Rabinovich - The yom kippur war : the epic encounter that transformed the middle east

Also by ABRAHAM RABINOVICH

The Boats of Cherbourg

The Battle for Jerusalem

Jerusalem on Earth: People, Passions, and Politics in the Holy City

Israel

Jerusalem: The Measure of the Year

A NOTE ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Abraham Rabinovich worked as a reporter for Newsday before joining the Jerusalem Post. His work has also appeared in the New York Times, the WallStreet Journal, the Christian Science Monitor, the International Herald Tribune, and The New Republic, among other publications. He is the author of five previous books, including Jerusalem on Earth. Born in New York City, he lives in Jerusalem.

A SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY

The 2,000-page report of the Agranat Commission, made available to researchers in 1993, is basic to any study of the war, as is Hanoch Bartovs wartime account of chief of staff Gen. David Elazar. Bartov was granted access to extensive records by Elazar. Excerpts from cabinet and General Staff protocols are contained in Moshe Dayans autobiography and the account written by his aide-de-camp, Arie Braun. The failings of Israeli military intelligence prior to the war are detailed in a highly illuminating book by Uri Bar-Joseph, himself a former intelligence officer. A good account of the battles on the Egyptian front is given in the book by Gen. Avraham Adan.

The official history of the war by the IDF was not published until January 2005 and proved a relatively incoherent account that offered no significant new information. However, historians involved in the project had, over the years, offered important insights into their work in published articles and in lectures.

Dozens of highly useful accounts and analyses of the war were published over the past three decades in Maarchot, Israels leading military journal. Israeli newspapers also offered a bounty of information. Unit histories were invaluable in reconstructing battles. An often poignant personal dimension is provided in memoirs by combatants, from Israeli tank sergeants to pilots, as well as the diary of an Egyptian soldier found on the battlefield. Eight daylong symposia conducted by the Israeli Military History Association in 19992001 produced new insights by senior commanders and researchers.

The Arab side of the war is poorly documented. A notable exception is the war diary by the Egyptian chief of staff, Gen. Saad el Shazly. Unfortunately, books by other Egyptian generals published in English are heavily laden with fantasy, but interviews granted by General Gamasy and Egyptian intelligence officers to the Israeli press offer valuable information. A lively and valuable political account is provided by journalist and Sadat confidant Mohammed Hassenein Heikal. There is nothing authoritative at all from the Syrian side but light is shed on military aspects by outside sources. These include an official Iraqi report on the Syrian frontone of the most straightforward Arab accounts of the warand articles by former Israeli intelligence officers as well as books by Egyptian and Soviet officials.

Victor Israelyans inside view from the Kremlin nicely balances Kissingers book in depicting the superpowers role in the war.

The written record has been amplified with more than one hundred and thirty interviews.

Books

Adan, Avraham. On the Banks of the Suez. San Francisco: Presidio Press, 1980.

Amir, Amos. Aish bashamayaim [Flames in the Sky]. Tel Aviv: Defense Ministry, 2000.

Argaman, Josef. Hiver Haya Ha-laila [Pale was the Night]. Tel Aviv: Yediot Achronot, 2000.

Atlas lToldot Medinat Yisrael [Atlas of the History of the State of Israel, 19711981]. Jerusalem: Carta, 1983.

Badri, Hassan el, Taha el Magdoub and Mohammed Dia el din Zohdy. The RamadanWar. Dunn Loring, Va.: T.N. Dupuy Associates, 1979.

Bar-Joseph, Uri. Hatsofe Shenirdam [The Watchman Fell Asleep]. Lod: Zmora-Bitan, 2001.

Bartov, Hanoch. Dado. Tel Aviv: Maariv Book Guild, 1978.

Ben-Porat, Yoel. Neila [Locked On]. Tel Aviv: Edanim, 1991.

Benziman, Uzi. Sharon: An Israeli Caesar. Tel Aviv: Adama, 1985.

Braun, Arie. Moshe Dayan vMilkhemet Yom Kippur [Moshe Dayan and the Yom Kippur War]. Tel Aviv: Edanim, 1992.

