presenting history's best on PBS funding for the 50 Years War Israel and the Arabs was provided by The Corporation for Public Broadcasting and PBS viewers like you Palestine a land divided a holy place a Battleground a Homeland claimed by both Arabs and Jews by in 1947 the lines were drawn to the Jews Palestine is their traditional and spiritual hope the promised land but the majority of the inhabitants of Palestine are Arabs they too regard Palestine as their rightful home but with the end of the war into Palestine ports came ship after ship crammed with illegal immigrants refugees from recent persecution in Germany Austria Poland belsan and daal the Arabs fear fearful of becoming a minority persuaded the British to limit Jewish immigration Jewish extremists attacked British troops wrecked government buildings blew up trains and ships and so Palestine remains a place of Martial law where all go their ways only under watch where the innocent must suffer with the guilty Great Britain had ruled Palestine for three decades after years of strenuous but unavailing effort the ves's government have reached the conclusion that they are not able to bring about a settlement in Palestine based upon the consent of both Arabs and Jews and that the Mandate is no longer workable a York transport landing at L airport brings delegates to the United Nations special committee on Palestine the UN committee considered the partition of Palestine into a Jewish and an Arab and on the shoulders of these delegates rests a heavy responsibility but the Arabs did not want to talk to the commit they wanted nothing to do with the Jews Saad was an honorable shake and an eloquent speaker and he said if the Jews want to take Palestine from us we swear that we will throw them into the sea and he pointed to the Teran which was a few hundred meters from the place where we had gathered the Arab leadership believed that if a partition was imposed they could reverse it by force Jamal husse the chairman of the Arab hire committee said that only 4 to 500 Riflemen can easily take over Tel aiv while the committee was still in Palestine a ship called Exodus arrived in hia Harbor under escort loaded with Jewish Holocaust Survivors good War service but now she had on board some 5,000 Jews who'd hoped to enter Palestine illegally when she was boarded at Sea by the Navy a fierce battle was fought on her decks resulting in many casualties on both sides the UN committee saw firsthand the immigrants despair when they were forced to return to Europe the Jews argued that refugees needed a home and that they would not be welcomed by an Arab State the UN committee agreed they recommended that Palestine be partitioned when the British pulled out we felt that what had happened to the Palestinians was unjust and that the division of Palestine was not fair the Arabs were outraged we had a man called Musta M who managed to penetrate literally into the circle of the security Council to read a letter written in the blood of several thousand Egyptian Muslim Brothers denouncing Israel and the and the support of isra own s you all know how to vot those who are in favor will say yes those who are against will say no that no one relied on the calculations made by the president of the assembly each person held his own pencil and piece of paper and calculated whether or not there was 2/3 for the partition not United Kingdom I'm stain the United States yes oray yes Venezuela and towards the end during the last countries USA Venezuela Etc we found there was 2/3 we jumped from our places with joy we wept we hugged we kissed the resolution of the duck committee for Palestine was adopted by 33 votes 13 against 10 abstentions I was glad I was very glad because for me it was important that the UN according to the decree of Nations was giving granting the Jews I'd say the zionists an independent country on the land of Israel and I thought in my heart history is turning a huge page the news was broadcast at 8pm. the Palestinian people listened to it everywhere and there was this feeling of frustration and sadness a feeling of catastrophe which was about to befall Palestine riots and demonstration started everywhere the Arabs attacked Jews and the Jews hit back cities and neighborhoods were divided along religious lines in Jerusalem an Arab Car Bomb destroyed the Jewish agency offices seven were killed more than 100 wounded the 50 years war was underway Palestinian forces from towns and Villages along the road to Jerusalem were commanded by Abdul kader El husseini they blocked supplies going from Jewish held Tel Aviv to a besieged Jerusalem keeping the Jews of Jerusalem supplied was the first priority of the Jewish Army the hagana they try to defend the convoys it was very hard to protect the convoys we had a huge number of casualties among the Convoy Escorts and there was a big waste of product when a convoy got through the whole city knew the trucks brought vital supplies flour we really needed matches and cigarettes can you imagine soldiers without cigarettes we were kept Alive by the Convoy from Tel Aviv we started with mil operations to make sure that the road between t Aviv and Jerusalem will not be endangered by the big Villages or towns that were along the road uh where from came all the attackers on the convoys a special hagana Brigade was formed to open the road to Jerusalem the system was to attack the village to give warning to the civilians to destroy the village and by the elimination of The Villages alone and adjacent to the road we were sure that there would be no attacks the Jews trying to seize castill a village controlling the road to Jerusalem it was a palm unit my troop that captured the Castel and it was here that Abdul Kad alus the Palestinian leader was killed enraged Hussein's soldiers went to recover the body of their leader the Arabs counterattacked our reinforcements were wiped out it was a very black day down the road from Castell there would be another battle there that day two Jewish extremist organizations ilun and lei which had fought the British were eager to prove themselves in the new war it was such a tragedy darasin was a lovely Village the events at darasin would haunt relations between Jews and Arabs for years to come darasin had stayed out of the fighting it was not on the Hagan's list of hostile Villages I ran into a man who had left us for the terrorists he told me that theun and lei had got permission from our commander to attack the village of De yasim he was very proud theun and Le forces were ordered to take I ran to my commander and asked why did you allow it he said I suggested two other targets they turned them down he said I can't shoot them can I so I decided to spy on them their loudspeakers blared out lay down your arms run for your lives then I I heard our machine gun I was kneeling down like this when I looked up I saw the village of Blaze their attack lit up the whole village The Village was not the soft target the Jews had expected from the windows of their houses Arabs were shooting at our soldiers and from a force of 132 we had 42 wounded and six dead the commander ordered a house toh house attack so I gave the order before entering a house throw a couple of grenades inside they threw a grenade into one house 28 were killed it was impossible to attack the enemy without hurting their families it was difficult it was painful and I'm sorry we had to do it but we had no choice after the battle they took 14 prisoners they lined them up by the Quarry and mowed them down they threw their bodies in the Quarry that's what happened while this was going on Jews came from the next Village most of them were religious by the way they started yelling bastards murderers what are you doing some shouted in Hebrew others in Yiddish they stopped Massac 110 Arabs died in dear gasin some died fighting others were murdered the survivors were taken to Jerusalem we gathered in Jerusalem at the heon gate we checked who was missing and who had survived then the Palestinian leaders arrived including Dr KH I asked Dr khi how we should cover the story he said we must make the most of this so he wrote a press release stating that at dear yasen children were murdered pregnant women were raped all sorts of atrocities Arab radio station passed on the false reports ignoring the protests of the witnesses we said there was no rap He said we have to say this so the Arab armies will come to liberate Palestine from the Jews this was our biggest mistake we did not realize how our people would react as soon as they heard that women had been raped at De Yasin Palestinians fled in Terror they ran away from all our villages in the next few months over half the Arab population 3/4 of a million people fled their homes in Palestine Israel never allowed them back the British did little to prevent the atrocities committed by both sides as they prepared to leave they washed their hands of the whole mess at the United Nations the Jews announced their plans not later than May 16th next a provisional Jewish government will commence to function in cooperation with the representatives of the United Nations then in Palestine the Jewish leadership sought political support abroad the US state department argued against it their first response was no country no state M Med beneran sent his close colleague mosha sharet to convince the Americans to recognize the proposed Jewish State sharet tried to persuade Secretary of State George Marshall who was totally opposed to the idea peace and prosperity shall I explain that we have no other way when to proceed this is a historic juncture if we miss that we may create a tragedy for future Generations but President Truman surprised everyone with his strong support I was told by all these so-called experts that it it was done it would involve the whole near East in a war and it would also involve the United States Hitler had been murdering Jews right and left I saw it and I dream about it even to this day the Jews needed someplace where they could go it was my attitude that the American government couldn't stand odly by while the victims of Hitler's Madness were not allowed to build new lives Marshall was worried that war would break out we are in the midst of a very critical situation we should therefore carefully avoid approaching International problems on an emotional basis he wanted to maintain good relations with the Arabs I was on the receiving end of aam pasha's impressions of his meeting with Marshall and he was happy I mean he felt much more reassured about the Americans after having talked to Marshall than before and we had the sais with us they were our partners in this business two days before the British left Palestine Truman summoned Marshall to the White House Clark Clifford was asked to support the case for a Jewish State General Marshall started off the uh president listened attentively and then said I would like now to hear from clarkk but as I spoke I saw Marshall's face getting rder and rder when I finished he exploded Marshall accused Truman of a transparent Dodge to win the Jewish vote Clark Clifford did not disguise the fact that Marshall was raging mad they don't need a state they don't deserve a state it isn't theirs they've stolen that land these were Marshall's words he turned to the presence said I'm obliged Mr President to tell you that if you should adopt the policy that is recommended by Clifford I would be unable to vote for you in this coming election in November well Dead Silence in the room no one had ever heard anything like that I had never heard anybody threaten the president of the United States in that manner before Marshall could go any further Truman ended the meeting I gathered my papers together and the president said well that was tough as a COB Mar said to shed well it's your decision it don't count that we can bail you out but uh you we know yet you have reached an historic stage and uh God protect you Eastward the Arab Legion poised for Invasion on the trans Jordan border the rarely photographed King Abdullah reviewed a brigade of reinforcements from Iraq Marshall's prediction of war was about to come true five Arab states mobilized On the Border threatening to enter Palestine and crush a Jewish state if it came into being where the Jews in Palestine this was a critical moment Boran was determined to go go ahead with or without international support I had to act fast I didn't consult anyone today the British mandate over the land of Israel ends we declare a Jewish state in the ancient land of Israel it will be called the state of Israel at the same time the un's role in Palestine was supposed to end when the hands pointed to 6:00 the Iraqi delegate got up and said Mr President there is a very important matter to consider before we proceed the time is 1 minute P 6 indeed I think it is 2 minutes the United States delegate when he came to declared that if by 6:00 we cannot arrive into at any conclusion the whole game is up and I hold that to you Mr President to give a ruling the time is 5 six now that was about the only occasion when the Iraqi deligate and I have ever agreed on anything he was full of exuberance because he thought the game is up and now the road is open for the Arab Invasion I felt that the game is up and that meant that we were free to establish our State without being accused of impinging upon an international decision then the news from Israel arrived this government has been informed that a Jewish state has been proclaimed in Palestine and recognition has been requested by the provisional government thereof the united states recognizes the provisional government as the de facto authority of the new state of Israel scarcely had the United States pronounced its words of recognition and almost unnoticed by our own delegation which was still celebrating our American victory Andre gromo Rose and said that the Soviet Union which unlike the Western Powers which had abandoned the Jewish people to its dark and fearful fate the Soviet Union recognizes the state of Israel and therefore I would say that the issue of Israel's recognition was solved almost miraculously within a few hours of our independence declaration after 2,000 years of Exile the Jewish people had a state of their own but even as they danced Israel's fate hung in the balance the day after benor declared the state of Israel the armies of Egypt Jordan Iraq Lebanon and Syria invaded But the largest Arab Army that of Egypt had only been tested on the parade ground at its head was the Playboy King Farooq the king hadn't had any experience of War nobody in fact had an experience of all including the commander-in chief of the Egyptian Army is he at the time a Euphoria rign in the Arab ranks the boys were very pleased with the wall they thought it was a good idea but they had no idea of the logistics and the problems they were going to face still the Arab states with a population of 40 million looked certain to overwhelm Israel's half million Jews it seemed that boran's new state would last only a few days we thought it was going to be a pushover that the the Jews were going to run away the moment they saw Arab AR regular army uniform moving onto them with bayonets and whatever Egypt's Army attacking from the south headed towards the main Jewish Center Tel Aviv Jordan's Arab region took the West Bank and the old city of Jerusalem the syrians moved towards Nazareth while the Lebanese attacked from the north the Arab regular armies converged on Palestine Superior in numbers and Equipment early in the war they had a number of victories whenever they overan Israeli Villages the inhabitants were either expelled or killed the Egyptian Army was finally halted only 20 M from Tel Aviv the Israelis were fighting for their survival and after 3 weeks of fierce resistance they brought the Arabs to a standstill we had no aircraft we had no tanks and we were going into war this way we hardly even had guns we would try to buy guns as much as we could anywhere we could in this situation we were really saved by Czechoslovakia that is Russia America didn't give us hon when the the the weapons came in the whole balance of power changed and the Israelis who then pass on to the offensive we weren't even mentally prepared we just weren't ready so our officers were confused and panic stricken and so the Egyptian Army was was surrounded and then the Jordanian Army just kept neutral didn't interfere in any way finally our prime minister here in Egypt kashasha was murdered by the Muslim brothers and uh his successor said there's no future in this war let's make peace but there was no peace only a ceasefire agreement the Arabs believed a peace treaty would be an acknowledgement of defeat both sides mourned they're dead even before the ceasefire agreements were signed Israel held its first democratic election Boran and his labor party won Israel celebrated the Triumph of its Armed Forces but the Arabs refused to recognize Israel's right to exist for the Arabs the legacy of the 48 war was the displacement of the Palestinian people the Palestinians now faced political Extinction the West Bank was annexed by Jordan and Gaza was ruled by Egypt which left them with nothing Egypt the most powerful Arab country was shaken by the defeat a group of young officers frustrated by the incompetence of the king and the new prime minister plotted a cool I went to the Prime Minister and delivered the ultimatum to him he was shocked believe me because up till this moment he didn't know that we were going to Dethrone the king at all he was shocked and received me like this I told him yes said are you are you are you powerful enough I told him yes go and deliver it to the king he must leave by 6:00 this this evening from Caro come these first authentic pictures of the bloodless coup by which the Army took over control of Egypt it was the end of the King's attempt to maintain power as we took the king to the ship he said you ate me for lunch before I could eat you for dinner Egypt's new leader Gamal Abdel Nasser pledged radical reform there were six principles to put an end to uh colonialism to put an end to feudalism put an end to corrupted of uh exploitation by capitalism I read that Nasser was going to Yugoslavia I thought president Tito could help make peace I knew a friend of Tito I asked him to go to Yugoslavia I said get Tito to ask Nasser if he will make peace Tito passed on the message Naser said that if he was seen talking to Israel he would be overthrown even killed sharet boran's foreign minister initiated more secret contacts sharet believed the best way to ensure the security of Israel was to understand the Arabs and negotiate peace sheret sent ion to Paris the UN General assembly's temporary home I told a friend I was ordered to Paris to meet Arabs and he said Zema I know you like Cervantes but I never saw you as Don kote will you go to the plasta Concord and Shout any Arabs here I was sitting on the balcony of the UN a young man came in and sat next to me we began to talk I said to him my dear I am a Jew I looked in his face I saw no sign of embarrassment so I asked him who do you represent when I pressed him he said shet I said I am an Israeli who dreams of peace with Egypt for Egyptians talking to Israelis was taboo so ABD Rahman sadk was nervous when he was summoned by President Nasser I went in and I found gal Abdul Nasser standing in the middle of the room he said I want to tell you that you have my permission to continue talks with the Israeli in Paris the diplomat's reports were to be for nasser's ears only he said I want you to see if there is a chance of avoiding Bloodshed while we conducted the talks with Abdel Raman there was once in a while a radical escalation of Egyptian statements about Israel an Egyptian leader even said that Israel was the cancer in the midst of the Arab world and we asked them to refrain from such inflammatory language nasser's Envoy returned to Paris with promises to tone down the anti-israeli propaganda on Cairo radio and to restrain the Guerilla raids against Israel but Nasser would not terminate the war nor would he establish diplomatic relations or allow Israeli ships through the Suez Canal and the Straits of Tran sheret was disappointed sharett's message said that we were sorry of course that the Egyptian government would not change its official policy which was a clear anti-israeli policy sharett's repeated offers to start peace negotiations were turned down well I had realized that the Israelis continuously say that they want peace I realized also that the Arabs refused to talk Israel desperately needed peace Jewish refugees from Europe and Arab countries were streaming in its population doubled during the first 2 years its economy was in Ruins new immigrants were often settled along Israel's Frontiers they lived in fear of frequent Arab raids benuron blamed Nasser for the raids he ordered the Israeli Army to retaliate by striking Arab countries harboring infiltrators benan knew Arab villagers supported these terrorists we