Golda Meir and the 1973 Yom Kippur War

ABSTRACT

Most historians blame Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir for the outbreak of the 1973 Yom Kippur War, having allegedly rejected all peace proposals made by Egyptian President Anwar Sadat. In fact, Sadat was adamantly opposed to Meir’s demand for direct negotiations, envisaging political settlement as an American dictate on Israel. The Yom Kippur War shook both sides of their intransigence and brought them closer to each other’s position.

KEYWORDS:

• Israel
• Egypt
• Yom Kippur War
• Golda Meir
• Anwar Sadat
• peace talks
• Six Day War
• Henry Kissinger
• Joseph Sisco
• Rogers Plan
• Moshe Dayan

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1. Goldstein, Golda, 89, 544.

2. Shlaim, Iron Wall, 282–4, and Lion of Jordan, 52. See also, Weitz, “Golda Meir,” 54; Bably, Dreams, 89.

3. Bar-Joseph, Watchman, 14–15, and “Last Chance”, 545–6. See also, Ya’acobi, Razor’s Edge, 174–5; Beilin, Price of Unity, 116–54.

4. Kipnis, 1973, 9–10, 31. Yossi Sarid who was a Minister of Education and led the Meretz Party between 1996–2003 defined Meir as “the source of all evil”, Ha’aretz, 24 December 2012.

5. Lebow, and Stein, We All Lost, 150–1, 181. See also, Daigle, Limits of Détente, 4; and Quandt, Peace Process, 24.

6. Neff, Warriors, 19, 25–8, 30. See also, Venetik and Shalom, “U.S. Middle Eastern Policy,” 208; and Tyler, Fortress Israel, 8–10, 199–200, 240.

7. Boumfeld, Take the Plunge, 904–5.

8. Gazit, “Egypt and Israel,” 97–115, and Peace Process, 122–7. Gazit served as General Manager of the prime minister office during Meir’s tenure. See also Meir, My Life, 289–91.

9. For the full text of Resolution 242 see Moore, Arab-Israeli Conflict, 802–3.

10. Knesset Debates, Israel Parliamentary Debates, vol. 54, 17 March 1969.

11. Israel State Archives, Jerusalem (ISA), A-10/6304, Prime Minister’s Files, June 9 1967; Eban, Memoirs, 430; Rabin, Service Notebook, vol. 1, 226–7; Knesset Debates, vol.50, 30 October 1967; Foreign Relation of the United States (FRUS), Arab-Israeli Dispute, 1967–1968, vol. 20, 80–6, 311–12.

12. Tsoref, Golda Meir, 273–81.

13. United States National Archives (USNA), RG59/1819, SD to Tel Aviv, 15 March 1969, and RG59/1834, SD to Tel Aviv, 2 April 1969; The National Archives, Kew, London (TNA), FCO17/943, Washington to FCO, 15 March 1969.

14. USNA, Nixon Files/756, Prime Minister Meir to President, 15 May 1969.

15. TNA, FCO17/947, Record of Conversation, 13 June 1969.

16. USNA, Nixon Files/756, 13 June 1968.

17. USNA, RG59/1840, SD to Tel Aviv, 19 December 1969; Quandt, Peace Process, 68.

18. Rafael, Destination Peace, 192; Kissinger, White House Years, vol.1, 401; Rabin, Service Notebook, vol. 1, 263.

19. Heikal, Road to Ramadan, 53–4.

20. USNA, Nixon Files/756, Prime Minister Meir to President, 15 May 1969.

21. Dayan, Story, 521; Rabin, Service Notebook, vol. 1, 296; Korn, Stalemate, 254; and Quandt, Peace Process, 74.

22. Nixon, Memoirs, 482.

23. USNA, RG50/2068, Sisco to Rogers, 15 August 1970. Israeli, Man of Defiance, 23.

24. Karawan, “Identity,” 182; and Sorby, ‘War of Attrition’, 132.

25. Burns, Economic, 176–177; El Husseini, Soviet-Egyptian Relations, 184; Heikal, Road to Ramadan, 115; and Heikal, Secret Channels, 169.

26. Waldheim, “Search for Peace,” 203–4; Gazit, Peace Process, 65; and USNA, Nixon Files, H-31, Memorandum for the President, 25 February 1971.

27. USNA, RG59/2073, Cairo to SD, 16 February 1971.

28. Klagsbrun, Lioness, 585; and Boumfeld, Take the Plunge, 126–27.

29. Waldheim, “Search for Peace,” 204–205; and Rafael, Destination Peace, 230.

30. Boumfeld, Take the Plunge, 312.

31. USNA, RG50/2074, Scenario for Seeking to Break the Impasse on the Middle East, 9 March 1971, and Rogers to Tel Aviv, 19 March 1971.

32. USNA, RG50/2074, Scenario for Seeking to Break the Impasse on the Middle East, 9 March 1971, and Rogers to Tel Aviv, 19 March 1971; Daigle, “Russians are Going,” 4.

33. ISA, Hez8/4288, New York to Jerusalem, 6 March 1971; Gazit, Peace Process, 66–8.

34. ISA, Hez8/4288, Paris to Jerusalem, 4 March 1971, Telegram no. 37 and 41.

35. ISA, Hez8/4288, New York to Jerusalem, 6 March 1971; TNA, FCO17/1499, Record of Conversation, 4 March 1971.

36. The Times, 13 March 1971; Ma’ariv (Israeli daily newspaper), 14 March 1971; Knesset Debates, vol. 60, 16 March 1971.

37. Newsweek, 22 February 1971. See also, Heikal, Road to Ramadan, 116; Meital, Egypt’s Struggle, 85–87; Gazit, Israeli Diplomacy, 93–4; Rubinstein, Red Star, 137; Sadat, “Where Egypt Stands,” 120; and ISA, Hez4/7024, Jerusalem to Washington, 10 February 1971.