Bregman, Ahron. A History of Israel. Houndmills: Palgrave Macmillan, 2003.

Cohen, Eliot, and John Gooch. Military Misfortunes. New York: Vintage Books, 1991.

Cordesman, Anthony H., and Abraham R. Wagner. The Lessons of Modern War, vol. 1, The Arab-Israeli Conflicts, 19731989. Boulder, Colo.: Westview Press, 1990.

Dan, Uri. Rosh Gesher [The Bridgehead]. Tel Aviv: E.L. Special Edition, 1975.

Davis Institute for International Relations. Milkhemet Yom Hakippurim [The Yom Kippur War: A New View]. Symposium on the wars twenty-fifth anniversary. Jerusalem: Hebrew University, 1998.

Dayan, Moshe. Avnei Derekh [Milestones]. Jerusalem: Edanim, 1982.

Dupuy, Trevor. Elusive Victory. New York: HarperCollins, 1978.

Gal, Reuven. The Yom Kippur War: Lessons from the Psychologists Perspective. Zikhron Yaacov: Israeli Institute for Military Studies, 1987.

Gamasy, Mohamed Abdel Ghani el-. The October War. Cairo: American University in Cairo Press, 1993.

Gelber, Yoav, and Hani Ziv. Bnai Keshet [The Bow Bearers]. Tel Aviv: Defense Ministry, 1998.

Golan, Aviezer. Albert. Tel Aviv: Yedioth, 1977. In Hebrew.

Guy, Kermit. Bar-Lev. Tel Aviv: Am Oved, 1998. In Hebrew.

Haber, Eitan. Hayom Tifrots Milkhama [War Will Break Out Today]. Tel Aviv: Edanim, 1987.

Heikal, Mohammed Hassenein. The Road to Ramadan. New York: Ballantine, 1975.

Hersh, Seymour. The Samson Option. New York: Random House, 1991.

Herzog, Chaim. The War of Atonement. Tel Aviv: Steimatzky, 1975.

Hirst, David, and Irene Beeson. Sadat. London: Faber & Faber, 1981.

Insight Team of the Sunday Times. Insight on the Middle East. London: Andre Deutsch, 1974.

Iraqi Defense Ministry. Zva Iraq bMilkhemet Yom Kippur [The Iraqi Army in the Yom Kippur War]. Translation from Arabic to Hebrew. Tel Aviv: Maarchot, 1986.

Israelyan, Victor. Inside the Kremlin During the Yom Kippur War. University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press, 1995.

Kahalani, Avigdor (ed.). Ani Nishba lekha [The Yom Kippur WarFighters Stories]. Tel Aviv: Keter Publishing, 2003.

Kahalani, Avigdor. Oz 77 [Seventy-seventh Battalion]. Tel Aviv: Shocken, 1975.

Karsh, Efraim, ed. Between War and Peace: Dilemmas of Israeli Security. London: Frank Cass, 1996.

Kedar, B. Z. Sipuro Shel Gdud Makhatz [Story of a Strike Battalion]. Tel Aviv: Tamuz Press, 1975.

Kissinger, Henry. Years of Upheaval. Boston: Little, Brown, 1982.

Kober, Avi. Hakhara Tsvait [Military Decision in the Arab-Israeli Wars]. Tel Aviv: Maarchot, 1996.

Kumaraswamy, P. R., ed. Revisiting the Yom Kippur War. London: Frank Cass, 2000.

Lanir, Zvi. Hahaftaa Habasist [The Basic Surprise]. Tel Aviv: Kav Adom, 1983.

Luttwak, Edward, and Dan Horowitz. The Israeli Army. New York: Harper & Row, 1975.

Medzini, Meron. Hayehudit Hageah [The Proud Jewess]. Tel Aviv: Edanim, 1990.

Meir, Golda. My Life. Tel Aviv: Maariv, 1977.

Meital, Yoram. Egypts Struggle for Peace. Gainesville: University of Florida Press, 1997.

Millstein, Uri. Krisa Vlekacha [The Collapse and Its Lessons]. Kiron: Sridot, 1993.

Morris, Benny. Righteous Victims. New York: Vintage Books, 1999.