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Blue and White ‘Black September’: Israel's Role in the Jordan Crisis of 1970

2010; Routledge; Volume: 32; Issue: 4 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1080/07075332.2010.534611

1949-6540

Ziv Rubinovitz,

Nuclear Issues and Defense

Click to increase image sizeClick to decrease image size Notes 1. A. Siniver, Nixon, Kissinger, and U.S. Foreign Policy Making: The Machinery of Crisis (New York, 2008), 115–47; A. Dowty, Middle East Crisis: U.S. Decision-Making in 1958, 1970, and 1973 (Berkeley CA, 1984); A. M. Garfinkle, ‘U.S. Decision Making in the Jordan Crisis: Correcting the Record’, Political Science Quarterly, c (1985), 117–38; W. Bundy, A Tangled Web: The Making of Foreign Policy in the Nixon Presidency (New York, 1998), 179–204. A recent account of Israel's decision-making in the crisis is presented in R. Pedatzur, ‘The Rescue of King Hussein's Regime’, Civil Wars x (2008), 294–318, however the focus of this article is different. 2. A further word on sources seems appropriate: without access to Israel's cabinet protocols, which remain classified, some of the conclusions presented in this article should perhaps remain provisional; however, cabinet decisions were revealed in instructions sent to Israel's representatives in Washington and elsewhere, therefore the loss of information from the cabinet meetings is rather insignificant. 3. A. Cohen, Israel and the Bomb (New York, 1998); Z. Shalom, Israel's Nuclear Option: Behind the Scenes Diplomacy between Dimona and Washington (Brighton, 2005). 4. On US–Israeli relations in the years preceding the Six-Day War, see A. Lazarowitz, ‘Different Approaches to Regional Search for Balance: The Johnson Administration, the State Department, and the Middle East, 1964–1967’, Diplomatic History, xxxii (2008), 25–54; Z. Levey, ‘The United States’ Skyhawk Sale to Israel, 1966: Strategic Exigencies of an Arms Deal’, Diplomatic History, xxviii (2004), 255–76; Levey, Israel and the Western Powers 1952–1960 (Chapel Hill NC, 1997), 7–34, 80–100; H. Druks, The Uncertain Friendship: The U.S. and Israel from Roosevelt to Kennedy, (Westport CT, 2001), 81 ff.; Druks, The Uncertain Alliance: The U.S. and Israel from Kennedy to the Peace Process (Westport CT, 2001), 1-–41. 5. A. Ben-Zvi, The Origins of the American-Israeli Alliance: The Jordanian Factor (London, 2007), 75–83; W. B. Quandt, Decade of Decisions: American Policy Toward the Arab-Israeli Conflict, 1967–1976 (Berkeley CA, 1977), 120–2. 6. Argov to Herzog, letter, 2 Sept. 1970, [Jerusalem], I[srael] S[tate] A[rchives] 7529/7. 7. Siniver, Nixon, Kissinger, 117–22. 8. ‘Talking points read by Ambassador Rabin’, 12 March 1970. [United States National Archives], [Nixon Presidential Materials], [Kissinger Office Files], Rabin-Kissinger, [vol. i, 1969–1970, Box 134]. 9. Rabin to Meir and Eban, telegram 218, 27 July 1970; Rabin to MFA, telegram 224, 27 July 1970; and Rabin to Meir, Eban, and Dayan, telegram, 28 July 1970, ISA 9357/9. 10. E. R. Zumwalt, Jr., On Watch: A Memoir (New York, 1976), 292. 11. Memo of conversation, 15 Aug. 1970, Rabin-Kissinger. 12. Rabin to Meir, Eban, and Dayan, telegram 21, 3 Sept. 1970, ISA 6854/9. 13. G. Rafael, Destination Peace: Three Decades of Israeli Foreign Policy, a Personal Memoir (London, 1981), 245; Levey, ‘United States’ Skyhawk Sale to Israel’. 