The Sword And The Olive Read online

  Table of Contents

  Title Page

  Dedication

  NOTE ON SOURCES, TRANSLATIONS, TRANSLITERATIONS, AND ACRONYMS

  GLOSSARY OF ACRONYMS AND HEBREW TERMS USED IN THE TEXT

  PREFACE TO THE PAPERBACK EDITION

  Introduction

  THE SWORD AND THE OLIVE

  I - THE SURGE, 1907-1949

  CHAPTER 1 - “BATTLE-WORTHY GUARDS”

  CHAPTER 2 - FOUNDING HAGANA

  CHAPTER 3 - “BEYOND THE FENCE”

  CHAPTER 4 - TOWARD STATEHOOD

  CHAPTER 5 - AT WAR FOR INDEPENDENCE

  CHAPTER 6 - REPELLING INVASION

  CHAPTER 7 - THE ACHIEVEMENT AND THE PRICE

  II - THE YEARS OF GREATNESS, 1949-1973

  CHAPTER 8 - THE ARMY OF THE STATE

  CHAPTER 9 - TRIALS BY FIRE

  CHAPTER 10 - BUILDING A MODERN ARMY

  CHAPTER 11 - THE APOGEE OF BLITZKRIEG

  CHAPTER 12 - AT BAY

  CHAPTER 13 - OCTOBER EARTHQUAKE

  CHAPTER 14 - THE RECKONING

  III - RUNNING OUT OF STEAM, 1974-1997

  CHAPTER 15 - RECOVERY AND EXPANSION

  CHAPTER 16 - GRENADES INTO MUSHROOM CLOUDS

  CHAPTER 17 - “THE LEBANESE MORASS”

  CHAPTER 18 - AN INDIAN SUMMER

  CHAPTER 19 - IMPOTENT AT THE GULF

  CHAPTER 20 - COPING WITH Intifada

  CHAPTER 21 - THE BETRAYAL OF FAITH

  THE GOOD AND THE EVIL

  NOTES

  INDEX

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  Copyright Page

  ALSO BY MARTIN VAN CREVELD

  Men, Women and War

  The Art of War: War and Military Thought

  The Rise and Decline of the State

  Airpower and Maneuver Warfare

  Nuclear Proliferation and the Future of Conflict

  The Transformation of War

  The Training of Officers: From Military Professionalism to Irrelevance

  Technology and War: From 2000 B.C. to the Present

  Command in War

  Fighting Power: German and U.S. Army Performance, 1939-1945

  Supplying War: Logistics from Wallenstein to Patton

  Hitler’s Strategy, 1940-41: The Balkan Clue

  In memory of Miki Levanon (1971-1992),

  who died by friendly fire.

  NOTE ON SOURCES, TRANSLATIONS, TRANSLITERATIONS, AND ACRONYMS

  AS NECESSARILY follows from the nature of the subject, the great majority of sources used in this study are in Hebrew. Some of them, notably the memoirs of such famous personalities as Moshe Dayan, Yitschak Rabin, and Ariel Sharon, have been translated into English. Nevertheless I have normally made use of, and referred to, the Hebrew originals—the reason being that they are often much more detailed and contain important documentary material that has been omitted from the English editions. To give the non-Israeli reader at least an idea of the nature of the source in question I have quoted each Hebrew title and provided it with a translation. Those translations are my own and by no means always correspond to the “official” English titles that are carried on the front pages and that all too often sacrifice accuracy for literary effect. It is my hope that this system will enable the non-Israeli reader, if not to check on my facts, then at least to obtain some kind of feel for the sources that I have used.

  As foreigners driving around Israel and trying to read the road signs will note, transliteration represents a problem; occasionally it seems there are as many transliterations as there are people, if not more. I tried to be as simple, consistent, and phonetically correct as I could, even if this meant ignoring the normal system (e.g., kibbuts instead of “kibbutz,” Chayim instead of Haim) and substituting one of my own.

  Finally, and for consistency’s sake, I have treated Hebrew acronyms as I would English ones: for example, in writing TSAHAL (for Tsva-Hagana Leyisrael) rather than the more normal Tsahal (let alone Zahal, which does not correspond to the way in which the word is pronounced); and PALMACH (for Plugot Machats) rather than Palmach. The reason for this is to make the informed reader, who may well have heard these terms before, aware that they do in fact represent acronyms. And indeed acronyms are something that the Israeli armed forces, like their opposite numbers in other countries, have been spouting forth in prodigious numbers.

  Still there is no denying that, for all but Hebrew-speakers, access both to the numerous Hebrew terms and to the sources remains difficult if not impossible. Therefore, as in any good restaurant, please feel free to ignore the kitchen and enjoy the meal.

