Back to the future: New released documents show Israel, U.S. tensions, circa 1975
The U.S. administration is tired of Israel's intransigence, warmongering and attempts to interfere in its domestic politics. Welcome to the 1970s.
By Amir Oren
In March 1975, U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger was
shuttling between Jerusalem and Cairo in an effort to reach a second
interim Sinai agreement between Israel and Egypt. The Israeli
negotiating team included then-Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, Defense
Minister Shimon Peres, Foreign Minister Yigal Allon, and IDF Chief of
Staff Mordechai (Motta) Gur.
The major obstacle was Israel's refusal to withdraw the Israel Defense
Forces to the eastern approaches of the Mitla and Gidi passes. Kissinger
was angry at the Israelis for their weakness, their scant political
experience and their internal squabbles. He later vented his
frustrations to President Gerald Ford. The Israelis were "treacherous,
petty, deceitful - they didn't treat us like allies," and they deceived
him into thinking that there was sufficient reason for him to come to
the region. But now, at a meeting with Egyptian president Anwar Sadat in
Aswan, after Foreign Minister Ismail Fahmi and Defense Minister Abdel
Ghani el-Gamasy had left the room, Kissinger surprised Sadat by handing
him a personal letter from Rabin.
Read it at Haaretz:
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