had to show them that helping terrorists was dangerous to protect our settlements I was called to see mosha Diane a mother had been killed murdered on a settlement the murderers left tracks which led to a village across the border in Jordan my orders were to reach the village in Jordan we had to blow up as many buildings as possible and cause as many Arab casualties as possible the Tiny Village ofia on the Israel Jordan border is in Ruins as day survivors relate how troops truck across the frontier at night they accuse Israeli forces of leveling buildings With Grenades shellfire and explosives trapping entire families in the rubble the attack prompts the United States England and France to deliver their sharpest rebuke to Israel since its founding and to demand Stern action to punish the guilty troops after the operation I was called to see it was the first time I'd met him I think about him a nice boy good s he said one thing to me he said it doesn't matter what the world says it doesn't matter what they say about Israel anywhere else the only thing that matters is that we can exist here unless it's clear that there is a price to pay for Jewish lives we will not be able to survive and that's what counts benuron was such a believer in the importance of agricultural settlements that he abandoned the prime ministership and joined a kabut in the desert he was succeeded by mosa sharet who hoped he could Advance Israeli security through diplomacy but his Minister of Defense pinkas leavon believed in military Solutions in July 1954 the British announced they were quitting their huge military base on the Suez Canal we feared we would be exposed to an attack from Egypt the fact that the British army was there served as a buffer it reduced the chance of an Egyptian attack on his own leavon ordered plans for destabilizing Egypt and frightening the British into remaining Lavon summoned the director of military intelligence to his home in Tel Aviv laon leavon would not stop talking about the need for Action he suggested all sorts of schemes we cooked up a PL to hit Targets in Egypt leavon said go ahead activate the unit in Egypt Israeli military intelligence had recruited young Jews to act as sabur I was ready to do anything to help Israel I was idealistic I was naive a code word broadcast during Israeli radio's Housewives Choice was the signal to act in Cairo I went to one Cinema my friend went to another I put the bomb under an empty seat no one was killed and the sabots were all caught the news was splashed across Egyptian newspapers so I went to chared and said look uh this is the communic from Cairo what do we know about it he said no no no no no this is not aend it can't be because how can such a thing happen I the Prime Minister doesn't know about it after he learned of lavon's role sharett's first priority was to save the lives of the young Jews Moshe sharat called on me he said the cabinet is worried about the prisoners in Egypt we must prevent death sentences in a bid for Mercy shereet sent Devon to Paris to reveal the truth to nasser's Envoy Devon told me the plot was hatched in the ministry of Defense sheret had no idea about it nasser's response was not what sheret had hoped for in Cairo two of the sabur were executed the others went to prison Marcel Nino and Robert Dasa for 15 years sheret in his office that night confided to his diary that he was living through a nightmare if I do not remove leavon I am supporting something rotten that will destroy the the defense Ministry and army command if I do act it will destroy the party and cause a scandal what should I do leavon was dismissed from his post as defense minister but the damage was done Egypt also was playing with fire in Gaza it recruited and trained Palestinians for military action they paid 4 pounds a month in those days it was a lot of money so it was good they were sent to Israel to gather intelligence and commit sabotage they would see if an airport was built and come back and Report others went on military operations and carried out attacks these infiltrators the fedin were a tremendous security problem not only for the settlers on the borders but also in the center of the country they were attacking places 5 kilom from Tel Aviv the frequent attacks and the loss of lives were not only a disaster for the victims's families they fostered a profound sense of helplessness among Israelis the government seemed unable to protect its own people only one man could satisfy the Public's demand for Action within months benuron was back as prime minister by mid 1955 Nasser turned to the Soviet block for economic and Military assistance the conflict now became part of the Cold War and Egypt received a huge arms shipment from Czechoslovakia new tanks artillery bombers and jet fighters threatened to render the Israeli Army and its propeller Air Force obsolete General mosha Diane wanted to strike at the Egyptian Army before it could absorb its new weapons but benan felt Israel could not fight alone Bon became more and more convinced that uh there is no diplomatic solution for the conflict and because of the accumulation of arms in Egypt um we have to forall war triggered by Egypt a few weeks later president Nasser nationalized the Suz Canal unexpectedly vuran found himself with two new allies Britain and France had jointly owned the canal and wanted it back benuron sent Shimon Perez to a secret meeting in Paris the French defense minister told me Britain and France were planning an operation to take the Suz Canal back from NASA and he asked me would Israel join them how long would it take Israeli troops to reach the canal waited anxiously for the return of his Emissary benan asked me well what did the French say so I began to tell him about their plan he interrupted and said okay this changes everything we'll go with them Israel invaded Egypt secretly supported by Britain and France within a week Israeli troops had captured the Sinai desert Britain and France tried to retake the Suz Canal until International pressure forced them to withdraw but for Israel the war was a Triumph we achieved our main purpose the main purpose was free navigation in The Straits of elat which is rather vital and this we have until now the second objective was to secure safety for our settlements near the Gaza Street I cannot say we got it in entirely but they are more safe than they were before the Israeli forces withdrew from Sinai and the positions along the Israeli border and the Straits of Tran were guarded by United Nations Forces for 10 years there was peace along the Israeli Egyptian border under the UN flag trouble and death in the Middle East the fighting erupted quickly when syrians allegedly fired on Israeli Farmers operating tractors Israel used tanks mortars and aircraft to Counterattack Israeli Premier Levi eshkol said friendly foreign powers will understand the situation in May 1967 the leaders of the Soviet Union took a step that would change the map of the Middle East the losers would be their own allies it all began with a false report from Soviet intelligence Anar Sadat speaker of the Egyptian Parliament was in Moscow for talks with Soviet prime minister kosan it was a routine trip Egypt was now firmly in the Soviet camp Sadat was seen to his plane by the deputy foreign minister the minister took sadad aside he said Israeli troops were massing against Syria he asked him to report this at once to Naser Egypt's President gal abdal Nasser was the hero of the Arab world if is Israel was massing troops on the Syrian border Nasser would be expected to act he sent for his chief of staff and instructed him to find out what the Israelis were up to I went to the border between Syria and Israel I found nothing unusual so I asked to see the latest aerial photos of the Border area they showed me photos from the previous day and the day before that I studied them but I still found nothing the chief of staff found nothing to back up the Soviet report but then the Soviet Ambassador came back to us he said Soviet intelligence had reconfirmed their report Israeli troops really were massing on the Syrian border and the situation was very dangerous Soviet diplomats spread the alarm throughout the region even in Israel as the Prime Minister and his wife soon found out it was 2:30 in the morning a secretary came in looking sleepy he said the Soviet Ambassador is down in the lobby he's all dressed up very formal and he insists on seeing the prime minister right now I said to ashol Let's receive him in our pajamas our ambassador gave esol a telegram from casan es offered to go to Moscow to discuss the regional situation the Ambassador was angry he said you are massing your troops in the north es said we can go there now we can go together to the Golan border you'll see we haven't mobilized anything the Soviet Ambassador said No at that time Soviet leaders believed that America was on the run in Vietnam Sam in the Kremlin now sought to weaken America's influence in the Middle East even at the risk of another Regional War we believed a war could bring us political gains even a stalemate could bring us benefits Egypt had our backing both political and Military we thought their forces would demonstrate the benefits of Soviet support so we were confident that the balance of power in the Middle East would be altered by a localized war in Cairo Nasser had put his Armed Forces on alert the moment he received the Soviet report if moscow's plan was to provoke a war it seemed to be working the Russian report escalated everything we felt obliged to move troops into the Sinai from there we could retaliate against Israel if Israel attacked Syria Abdul ner did not want a war with Israel Abdul Nasser was thinking of His Image in the Arab world so he put on a show of strength using the Armed Forces Marshall Amir wanted to attack Israel right away the Arab media had been criticizing Nasser some countries had accused Abdul Nasser of hiding behind the United Nations since the Suez war of 1956 United Nations troops had provided a buffer on the border between Egypt and Israel now NASA ordered them out the eyes of the world focused on a small Harbor at the edge of the Sinai desert sham elake headquarters wanted to expel the UN troops from Sharm msh I told them if we do that Egyptian troops will have to take over at charm we will then be obliged to close the Straits of Tran that will mean War a blockade at The Straits of Tran by Egypt could lead to war because the Straits at the foot of the Gulf of akaba controlled Israel's only trade route to the eastern half of the world Nasser in the name of Arab solidarity was going on the offensive our armed forces are ready for war the Gulf of akaba belongs to Egypt there is no way that we will allow Israeli ships to pass through the Jews are threatening War we tell them hello and welcome we are ready for war but there is no way we will give up our rights to the Gulf of akaba in Israel the people prepared to defend themselves their prime minister Levi Esh call summoned his cabinet and Military commanders I told him until now I was not sure what was going to happen but after the Egyptians closed the Straits I'm sure the situation will develop into a war The Straits are aesus belly for us and I told him firmly that this will be their end this will be their grave the commanders told him we have no choice we have to mobilize we have to launch an attack within 72 hours if we give the Egyptians more time they will pack the Sinai with more and more divisions the generals saw Israel becoming increasingly vulnerable the chief of staff General Rabin was very worried he smoked a great number of cigarettes and he ate nearly all the the nuts and raisins in the little basket there and um he was very worried because not because he doubted the result of the war but because uh we were really very unprepared for war asked ABA Ian for a diplomatic solution Rabin had said we were really not prepared for war and um second there should still be some attempt to avoid it by exercising warnings and pressures upon the Egyptians and then Mr eshkol sent me a note saying what are you doing here prime minister eshal dispatched ABA iben to seek the help of Israel's key allies he wanted an international Fleet to keep the Straits open to prevent war I've been asked by my government to uh explore uh what these governments intend to do in order to reopen this International Waterway to a situation un states to do sir well um I've come here really to find out what the United States intends to do President Johnson made it clear that he did want Israel to attack first the president had said to Dean Rusk and me and I'm going to speak rather crudely get Ean in here into the family quarters of the white house so we can work him over because we had heard that uh the Israelis were about to preempt they were about to attack the Egyptians Ean talked at Great length and eloquently he always spoke eloquently and he always spoke at Great length but what he had to say was very simple this was a mortal crisis for Israel and he wanted to know what the United States was prepared to do the president he simply expressed skepticism about the idea that Israel was in danger he said you are not in danger you are in a very difficult situation but you are not in Peril he said to eban we do not believe that Egypt is about to attack Israel moreover if it does you'll lick him to make the point President Johnson asked for the defense Department's assessment of the likely outcome of a Middle East War we had concluded that if Israel preempted they could win clearly in a period of about uh 7even days as I remember we had also estimated that if they did not preempt an Egypt attack first that uh it would take somewhat longer perhaps uh 10 to 14 days then the president took out a piece of paper and started reading from it as though this was some kind of a sacred text and what this document said was Israel will not be alone unless it decides to be alone if you go alone you'll stand alone that was a very coldblooded statement we will not come to your offense if you preempt we cannot come to your offense if you preempt as Israel received its warning in the White House an Egyptian delegation was heading towards the Kremlin we didn't even see Moscow we were driven in cars with the curtains drawn straight into the Kremlin the Egyptians were self assured sham badran exuded confidence he said that if war came the Egyptian Military could handle it in fact he described the Army like a wild horse raring to go but the Soviets warned the Egyptians not to be seen as the aggressors Prime Minister casan said tell Nasser if he strikes first he will escalate the conflict he will provoke the superpowers America will not stand aside I said we understand but closing the Straits isn't an attack on America the Soviets made it clear they meant what they said we asked about the arms contracts we had with them we asked if they would hurry things up especially some spare parts we needed for our planes we could have taken them with us in a bag they were always asking for arms every highlevel delegation would ask for for arms including badron they did not refuse to supply the arms they just claimed they had none I was really shocked I thought how can our Soviet friends treat us like this war was at our doorstep Nasser got the message the Soviets would back him only if he did not appear to be the aggressor his commanders were instructed to stay on the defensive ready to absorb an Israeli attack the Air Force Chief jumped up he said it will be crippling he said Mr President the first strike will be crippling he said it in English He meant that a first strike by Israel would [ __ ] our Air Force the commander-in-chief told him if you let them strike first you will fight only Israel but if you strike first you will have to fight Israel and America but the war fever in Cairo had become Unstoppable popular hatred of Israel which Nasser did nothing to discourage now swept him forward and drove other Arab rulers to his side even King Hussein of Jordan for years at odds with Nasser decided he could no longer stand aloof in the morning I got into my uh aircraft and uh and flew it to Cairo and I was met by the president I was in Ministry fatigues with my gun on and he said I see you're carrying a gun I said I've been like that for the last few days with my troops and then he made a strange remark what would happen if we suddenly took you prisoner and denied all knowledge of your arriving in this country soon after King Hussein signed a mutual defense treaty with Nasser and agreed to put his army under Egyptian command we were on the verge of a uh uh of a war therefore any reservations I had uh in the past to uh any troops coming into Jordan were removed as far as I'm concerned so Israel faced the prospect of War on three fronts from Jordan in the east from Syria in the north and from Egypt in the South that was the time when aitz came up it never happened before when people spoke they said there was a feeling we are surrounded we are surrounded no one will help us no one is helping us and God forbid if the Arab armies invade us they'll kill us all by this point Israel had been mobilized for more than 2 weeks all males aged 18 to 55 were called to serve most Vehicles were requisitioned most factories closed Israel could not stay fully mobilized for long but still prime minister esol waited for the International Community to do something he came to military headquarters to remind his generals of America's warning is must not go It Alone he told us that they were making diplomatic efforts in the US and Europe they were trying to reach a deal with Nasser it made no sense to us flanked by Rabin eshkol found himself surrounded by generals insisting on a preemptive strike General ped was usually pretty quiet now he was shouting he was actually shrieking why do you hesitate why are you afraid I said you have the best army since King David if you don't attack you will never be forgiven if you do you will be the Conquering Hero to regain the confidence of his generals prime minister esol appointed a new Minister of Defense mosha Diane hero of the 1956 Suz War because the number and of their forces is bigger than ours but still um I hope and that we can make it but much depends very much depends upon where the battle is the generals also asked for another Envoy to be sent to Washington the prime minister agreed he said listen Mayer you go to Washington and find out what's going on there are the Americans organizing a naval task force is anybody going to do anything when amit's mission was to see if the Americans planned to open the Straits of Tran or if Israel would have to act alone the Pentagon had quite enough trouble in Vietnam and didn't want another War the director of the CIA made it perfectly clear andal there is no International Naval Force there are no American plans for action there is no task force tce so the head of the Mad Israel's intelligence agency called on the Secretary of Defense I said to him you know our situation I am here on the instruction of my prime minister he was doing most of the talking I did ask one or two questions at the meeting I realized that America because of Vietnam was unwilling to act alone and they did not succeed in organizing the international Naval Force also Eisenhower made a commitment to Israel about the Straits in 1956 so America would no longer oppose Israel acting on its own I was friendly in during my discussion and friendly as he left but uh he didn't asked for answers he got no answers Amit raced back to Israel to report to the Prime Minister and the cabinet not to expect International Help I gave a detailed account of my trip to Washington and I said I recommend we launch the war as soon as possible not one of the ministers disagreed we went for our usual walk suddenly esol starts humming he was completely toned de he had this hidic song he liked to sing he sang it over and over again the rabbi has told us to enjoy ourselves because hard times are coming so I asked him what's happening dearest and he told me tomorrow the war will start there will be widows there will be orphans there will be bereaved parents who knows what tomorrow will bring the general enals chose the morning of June 5th for the attack the chief of staff and I took a decision on the night of June 4th we would sleep at home the TomTom in Israel work like in the jungle if the chief of staff and Air Force Chief both come home word gets round that tomorrow is going to be quiet that was the Commander's bedtime message leaving behind only 12 fighters to defend Israel 180 Aircraft took off for Egypt their target was 45 minutes away we observed total radio silence we flew at the height of the waves for about 15 minutes we flew low over the sand Junes we crossed the Suz Canal at canara and entered the Delta as we Flew Over the Delta Farmers waved to us they probably thought we were Egyptian most of the Israeli squadrons flew out to sea far to the West they had extra fuel tank