14. U. Bar-Joseph, The Best of Enemies: Israel and Transjordan in the War of 1948 (London, 1987); Y. Gelber, Jewish-Transjordanian Relations 1921–1948 (London, 1997); Gelber, Israeli-Jordanian Dialogue, 1948–1953: Cooperation, Conspiracy, or Collusion? (Portland OR, 2004); A. Shlaim, The Politics of Partition: King Abdullah, the Zionists and Palestine 1921–1951 (Oxford, 1990). 15. In Arabic the word fedayeen means ‘those who sacrifice themselves’ (plural). In the context of this article it will be the alias for Palestinian militants of the various organizations that fought against Israel. The Palestinians referred to them as freedom fighters, while Israel referred to them as terrorists. 16. A. Susser, On Both Banks of the Jordan: A Political Biography of Wasfi Al-Tall (Newberry Park, 1994), 137–40. Regarding the Palestinian challenge to the Hashemite Kingdom see P. Lalor, ‘Black September 1970: The Palestinian Resistance Movement in Jordan, 1967–1971’ (Ph.D. dissertation, Oxford University, 1992); N. J. Ashton, ‘Pulling the Strings: King Hussein's Role during the Crisis of 1970 in Jordan', International History Review, xxviii (2006), 95–104; A. Shlaim, Lion of Jordan: The Life of King Hussein in War and Peace (London, 2007), 311–23. 17. Middle East Report, vol. v: 1969–1970, ed. D. Dishon (Jerusalem, 1977), 184–5, 789–90, 827; J. K. Sosland, Cooperating Rivals: The Riparian Politics of the Jordan River Basin (Albany NY, 2007), 98. 18. See Pedahtzur, ‘The Rescue of King Hussein's Regime’, and R. Pedatzur, ‘Coming Back Full Circle: The Palestinian Option in 1967’, Middle East Journal, xlix (1995), 269–91. 19. Actually, four airplanes were attacked. Two of them (TWA and Swissair) were flown to the Dawson Airfield east of Amman. A third (Pan American) was flown to Cairo and was blown up after being evacuated. The fourth belonged to El Al, but security men on board foiled the hijack. A third hijacked airplane did arrive at Dawson several days later. It was captured to press the British cabinet to release Leila Khaled, who was detained in London since the attempted hijack of the El Al airplane. C. Dobson, Black September: Its Short, Violent History (London, 1975), 40–1. 20. M. Dayan, Story of My Life (Jerusalem & Tel Aviv, 1976), 348–9. 21. See D. Raab, Terror in Black September: The First Eyewitness Account of the Infamous 1970 Hijackings (New York, 2008). 22. R. M. Nixon, The Memoirs of Richard Nixon (New York, 1978), 483. 23. Zumwalt, On Watch, 294. 24. H. Kissinger, White House Years (Boston, 1979), 620; ‘Minutes of a Combined W[ashington] S[pecial] A[ctions] G[roup] and Review Group Meeting’, 9 Sept. 1970, F[oreign] R[elations of the] U[nited] S[tates 1969–1976, Volume XXIV, Middle East Region and Arabian Peninsula, 1969–1972; Jordan, September 1970], 620-–32. 25. Kissinger's memo for the President, ‘Hijacking Situation’, 9 Sept. 1970. N[ational] S[ecurity] C[ouncil], Box 330, Hijackings. 26. A. M. Haig, Jr. with C. McCarry, Inner Circles: How America Changed the World, a Memoir (New York, 1992), 244. 27. Zumwalt, On Watch, 295; ‘Minutes of a WSAG Meeting’, 10 Sept. 1970, FRUS, 642–52. 28. American decision-makers viewed the crisis in the context of the Soviet–US competition, and mostly feared a direct confrontation with the Soviets. Dowty, Middle East Crisis, 115; Siniver, Nixon, Kissinger, 124. Quandt (Decade of Decisions, 124–5) offers criticism on this view. 29. R. Dallek, Nixon and Kissinger: Partners in Power (New York, 2007), 225; Haig, Inner Circles, 243, 247; Kissinger, White House Years, 602, 606, 612. 