Kai Bird: Israel the Aggressor in the Six Day War

In a Jerusalem Post column, "Rosner's Domain", Kai Bird is quoted as saying:

"I understand that most Israelis and Americans still believe that Egypt provoked the June War and perhaps they even believe that Egypt was the aggressor. But historians are constantly churning the archives for new evidence. Our job is to revise the historical narrative with new evidence. To this end, I am firmly persuaded that the war happened as a result of a series of miscalculations on the part of Nasser, the Syrians, and the Soviets. Moreover, it is also clear that the Israeli leadership understood that Nasser had no intention of launching an attack -- but that he had provided them the public provocations that allowed them to seize the opportunity to deal his regime a blow and seize the Sinai."

http://cgis.jpost.com/Blogs/rosner/entry/kai_bird_on_israel_s

Bird obviously chooses to disbelieve, or has never read Michael Oren's epic history of June 1967, "Six Days of War", which observes:

"[E]ncouraged by the lack of response, Israeli or American, to the closure of Tiran, [Egyptian] Field Marshall 'Amer continued to plan his offensive. 'This time we will be the ones to start the war,' he confided to Gen. Murtagi during a tour of forward fortifications. Beyond air strikes at strategic targets and the detachment of Eilat, 'Amer now broadened his objectives to include the entire Negev."

Sure, Oren is now Israel's ambassador to the U.S. (and a friend from the army); however, he is also an Israeli "moderate", and even The Guardian recognized the bona fides of this account:

"Michael Oren . . . deserves credit for producing the most detailed, the most comprehensive, and by far the best-documented history that we have on this short but fateful war."

Bird chooses to ignore Nasser's closure of the Straits of Tiran to Israeli shipping and all ships bound for Eilat (a non-aggressive "miscalculation"?), but how does Bird also ignore Field Marshall 'Amer's orders to the Egyptian Armed Forces on Radio Cairo on May 17, 1967:

1. The state of preparedness of the Egyptian Armed Forces will increase to the full level of preparedness for war, beginning 14.30 hours last Sunday.

2. Formations and units allocated in accordance with the operational plans will advance from their present locations to the designated positions.

3. The armed forces are to be in full preparedness to carry out any combat tasks on the Israel front in accordance with developments.

So to which revisionist history is Kai Bird referring?

Kai Bird's "Who Lives in Sheik Jarrah?": Why Not Arabs and Jews?

OPEN LETTER

Dear Mr. Bird,

I read your New York Times op-ed, "Who Lives in Sheik Jarrah?" (http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/01/opinion/01bird.html?ref=opinion), and have several questions concerning your conclusion:

"If Israel wishes to remain largely Jewish and democratic, then it must soon withdraw from all of the occupied territories and negotiate the creation of a Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza with East Jerusalem as its capital. And if not, it should at least let the Kalbians go home again."

As an Israeli who favors a two-state solution and wishes to withdraw from the West Bank with land swaps as necessary, I would first observe that your proposal for a Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital has already been offered by Israeli prime ministers Barak and Olmert and refused, respectively, by Arafat and Abbas. Why is there no mention of this in your op-ed?

I would also observe that it is very difficult to negotiate any kind of settlement with Abbas, who, with the encouragement of the Obama administration, refuses to begin "proximity talks", i.e. negotiations where the parties don't even sit at the same table, without Israel first agreeing in advance to his terms.

Negotiate with Hamas, the rulers of Gaza? Sure. The problem, however, is that the Hamas charter inter alia provides:

"Israel will exist and will continue to exist until Islam will obliterate it, just as it obliterated others before it."

"The Islamic Resistance Movement believes that the land of Palestine is an Islamic Waqf consecrated for future Muslim generations until Judgment Day. It, or any part of it, should not be squandered: it, or any part of it, should not be given up."

"There is no solution for the Palestinian question except through Jihad. Initiatives, proposals and international conferences are all a waste of time and vain endeavors."

"The Day of Judgment will not come about until Muslims fight the Jews (killing the Jews), when the Jew will hide behind stones and trees. The stones and trees will say O Muslims, O Abdulla, there is a Jew behind me, come and kill him."

Do you honestly believe that Hamas, whose principal benefactor is Iran and which has its own Middle East agenda, will negotiate with Israel any time soon?

Also, there is no mention in your op-ed of the some 800,000 Jews who, when Israel was established, were evicted from their homes in Arab countries and deprived of all of their belongings. I can of course understand your deep personal concern for your former neighbors, the Kalbians, in Sheik Jarrah, but are those 800,000 Jewish refugees just a number for you? Are they not also entitled to compensation? Are they not also entitled to at least some passing mention in your op-ed?

I also wish to relate to your observation:

"And it is, to an extent — although much of the world doesn’t recognize Israel’s annexation of East Jerusalem, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu refuses to halt the construction of new housing units for Jewish Israelis in the Arab neighborhoods."

First it need be noted that the construction in Ramat Shlomo is not occurring in an "Arab neighborhood", rather it is occurring on a barren hill overlooking the narrow corridor leading into West Jerusalem. This is indeed one of those small pieces of land (several hundred square yards) which will need to be swapped in order to prevent future sniping attacks, which could choke off West Jerusalem.

Second, are you suggesting that Jews have no right to build in the Jewish Quarter of the Old City of Jerusalem, which was totally reduced to rubble - both homes and synagogues - in 1948 by the Jordanian Arab Legion, and where Jews, until 1967, were forbidden to pray beside the Wailing Wall ("Kotel")? This is not acceptable to Israelis from either the "right" or the "left".

"Who Lives in Sheik Jarrah?" Why not both Arabs and Jews, even if Sheik Jarrah ultimately becomes part of the capital of a Palestinian state?

I'm certain your childhood memories of the Kalbians are vivid; however, any attempt at a solution of the Jewish-Palestinian problem requires a wider, more knowledgeable, more compassionate view - which also accounts for the hundreds of thousands of Jews evicted from their homes in the Middle East.

Yours sincerely,
Jeffrey