to enable them to approach Egypt's air bases from an unexpected direction that was the longest 45 minutes in my life the hands on my watch didn't seem to move they went very slowly as the Israeli bombers approached their targets the Egyptians received a coded message from Jordan they spotted Israeli planes heading towards us so they sent us a signal from their radar base to warn us the signal was in code our codes had changed the day before and we had real trouble decoding it the ministry of Defense asked the air defense people what they had done with the signal they had received it had the code word grape they replied what signal at exactly 0745 we pulled up to 6,000 ft I looked down and saw the migs glinting on the edges of the runway the pilots were sitting inside the cockpits I knew we had caught them by surprise the Israelis began their attack by destroying the the runways to prevent the Egyptian aircraft from taking off the few that did get off the ground were no match for the Israeli Fighters I got a call from one of the Air Force Chiefs he said no no I said yes sir he said our airfields are being attacked I said what the hell are you talking about he said our airfields are being attacked I said our airfields he said the airfields in the Sinai are being attacked I said all the Sinai airfields tell me it's not true and he said believe me all the airfields are being attacked I hung up the phone rang again it was another Commander he said we're being attacked so I said to myself well something must be going on but I was all alone he was alone because the head of the Egyptian Armed Forces Marshall Amir had left with the minister of war and his top brass to inspect their positions in the Sinai 10 minutes after takeoff we heard about the Israeli attack we turned around and flew back our cars had gone we had to hail a taxi to get back to headquarters by the time Marshall arm's taxi got him back to headquarters Egypt's Air Force was destroyed Marshall Amir was Panic he told the Air Force Chief to implement the Counterattack plan the Air Force Chief replied how can I I have no aircraft in the Sinai Egypt had three times as many tanks as Israel but with no air cover their situation was Dire Marshall Amir told me draw up a plan of retreat bring the troops back across the canal Marshal Amir had been a close friend of President Nasser for more than 20 years they had fought together as young officers together they had planned the coup which brought down the Egyptian monarchy now the defeated president phoned his defeated Army Commander I was the only other person there Amir was in tears he was calling Nasser by his first name he said let me bring our boys back safely gaml when he put the phone down I asked why are you crying he told me Nasser had said forgive me hake I caused this catastrophe forgive me hake ABD had been crying too Marshall Amir didn't wait for his chief of staff to plan a retreat he simply picked up the phone and gave the order himself the order was withdraw back across the canal leave the artillery behind Marshal's order was a disaster with no plan his retreating units could not protect each other the Israelis gave chase our tanks had Egyptian tanks in front and behind them we attacked them from the ground and from the air thousands were destroyed they were all burning it was a terrible sight 338 Israelis were killed but the Egyptian dead numbered 15,000 days earlier when the war had begun the Israelis had contacted the king of Jordan we did not plan to take Jerusalem or the West Bank we did not plan to take the Golan on the fifth we sent a telegram through the Americans to King Hussein telling him that the War was between us and the Egyptians if Jordan stayed out nothing would happen but at about 10 30 he started shelling Jerusalem Teddy kak the mayor of Jerusalem asked me at the command poost what he should do with the children in the kindergartens and schools in the command post we looked at each other we said this is not nice we'll take on Hussein the Deputy Chief of Staff called me he said Uzi you are authorized to enter The Old City you have to be quick and use your head it took the Israelis 10 hours of bitter street fighting to defeat the Jordan Legion soldiers defending the old city once the troops had broken through to the Wailing Wall keeping the city United under Israel's rule became the basic goal of the government when the battle ended Jordan had lost not only the old city but all the land on the West Bank of the Jordan River I went out to the front that I could see people crossing over in small groups very tired you know all the years that I had spent since 1953 trying to build that country and build that Army all the pride all the hopes U I saw it just destroyed I never received a more crushing blow than that Mr Prime Minister does Israel wish any territory beyond the territory she now no sir no sir we need any additional territory uh we want only to develop this territory that we have there is so much to put in energy and money and brain that we have a little a little uh we don't we don't want any additional territory with Jordan and Egypt defeated Israel turned its might on the Golan Heights the sight of frequent attacks from Syria Diane said we're going to take the Golan now I remember that some ministers from the religious parties were opposed to this was adamant he said we're not going to lose time I've delayed it this long because we wanted to finish with the Egyptians and jordanians we threw everything we had at the Golan Heights in 12 hours we dropped more bombs on the Golan than we had on all the Egyptian airfields Rockets bombs Napal everything we had the whole War had been sparked by a false Soviet report of a threat to Syria now that Israel was actually attacking Syria the Soviets were forced to react word came through the hotline was up and I didn't know what it was about because I I thought that the war was pretty well over nevertheless I went back immediately to the White House The Usual Suspects were there mcar and the rest and we had a a rather hairy message from the Russians the Soviets made very clear they would intervene militarily and very likely they would not only turn Israel back from its attack on Syria but they would join Syria in an effort to to deal a mortal blow to Israel it was a very very dangerous situation the Soviets did not seem to be bluffing strategic bomber command in the Ukraine had received orders to prepare four squadrons to fly to the Battle Zone it was all arranged in a great hurry we were given strict instructions not to suffer any casualties the loss of even one Soviet aircraft would betray our involvement but we saw this was unrealistic so we had to find another way the pilots were then ordered to leave behind all identification their planes were to be repainted in Egyptian colors our stars are only one color red but it turned out that now we needed four different colors I remember green and black and something else maybe red but we didn't have the right colors so that caused a lot of fuss in the White House Situation Room President Johnson and his staff worked out their response to the Soviet ultimatum the president sent a message over the hotline telling the Kremlin that he was using every means to get the Israelis to stop the war this was not strictly true although he could have phoned the Israeli Prime Minister directly he phoned the Israeli ambassador to the UN instead United States Ambassador guber asked me to come out into the lobby and to send to say to me you must immediately immediately announce that the fighting is over this was not within the Israeli ambassador's power so he asked his boss ABA iban to phone the Prime Minister but esol was with his generals on the Golan Heights suddenly ABA Eben calls and says tell esol to stop the war we're under terrible pressure here at the United Nations then esol calls me and he says Ah this Golan is absolutely fantastic the view is wonderful he waxes lyrical about it and I tell him listen Ian wants you to stop the war he can't take the pressure he said I can't hear you what do you mean you can't hear me I'm telling you in iban's exact words he says I can't hear you I can't hear you it's a bad line it's a bad line I'll come home and then we'll talk and then I understood they wanted time to conquer some more kilometers the Israelis pressed on into the Golan and encountered no Soviet forces because President Johnson had raised the stakes he asked mcnamer what distance from the Syrian Coast the fleet American Fleet was at the time and he said 100 miles it was steaming toward toward Brer on a training exercise we turned it around and the president said move to within 50 miles knowing that the fleet was shadowed by Soviet electronic ships and they would know him directly that was also part of the message so our secret Invasion by the back door never happened thank God for that the Israeli government waited until their forces had achieved their objective before giving the order to Halt a colleague of mine from foreign Ministry in Jim called me to give me the text of an agreed statement on ceasefire Israel accepts any proposal made by General bull for the implementation of the security Council ceasefire resolution and the arrangements for the supervision of the ceasefire I read this statement slowly translating it from Hebrew into English and that was the end of the war in six days the Armed Forces had quadrupled the territory Israel controlled from Syria they had taken the Golan Heights from Jordan the West Bank and the old city of Jerusalem from Egypt Gaza and the sin with so much land to trade Israel had its best chance ever for peace Israelis flocked to The Old City to them the victory was a deliverance from destruction the Israeli cabinet was determined to hold on to Jerusalem and for the time being the West Bank but in exchange for peace they were willing to give back the Golan Heights to Syria and the Sinai desert to Egypt the foreign minister told the Americans of Israel's offer when I presented these who were meeting headed by Dean Rusk and Goldberg and Cisco in general they were astonished by the fact that we were clearly not in a mood of annexation that was a we believed then um a rather remarkable initiative on the part uh of the Israelis because we were operating on the assumption eban had told us some days before we are not interested in territory that week President Johnson was hosting a summit for Soviet prime minister kosan eager to appear as peacemakers at the UN the two leaders had a peace resolution drafted in Cairo it was scrutinized by the foreign Ministry this was another turning point in the Arab Israel conflict we concluded that this proposal was the best we were likely to get we advised the foreign minister to accept it the minister looked at it differently when the resolution was proposed Israel was ready to accept it but Egypt's foreign minister was utterly against the resolution because it indirectly implied Israel's right to exist and he wouldn't have that at all Israel of course did not want any resolution that only said pull back your forces but didn't recognize Israel's existence so this was the problem but recognizing Israel was not on nasser's agenda following Egypt's defeat he had more iMed immediate problems at home ABD Abdul Nasser said we've lost there is no point in staying on I shall resign I have decided to resign totally and finally from all official positions I shall return to private life I shall perform my duties like any other citizen after his broadcast crowds surrounded the presidential Palace and begged Nasser to stay most of the demonstrations were genuine people really were upset but something else happened too the party boss told members to gather and listen to the speech after the speech they took to the streets Enchanted we want Nasser no leader but Nasser Nasser stayed on as president his old friend Marshall Amir became the scapegoat he refused to resign so Nasser had him arrested he died in custody it was said in Cairo he was suicided shortly after Nasser rejected the Soviet American peace plan Nasser could not bring himself to accept the peace plan he was a hero to the Arabs he couldn't be seen negotiating with the Israelis 3 months later Arab leaders met to formulate a unified policy towards Israel Nasser still the idol of the Arab world was subdued I found him different man I noticed from the outset that he felt a great sense of guilt the Arabs agreed to reject any compromise with Israel the decision by the Arab countries uh not to negotiate with Israel and not to make peace with Israel and uh not to recognize uh isra with no recognition no negotiation and no peace it was only a matter of time before War would break out again at the Suez Canal now the border between Egypt and Israel the Egyptians launched a war of attrition and the Israelis fought back with growing casualties political attitudes in both countries hardened there was renewed conflict in the Jordan Valley as well Israeli soldiers were in constant pursuit of Palestinians who crossed into the West Bank to attack Israeli targets there was no talk of Peace inside Jordan the Palestinians were busy building up their forces their Charter called for the replacement of Israel by a Palestinian State and the expulsion of all Jews who arrived after 1948 in 1967 a small band of Palestinian guerillas set up a camp in Karam in the Jordan River Valley from the bank of the Jordan they could see the Israeli soldiers patrolling the West Bank we waited until the Israeli Patrol vehicle had passed by then we started to cross the river the first to cross was Abu Amar Abu Amar or yaser Arafat was an engineer who became one of the founders of a resistance group called fat this was their first crossing of the River Jordan launching their campaign to EST Lish a Palestinian State we know that is not easy but we are ready to pay the price on me the water of the River Jordan came up to here on taller people of course it wouldn't come so far up now Arafat is short and the water came up to his shoulder he had his clothes on top of his head and he waited slowly slowly if he slipped he would fall and everything would get wet especially his gun beyond the river in the occupied West Bank the fat guillas set about recruiting and training small resistance groups to strike at Israel the best targets were the ones we could take by surprise for example moving Vehicles you open fire a group of three or four of you then if you throw one or two grenades that settles it you're safe and they're dead the gorillas had the support of Jordan's regular army at first I encouraged them when they went on operations we would provide covering fire as they crossed the river if the Israelis hit back the kingdom of Jordan would take the blow so I asked his majesty to meet them I had never seen a photograph of ofat up to that point or had a description of him so I was looking at a sort of a big barly uh figure that I thought must be arat and uh when he finally came to say goodbye I suddenly realized that it wasn't the image I had formed of of uh of arat the actions launched from karame worried the king but he was unable to stop them kame had become a huge military base in Jordan the terrorists there were sending units into Israel the straw that broke the camel's back was an attack on an Israeli bus taking pupils on a school trip south of the Dead Sea it hit a Palestinian mine children were killed and injured in response the Israeli Army was ordered to destroy the Palestinian bases in R and south of the Dead Sea we were not very careful after the 1967 war we didn't take the enemy seriously we didn't bother to hide any of our troop movements they came blatantly with their tanks and artillery and troops messed up so we realized that something was about to happen I think they were overconfident early in the morning at about 5:00 we were told that the first Israeli elements had crossed uh one of the bridges the Israelis attacked facing them were 300 Palestinian Fighters with orders from Arafat to hold their ground by midday half of them were dead and most of the rest were rounded up Arafat had slipped out of there at 2:00 in the morning but the battle wasn't over yet Jordanian army tanks arrived in force I jumped when I was told the Israeli tanks were coming I jumped out of bed shoot I said I was jumping with excitement I wanted to face the Jews excit I wanted to teach them a lesson yes by God I did the Jordanian involvement in the battle was very massive we destroyed many of their tanks 29 Israelis died in the Battle the Palestinians declared Victory we faced this huge up to- dat military Israeli forces in the beginning we were alone after five hours some small battalions from the Jordanian government attended us and fought with us without any Central uh instructions from their headquarters but uh at the end it was the first victory for the Arab Nation after this big defeat of 1967 they claimed it to be a victory for uh for them uh we wouldn't have disputed that except for the fact that it wasn't true but it was a public relations Triumph Arafat was chosen to command all the factions in the Palestine Liberation Organization inspired by the stories of a great victory at karame volunteers from many countries came to swell the ranks but unfortunately the majority were the worst type of people they were untrained and undisciplined the PLO grew larger and our problems grew with it was total Anarchy we had uh uh 52 uh various gorilla organizations uh of all various types and and there weren't just uh Palestinian gorilla organizations every International gorilla organization had a presence in the country we were naive people people we were very uh enthusiastic very revolutionary and at the same time uh we were and I can assure you we were very innocent we felt that uh King Hussein as a reactionary uh leader leading a reactionary regime is an obstacle and that in order to make our Revolution succeed we need to remove this uh obstacle one day shooting broke out in the capital Aman and the King drove off to investigate and on a crossroad where there was a military police checkpost we found that one side of the road was closed and the other side also was blocked by an army we stopped as we came to a stop suddenly we were under very very intense heavy machine G fire the G car in front of me uh was hit we lost a sergeant of my guard and about four wounded everyone jumped out of my car and yelled at me to uh do the same we could see the the bullet from those heavy machine guns coming down at us uh hitting the the asphal the tarm mark around us uh it was like uh raindrops on a PCH land just uh making holes and and those rows of holes were getting closer and closer to where we were standing I felt very angry and uh I believe my reaction was to say a a bad word but essentially to the effect of how did the king jumped into a ditch spontaneously and the spare of the moment uh I had an idea to protect his majesty physically and and uh the the commander of the Gods had the same idea at the same uh time they convered from both sides to try to give me Body cover and they nearly broke my back in the process the driver turned the car around we got into the car shooting going on engine was Ring like mad but we were still stationary so I told the driver just to hang on a second and engageed the gear which uh in his anxiety had forgotten to do and be shot off the faction most determined to overthrow the government of Jordan was led by George habash all we wanted to do was to to fight against Israel but the Jordanian regime saw us as a danger or a threat this was their problem not ours Dr habash was the leader of a political party and they decided to remove King Hussein but from our point of view we don't like to fight against the government because but if they are insisting to clash we will uh fight on September 9th 1970 this British airliner with 115 passengers and some of Dr habash armed men aboard appeared over Aman I heard about it when an aircraft passed over head my house West of of the city and the suburbs practically knocking the roof off in a single spectacular operation haas's men hijacked four Western airliners and forced three of them to fly to Jordan with their hundreds of passengers the planes landed on an Old World War II airst strip in the in the desert we waited for 20 full years nothing happened our people remained in their camps in their tents they are fed up with this condition we thought that the way to attract the world's attention to our cause was to hijack planes the Jordanian Army surrounded the air strip and the general in charge went in to negotiate with the hijackers we spoke for hours it was terribly hot I stayed in the shade of the aircraft I made a deal with them we take the passengers they keep the planes 435 passengers and crew were taken off the aircraft but some were kept as hostages the humiliation of having aircraft flown into uh the country and innocent passengers being whisked away and being unable to do anything about it