30. Memo for the President, ‘Hijacking Situation’, 9 Sept. 1970, 5. NSC, Box 330, Hijackings. 31. ‘Minutes of a WSAG Meeting,’ 10 Sept. 1970. FRUS, 642–52. 32. Kissinger's memo for the President, ‘Use of U.S. Land-Based Air over Jordan’, 22 Sept. 1970. NSC, Box 615, Jordan vol. v; Zumwalt, On Watch, 70. 33. Kissinger, White House Years, 614. 34. Lalor, ‘Black September’, 250–5; Ashton, ‘Pulling the Strings’, 106–7; Middle East Report, ed. Dishon, 843–6; Shlaim, Lion of Jordan, 324–6. 35. Siniver, Nixon, Kissinger, 132; Haig, Inner Circles, 242. 36. Rafael, Destination Peace, 245. 37. Haig to Helms, 19 Sept. 1970. [Alexander M.] H[aig] C[hronological] F[iles], Box 972, Haig Chron. Sept. 19–24, 1970 (2 of 2). 38. ‘Report on Prime Minister Meir's meeting with President Nixon in the White House, 18 Sept. 1970’, ISA 5968/11; ‘Memo of Conversation’, 18 Sept. 1970, Rabin-Kissinger. 39. Quandt, Decade of Decisions, 117 (fn. 19); Siniver, Nixon, Kissinger, 134–5, 143–5. 40. ‘Minutes of a WSAG Meeting’, 17 Sept. 1970, FRUS, 700–713. 41. ‘Transcript of a Telephone Conversation between President Nixon and the President's Assistant for National Security Affairs (Kissinger)’, undated, FRUS, 790–5. 42. ‘Minutes of a WSAG Meeting’, 17 Sept. 1970, FRUS, 722–8. 43. Garfinkle, ‘U.S. Decision Making in the Jordan Crisis’, 126. This is reflected in ‘Minutes of a WSAG Meeting’, and ‘Memo from the President's Assistant for National Security Affairs (Kissinger) to President Nixon’, both 19 Sept. 1970, FRUS, 745–52 and 764–5. 44. Kissinger, White House Years, 605–6; Dallek, Nixon and Kissinger, 225; ‘Minutes of a WSAG Meeting,’ 17 Sept. 1970, FRUS, 700–713. 45. Rabin to Allon, Dayan and Mordechai Gazit (Deputy Director General of the MFA), telegram no. 340, 20 Sept. 1970, ISA 7529/7. 46. Secretary Rogers and Kissinger, 20 Sept. 1970, K[issinger] T[elephone] C[onversation] T[ranscripts], [Box 30, Jordan File, 20–25 Sept. 1970]. 47. ‘Telegram from the Department of State to the Embassy in Jordan’; ‘Telegram from the Embassy in Jordan to the Department of State’, both 20 Sept. 1970. FRUS, 770–1 and 784–5. See also Ashton, ‘Pulling the Strings’, 107–8; M. Joyce, Anglo-American Support for Jordan: The Career of King Hussein (New York, 2008), 56–7. 48. ‘Minutes of a WSAG Meeting’, 20 Sept. 1970, FRUS, 774–83. 49. ‘Transcript of a Telephone Conversation between President Nixon and the President's Assistant for National Security Affairs (Kissinger)’, undated, FRUS, 790–5. 50. ‘Minutes of a WSAG Meeting’, 20–21 Sept. 1970, FRUS, 799–806. 51. The letter, dated 21 Sept. 1970, is quoted in Joyce, Anglo-American Support for Jordan, 56 (fn. 37). 52. Brown to State Department, telegram 4988, 21 Sept. 1970. Available on-line: http://nixon.archives.gov/virtuallibrary/documents/mr/092170_jordan.pdf (Accessed 24 June 2008) 53. Kissinger, White House Years, 622–3; Y. Rabin, Pinkas Sheroot (Tel Aviv, 1979), 311 [in Hebrew]; ‘Transcript of a Telephone Conversation Among the President's Assistant for National Security Affairs (Kissinger), Secretary of State Rogers, and the Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern and South Asian Affairs (Sisco)’, 20 Sept. 1970, FRUS, 788–9; Rabin to Allon and Dayan, telegram, 20 Sept. 1970, ISA 7529/7. 