86.

106.
Ad. MS 69:37, 71:43:
Merom Golan: Reshit
, 57–58, 64, 92–94. The Sinai coast settlement was Nevi’ot, near the Bedouin village of Nu’eibah.

107.
Demant, 220, cf. Admoni,
Asor
, 98–99. The settlement was initially called Atarot, then renamed Hamrah.

108.
Admoni,
Asor
, 95. The problem is also cited on 69, 94, 159. On 188–89, summing up the years 1967–1977, Admoni states that manpower “was not a particular problem”—and then immediately discusses the lack of available settlers.

109.
Ad. MS 69:30; Demant, 238.

110.
Douer, 102.

111.
Admoni, interview; Demant, 205.

112.
Simons, 134.

113.
Demant, 225.

114.
Porat, interview.

8. All Quiet on the Suez Front

1.
BAGATZ 302/72, petition of Sheikh Suleiman Hussein Udah Abu Hilu et al.; deposition of Lt. Col. Nissim Kazaz; IDF map of expulsion area.

2.
BAGATZ 302/72, Justice Landau’s opinion. Admoni,
Asor
, 108, gives a figure of “1,540 families” and an area of over 31 square miles. International Committee of the Red Cross,
Annual Report: 1972
(Geneva, ICRC, 1973), 73, states that “around 10,000,” belonging to 14 tribes, were affected.

3.
Oded Lifshitz, interview.

4.
Lifshitz, private papers.

5.
Gazit,
Peta’im
, 74; Gazit, interview. International Committee of the Red Cross, 73, states that the delegation first received complaints in early February.
Ma’ariv, Yediot Aharonot
, Mar. 28, 1972, reported that Elazar was informed on Feb. 15. The meeting with Gazit presumably took place that day or immediately before.

6.
A flyer issued by activists at Nir-Oz in Nov. 1971, for instance, called on Mapam to lead the struggle against settlement in the Strip. Oded Lifshitz, private papers.

7.
Lifshitz, interview.

8.
Lifshitz, private papers.

9.
Ad. MS 72:14–15.

10.
Douer, 218–20.

11.
Ad. MS 71:29.

12.
Douer, 220.

13.
Ariel Sharon, with David Chanoff,
Warrior: An Autobiography
(New York: Touchstone, 2001), 251–58; Morris,
Victims
, 370–71.

14.
Sharon, 260. BAGATZ 302/72, Map of Movements of Terror Attack Perpetrators, shows that attacks had also dropped off in the northeast Sinai by the start of 1972.

15.
Cf. Gershom Gorenberg, “A Belief in Force,”
The American Prospect,
Apr. 8, 2002.

16.
Lifshitz, private papers, “Summary of the Gathering Against Dispossession and Settlement in the Gaza Strip”; “Kenes Neged Nishul…,”
Al Hamishmar,
Mar. 9, 1972; “Al Ma Ragshu Haruhot Benir Oz,”
Al Hamishmar,
Mar. 10, 1972; “Haverim Bakibbutz Ha’artzi Mesaprim…,”
Ma’ariv
, Mar. 14, 1972; Lifshitz, interview.

17.
Admoni,
Asor
, 108–12;
Ma’ariv
,
Al Hamishmar
, Mar. 14–16, 1972;
Ha’aretz,
Mar. 21, 1972.

18.
Al Hamishmar
, Mar. 16, 1972.

19.
BAGATZ 302/72, petition of Sheikh Suleiman Hussein Udah Abu Hilu et al.; deposition of Lt. Col. Dov Shefi.

20.
Admoni,
Asor
, 108–12; Admoni, interview.

21.
Ma’ariv,
Mar. 17, 1972.

22.
DK, Mar. 20, 1972, 1914; Mar. 27, 1972, 2099–106.

23.
YTA 15Galili/69/1/11.

24.
Gazit,
Peta’im
, 73–74, 310–12; Negbi, 30; Admoni, 108;
Ma’ariv, Yediot Aharonot
, Mar. 28, 1972.

25.
Sharon, 250–51. The connection between this and the Rafiah affair is suggested by Gazit,
Peta’im
, 78.

26.
Gazit,
Peta’im
, 75; Gazit, interview.

27.
Gazit,
Peta’im
, 74.

28.
Allon, another avid advocate of settling the Rafiah Plain, criticized Dayan for seeking too much of the Sinai. YAOH VIII:11.

29.
Negbi, 29.

30.
Nathan Alterman, “Shir Ha’emek”
www.mp3music.co.il/lyrics/8513.html
.

31.
Gvilei Esh
, 46.

32.
Dov Indig,
Mikhtavim Letalyah
(Letters to Talia), ed. Hagi Ben-Artzi (Tel Aviv: Yediot Aharonot Books, 2005), 7–10; “Indig, Dov,”
www.izkor.gov.il/izkor86.asp?t=95484
; Hagi Ben Artzi, interview. While the letters in
Gvilei Esh
are presented as correspondence with one girl, “Gadia,” they were actually written to three, according to Ben-Artzi, who selected them. The names “Gadia” and “Talia” are both pseudonyms.

33.
Gvilei Esh
, 45.

34.
Ibid.

35.
Indig, 40–41.

36.
After Israeli independence, Lehi’s veterans revised their 18 principles of Jewish national renaissance, replacing “Third Kingdom,” with the goal of “total redemption,” to avoid the association with “Third Reich.” See Gorenberg,
End of Days
, 92.

37.
Yehudah Etzion, interview.

38.
YTA 15Galili/40/1/9, settlers’ letter to Galili, May 27, 1970; MER V:356; Admoni,
Asor
, 92.

39.
Katzover, interview.

40.
James Reston, “Egyptian Leader Gives Conditions for Peace Accord,”
New York Times
, Dec. 28, 1970, 1; “Excerpts from the Interview with President Sadat of Egypt,”
New York Times
, Dec. 28, 1970, 15.

41.
Yossi Sarid, “The Spirit of Golda,”
Ha’aretz,
Dec. 28, 2003; Amnon Barzilai, “Mibrerat Mehdal Ve’ad Lamehdal,”
Ha’aretz
, Oct. 10, 2003; Sarid, interview.