was something that uh questioned whether Jordan really existed or whether it didn't the hijackers then drove home their message to the world well that was uh the limit uh as far as I was concerned something had to be done and done soon 4 days later with control of the Kingdom slipping away King Hussein declared war on the PLO that day Jordanian tanks and soldiers moved into position around the capital Arab was poised to fight Arab I think I tried to get the a little bit of sleep that night I prayed a lot and uh in the morning first SL there was movement into the city on in the early hours of uh September 17 I woke up when we heard the artillery uh bombing our bases so what we did immediately is that we went to arat office the joint command arat was there uh most of the leaders of fat were there even habash was there and they were calling through telephone and through Wireless uh Damascus telling them about the news and asking in an open way for a Syrian uh intervention on the third day of fierce fighting the syrians responded our intelligence and our radar informed us that the syrians were messing uh tank formations on the Jordanian Syrian border we had been arguing over this Syrian Invasion uh particularly with our Soviet friends at the time and whenever I raise the problem with the Soviet Ambassador he would respond but these are Palestinian uh Army uh units and Palestinian army tanks are not Syrian and we all knew that the pl does not have tanks but there were tanks Soviet built ones streaming in from Syria we were just protecting the Palestinians from the army of Jordan our purpose wasn't really to attack the jordanians it was a limited intervention on the smallest possible scale all we wanted to do was support and protect the Palestinian fighters in Washington President Nixon called in his National Security advisers to assess the reports from Jordan the Soviets were on every uh platoon leader tank right up to the border and then jumped off as they crossed the border and Syrian officers were in command of what were allegedly PLO volunteer forces so we knew it was an international superpower crisis the president summoned the Soviet Ambassador we warned the Russians and said stay out of there they of course in turn warned us and said you stay out and and keep Israel out in the meantime King Hussein's forces had destroyed many of the tanks but they could not stop the advance the pressure on the King was increasing by the hour when the the Syrian tanks had reached the town of irbid which is about 2/3 of the way from the Syrian border down to Aman they're about at that town on the edge of it uh that's when he was really starting to panic with all the threats from almost every direction and the situation to all intents or purposes is uh looking almost impossible to cope with uh Army Headquarters began to tell me that we needed help from outside and we should ask for it from uh the Americans and any quarter that would be willing to uh uh to to to help in these circumstances any quarter could mean only one thing Israel we knew that he had said he would accept help from any qu and we thought he'd probably prefer direct American intervention he was keenly aware that if he was uh uh resurrected and protected as a result of Israeli military intervention that this would have a strongly negative impact not only within Jordan itself but obviously within the entire world this was something that was discussed between Cisco myself uh EG and one or two of my staff people the advisers knew that President Nixon would have to be informed about the situation right away I first had to find him and the Secret Service told me he was in the basement of the executive office building across the street from the white house uh bowling and that's where I found him I remember Henry coming back into the offices he said holy mckel the guy's bowling with his black uh dress shoes on he was there bowling alone and Richard started talking he wanted to uh have an American intervention and of course we didn't just have an empty Cannon there that's why we mov some fleet units over into that part uh of the Mediterranean and that is why we alerted a couple of marine battalions as well uh I thought it would have been very difficult to manage we didn't have a commander we didn't have deied combination of forces we didn't know how to end it Mr President we said uh we think the Israelis are in the best position to do this um they're close to the scene uh the resources can be employed uh rapidly once he understood that he uh agreed to back the Israelis who was quite aware of and approved of what we were doing in this thing and if he didn't approve he didn't let us know it was America's Ambassador in Jordan who broke the news to King Hussein and what I was told to say to him is we'll get the Israelis to come in and help you and I think this is a very serious moment for the king we asked the Rabin uh what the views of the Israeli government uh would be uh in these circumstances and uh Rabin uh said he would uh uh he would uh report home and ask I got the authorization to send Phantoms to fly over these tanks I briefed the leader of the formation myself I told him fly over them leave no doubt that they see you and hear you make mock attacks so that they understand what we want them to do which is to turn around and go back so our four aircraft perform Maneuvers over these tanks on the side I had another two quartets waiting just in case but no one bothered them the tanks turned around and went back a quartet of phantoms was enough defense minister Assad did not want to commit our Air Force we were fighting an ally the Jordanian Army is our friend we can't attack them using planes whether it was because of Arab solidarity or the threat of Nixon's sixth Fleet and Israel's war planes Syria finally withdrew its tanks the Jordanian Army could now give all its attention to kicking out the Palestinians yaser Arafat hiding somewhere in the capital sent out an SOS I remember that he made the broadcasting uh through the uh station we had asking the Arab world and the Islamic world to interview the Arab world heard him its leaders gathered in Cairo for an emergency meeting chaired by President Nasser Nasser decided that the leaders should send a delegation to Jordan to ask King Hussein to stop killing Palestinians at the head of this delegation was the president of Sudan we went to King Hussein of course he offered us every kind of delicious dish they kept teting us that uh you have to stop things immediately you can't stop I mean we're in the middle of life and death struggle then we stayed for dinner going through all the arguments I believe that that experience was one of my worst during that particular uh period of time because one is concerned one is worried one is trying to deal with the uh problems changing every minute and suddenly to have to entertain a group uh that uh is totally out of touch with with reality or with the needs of the moment and we kept on talking and going through all the reasons until Daybreak the Arab leaders having failed to convince the king got into an armored car and tuned in the radio we started to hear Arafat talking and Arafat calling for help the leaders went to arafat's Hideout and provided him with a new identity a family man complete with wife and child we passed off the child as Arafat so that the guards at the airport would not stop us and we made Arafat change into Arabian dress thus disguised amid the delegation of Arab leaders Arafat made it past King Hussein's soldiers guarding the airport and then suddenly I uh heard with with utter shock and disbelief that they arrived in Cairo they had Arafat with them Arafat had had a close shave in more ways than one back in Cairo president num Mary reported on the conflict it was unfair to Jordan and to King Hussein King Hussein decided that he too had better join the meeting in Cairo I of course came in still in in my my fatigues and with with my uh gun in position and he spoke in the conference and responded to to the allegations he said he was not against the Palestinians at all president Nasser imposed a deal which met most of King Hussein's demands Arafat gave in he agreed all his Fighters would leave the capital the PLO tried to regroup in the north of Jordan and it took King Hussein another year to drive them out of the country all together together the pl's attempt to take over Jordan had failed but we did a very important thing we create a new people instead of being refugees to bre to be Fighters This is very important we were refugees homeless we became now Fighters Freedom Fighters and next stage we we will see Arafat and his battered Fighters moved to Lebanon where they regrouped soon Arafat would be strong enough to become a Power broker in Lebanon and continue his attacks on Israelis the Olympic Games stand still the flags in the stadium half mast the citizens of Munich the thousands of competitors and officials Palestinian gorillas crowned a year of terrorist attacks by storming the Olympic Village this hastily conceived Memorial ceremony 11 Israeli athletes were killed as the world watched Israel retaliated with a pinpoint operation an Israeli Commando Force landed on a beach near barut their targets were PLO leaders particularly those responsible for Munich Arafat who was working late at the pl's busy headquarters escaped but the gorillas who planned and carried out the Munich operation were killed at the funerals the Palestinians and their Muslim allies erupted in Fury to everyone's astonishment this man turned up at the funeral Pierre Jamal Christian marinite leader suspected by some Palestinians of collaborating with Israel Jama led a Christian militia the fange he warned Arafat to stay out of his conflict with the Lebanese Muslims Pier J thought hard before attending the funeral the security people of the fange warned him not to go they said Pierre J would be in danger in April 1975 civil war broke out in Lebanon and Arafat became a force to be reckoned with he asked for a meeting with Jam at the Christian Clan leaders headquarters as Arafat drove through Beirut it was clear that the Christians considered him an enemy we drove past slogans on the walls saying no to the PLO laughed and said to me we must do something about this or Lebanon will explode the Civil War escalated Arafat aligned himself with the Muslims while Christians sought the help of Israel the Christian leader then gave the PLO an ultimatum we are asking the Palestinians to stay quiet if they want to remain in Lebanon to stay quiet in Lebanon I don't think that we are going to accept in the future that any War can be waged from uh Lebanon uh from the Lebanon borders because this uh and the past experience has proved it this will prove disastrous for land arat ignored the warning 1974 had seen a succession of Palestinian raids across the border into Israel in one attack 18 Israelis including eight children died a month later Palestinian Raiders took over a school and killed 22 children Israel's main anti-terrorist efforts shifted along with the PLO attacks now the Jordanian border was quiet and there was fighting on the Lebanese border I was appointed Comm commander of a brigade on the Lebanese border all our efforts were aimed at preventing terrorist infiltration hardly a week passed without two or three attempts to cross the border Israel surrounded by hostile Muslim states badly needed allies when lebanon's Christians were challenged by the Palestinians and Lebanese Muslims they asked for Israel's help defense minister Shimon Perez sent an Arabic speaking officer on a secret mission to Beirut in my heart I decided that such a man must volunteer his life would certainly be at risk and when I told him I was willing he smiled he said it's very dangerous I said I know I saw fuad's Mission as a trip to a mine field a place where there are many traitors the Israeli officers set off aboard a missile boat sailing in darkness towards Civil War torn Beirut all beut was lit by cannon fire a city like hell unbelievable one big configration the intelligence officer knew that the Christians were fairing badly against the Palestinians his Christian hosts sped him towards the Battlefront suddenly I saw thousands of people lining the road and clapping I said to my host what's this he said let's take a look then I see two trucks coming up one truck has men shooting in the air the other has ropes tied to it at the end of each of these ropes is the body of a PLO terrorist and this truck is dragging them along the ground and the men on the back of the truck are just shooting and shooting at them although they had long been dead I was simply shocked Lebanese Muslims and Christians and Palestinians fought and murdered each other with ferocity some 40,000 would die on both sides a British journalist reported at its most hideous this Civil War has been simple Muslims have murdered Christians Christians have murdered Muslims not in battle but In Cold Blood these men were Innocents kidnapped in the street taken to a secret place tortured shot and then dumped in the street again for their families to find the Israeli intelligence officer confirmed deep antio feeling among the Christians they desperately needed help they asked us for weapons everything rifles kalishnikov ues they asked for cannons we gave them mortars and tanks we gave them in 1981 Ariel Chiron became Israel's defense minister soon after the Christian leaders came to a Beirut Beach to await a visitor as I landed Bashir J came towards me he hugged me shook my hand he had his officers with him bashier the son of Christian leader Pierre Jamal now controlled the weapons supplied by Israel he had ruthlessly eliminated his Rivals and United all the Christian forces under his command Chiron at a meeting with the Christian leaders revealed a plan to root out the Palestinians he told the Christian leaders we have taken a decision in Israel to invade Lebanon Chiron told the Christians they would have to help Israel's troops could not March into an Arab Capital expelling the Palestinians from the city would be the task of the Christians I said remember if an invasion happens it's a mission you will have to carry out you and only you can do this but the Israelis could advance to the outskirts of Beirut and encircle the city 6 months later the Palestinians provided Israel with a pretext for invasion in London the Israeli Ambassador was shot by a Palestinian as police gathered evidence prime minister Bean summoned his cabinet he turned to me and ask me to brief my colleagues Ariel Chiron said nothing about his plan to encircle Beirut he spoke only of pushing the Palestinians back from Israel's northern border then Mr erck God Rest his soul asked what about Beirut I said Beirut isn't in the picture the plan is to create a 40 to 45 km area in which there will be no terrorists Israeli forces crossed the border and moved rapidly into Lebanon but prime minister ban reassured the Israeli Parliament and if we achieve the 40 km line above our northern border the job is done all fighting will stop but within hours Chiron found an excuse for pushing farther we got information that units of the first Syrian division were moving south towards the Baka Valley in leanon shiron persuaded Bean that Israel's troops should now Advance deeper into Lebanon to outflank this Syrian force it would mean going Beyond 45 km whoever said we would give terrorists immunity beyond the 45 kilomet line the government never gave immunity to any terrorist anywhere we will not give immunity to any terrorist anywhere within 3 days of telling the cabinet that beut was not in the picture Ariel Chiron had moved Israel's troops to the outskirts of the Lebanese capital for 9 weeks they laid Siege to Beirut exchanging fire with the Palestinians we are here and we will continue to be here and we will defend this city the first the first it is very important it is the first Arab Capital which the Israeli are blockading it is very important you have to put in consideration what is mean for the Next Generation what have been done you will pay its price the harder Arafat fought back the more people in Lebanon suffered their Capital was being destroyed even Lebanese Muslims demanded that Arafat and his Fighters leave Beirut I was the one who had to raise the question with Arafat he was shocked no one had spoken to him like that before I said well we are informing you now the Israelis drove the message home by staying close on the heels of the Palestinian leaders the Israeli Army seemed to know what we were going to do before we did if we spoke about fighting on we were attacked by the Israelis 1 hour later there was a meeting in one of head of our headquarters and I uh I tell them please get out get out leave it just now he said we are you are inviting us for a meeting said please leave this place directly I don't know why believe me I don't know why after 15 minutes from our departure they bumped in a Cellar under the rubble the PLO leaders faced a stark Choice Arafat was convinced that we had to evacuate Beirut but he was careful to avoid being the one who ordered Palestinian forces to leave Lebanon he wanted a collective decision by all the faction leaders the price of further Defiance was clear so we took a hard decision I can say today that everybody accepted it all of the leaders of the Palestinian Revolution said yes in the last days of August 1982 thousands of Palestinian Fighters were forced to evacuate Beirut nearly 15,000 men expelled from Beirut this was unprecedented an entire terrorist organization expelled from a capital then in a massive explosion at his party headquarters Bashir jamile lebanon's president-elect and Israel's Ally was assassinated the Israeli defense minister became convinced that Palestinian Fighters were still operating in Beirut they left behind at least 2,000 armed men it was clear that once the city was United it would be necessary to take action against them Christian militia men sought Vengeance for the death of Jama while Israeli troops stood by providing light from flares the falangists entered the Palestinian camps of Sabra and chatila there were no PLO Fighters there they found only old men women and children and slaughtered them you should be ashamed of yourself I am not here to explain this horrible tragedy it belongs to a world of dark motives not our world only those who carried it out can be blamed for this massacre I hope they will be punished you you are an enemy of the people you are worse than evil in the largest demonstration in Israel's history 400,000 people protested Israel's role in the massacre it is true that we lost our base in Beirut but they lost the war once again through a combined effort of Arabs and Israelis the PLO had been driven out of an Arab country yaser Arafat the great escaper was on his way to yet another base this time in Tunis 2,000 mil away this program is a production of WGBH which is solely responsible for its content funding for the 50 Years War Israel and the Arabs was provided by The Corporation for Public Broadcasting and people PBS viewers like you this is history's best on PBS presenting history's best on PBS funding for the 50 Years War Israel and the Arabs was provided by The Corporation for Public Broadcasting and PBS viewers like you victory in the war has not brought the hope for solution to all the problems in this part of the Middle East Egypt for example declares that she will not reopen the seers canal until Israel gives up Arab territory she has conquered which the Israelis are not prepared to do Israel's new prime minister Mrs gold Meer visited troops in the ey desert not far from the sewers Canal where the shells continue to fly he wanted a chance to inspect and talk to the men who are living face to face with the realities of the Middle East situation the death of President Gamal Abdul Nasser after 18 years in power devastated Egypt and the entire Arab world his successor vice president anoir Sadat was considered little more than a figurehead those in naser's Inner Circle thought they could steer policy on the course set by Nasser and they were confident that Sadat would follow the party line the funeral was a Grand Occasion for the leaders of the Arab states and and nasser's Soviet allies Nasser had severed relations with America so the representative from Washington assumed he would be ignored then a soldier came into the room weaving his way through the crowd apparently it turned out heading for me the soldier LED Richardson away out of the sight of the world's press and the watchful eye of the KGB yeah I was trained to spot anything that was going on but it was difficult in that chaos we went down the stairs the lower floor was darkened and propped up in the hospital bed was the man who had just inherited the presidency of Egypt president saddat was resting away from the crowds after apparently suffering from heat stroke he said that he wanted to take advantage of the opportunity to turn a new page in the