54. Rabin to Allon, Dayan, and Aharon Yariv, telegram, 21 Sept. 1970, ISA 7529/7. See also Kissinger, White House Years, 624; Rabin, Pinkas Sheroot, 312. 55. Pedahtzur argues that Israel did not consider any alternative to saving the King because it decided strategically in 1968 to promote the ‘Jordan Option’ for settlement over the West Bank. See Pedahtzur, ‘The Rescue of King Hussein's Regime', and Pedatzur, ‘Coming Back Full Circle’. 56. Military intelligence research division. ‘Assessment of the Situation in the Middle East’ (at the request of the Director General of the Prime Minister's Office). 9 Sept. 1970, ISA 7529/7. 57. Shlaim, Lion of Jordan, 330–1, based on M. Zak, King Hussein Makes Peace: Thirty Years of Secret Talks [in Hebrew] (Ramat Gan, 1996), 125 (quoting from the unpublished memoirs of Major-General Mordechai (Motta) Gur, who was Commander of the Northern Command in 1970). Meir's speech in the Knesset on 16 Oct. 1970 is quoted in Zak, King Hussein Makes Peace, 127. 58. Zak, King Hussein Makes Peace, 22–3. 59. Kissinger admitted years later that the administration knew nothing of this debate. Ashton, ‘Pulling the Strings’, 115 (fn 1). 60. Both messages quoted from Shlaim, Lion of Jordan, 332; Rafael to Eban and Rabin, telegram, 21 Sept. 1970, ISA 9341/10; Ashton, ‘Pulling the Strings’, 111. 61. Middle East Report, ed. Dishon, 855. 62. ‘Rabin's Message, Monday, 21 Sept. 1970, 5:15 a.m.’ Rabin-Kissinger; Haig, Inner Circles, 249; Kissinger, White House Years, 624–5. 63. ‘Transcript of Telephone Conversations Among President Nixon, the President's Assistant for National Security Affairs (Kissinger), and the President's Deputy Assistant for National Security Affairs (Haig)’, 21 Sept. 1970, FRUS, 809–14. 64. Kissinger, White House Years, 625. 65. W. B. Quandt, Peace Process: American Diplomacy and the Arab-Israeli Conflict since 1967, third edition (Washington, DC and Berkeley CA, 2005), 82; N. Safran, Israel – The Embattled Ally (Cambridge MA, 1978), 454; M. Kalb and B. Kalb, Kissinger (Boston, 1974), 204–5. 66. Garfinkle, ‘U.S. Decision Making in the Jordan Crisis’, 130–1. 67. Kissinger and Rabin, 22 Sept. 1970, 08:50. KTCT. 68. Allon to Rabin and Eban, telegram 938, 21 Sept. 1970, ISA 9357/9. 69. Argov to Dinitz, telegram 197, 21 Sept. 1970, ISA 9357/9. 70. Eban to Rabin, telegram 391, 22 Sept. 1970, ISA 9341/10. 71. Allon to Rabin, telegram 939, [no date, but it is 21 Sept. 1970], ISA 7529/7. 72. Rabin to Allon, Dayan and Yariv, telegram 181, 21 Sept. 1970, ISA 9341/9. 73. Rabin to Dinitz, telegram 189, 21 Sept. 1970, ISA 9341/9. See the shift in American opinion in ‘Minutes of a WSAG Meeting’, 21 Sept. 1970, FRUS, 854–60. 74. Haig note to Kissinger, 20 Sept. 1970. NSC, HCF, Box 972, Haig Chron. 19–24 Sept. 1970 (2 of 2). 75. Brown to the White House, telegram 5008, 21 Sept. 1970. NSC, Jordan Crisis, Box 619. 76. Rabin to Gazit, Dinitz and Yariv, telegram 201, 21 Sept. 1970, ISA 9341/9. 77. ‘Minutes of a National Security Council Meeting,’ 21 Sept. 1970, FRUS, 863-–9. 78. The President/ Kissinger, 21 Sept. 1970, KTCT. 79. Rabin to Dinitz, telegram 198 (87), 21 Sept. 1970, ISA 9341/9. 80. Gazit to Rabin, telegram 454, 22 Sept. 1970, ISA 9341/10. 81. Nixon and Kissinger, 17 Sept. 1970, 09:30 PM. KTCT; Nixon, The Memoirs of Richard Nixon, 483; Kissinger, White House Years, 594, 618–9; Dowty, Middle East Crisis, 115. 