  GLOSSARY OF ACRONYMS AND HEBREW TERMS USED IN THE TEXT

  Achdut Ha-avoda Unity of Labor; a left-wing activist party led by Yisrael Galili and Yigal Allon

  AEW airborne electronic warfare

  AFV armored fighting vehicle

  aluf, alufim (pl.) brigadier (later major) general

  APC armored personnel carrier

  APSDFS armor-piercing, sabbot-discarding, fin-stabilized ammunition

  BAKUM (Basis Klita U-miyun) Recruit Absorption and Classification Base

  Bar Giora first Jewish self-defense organization in Palestine (1907)

  Betar right-wing nationalist organization founded in 1925

  chalutsim pioneers

  chared, charedim (pl.) “the anxious ones”; non-Zionist orthodox Jews

  chatatsit gravel thrower; a contraption dreamed up by TAAS for combating Palestinian demonstrators

  CHEN (Chel Nashim) Women’s Army Corps

  Cherut Freedom; a right-wing political party, the ancestor of the modern Likud Party

  Chets Arrow: (1) type of elongated, armor-piercing ammunition developed for the Merkava tank; (2) antiballistic missile developed by IAI

  CHIM (Chel Mishmar) Garrison Force; Hagana’s stationary force

  CHISH (Chel Sadeh) Field Force; one of Hagana’s strike forces

  Chok Sherut Bitachon National Service Law of 1949

  CIC commander in chief

  CO comanding officer

  COS chief of staff

  dunam a parcel of land measuring 1,000 square meters

  en brera “no choice”; the ideological justification for Israeli wars until 1973

  ECM electronic countermeasures

  ETSEL (Irgun Tsvai Leumi) National Military Organization; pre-1948 right-wing terrorist organization

  fashla, fashlot (pl.) slang for “blunder”

  FLIR forward-looking infrared; a night-vision system for aircraft and helicopters

  FOSH (Plugot Sadeh) Field Companies; organized by Hagana in 1937-1938

  GADNA (Gdudei Noar) Youth Battalions; a paramilitary organization for youths run by the IDF

  gafir, gafirim (pl.) Jewish police officer working for the British authorities

  Galil Israeli-made assault rifle

  garin, garinim (pl.) “cores” of NACHAL youths earmarked for new settlements

  gesher ha-glilim roller bridge used in the 1973 October War to cross the Suez Canal

  GHQ general headquarters

  Gush Emunim Bloc of the Faith; a group of extreme right-wing nationalist Jews in the Occupied Territories

  hachshara, hachsharot (pl.) PALMACH training group

  HAGA (Hagana Ezrachit) Civil Defense Organization

  Hagana Defense; the Jewish self-defense force in Palestine before 1948

  hagana merchavit territorial defense

  Ha-shomer The Guard; the second Jewish self-defense organization in Palestine after Bar Giora

  Histadrut Labor Federation

  IAF Israel Air Force

  IAI Israel Aircraft Industries

  IDF Israeli Defense Force

  KABA (Kvutsat-ech
ut) Quality Group; a system of classifying recruits by quality

  KABAN, KABANIM (pl.) (ktsin beriut nefesh) mental health officer

  Kfir Lion Cub; the Israeli-built light fighter-bomber

  kibbuts, kibbutsim (pl.) communal settlement where all property is held in common

  kippot sruggot literally, “knitted yarmulkes”; the nickname for right-wing nationalist orthodox Jews

  Knesset the Israeli parliament

  kofer ha-yishuv the Yishuv’s ransom; the tax imposed by the Jewish community in Palestine in 1929

  Lavi Young Lion; the Israeli-built fighter-bomber that never flew

  LECHI (Lochame Cherut Yisrael) Israel’s Freedom Fighters; a pre-1948 right-wing terrorist organization

  LIC low intensity conflict

  Likud Unity; the right-wing political party that has dominated Israel during most of the years since 1977

  Maarachot Campaigns; the IDF’s periodical (monthly)

  maarav, maaravim (pl.) ambush

  MABAT (Mifalim Bitchoniyim) Defense Plants; an arms-manufacturing subsidiary of IAI

  MADAS, MADASit (fem.) Madrich Sport; a physical training instructor

  maoz, meozim (pl.) bunker

  MAFCHASH (Mifkedet Kochot Ha-sadeh) ground forces headquarters

  MAFDAL (Miflaga Datit Leumit) National Religious Party

  MAPAI (Mifleget Poale Erets Yisrael) Workers’ Party of the Land of Israel; ancestor of the modern Labor Party

  mateh staff

  MATKAL (Mateh Klali) General Staff

  mechdal oversight

  Merkava Chariot; an Israeli-built tank

  milchemet brera “war of choice”; the biblical term sometimes used in modern Israel to describe a war in which it took the initiative

  mirdaf, mirdafim (pl.) pursuit

  Mishmar Ha-gvul Frontier Guard

  Mispenot Yisrael Israeli Shipyards

  mistanen, mistanenim (pl.) infiltrators

  Moav (Moab) long-range UAV reportedly being considered by the IDF for combating surface-to-surface missiles