relationship between our countries the next day Sadat put on a show for the American Media Egypt was a Soviet client State Sadat considered Israel to be an American one the United States provide Israel from the loow of bread to the Phantom to the uh to the even deficit in the budget itself so it is the vein of Life vein of life for Israel goes from the United States Sadat didn't want to negotiate with Israel himself he wanted the Americans to intervene to deliver to Egypt the territories lost in 1967 in the 3 years since the war Israel had established a formidable defense line along the Suez Canal 70 mi from Cairo what are you doing I'm getting ready to blast you Israelis why because you Israelis occupy our land the Suez Canal had been closed since 1967 Sadat now told the Americans that if Israel moved back a few miles from the canal he would reopen it even to ships trading with Israel Sadat's proposed followed statements made by mosha Diane Israel's defense minister Diane said that the Sinai should eventually be returned to Egypt what we say is that we sit there just because the war is going on but once you agree to make peace agreement we don't think that we should sit on your Su Canal gayer didn't want to negotiate through the Americans she wanted direct talks with Sadat I'm prepared to go to Cairo I'm prepared to go to Damascus I'm prepared to go to Aman and prepare to go to bayut anywhere you would go to these places yes happily to negotiate peace of course in Washington President Nixon looked for the right person to urge Sadat's proposal on gold to my ear he chose Joe Cisco I can recall the words to this day he said Joe press Golda press her hard but don't cause uh a major donnibrook uh between Israel and the United States Cisco met with the entire Israeli cabinet but only golden Mayer negotiated gold Mayer took it upon herself to do all of the talking it was interesting to see everyone here all the ministers nobody opening their mouth what they did to release their attention was sending little notes to each other I sent Diana chit saying listen M I think we can get you some suppor he said back a very abrupt reply saying sarcastically thank you very much but if Goda is not for this then I'm not for it either sis saw that something was happening that nobody was supposed to speak there and so he was very smart negotiator he asked the Prime Minister whether he's permitted to ask the Minister of Defense one question a professional question so what could she say I said to him uh uh Mr Minister if we don't do anything what do you think is going to happen they said well I cannot imagine that any government will tolerate indefinitely a situation where a strong Army is poised at the gates of his Capital he was exaggerating after all our forces we at a distance of more than 100 kilometers from K and this will lead to war goldem Mayer still insisted on Direct talks the next day I walked up with these flowers rather Ginger and she said to me oh Joe now you're saying it with flowers it won't do you any good in Cairo Israel's rebuff almost brought about the downfall of the man who had proposed the initiative on warar Sadat so he reversed course and tried a tactic more likely to win Arab support war is now inevitable whatever the price whatever the sacrifice we will not back down we will not give up one centimeter of Arab land I thought of sadad as a character out of AA I didn't take him seriously he kept making grandiloquent pronouncements they never acted on them so I frankly thought he was bluffing Kissinger was too preoccupied with the Vietnam War to give the Middle East much attention even when Sadat made another offer he wanted Israel to return to the 67 borders in return for which Egypt would be willing to make peace which was a big step because not no Arab state had as yet ever flatly said that they would make peace we were in no position to handle that Sadat told me that Kissinger had said if all you have is a problem I cannot deal with it but if it becomes a crisis then I can intervene disappointed with American diplomacy yet still unwilling to talk to to Israel directly Sadat set out to prepare for war the high command met at Sadat's house in Giza Sadat told us there is no hope of a peaceful solution and I will not surrender to Israel so our only option is war he said get me back just 10 cm of the Sinai and I will negotiate a miracle Sadat then proposed a secret alliance with President Assad of Syria they agreed to plan a joint attack on Israel Syria's top generals sailed to Alexandria to meet their Egyptian counterparts I went on a Russian ship dressed in civilian clothes I had a fake Egyptian passport and was using an alias Jamal Hassan Jamal Hassan once they arrived they kept up the subterfuge in the evenings we went to a nightclub the mumtaza we were drinking and having fun we wanted people to think we were just enjoying ourselves and that we did not have a care in the world at the hotel the generals discussed the plans for their joint attack and decided on a special date then the 6th of October was yam kipur the day of atonement for the Jews it is a holy day a day of rest the syrians hoped at least to recapture the Golan Heights taken from them in 1967 to keep Israel's troops tied down they needed Egyptian forces to advance across the Sinai but the Egyptians had their own plan they intended to limit their advance to territory protected by their anti-aircraft missiles in Egypt our missiles could protect us for up to 12 km that would compensate for the inferiority of our Air Force Egypt's Chief of Staff urged Sadat to stick to their own plan he said okay we'll draw up a plan to show to the syrians this second plan had us advancing to the Sinai passes but it was done just for the syrians so it was agreed that the Egyptians would advance to the passes they would pause to reorganize and then go forward again meanwhile we would occupy the Golan Heights whatever plans the Egyptians adopted first they would have to cross the Suez Canal and do it under the Gaze of Israeli troops the enemy are just 200 100 m away I can see them they can see me how can I catch them by surprise I must hide my intentions we carried out many military exercises the aim was to deceive Israeli intelligence we wanted them to think we were expecting an attack from Israel now the presidents of Egypt and Syria also set out to deceive their fellow Arab Jordan's King Hussein they claimed Israel was about to attack them said and Assad were worried about an attack on Syria that could have one of its hooks come through Northern Jordan and the final analysis I assured them that uh as far as we are concerned uh no one is going to use our country to attack anyone King Hussein smelled a rat the last time Egypt and Syria had maneuvered him into a war with Israel he had ended up losing a large slice of his kingdom so he flew off alone telling no one he was going to meet golden mayir I was very concerned and worried that a state of no peace and no war was going to end us up in in in serious difficulty King Hussein talked about only one thing he warned us to expect an attack from Syria and Egypt the Prime Minister received the King Alone but the head of Israeli military intelligence was listening as Hussein warned of the Syrian Egyptian preparations for war she was not convinced this information was reliable you see King Hussein himself was not 100% sure instead of mobilizing the Israeli reserves golden mayir kept in place the usual 450 troops along the canal the attack was due on on Saturday October 6th on the Friday I went down and looked across the canal on the other side nothing was moving I went back and told Sadat they can find out now I don't care it was not till Dawn the next day as most Jews were preparing to go to synagogue for Yam Kapur that Israeli intelligence finally became conin vinced that Egypt and Syria would attack within hours the Israelis heard the Call to Arms on the radio and from rabbis in their synagogues at 2:00 p.m. as civilians were reporting for Duty Egypt opened fire our troops crossed the canal they were shouting God is great God is great and they planted the Egyptian flag on the Sinai itself about 6:00 I told my people my forces felicitations the Israelis has lost their balance Sadat's armies drove the Israelis from the Suez Canal Israel's Air Force tried to retaliate but failed to break through Egypt's missile cover the Egyptians Advanced 8 miles into the Sinai and then stopped as planned in the north Syria's attack also caught Israel off balance 600 Syrian tanks rolled over Israel's defenses and across the Golan Heights we weren't ready today we came from uh the home in the middle of H yumo so who was here uh that was regular soldiers yes only the regular so they must have had a hard time oh yeah very hard did you have many casualties well we things we don't he not allowed to talk about them the syrians were expected to press their advantage we must keep on fighting with all our courage faith and trust as a nation that knows we're fighting for our lives and we are fighting for our lives Israel defeat appeared imminent but on the fourth day the syrians ran into a large Israeli Force Israel had been able to divert troops to the Syrian front because the Egyptian Army had halted Syria's president Assad demanded to know why the Egyptians were not advancing through the Sinai as agreed the president kept phoning sadad and insisting this is is not what we agreed Sadat never gave him a straight answer Syria appealed over Sadat's head to the Soviet Union still Egypt's Patron the Soviet prime minister came to Cairo to sort things out Premier Minister prime minister kasan kept asking Sadat why his forces had stopped without taking the Sinai he was infuriated by Sadat's answers president Sadat yielded to Soviet pressure and gave the order to advance much to the dismay of his chief of staff it was doomed to failure from the start Israel's Air Force was much stronger than ours now the War Began to swing Israel's way in 3 hours 250 Egyptian tanks were destroyed but Egypt still had two armies in the Sinai the Israelis planned a daring coup they set out to cut through the Gap in the Egyptian lines create a bridge head over the canal and sweep around to isolate the Egyptian third Army the architect of the plan was General Ariel cheron we slipped through the Egyptian lines without major problems but when we reached the canal sh there was a ferocious battle eventually at 1: in the morning the paratroopers crossed to the other side in dingies the next day Israeli forces raced across the canal to secure their Bridge head I was at the canal I could see the tanks Crossing and the trees on the other side it was a great feeling Israel's troops were now only hours from Cairo president Sadat begged the Soviets to arrange a ceasefire the Israelis gross the canal and about 24 hours later we got a message from uh brv inviting me to come to Moscow we thought Kissinger's visit to Moscow would be useful he could help us stop the conflict we thought it would give the Israelis more time if I went to Moscow because nothing could happen until I got there while I was in the air Nixon sent a message directly to prnv saying that I was fully authorized to conclude but I frankly wanted to sto the Soviets were in such a hurry to end the fighting the general secretary breev led the talks with Kissinger himself he insisted that the advance be stopped in return Kissinger wanted the Arabs to recognize Israel's right to exist what we said was that there should be direct negotiations at some point between the Arabs and Israel I told brev uh I would carefully communicate everything he said to Washington but that there had to be some time interval so that I could get the president's views and he said no here's a message and he gave me uh power of attorney that in effect power of attorney that the president had given me which did not thrill me the Secretary of State realized he could stall no longer while still in Moscow he agreed to terms for a ceasefire but it was another 5 days before the war ended during that time the Israelis encircled the Egyptian third Army a day later the opposing generals met in the desert to work out how to disentangle their forces it was the first formal meeting of Egyptian and Israeli officers in 25 years he offered me coffee I said no thank you he asked can I get you anything else I said no he said it's cold can I get you a coat I said no thank you that was the end of the first meeting it was a week before the Egyptian General began to relax we went out and sat on the sand we put a map down in front of us and we put stones on it we started to talk about how to disengage our forces I said look we have to end the friction between our forces the answer is you go back to the west side of the canal and we will pull back to the east side I went and told Sadat we had reached an agreement he was pleased with what we had achieved each side's dead were returned and Israel allowed supplies through to the trapped Egyptians but Sadat wanted more than a ceasefire and a disengagement he wanted the Sinai back but once again he would talk only to the Americans he came out in military uniforms and said I need a Cas plan I agreed to do a shuttle and settle it fast and he said he would make major concessions to make it possible Kissinger decided the way forward was to bring all the parties to a peace conference in Geneva I never thought you would kiss a woman kissing after is kissing was kissing her now the Egyptians and Israelis agreed to attend the conference and then there was President Assad of Syria I had heard he was impossible but he greeted me with extraordinary politeness and courtesy and I said you know it's amazing they all accuse you of being so difficult whenever Kissinger wanted to change the date or venue president Assad agreed Kissinger told him you are so accommodated in I got overconfident and I said is there anything I should have asked you that I didn't he said yes you didn't ask me whether I'm going to the conference I said are you he said no Assad did not want to negotiate with Israel but Kissinger was able to get the Rival armies to disengage Sadat then attempted to strengthen his hand by embracing Syrian and Palestinian objectives Israel must move on all the front the Egyptian front the Syrian front the Jordanian front the Palestinian front at a time when Arafat wanted to replace Israel with a Palestinian state Sadat pledged Unity you see we are cooperating together and as we have mentioned we there are uh three Partners Egyptians syrians and the Palestinians two Restless years passed then Israeli elections brought brought forth a leader determined to hold on to the West Bank and Gaza what occupi territories if you mean Judea Samaria and the Gaza Strip they are liberated territories they are part and integral part of the land of Israel the new prime minister made the building of settlements his first priority settlements like the new town of yamit where 5,000 Jews lived in the Sin Bean was highly suspicious of Sadat Sadat is an implacable enemy of Israel this is also the truth he's no fool but he's an enemy Sadat's response would write his name indelibly into the history books he announced he would make a keynote speech to the the Egyptian Parliament he invited the leader of the PLO to attend Arafat was happy to be in the Parliament and he was happy that Sadat is paying attention to the Palestinian problem Sadat put his text aside but he carried on speaking I told the foreign minister he is about to throw a political grenade after seven years of trying everything else but talking to Israel Sadat broke the ultimate Arab taboo I am willing to go anywhere Israel will be surprised to hear that I am ready to go to them even to theet itself and negotiate with them the idea that saddat would negotiate directly with Israel was so Unthinkable the audience applauded without realizing what he had said everyone was applauding Sadat even yaser Arafat was Clapp I know because he was sitting next to me in t Aviv no one was sure if Sadat really meant it Sadat then said If Bean invited him he would come next week the next day prime minister Bean was hosting a lunch at the Hilton Hotel the head of CBS in Israel wanted Bean's reaction ban was eating at the head table I went up and gave him the message he said sure I'll invite Sadat from here ladies and gentlemen I hereby invite president sad on behalf of the government of Israel to come to Jerusalem and to start negotiations to establish permanent peace between Israel and Egypt before accepting the invitation saddat flew to Syria to persuade president Assad that the trip to Jerusalem would not be a betrayal of the Arab cause we asked the president to arrest sadad to stop him going anywhere but Assad considered Sadat his guest and preferred to him out president Assad was trying to make Sadat change his mind he told me it will be proved that you are wrong I said very well Assad this is a sacred mission for me and if this is going to be the last mission as a president I shall be very happy to fulfill it president Assad was not impressed they talked for 7 hours Assad's ministers urged him to act the presidential guard was standing by President Assad refused he said it is against the Arab tradition for a man to arrest his guest president Sadat returned safely to Egypt 3 days later he set off for Jerusalem I feared for his safety we had been enemies for 40 years he was putting himself at their Mercy he would be sleeping there that night I was very anxious Sadat's plane was late heard a senior security officer talking he was saying hold on maybe instead of Sadat there is a Suicide Squad on the plane and they will jump out and kill the assembled Israel leaders when we arrived in Tel Aviv it was like I was coming to outer space it means it was something completely new I find myself in a car sitting near midan and we have to find how to begin a conversation and I have read in the book that he was interested in archaeology so I mentioned that I was interested in archaeology and we begin to talk archaeology the Israeli people greeted Sadat's arrival from Egypt as though he were Moses come again I come to you today with a firm desire to make peace zadat offered peace but he was careful not to abandon the other Arab states or the Palestinians there are Arab Lands still under Israeli occupation we insist on complete withdrawal from these territories including Arab Jerusalem it was quite a speech quite disturbing I passed a note to Bean saying we must be on our guard ezar Whitman the defense minister who was a great advocate for peace said when he heard the speech that maybe we should mobilize the reserves the visitors went from the knesset to a dinner in their honor it was a kind of dinner where there was not much stoke the atmosphere was cool s Mr President Sadat and Mr ban were not speaking to each other they were sitting with their backs to each other I decided to invite AER whitzman and another Minister up to my Suite after dinner Mustafa told me we have to do something other wise the whole trip will be without any followup what about having a meeting together I say no objection so now I found myself sitting with our Worst Enemy at the King David Hotel drinking Black Label I want to enter directly in in in the process and mentioning what are the problems of Cairo today and the problems of Egypt and this is why we need peace I said let me show you something I took him to the window I said take a good look do you really think you can divide this city I say the solution is this direct talk with the leadership of Israel and through this direct talk direct contact everything will be solved it wasn't that simple after the trip to Jerusalem the two sides continued to talk for S months but Bean would not give an inch Sadat confided in the new president of the United States Sadat felt that the uh peace process instead of having been moved forward had actually been almost terminated by a fruitless gesture to go to Jerusalem so he was quite discouraged I asked President Carter the Senate the Congress uh to take their share as as full Partners in uh the uh uh in the dispute that's between us and and Israel uh I'm waiting for this moment I found myself isolated from all my advisers all of them thought that it was a bad idea President Carter then set out to resolve 30 years of conflict in a week of talks at the presidential retreat at Camp David we arrive by helicopters and we find this kind of small bungalows in the forest people quite relaxed people were using bicycles and it was quite strange for us some of the Americans even brought their children the the National Security adviser challenged Israel's prime minister to a game of chess and got a preview of his negotiating technique I was about to make my first move when he dramatically seized my hand in midair and looked me straight in the eye and said and he's always very serious and formal Dr brazinski do you know when I played my last chess game and quite frankly I was a little