82. Rabin to Dinitz, telegram 198 (87), 21 Sept. 1970, ISA 9341/9, 2. 83. ibid. 84. Eban to Rabin, telegram 180, 21 Sept. 1970, ISA 9341/10. 85. Dinitz to Rabin, telegram 473, 22 Sept. 1970, ISA 7529/7. 86. Ashton, ‘Pulling the Strings’, 114. 87. Argov to Gazit, telegram, 21 [should be 22] Sept. 1970, ISA 9341/9. The official note verbale appears in the American files, dated 22 Sept. 1970. NSC, Box 615, Jordan vol. v. 88. Haig, Inner Circles, 247; Kissinger, White House Years, 611. The meeting is reported in Rabin to Dinitz, telegram, 22 Sept. 1970, ISA 9341/9, and in Memo of Conversation, 22 Sept. 1970, 16:50, Rabin-Kissinger. 89. Haig note to Kissinger, 24 Sept. 1970. NSC, HCF, Box 972, Haig chron. 19–24 Sept. 1970 (1 of 2). 90. ‘Points to be made to Israeli Ambassador Rabin’, Kissinger memo to the President, 25 Sept. 1970. NSC, HCF, Box 972, Haig Chron. 25–30 Sept. 1970. 91. Allon made this statement in an interview to the National Radio ‘Kol Israel’ on 20 Sept. 1970, which was quoted the day after in Haaretz daily newspaper. See Middle East Report, ed. Dishon, 854. 92. Shlaim, Lion of Jordan, 333. See also M. Zak, ‘Israel and Jordan: Strategically Bound’, Israel Affairs iii (1996), 58 (fn. 32) and Y. Cohen, The Allon Plan (Tel Aviv, 1972), 147 (in Hebrew). 93. Haig claimed in his memoirs (Inner Circles, 251) that Israel did strike against the Syrians in Jordan. However, Bundy (Tangled Web, 187), Quandt (Peace Process, 451–2 [fn. 83]), Ashton (‘Pulling the Strings’, 115 [fn. 2]) and documents in the ISA and the Nixon Library refute his claim. 94. Without access to Jordanian or Syrian primary sources, this is a rather speculative analysis of the final military events that appears in Rafael, Destination Peace, 247; Quandt, Peace Process, 82; Haig, Inner Circles, 251; Ashton, ‘Pulling the Strings’, 115; Shlaim, Lion of Jordan, 333–4. 95. Rabin to Meir, Dayan, Gazit, and Eban, telegram 216 (91), 23 Sept. 1970, ISA 9341/9. 96. Rabin to Gazit and Eban, telegram 232, 24 Sept. 1970, ISA 7336/3. 97. ‘Minutes of a National Security Council Meeting’, 23 Sept. 1970, FRUS, 899–903. 98. Rabin to Dinitz, telegram, 23 Sept. 1970, ISA 9341/9. 99. Rabin to Kissinger, letter, 25 Sept. 1970, AD 171. Rabin-Kissinger. 100. Rabin to Gazit, telegram 119 (241), 25 Sept. 1970, ISA 9341/9; Kissinger, White House Years, 631. 101. Rabin to Gazit, telegram 119 (241), 25 Sept. 1970, ISA 9341/9. 102. Rabin to Gazit and Dinitz, telegram 282, 30 Sept. 1970, ISA 9341/9. 103. ‘Military and Financial Assistance to Israel’, National Security Decision Memorandum 87, 15 Oct. 1970. Available online: http://www.nixonlibrary.gov/virtuallibrary/documents/nsdm/nsdm_087.pdf (accessed on 24 July 2008) 104. Rabin to Meir, Eban, Dayan, Gazit, and Yariv, telegram 88, 16 Oct. 1970, ISA 6854/9. 105. Elizur to Rabin and Eban, telegram 668, 23 Sept. 1970, ISA 7336/3. 106. Gazit to Rabin and Eban, telegram 573, 26 Sept. 1970, ISA 9341/10. 107. Ben-Zvi, The Origins of the American-Israeli Alliance, 75–83; Dowty, Middle East Crisis, 178; Quandt, Peace Process, 83–4. 108. See data of American aid to Israel before 1970 and after in A. F. K. Organski, The $36 Billion Bargain: Strategy and Politics in U.S. Assistance to Israel (New York, 1990). 109. Argov to Gazit, telegram 242, 25 Sept. 1970, ISA 6854/9. 110. Gazit to Rabin and Eban, telegram, 767, 27 Sept. 1970, ISA 9341/10.