  MLRS multiple rocket launching system

  MOS military occupation specialty

  moshav different types of communal settlements in which the land, but not agricultural implements, are owned in common

  Mossad Institution; Israel’s foreign secret service

  NACHAL (Noar Chalutsi Lochem) Fighting-Pioneer Youth, the army’s corps of pioneers in uniform

  NAGMASH, NAGMASHim (pl.) (nose geyasot meshuryan) armored personnel carrier

  NAGMASHA, NAGMASHot (pl.) (noset geyasot meshuryenet) heavy armored personnel carrier on tank chassis

  NCO noncommissioned officer

  NILI (Netsach Yisrael Lo Yeshaker) Israel Will Live Forever; Jewish espionage ring in Palestine during World War I

  noter, notrim (pl.) Jewish police officer working for the British authorities

  Ofek Horizon; generic name for Israeli satellites

  PALMACH (Plugot Machats) Hagana’s pre-1948 strike force

  PALYAM (PALMACH-YAM) PALMACH’s naval company

  PAZAM (pesek zman minimali) minimum periods between promotions

  PGMs precision-guided munitions

  pkida plugatit, pkiddot plugatiyot (pl.) company clerk (female)

  POUM (1) Plugot Meyuchadot (Special Companies); Hagana intelligence organization set up in 1941; (2) Pikkud U-mateh (Command and General Staff College)

  PTSD posttraumatic stress disorder

  RAFAEL (Rashut Le-pituach Emtsaei Luchama) Weapon Development Authority

  RAFI (Reshimat Poalei Yisrael) Israeli Workers’ List; a party founded by Ben Gurion after his resignation as prime minister in 1963

  Rechesh Acquisition; Hagana’s arms-procurement organization

  Reshef Spark; a class of Israeli missile boats

  rosh mateh klali chief of the General Staff

  rosh mifkada artsit chief of country headquarters, the title carried by Hagana’s chief of staff

  RPV remotely piloted vehicle

  Saar Tempest; a class of Israeli missile boats

  sabra “the fruit of the cactus,” a nickname for Israeli-born Jews

  sayarot commando units

  SAM surface-to-air missile

  Shavit Comet 2, an (unsuccessful?) surface-to-surface missile built by RAFAEL during the early 1960s

  Sherut Aviri Air Service; PALMACH’s underground air arm

  Sherut Zehirut Prudence Service; Hagana’s security service

  Shin Bet (Sherut Bitachon) Israel’s domestic Security Service

  shomer, shomrim (pl.) guard

  SIGINT signals intelligence

  siyur, siyurim (pl.) patrol

  slik, slikkim (pl.) an underground chamber where arms were hidden

  SNS Special Night Squads; commando units organized by Capt. Orde Wingate during the disturbances of 1936-1939

  TAAS (Taasiya Tsvait) Israel Military Industries Ltd.

  tachkir, tachkirim (pl.) debriefing

  tadrich, tadrichim (pl.) briefing

  taoz, teozim (pl.) bunker

  timsach, timaschim (pl.) crocodiles; code name for rafts used in crossing the Suez Canal in 1973

  TOW tube-launched, optically tracked, wire-guided antitank missile

  TSAHAL (Tsva Hagana Le-Yisrael) IDF

  tsva keva standing forces

  UAV unmanned airborne vehicle

  ugda division

  Uzi Israeli-made submachine gun

  YAMACH, YAMACHim (pl.) (yechidat machsanei cherum) emergency depot

  yeshive, yeshivot (pl.) talmudic high school

  yeshivot hesder arrangement yeshives; Talmudic high schools in which students split time between the military and study

  Yishuv pre-1948 Jewish community in Palestine

  zroa ha-hachraa the decisive arm; applied to each arm and service to itself

  PREFACE TO THE PAPERBACK EDITION

  THE AUTUMN OF 1998 was perhaps the most hopeful moment in the entire hundred-year history of the Arab-Israeli conflict. At Wye Plantation, Maryland, Israeli, Palestinian, and American representatives were hard at work. Their purpose was to hammer out an agreement that would enable the Israel Defense Force (IDF) to withdraw from parts of the City of Hebron. At the head of the Israeli delegation to the talks was Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, political hardliner and leader of the Likud Party. Many observers believed that should the negotiations succeed, the most important obstacle to peace would have been overcome and the end of the conflict would be in sight.