dismayed because I wouldn't care less and he says to me September 1940 when the nkvd broke into my Hiding Place in vilna to arrest me so I said to myself oh my God and in the midst of the game Mrs Bean appears she looks at us and says oh the two of you are playing chess you know Mr brazinski menam just loves to play he just loves to play he plays all the time when President Carter brought the the two leaders together Sadat listed the demands the return of the Sinai to Egypt and a Palestinian state in the West Bank with its capital in Jerusalem soad and I both knew that this was not going to be at all acceptable to me or the Israelis we all hit the roof not just B they were taking a hard line we all said this simply won't work they wanted to storm out uh to terminate that talks and uh I jumped up from the desk where I was sitting and and writing and got in the door in front of them and I wouldn't let them get out of the room until they both agreed uh to let me try to continue and after that the two men never saw each other for the next 10 days incompatibility ities between the two sides were so intense that some sort of an American document Bridging the Gap and extracting from each side those relatively few elements on the part of each side that were of a compromised nature seemed to us to be the only way to proceed so I carried the same text back and forth bean and sadad agreed to go with the same text with brackets and modifications and and mod notes Carter focused their attention on a clause that would require Israel to give up Gaza and the West Bank to the Palestinians Megan simply dug in his heels and says this is totally unacceptable as far as he was concerned this was greater Israel ER it's Israel and and they hadn't acquired territory by the by force it had always been ordained as part of Israel B remained intransigent so Carter persuaded Sadat to give up his demand for a Palestinian state to the outrage of his advisers it was a real shock for us our main preoccupation was to avoid a bilateral agreement between Israel and Egypt at the expense of the Palestinians but that wasn't enough for the Israelis they say no no no no they are refusing to withdraw from the sini that they want to maintain the three airports that they want to maintain the settlements the Israelis delegated mosha Dian to convince saddat that he would have to compromise on the Sinai too Dion told him Mr President if anybody has told you that Israel can leave the Sinai settlements uh they are deluding you Sadat was so upset that he asked me for airplanes he said I'm leaving if I cannot even get Sinai back then what is the use of my continuing this peace process I asked sad if he would go back in his cabin and talked to me all of his bags were on the front porch I told sadad he had betrayed our friendship he had validated a commitment that he made to me that he would give me full opportunity to resolve any different es that arose and that I thought that that his uh perm action in leaving without giving me another chance uh would also seriously and adversely affect the relationships between our two countries zadat unpacked his bags Carter would now have to get the Israeli Prime Minister to yield I was about to play tennis I was dressed in whites Megan was always dressed as if he was about to go to a funeral and we went for a walk in the Camp David Woods and he says to me very dramatically I want you to understand that my right eye will fall out my right hand will fall off before I ever sign a single scrap of paper permitting the dismantling of a single Jewish settlement prime minister Bean had taken a solemn oath before God and the Israeli people but he would not dismantle Israeli settlements so I had to devise a an alternative to that so that he would not do it Carter urged Bean's advisers to find a way around their prime minister's solemn oath the only way was to let the knesset make the decision and not him Dian and whitesman started speaking up to Bean in Hebrew rather than in English as they did in the past so I said we cannot go back empty-handed we must find a compromise Bean's colleagues concluded that the only way to persuade him that dismantling the settlements would not damage him politically was to get the settlers champion on the phone prime minister ban God Rest his soul told me there are problems the Jewish settlements in the Sinai he wanted to know where I stood I answered in one sentence I will support any decision you take prime minister Bean's phone call opened the way for a White House ceremony the knesset voted to dismantle the Sinai settlements Egypt became the first Arab state to recognize Israel's right to exist Israel gave back the Sinai let's have a handshake Sadat and bean were awarded the Nobel Peace Prize I'm so proud of why we have the ceremony and the different speeches and the different signature we were listening to the Palestinians which were outside and was just shouting to remind us that the Palestinian problem have not been solved the peace with Israel that saddat concluded has lasted to this day but many Arabs were enraged 2 years later at a military display in Cairo Islamic extremists assassinated onir sadak the Israelis came 1500 miles scored a direct hit on the PLO headquarters based in Tunis and only just missed the PLO leader yasa Arafat it was a Revenge raid by the Israelis Following last week's attack on an Israeli yacht in Cyprus three people were killed by a PLO unit from Tunisia as a matter of principle it's our view that it is legitimate self defense to respond appropriately to acts of terrorism as terrorist Warfare continued a plain load of Israelis arrived at hro airport the passengers had no idea that among them was their foreign minister on a top secret mission I came disguised in a wig and glasses when I got to passport control he asked on holiday or business I didn't know what to say finally I said on business Shimon Perez wanted to extend the peace with Egypt to Jordan and the Palestinians that same day King Hussein of Jordan piloted his own plane to London he had been invited to meet Paris by a mutual friend I had many questions in my mind about it but he didn't give me any detail he just told me that he had contacts uh uh with with Paris which were a beginning of talk about uh what could be done the British lawyer Lord mishan had provided the meeting place and given his staff half the day off King Hussein said we'll wash up the dishes I immediately agreed but Mrs mishan said no she wouldn't dream of letting a king do her dishes they now settle down to work out how to begin the process of negotiations Israel still didn't want to negotiate with the PLO which it saw as a terrorist organization dedicated to its destruction we uh discussed them imp pass the problem was how to get the Palestinians to the negotiating table against Israeli opposition against American opposition Hussein said if you were clever you would recognize the PLO that would show everyone the truth the PLO is just unwilling to negotiate Israel was willing to negotiate only with those Palestinian recognizing the right of Israel to exist peace talks with Palestinians who accepted Israel's right to exist would exclude the PLO had a bit of time to think about it and at the same time to uh to see if I had any last thoughts before such a Monumental uh uh decision was taken and then I decided all right F where you go the idea they came up with was a peace conference that excluded the PLO back in Israel Shimon Perez faced a difficult meeting with his prime minister Yak Shamir paris's moderate labor party was part of a coalition that straddled The Divide of Israeli politics Shamir a hardliner opposed the conference he wanted to negotiate separately with each Arab country and didn't want to deal with the Palestinians at all he said he'd agreed with King Hussein to hold an International Conference an International Conference for me that would be as bad as a pig in the Shamir mistrusted Paris he feared Israel would be outnumbered by the Arab states at the conference Paris assured him the conference would quickly adjourn into individual talks with each Arab State and the PLO would not be invited I said leave the text I'll read it later I said no I can't leave the agreement your staff might leak it and spoil my plan it has to look like it comes from the Americans Paris and King Hussein agreed that only America had the clout to get everyone to attend so Paris then contacted the American Secretary of State what he proposed now was that I take this on board as my proposal and then present it to the Israeli government I saw danger even in a visit from Schulz I decided to send an Envoy to America I sent our former Ambassador M and I told Schultz very plainly that the Pres subject of the International Conference was a subject of uh divided opinion in Israel mainly between the liid and the labor party and that if he were to come to Israel to provide his support for the agreement that Paris had uh arrived at he would be entering Israeli domestic politics and he said I'm not going to make the truck trying to keep the process going perz persuaded Shamir to meet with Jordan's King Hussein the king invited Shamir to his house in London Hussein explained that he could represent the Palestinians the King was very critical of the Americans he said they made promises they didn't honor they promised Jordan would get back the land Israel had occupied but this hasn't happened I thought to myself I'm responsible for that he was uh a very BL uh there was uh not very much room for for uh putting any of the ideas or hopes or aspirations that I had in mind I refused point blank to discuss an International Conference so there wasn't much that uh we could uh really speak about or agree about the next morning I flew back to Jerusalem none of my colleagues knew where I'd been or who I'd been meeting we got a report from that meeting from Shamir who was very happy about it the King was so courteous he served a kosher meal he was listened to me and we had a it was warm and so on we got a report from King Hussein who said well we had the meeting it was terribly discouraging because it's obvious to me that um the prime minister is not willing to give any ground at all Shamir rejected Hussein as a representative of the Palestinians and repeated his unwillingness to negotiate with the PLO meanwhile the Palestinians squeezed into the Gaza Strip for the last 20 years under Israeli rule grew increasingly frustrated on December 8th 1987 an Israeli truck accidentally hit a car carrying four Palestinian laborers all the people in the car were killed we thought this was no accident it was done on purpose by the Israel angry crowds soon gathered an 18-year-old Palestinian threw a stone at some Israeli soldiers when they fired back the boy was K killed the Israeli Security Forces then stepped up their presence in the occupied territories a group of young activists seized the opportunity to prepare a leaflet calling for an uprising early in the morning our leaflet was ready we had cars standing by we asked children and pregnant women to help they could slip past the Israelis at the checkpoint Palestinian workers were urged to go on strike shopkeepers were told to shut their businesses the intifa had begun yaser Arafat and the PLO leadership still an exile in Tunis learned about the intifa from a newscast it is the resistance and the the revolution of all our children or our women or our people or our men this is the accumulation of the revolution in fact we didn't know who issued the leaflets we were worried we wanted to know who was behind all this from the other end of the Mediterranean the PLO could provide little day-to-day guidance to the intifa organ izers the demonstrations which began in Gaza now spread to East Jerusalem and the West Bank the Palestinian flag an illegal symbol under Israeli rule began to appear all over the occupied territories now even the Bourgeois everyone joined the intifa this really encouraged us to keep the in F going one young activist sought guidance from fisel husseini the head of one of the oldest Palestinian families husi had spent the last few years in and out of Israeli jails for his political activities I told him the in Father must not change tactics don't use weapons or guns don't give the Israelis an excuse to use their technology we want to tie down as many soldiers as we can the strategy of minimum force caught the Israelis off guard we facing now a new form of warfare against us means the attempt to destroy the our existence by violent demonstrations the Israelis tried to break the morale of the protesters with mass arrests they blew up the homes of convicted terrorists it is not a nice picture to witness gr house I forced myself to be with the soldiers understanding that they feel as I feel when the Israeli cabinet met members of the Coalition argued about how best to end the in Ariel Chiron spoke up in essence he said Mr Prime Minister we must order the Army to suppress the antifa the Army will find a way some of the ministers made horrifying suggestions they suggested send in the tanks kill a thousand and it will collapse order will be restored to Israel we knew if we killed a thousand it would get worse and we would be branded war criminals the cabinet rejected all of this but told the defense minister itak Rabin to find a way to end the intifa Rabin stood in front of the soldiers and said gentlemen don't just stand there use your hands use your clubs beat the demonstrator restore order trying to restore order without shooting the demonstrators Rabin told his soldiers to Club them instead scenes like this were broadcast around the world they are facing the punishment of the Israelis by their hands by their Stone not more till now in all over the occupied territories in every town and Village or refugee camp in all the demonstrations no one had used a gun or a hand grenade Abu Jihad the pl's military leader in Tunis had gained control of the intifa he also directed the pl's terrorist operations in the middle of the intifada Abu Jihad ordered an attack on an Israeli bus carrying people home from work three were killed and six wounded all were in a State of Shock those women who had been on the bus and had got away had not escaped the emotional trauma a month later an elite Israeli Commando unit landed on a beach in Tunis mosad agents guided the Commandos to the home of Abu Jihad SM I was woken by the sound of people breaking into the house then I heard screams I was terrified I heard Abu jiad moving running from the desk to the cupboard where he took his pistol I saw three masked men with machine guns one of the men opened fire on Abu Jihad they shot him in his arm and his heart Abu jiad was a leader of the intifa although he was out of the country he was fighting against us he was one of their most popular commanders he fell just like many others like people on our side but in the intensity of the conflict both sides were learning something about each other for the 40th anniversary of Israel we had a huge military parade a few days later I was in the West Bank I came across a group of young Palestinians they knew me from TV and one of them said yesterday I saw all your fighter aircraft they're so strong up there but what can you do against Stone throwers down here this was our problem and the young people's power you know that if you will beat them and shoot them and do whatever you want to them they won't stop we train uh to fight against other soldiers and now we fight against the people it's difficult increasingly Israelis ask themselves whether they could rule more than a million Palestinians in the occupied territories forever we can't solve this problem it's the government it's the polit it's the politician have to solve the problem not we are the intifa vented Palestinian frustration but it also demonstrated that neither terrorism nor Street Revolt would solve their political iCal problems in Tunis one PLO leader discussed what to do next with a colleague we sat there alone I said I want to talk about something I've never mentioned before can I raise a taboo subject he said be my guest the PLO had been created to reclaim all of Israel for the Palestinians now Abu maen suggested that they be realistic that the only way to get back Gaza and the West Bank was to accept what they rejected 40 years ago the partition of Palestine I asked him should we consider recognizing Israel he said yes yaser Arafat was eventually convinced that the PLO would have to to compromise but the other PLO leaders were harder to persuade like Sadat the PLO preferred to negotiate through the Americans but the Americans laid down a condition yaser Arafat the world's most famous Guerilla leader would have to renounce terrorism he's got a to get up in front of a television camera in some public way and say for everybody to see him saying it out of his own mouth these things the UN General Assembly gathered in Geneva for a special session to hear Arafat but not all the factions of the PLO were willing to negotiate we did not accept the decision to recognize Israel would accept no further compromise arafat's UN speech would be a difficult Balancing Act I hereby once more declare that I condemn terrorism in all its forms that was for the Americans and in a pattern that was to characterize the whole speech the next phrase was for the PLO radicals and at the same time salute those sitting before me in this Hall who in the days when they fought to free their countries from the Yoke of colonialism were accused of terrorism he concluded his speech convinced he had pleased everyone I reviewed it with President Reagan who was following this closely and I said well Mr President in one part of his statement he said un Unk un and the other part of his statement he said c but nowhere did he say uncle so no it's not satisfactory word soon came that the Americans had rejected The Balancing Act arafat's closest advice ERS implored him to say exactly what Schultz demanded I saw that arat had a dilemma whether to say it or not should he sit tight or should he try again the next morning Arafat called a press conference I repeat for the record that we totally and absolutely renounce all forms of terorism I view this development as one more step toward the beginning of direct negotiations between the parties which alone can lead to such a pce but Israel's prime minister was unimpressed Shamir made a gesture it meant this isn't important let's not waste time analyzing what Arafat said we cannot trust them they are criminals they are liars they are enemies of our people shamir's view of Arafat was reinforced 18 months later on August 2nd 1990 Iraq Saddam Hussein sent his army into Kuwait he boasted that in a war Israel would end up in Flames saddam's only support came from Libya Sudan and the PLO you know the war would not be only in B this war if it start it will be in the whole area for this it will be a real catastrophe Israel prepared for an attack as President Bush set out to build a coalition to force Saddam out of Kuwait he traveled to Damascus to bring Syria into the fold but president Assad a firm Arab nationalist was not easy to convince president Assad made very clear to me that he blamed Israel for everything uh I'm not sure he blamed blamed him for Iraq going into Kuwait but he got almost everything everything was all about Israel I made clear to him that we didn't want to link any Middle East peace process talks to whipping Saddam Hussein but I made clear to him also that we would be involved in trying to be a catalyst for peace for Arabs and Israelis as the war started Saddam ordered an attack on Israel with scud missiles Saddam hoped that by attacking Israel he would get the support of other Arab countries if Israel retaliated he might be able to undermine the Coalition against him Iraq's missiles were aimed indiscriminately at his Israel's largest cities the repeated attacks over many nights were nerve-wracking the Israeli press reported that Palestinians celebrated as the missiles Flew Over the West Bank on the way to Tel Aviv chemical traces in one of the missiles even raised the possibility of a deadly chemical attack now we would like to see that threat removed and we will uh uh take the uh actions that are necessary to remove it I cannot tell you when I cannot tell you where in the end Israel did not retaliate but its leaders had learned a hard lesson about their vulnerability Shamir was also absolutely convinced that given the opportunity Israel's Arab enemies would try to destroy it when the war with Iraq ended President Bush looked towards the future Mr Speaker the president of the United States we must do all that we can to close the gap between Israel and the Arab states and between Israelis and Palestinians there can be no substitute for diplomacy the time has come to put an end to Arab Israeli conflict the idea was the president at the height of his Prestige sending the Secretary of the State at the height of his Prestige to the Middle East and