38. USNA, RG59/2073, Sadat to Nixon, 5 March 1971; TNA, FCO17/1405, Washington to FCO, 9 March 1971; ISA, Hez7/7024, Jerusalem to Washington, 4 February 1971; Riad, Struggle, 177–178; and Ya’acobi, Razor’s Edge, 75.

39. USNA, RG59/2074, Memorandum for the President, 9 March 1971.

40. ISA, Hez2/4289, Washington to Jerusalem, 6 March 1971; Rabin, Service Notebook, vol. 2, 339; and Ya’acobi, Razor’s Edge, 106, 180.

41. ISA, Hez2/7024, Jerusalem to Washington, 2 April 1971; TNA, FCO17/1492, Cairo to FCO, 6 April 1971; and Meital, Egypt’s Struggle, 93.

42. ISA, Hez2/7024, Jerusalem to Washington, 6 May 1971; Meital, Egypt’s Struggle, 94.

43. Daigle, “Russians are Going,” 6–7; Riad, Struggle, 201; USNA, RG59/2076, Origins of the Concept of an Interim Agreement, no date. See also, Newsweek, 13 December 1971.

44. Knesset Debates, vol. 59, 9 February 1971.

45. Public Relations Office, “The Special Arrangement to Reopen the Suez Canal.”

46. ISA, HEZ2/7024, Jerusalem to Ottawa, 2 May 1971; Rabin, Service Notebook, vol. 2, 348.

47. ISA, Hez4/5987, Jerusalem to Washington, 19 April 1971; Rabin, Service Notebook, vol. 2, 348; Heikal, Secret Channels, 167–168; and Kissinger, White House Years, vol. 3, 1318; Rafael, Destination Peace, 327.

48. ISA, Hez3/7024, Jerusalem to Washington, 9 May 1971; TNA, FCO17/1490, Tel Aviv to FCO, 10 May 1971.

49. ISA, Hez3/7024, London to Jerusalem, 18 May 1971; Dayan, Story of My Life, 527; Eban, Memoirs, 470; Ya’acobi, Grace of Time, 99; USNA, RG59/2075, SD to London, 12 May 1971.

50. ISA, Hez3/7024, Jerusalem to Washington, 10, and 13 and 20 May 1971; USNA, RG59/2076, Cairo to SD, 1 June 1971; Gazit, Israeli Diplomacy, 96.

51. ISA, Hez9/7311, Conversation between Rabin and Sisco, 9, and 29 June 1970; Kissinger, The White House Years, vol.3, p.1320; USNA, RG59/2076, SD to Tel Aviv, 29 June 1971; Yaqub, “The Politics of Stalemate,” 47.

52. ISA, Hez9/7311, Prime Minister’s Remarks and Instructions, 10 May 1971.

53. ISA, A6/7029, Meir-Sisco Meeting, 30 July 1971; USNA, RG59/2076, Meir-Sisco- Meeting, 31 July 1971.

54. ISA, Hez2/7302, Sisco’s Reports, 1 August 1971, and Meir-Sisco Meeting, 2 August 1971, and Hez2/7301, Gazit to Eban, 1 August 1971; Rafael, Destination Peace, 241;

55. USNA, RG59/2076, Sisco-Meir Meeting, 31 July 1971; ISA, Hez2/7301, Meir Sisco Meeting, 30 July 1971.

56. ISA, Hez2/7301, Rabin to Gazit, 13 August 1971.

57. Rabin, Service Notebook, vol. 2, 364, 367; Gazit, Israeli Diplomacy, 97; and Boumfeld, Take the Plunge, 651–4, 929–30.

58. ISA, A12/7038, New York to Jerusalem, 6 February 1971; TNA, FCO93/235, Cairo to FCO, 20 March 1973.

59. USNA, RG59/2083, Tels, 2477–2478, Cairo to SD, 29 January 1973; TNA, FCO93/234, Minute by Craig, 19 February 1973; USNA, RG59/2083, Tel. 2477, Cairo to SD, 29 January 1973.

60. USNA, RG59/25 Records of Henry Kissinger, Memorandum of Conversation, 20 May 1973.

61. Quandt, Peace Process, 99; Rabin, Service Notebook, vol. 2, 383–385; Yaqub, “Politics of Stalemate,” 51; Boumfeld, Take the Plunge, 904; USNA, RG59/25 Records of Henry Kissinger, Memorandum of Conversation, 20 May 1973. Tsoref, Golda, 464–5.

62. USNSA, RG59/25 Records of Henry Kissinger, Memorandum of Conversation, 20 May 1973.

63. Ibid.; Nixon Files, HAKO/132, Memorandum of Conversation, 13 August 1973.

64. USNSA, RG59/25 Records of Henry Kissinger, Memorandum of Conversation, 20 May 1973.

65. USNSA, NPMP, HAKO/132, Memorandum of Conversation, 13 August 1973; Tsoref, Golda, 465; USNA, NPMP, HAKO/132, Memorandum for the President, 2 June 1973.

66. USNSA, RG59/25 Records of Henry Kissinger, Memorandum of Conversation, 20 May 1973; and Nixon Files, HAKO/132, Memorandum of Conversation, 13 August 1973.

67. ISA, A12/7038, Nixon-Meir Meting, 1 March 1973. ISA, A1/7051, Gazit to Dinitz, 13 May 1973, and Hez5/5975, The Egyptian Initiative, 9 May 1973.

68. Yediot Ahronot (Tel Aviv), 6 November 1987.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Moshe Gat

Moshe Gat is Emeritus Professor of History and Political Science at Bar-Ilan University, Israel.