what we basically hoped was that no one would have the nerve to say no to the United States at that moment Bush instructed Secretary of State James Baker to persuade the Arabs and Israelis to attend a new peace conference well the whole idea that that we came up with was to give the Arabs what they needed and give the Israelis what they needed the bone of contention between Israel and Syria was still the Golan Heights captured by Israel 20 years earlier in Damascus Baker suggested to president that if he came to the conference Israel might negotiate a withdrawal from the Golan Heights we are not negotiating whether thean would come back or not whether part of it would stay under the Israeli control or not the whole of the Syrian Goan should come back to Syria having gotten nowhere with the syrians baker then tried to tempt itak Shamir to the peace conference I remember saying it's going to be one big meeting that is going to lead them to bilateral negotiations he so that the Israeli government could say well this is really not an International Conference I wouldn't even consider it it meant negotiating with PLO terrorists Baker promised Shamir he would not invite the PLO to the conference Baker then went to meet Palestinian leaders from the West Bank in Gaza we in the PLO leadership opposed them meeting Baker for us this meeting was pointless we thought it would not Advance the Palestinian cause some comrades argued that the Americans wanted to create an alternative leadership to replace the PLO for five nights Abu maen urged the PLO leadership to let Palestinians from the occupied territories meet with Baker finally yaser Arafat decided he had nothing to lose only it is a meeting exploratory exploratory meeting not nothing mon if things would proceed positively then the leadership would take the credit if things did not work out then we as individuals would take the blame when the Palestinians met Baker in Jerusalem the PLO insisted that each Palestinian delegate be approved in writing by Arafat I said to him Mr secretary this meeting could not have taken place without the authorization of President arat personally and I took the letter out of my pocket showed it to him I reminded them that the PLO their their organization and their chairman had made a serious mistake in backing Saddam Hussein in the Gulf War well he sat like this I pulled my chair around and faced him we confronted each other just like two he was so angry and uh even if you angry what can you do we don't have Assets in bank to be frozen by you we don't have Airlines to be grounded by you we don't have anything in the world that you can threaten us with so Court us and we're willing to play positively but as a major player the Palestinians refused to repudiate the PLO and Baker knew this would be unacceptable to Shamir after 12 weeks of shuttle diplomacy Baker was stuck the only leverage uh a secretary of state has in in this kind of situation is the ability to blame one party or the other for the collapse of the peace process Baker came and uh told president Asad it is your position is very important I mean if you accept if you feel that this is good for you and you accept the American initiative then the whole world will stand by Syria and will put the blame on Israel Assad decided to go along I'm pleased to report that Syria has agreed to the proposals that we have made uh including coming to a peace conference full of confidence Baker returned to Israel there was no way that an Israeli Prime Minister could appear to be less interested in peace than a Syrian president especially when the Syrian president accepted coming to this conference on terms that were essentially defined by Israel but Shamir put more obstacles in baker's path every time the American team arrived in the Middle East Israel announced the construction of a new Jewish settlement in the occupied territories land the Arabs claimed was theirs each new Jewish home made Israeli withdrawal more difficult Furious Baker went public it is easier to obstruct peace than it is to promote it and that the uh that the establishment of these settlements uh certainly does not help the efforts of those of us who are interested in peace the Palestinian reaction was predictable I remember Fel hus at almost every meeting he would pull out this map I brought him maps of the West Bank and Gaza the first map showed the situation before 1967 the second one showed the situation today with the settlements all marked in Orange and uh I finally said fisel let's get let's talk about what's important here let's talk about how we're going to uh get a negotiation going because if we don't we're going to keep meeting like this and pretty soon you're going to bring me a map that's totally orange he actually told us you have no other alternative he said name any way in which you can stop settlements other than through the peace process the local Palestinians were afraid to talk to the Israelis without permission from the PLO in Tunis a meeting of the Palestine National Council was called our delegation asked Baker could the refugees return He said no will there be a Palestinian state will the PLO be on the delegation to speak for us he said no chairman Arafat knows that these answers are accurate they are no no and no I told the conference if we don't get on the Peace Train it will pass through our station we will never have another chance I said we don't want to be passive victims of History we want to challenge to intervene to intrude to participate and to present our own narrative to speak for ourselves and this is a forum it was a forum Arafat himself had wanted to attend reluctantly he agreed that the team from the occupied territories not the PLO would represent the Palestinians but Shamir had another demand he asked the Americans to guarantee a loan of $ 10 billion to help absorb the Soviet immigrants who were now pouring into Israel I don't want to interfere in the American Interior affair but I would like uh to inform everybody that not to forget that they are using this uh billions uh in bending more illegal settlements on our land this was our way to build up our country what is the Zionist ideal it is to gather the Jewish people into this small country so we must set up more and more homes large and small communities what are the settlements they are just communities no Arabs lived on that land it is not on their property the Americans were unable to stop the Israelis from building settlements to save the conference president Bush delayed the loan American Jewish leaders urged him to reconsider I was approached by the leaders of some of the the biggest uh Jewish organizations a republican was head of APAC which is a very strong American Israel political action committee and he told me that I was making huge mistake politically President Bush wouldn't give in for the first time in history the vision of Israelis sitting with their Arab neighbors to talk peace is a real Prospect nothing should be done that might interfere with this Prospect and if necessary I will use my veto power we saw the president on television he took a stand against the American Jews I got really angry this hurt me just as it hurt many others bush had faced down Shamir a few weeks later Israelis Arabs Americans and Russians assembled in Madrid for the first time Palestinians were invited to participate today we have made a a major step forward that is a recognition of the Palestinian national identity the Palestinians are speaking out for themselves for the first time in history the delegates gathered at the Royal Palace I will never forget the emotion I felt when with gorbachov next to me we walked into this room in Madrid and there across the table sat Arabs and Israelis we come to Madrid on a Mission of Hope to begin everyone expected each Middle East delegation to be led by its foreign minister to the conflict but Shamir had a better idea I thought maybe I should go to Madrid myself Shamir had devoted his life to fighting for Israel doing whatever he thought necessary to establish maintain and defend the state as he got up to speak the conference waited to hear if he was now ready to make peace I could go on and recite the Lany of facts that demonstrate the extent to which which Syria merits the dubious honor of being one of the most oppressive tyrannical regimes in the world but this is not what we have come here for he attacked Syria bitterly and accused Syria of being on the uh list of uh terrorism uh and I was very angry I looked over and I saw Faruk shara's face who he just froze and he called one of his AIDS over so immediately his face changed and he smiled he said okay go back I will write my speech I told him Mr Minister it is 15 minutes left yesterday we spend 7 hours to prepare your speech he said don't worry I will write headlines uh so I lay aside my prepared the speech and uh said openly he is the last one to have the right to speak about terrorism because he himself was a wanted terrorist I shall just show you if I may a photograph an old photograph of Mr sh why was this picture distributed it was distributed because he was wanted he helped in the assassination of count bernot the the the UN mediator in Palestine as I recall in 1948 he killed Beast mediators I remember the faces of the Israeli delegation they they were colorless one Palestinian delegate then tried to demonstrate that no matter what Shamir thought he was really negotiating with the PLO so I said the only thing that symbolizes Palestinians is the black and white kofia which president arat wears all the time so I decided to put it in my shoulder and the angle of my seat came directly looking Shamir on the eye it was in engineered by God it was just perfect and I looked at him and I said to in my head I said he shook his head like this I smiled really he where is it this way so I wink to him and he said do this and then after the session was over everyone is surrounding me so I said why the sensitivities we are the key to peace to your peace process as Palestinians and you must realize the new Facts of Life amid Mutual recriminations the conference broke into onetoone talks between Israel and the Arab states we and the syrians moved to opposite sides of this big table we sat Frozen like robots the Americans and Russians got out as quickly as they could were glad to escape it was difficult half an hour for me for example this will be the first time I sit face to face with the Israelis the syrians wanted us to commit to a withdrawal from the Golan Heights we didn't want to get into all that the withdrawal should not be a question for negotiation the the withdrawal is either there would be a withdrawal full withdrawal or there would be no peace the moment we would have said that we were ready to withdraw this might have ended the whole thing and the syrians would have avoided the main question for us that was the character of Peace the end of terrorism the terrorist organizations with their headquarters in Damascus and what about hisbah and Lebanon under Syrian occupation all these topics were raised and every time we tried to break this dogma of the syrians when they finished the Israelis returned to their hotel telling the waiting press that all their suggestions to try to build trust had been flatly rejected there had been no handshakes no Smiles little personal contact I don't want to say that they were a complete failure because the very fact that we were sitting and talking is in itself already an achievement but uh the substance was as I said futile the syrians too were unimpressed by their meeting I would like to express our regret for leaving this city Madrid without having tangible results from the bilateral talk that our delegation held yesterday with the Israeli delegation Israeli talks with the Palestinian and Jordanian delegation was so positive that they could be crowned with public handshakes afterwards both sides here at least confident of meeting again soon America had finally brought the Waring parties to the conference table but it would take another breakthrough to convert Fighters into peacemakers Yak rabin's stunning election Victory brought the labor party back into Power Rabin had promised to accelerate peace talks with the Arabs I believe that agreement will be reached within less than one year you can say 9 months less or between 9 and 12 Israel's old enemy yaser Arafat still claimed to lead the Palestinian people but exiled in Tunis and cut off from his homeland Arafat was more willing to compromise with the Israelis in London in December 1992 a PLO representative from Tunis was on assignment I had never met in Israeli before not one all the way to the meeting I was looking left and right and behind me I was afraid of being seen the Israeli who initiated the meeting was waiting for him he was an academic with unofficial connections to Israel's new labor government it was a Moment of Truth meeting a PL man was against the law the israeli's cover for meeting a member of the PLO was provided by a fellow social scientist from Oslo I simply suggested that um iselt and myself had breakfast and then uh that when ABA arrived in the lobby uh I should simply discreetly slip away from the table and abah should take my place we spoke about the conflict which had no end in sight it had been raging for the whole Century so how could we end it PLO headquarters in Tunis awaited his report Abu Allah told us what had happened I said if they asked you to go again go he asked what's the point of talking to these people I said Well there must be something behind it at the same time official peace negotiations begun in Madrid continued in Washington where a delegation of West Bank Palestinians were getting nowhere bypassing the delegation to talk directly to the PLO was thought by some Israelis as a better way around the impass but even the PLO did not speak for all Palestinians the fundamentalist group Hamas had just kidnapped an Israeli police officer and murdered him we have to take a measure that will speak not by words but by Deeds rabine ordered Israeli Security Forces to round up and Deport 415 Hamas activists the expulsion from the West Bank created a crisis in Washington if they do Deport the Palestinians uh this morning then I don't think the Israeli delegation tomorrow morning will find a Palestinian delegation to negotiate with the public opinion at home was you know boiling it was so volatile that we knew we couldn't proceed with the discussions with the negotiations the Palestinian delegation walked out of the Washington talks Arafat now had no links to the israelies he sent for the Norwegian social scientist who had set up the secret breakfast in London Alat uh told me that um the talks in Washington were completely stuck and that was why he felt there was a need of a back Channel and thought that the research institute in Oslo which I was heading should be the sort of front Organization for the talks because both the PLO and Israel needed deniability for having such talks W the fish was hooked and they were off to Oslo we were nearly arrested when we landed we didn't have visas nobody met us instead of being treated as VIPs we were grilled for two hours by the Norwegians we had to be so careful that we did not even inform the Norwegian secret police about uh their arrival Abu alah with two fellow Palestinians was driven through the snow to a country Mansion near Roso here he and the Israeli Professor got down to business I said to Abu Allah we must focus on topics where agreement is possible we must put to one side subjects we know we can't resolve in dispute with the Palestinian territories ruled by Israel Gaza and the West Bank and most disputed of all Jerusalem I said we won't agree about Jerusalem he talked about Palestinian control of the entire West Bank I said listen we won't agree to that let's focus on Gaza first every Palestinian was suspicious about Gaza first the Israelis wanted to get rid of Gaza for them Gaza was just a factory of problems and the intifa back in Tunis after the first Oslo meeting Abu alah voiced his concern about the idea of Gaza first Abu masan said if any Palestinian land is offered we should take it why reject Gaza then Arafat said I want Jericho as well I asked him why Jericho he said to get a foothold in the West Bank Gaza is a dead end but Jericho leads somewhere Jerusalem the Israelis Capital had always been claimed by the Palestinians as their Capital too the PLO indicated that they now saw the wisdom of deferring their demand but Israel's prime minister had not yet been told about the oso talks it's pointless talking to Arafat and the PLO the only Palestinians we deal with are the delegation in Washington the foreign Ministry decided it was time to tell rabine about the secret back Channel though skeptical rabine thought it could be useful the Palestinian delegation was still boycotting the Washington talks and he was determined to force them back to the negotiating table we had orders for the next session in March as we left Oslo we told Abu Allah we wouldn't be coming back unless the Washington talks were resumed it was an ultimatum Arafat now had to resuscitate the Washington negotiations he summoned Hanan asrawi and her colleagues to tell them they must go back he said we cannot afford to pay the price of walking out don't live in your small worlds you want to be the heroes you are considering only yourselves you don't consider the Palestinian 6 million Palestinians you don't consider the peace process if you don't go you break the peace process you break your people come on get down to earth and he stood up and he left us he walked on us so we followed him to the other room he was so Furious Abu Allah told me later you really set the cat among the pigeons Arafat and I had to talk the whole Washington team round he said they were all against going back we couldn't tell them why they had to we gave them lots of reasons all completely fictitious we came back by clear cut orders fromat go soon afterwards Israel's Oslo team brought home a draft which the two sides called a declaration of principles they came back very excited and said we have a draft it was obviously still rough but they said look the PLO are willing to play ball but with the Washington talks resumed rabine had no further use for the Oslo talks and ordered them suspended the foreign Ministry desperate to keep them going placed the Oslo declaration before a lawyer rabine trusted I thought that the document was lousy and needed to be started from scratch I said to him look the real breakthrough in Oslo is that the PLO have agreed to go one step at a time this means that we retain Israeli control Yosi bin drove with his boss foreign minister Shimon Perez to see Ravine I was squeezed between the two of them and as we were driving Yosi bind whispered into my ear he said well I don't want to put you under too much pressure but you should know that the entire fate of the uh Oslo negotiations now uh is on your shoulders and with this um statement ringing in my ear we entered rabin's office at the beginning the drafts were uh very very bad to Israel he was uh suspicious that the Poo was using the Osa track in order to somehow uh trick Israel into concessions and then using what was said in Oso against Israel in Washington I forget Washington maybe the PLO was trying to tell us that they were prepared to be more flexible than the official positions expressed in in in Washington I had the my doubts but I said go ahead try rabine asked the lawyer to join the talks in Oslo alongside a top government official appointed to show the PLO that Israel now meant business you your sh Joel arrives and starts to cross-examine Abu I asked them there are the settlements I mean in in in the agreement you wrote that you will have jurisdiction all over the West Bank this is what what is written here now what about the settlements do you intend to go into the settlements to send your your uh Tax Collectors into the sett and collect taxes they said uh no we wouldn't we wouldn't do that I said do you intend to use Palestinian teachers to teach the Israeli kids in the settlement schools under Palestinian curricula they said no no no no so I said so you mean that the settlements will not be under your Authority they said certainly not I said okay not the settlements now as to Jerusalem will Israel continue to govern Jerusalem they said yes I said okay it was not clear in the document Joel said let's say we leave your towns we will have to move our troops somewhere he said is it clear that only we can decide where they go and only we can Define the security zones all those questions were really about their Security even when we discussed the transfer of powers it was always against the background of security how they would control security everything was about security and Abu Allah says yes as long as you don't make the whole West Bank a security Zone and when they came out of that meeting abala came up to me and said they've turned the Declaration of principles completely upside down this is absolutely crazy we cannot continue like this but then also he smiled at the end of his um his outburst and he said but I learned a hell of a lot from those questions at the next session the lawyer handed back to the Palestinians the Declaration of principles with all their verbal concessions spelled out in cold print good I told singer straight out you seem to have come with a mission you here to destroy the peace process you're full of hostility to Palestinians you're living in the past you have a fear complex you're still living in the ghetto you can't make the break and see the way forward his eyes were shining with anger and I said listen everything that I added I took from your answers to my question these are your words look at your notes next the Norwegian foreign minister Yan Holst accompanied by ter Larson flew to Tunis to visit Arafat it was now arafat's turn to raise the stakes he went into an um to a side room and got out a map of um Gaza West Bank and uh and Israel and started pointing at different uh borderlines that we were discussing and then at a certain point of time he said and I want kissing points and uh I couldn't really I thought what does he mean and I turned to Hol and I saw that he was completely puzzled so Hol said then uh you mean Crossing points or check points maybe no no no said arat I mean kissing points like and what he really meant was that should be a kissing point between Gaza and the West Bank there had to be an interconnection by way of communication to my surprise Arafat now came up with a tougher stance it did not reflect the current compromise he asked for a road from Gaza to the West Bank he revived old PLO demands which reopened issues we had already agreed to in Oslo the Palestinian controlled Road between Gaza and the West Bank that Arafat was asking for would cut Israel in two and now Arafat wanted not just Jericho but the surrounding District as well he also insisted that Jerusalem be put back on the agenda Arafat always thought that if he was getting something he might as well ask for more I told Arafat at the end of the meeting all right I shall do as you ask but I know these people they won't accept it if we proceed with this line the Israelis will end the talks but Arafat insisted on his stand he said these are my instructions they can take it or leave it back in Norway the Palestinian Israeli relationship was strained by the new demands Abu Allah the chief PLO negotiator presented the new hard line the Israelis were stunned I said gentlemen you are pulling it all apart all that you promised all we negotiated you know the ground rules we agreed to but if we take your proposals back to to Jerusalem we can kiss the peace talks goodbye and I was about to put my things away suddenly Abu Allah asked us to remain seated at the table he wanted to make a personal announcement I informed them that I would be resigning I hoped my brothers in Tunis would continue with Oslo if they did I wish my replacement every success goodbye my friends I will always remember you we all wondered whether this experienced negotiator was pulling some kind of trick or whether he meant it Abu alah walked out into the surrounding Woods he had hurt his foot so I got um a stick for him with a silver handle so he was walking around um with an a of superiority um towards the uh the Israelis refusing to talk to them and then he came over to me and said it's all over this was the moment of crisis when you either pull the plug or do something drastic we decided to try something drastic the Israelis had prepared an alternative idea for just such a moment I said listen the fact that we are talking with the pl will eventually leak out I think that we should have another agreement in which the PLO undertakes to do a number of things and in return Israel recognizes the PLO as the representative of the Palestinian people singer's point was that if you negotiate with the PLO you're virtually recognizing them recognition was the key it would put the PLO on the map now in Oslo the moment to raise the issue of recognition had come the Israeli found Abu alah in a small drawing room Abu was leaning on a stick like this he raised his eyes to me and I asked him how are you and he said very bad very bad I wasn't acting I was genuinely angry if you've been negotiating for six or seven months and people suddenly start coming up with new ideas it's impossible to go on I said listen Abu if we can't have our modest agreement let's go for something really big he looked up and said what do you mean Yuri raised the idea of mutual recognition between the PLO and the Israeli government he dictated some conditions the main points were that the PLO would recognize Israel's right to exist renounce terrorism and violence and change the PLO Charter to reflect the new reality I said listen if you persuade Mr Arafat to accept all these conditions I promise I'll try to persuade our prime minister and our foreign minister to recognize the PLO and then these two gentlemen and ABA came suddenly bursting out of the room laughing and joking and um uh they had solve the basic problem it was the Breakthrough they were looking for it seemed the would now become an official partner in the peace process who knows if they will elect me I will be the president again of the this Palestinian state if not I will I I would like to return back to work as a civil engineer it was now up to prime minister Rabin to decide whether to accept the Oslo agreement his chief military adviser argued instead for a deal with Syria I advised him to try for peace with Syria first and then go to the Palestinians peace with Syria would bring the Arab Israeli conflict to an end if Syria could be persuaded to sign a peace treaty its client State Lebanon would follow and the Palestinians in Jordan would have little choice but to fall in line it was in the interest of both us and the syrians and it would reduce the Palestinian scope for haggling an agreement with Syria will make a positive strategic difference to Israel an agreement with the Palestinians would just be public relations since the 6- day War in 1967 Israel had occupied a strategic corner of Syria the Golan Heights overlooking Northern Israel successive Israeli leaders had refused to withdraw without peace we know that Syria would not make a deal with Israel would not make peace with Israel for less than full withdrawal and of course for any Israeli Prime Minister for Rabin in particular to to make the decision to go for full withdrawal was agonizing was uh wrenching but before making the decision that prime minister had to know what was being given in return what the Syrian package consisted of at this moment a new American Secretary of State came to Jerusalem we were trying to give some propulsion some momentum to the uh track uh involving the syrians Christopher came to meet with rabine the four of us came into the room and sat clustered around uh around a small table and uh after some give and take robin suddenly surprised us all with with a very dramatic Ambit he did give me a very important message to take to ass Syria to take to president Assad and that was he said ask Assad if I am able to uh give him what he needs needs will he really go all out for peace in other words if Rabin withdrew from the Golan Heights would president Assad accept alternative ways to safeguard Israel's border would Syria agree to full peace stop support of terrorism from Lebanon and established diplomatic and trade relations with Israel Christopher left the room with the knowledge that uh I think he was holding a very significant mandate in his pocket when he arrived in Damascus Christopher presented Israel's offer of withdrawal to president Assad his mistrust of the Israelis was such that he always took every concept and turned it over and looked at it from all different sides and that's what he was doing with the concept of withdrawal and he did it by asking me questions not impolite questions but very aggressive questions now you have to tell me Mr Christopher what the Prime Minister means by withdrawal that's just an empty term I really know know what it means Christopher then shuttled back to Jerusalem I met with the Prime Minister again he was disappointed that Assad had not been more forthcoming had not shown more appreciation for reine's willingness to consider full withdrawal on almost every detail uh the was a an essentially negative answer or an answer that suggested that a very protracted process of bargaining would would have to to begin Rabin could not wait for president Assad he had promised his voters a peace agreement within a year so he now settled for the deal that was available with the PLO in Oslo but premature disclosure could ditch the deal and the media were getting close to the story is the stage being set for a meeting between yourself and the PLO leadership perhaps even with Arafat himself not in the foreseeable future before the next election at least I hope not Rabin had to act fast he gave the goahead to foreign minister Shimon Perez Shimon perz told me yel take all your documents come with me we're going to conclude the agreement Paris set off for Scandinavia to clinch the deal he needed a smokees screen he met Norwegian foreign minister Yan Holst secretly in Stockholm and asked him to be his mouthpiece in case anyone was listening in as they telephoned Arafat in Tunis uh I called um Arafat and I got him immediately on the on the line and I told I told him that um in the code we used at the time abar which ISAT um I have uh the two uh fathers here that was the code for foreign ministers my father and the other father and he immediately understood what I meant and I said and they want to finish everything tonight we went through the last disputed points one by one phone's loudspeaker was turned on so all of us could hear Holst on the other end I was listening in for perhaps four or five hours at around midnight Shimon peris went to sleep and he told me if if you need my approval if you want to go beyond the general instructions that we have agreed on with Rabin Beck at home wake me up at issue were the withdrawal of Israel's military government and how and when they would deal with difficult issues like Jerusalem twice I had to wake Shimon Perez up the second and last time he woke Paris up was over the issue of who would control the bridges between the West Bank and Jordan we wanted to be able to control people entering and exiting from the autonomous areas to see that they are not uh you know concealing weapons and and and the like we wanted the crossing points to be under our control I said to host tell him we will not Retreat from our position tell them if we don't settle it tonight it might never get settled we agreed that the crossing points be jointly controlled it was 5:00 in the morning after 7 hours on the telephone they finally had an agreement I think the phone bill was paid by the Swedish government we still owe them the money President Clinton agreed to host a signing ceremony then with everyone gathering in Washington and on their way to the White House yaser Arafat noticed something missing from the document the name PL he said I cannot sign this document I'm the chairman of the PLO not the head of the Palestinian delegation and Israel has recognized the PLO so what are the Israelis up to sort it out Ahmed Tibi rang me he said there's a small matter to be sorted out if it isn't sorted out the ceremony is off and the chairman is going home I saw ordering the plan to be to be ready to leave Washington if they don't accept the P I said listen all the documents are printed and ready it's just an hour before the signing less than half an hour before the signing ceremony peris called arafat's representative to his hotel he suggested that the phrase the PLO team be added to to the document I said I'll ring Arafat I said to Arafat Perez says how about the PLO team Arafat said in all of the text I said in all the text he said okay two Kisses one for you and one for Perez ladies and gentlemen Mr Arafat chairman of the executive Council of the Palestine Liberation organization his Excellency Yak Rabin prime minister of Israel the president of the United States The Moment I Saw Arafat walking out from the White House with Rin next to him and Clinton and so on imagine this white house that said byby to the PLO that branded Arafat as a terrorist Rabin the chief of staff who occupi the West Bank and Jerusalem and uh it was electrifying Rabin didn't want to look at Arafat it was terrible the whole world is watching his body language and he keeps moving his head not to look at Arafat and I did not think that they would shake hands he heated little bit but I insisted and I continue stretching my hand to him and then the way President Clinton pulled it it was evident that wasn't planned arat just wouldn't let go of his hand he's a great expert at such things it was a a moment that we recalled as long as we live I think after he finished shaking his hands Rabin turned to me he whispered now it's your turn he went through this hell now it was my turn know but the agreement did not bring peace in the occupied territories a large number of Palestinians vowed to continue the fight in Israel too the opposition was fierce who think that this endangers Israel and what I would do as prime minister is to do anything responsible uh within the rule of law to stop and nullify the dangers that emanate from this agreement with the PLO to Israel security what arat led now was not quite a state but for the first time in history the Palestinians had a government of their own among the Arab countries now Jordan would join Egypt in making a deal with the Israelis King Hussein was at last able to sign the peace treaty he wanted what we have accomplished and what we are committed to is the end of the state of war between Jordan and but between Syria and Israel the state of War continued in an effort to broaden the Middle East peace President Clinton came to Damascus President Clinton told president Assad that well being presented to You full withdrawal to the line of for June and we expect from you too now to move the next step Clinton pressed Assad to send his top military commander to meet his Israeli counterpart and work out the practicalities of ending their state of War it was big decision for Syria to send our chief of staff for the first time in history to meet the Israeli Chief of Staff it's is very heavy and big decision Assad held back first he wanted his ambassador to Washington to meet the Israeli Chief of Staff we wore wigs so that we wouldn't be recognized in the LL flight we arrived at the meeting place in Washington only then could we breathe freely take off our wigs I took a last look at myself in the mirror whenever I wear a wig I look like my mother the Israeli Commander began the meeting by speaking of a military withdrawal without specifying the precise Frontier I insisted that withdrawal has to be to the line of 4 June 1967 I repeat this word more than 20 times during the talk with bar like a parrot he repeated their demand to withdraw to the June 4th border the Israeli wanted a more informal exchange during breaks we walked in the garden there we were off the Record and we uh spoke frankly whether they are committed to settlement with Syria or not whether they understand what it requires on the patio there were these arched doorways I compared peace between us to the Keystone of the arch at the end you feel that he wants to make it he wants to find a solution he wants to give his Blessing this encouraging start LED Assad to send his chief of staff to join the talks they discussed military safeguards for example the future of Israel's early warning station in the Golan talks progressed in fits and starts the night Syria and Israel agreed to begin a new round of talks the Israeli peacemakers held a rally in Tel Aviv we sang the three of us the singer Mir alone yak and myself yak and I are not such great singers he had the words of the peace song on a sheet of paper after we sang Out Of Tune Yak folded it and put it in the pocket of his jacket on the way to his car he was shot dead by an Israeli extremist three bullets went through his heart and through the song the government of Israel shock and sorrow announces the death of prime minister Yak Rabin who was murdered by an assassin tonight in Tel AV why why have they done this I am very sad and very shocked for this awful and terrible crime again it's one of the Brave leaders of Israel and the peacemakers we went to the room where he was lying on the bed his body was covered with a sheet up to here on his face was an expression of peace and maybe irony it was his typical Rabin smile I kissed his forehead and said goodbye peris now became Prime Minister President Clinton was determined to see that rabin's commitment to seeking peace with Syria didn't die with him the Americans still wanted Israel to keep rabin's promise to withdraw from the Golan Heights reine had held the Syrian track rather Clos to to himself so when he was assassinated all of a sudden it became very important to pass on to uh now prime minister uh perz what had happened been happening President Clinton said here are the promises Yak gave he asked if these promises committed me I said whatever Yak was committed to I am committed to Paris asked the Americans to arrange a summit with President Assad so that Paris could repeat his Oslo Triumph and bring the negotiations with Syria to a quick conclusion I told him to ask Assad do you want to fly high and fast or low and slow we are ready to fly high and fast in one condition to know when we land and where we land president Assad in my judgment missed a historic opportunity because he wasn't prepared to take a great greater risk for peace Paris had set a date for the next general election but then 4 days later Palestinian terrorist attacks changed Israel's political landscape it was a ferocious blast the suicide bomb had detonated 10 kilos of explosives in the middle of a crowded commuter bus 24 Israelis were killed a week later a Palestinian terrorist planted another bomb on a bus this time 19 died the promises of peace and Reconciliation seemed Hollow as new elections approached many voters cared more about security than peace these terrorist attacks lost us 20% in the polls it was catastrophic I knew another bomb would end the whole thing the terrorists struck again in Tel aviv's busiest shopping street 14 died and over a hundred were injured together the Israeli electorate and Palestinian extremists had brought forth a new more mistrustful Israeli leader the major decision took place before the elections when I said that I would honor the Oslo Accords even even though I thought they were they contained many flaws nevertheless Netanyahu agreed to partial Palestinian control of Hebron but for 18 months afterwards the peace process was paralyzed in October 1998 under considerable American pressure Israelis and Palestinians met in a hotel outside Washington on the table was a proposal for an Israeli withdrawal from additional territory on the West Bank in return for new security guarantees and the annulment of all clauses in the Palestinian Charter calling for the destruction of Israel one Peacemaker was General Ariel Chiron whose Fierce reputation as a warrior helped provide credibility to the process nine days of diplomatic urging cajoling intervening and arm twisting by President Clinton finally produced results this agreement is good for Israel's security the commitments made by the Palestinians were very strong as strong as any we have ever seen we are more secure today because for the first time since the signing of the Oslo Accords we will see concrete and verifiable commitments carried out this agreement is good for the political and economic well-being of Palestinians it significantly expands areas under Palestinian Authority to some 40% of the West Bank we will never go back and we will never leave the peace process and we will never go back to violence and confrontation no return to confrontation and violence to support the agreement King Hussein left his hospital bed where he was being treated for cancer he went right to the heart of the matter we quarrel we agree we are friendly we are not friendly but we have no right to dictate through irresponsible action or n mindedness the future of our children and their children's children there has been enough destruction enough death enough waste and it's time that together we occupy a place beyond ourselves our peoples that is worthy of them under the sun the descendants of the children of Abraham after 50 years of war and suffering a halting tentative partition of Palestine was underway this program is a production of WGBH which is solely responsible for its content funding for the 50 Years War War Israel and the Arabs was provided by The Corporation for Public Broadcasting and PBS viewers like you this is history's best on PBS
