ISRAELS REPRISAL POLICY 19531956
Following Israels War of Independence in 19481949, the anticipated peace did not materialize and the new nation soon found itself embroiled in protracted military conflict with neighbouring Arab states. Demobilization of its armed forces led to the formation of special elite units under the command of Ariel Sharon to cope with cross-border infiltration, pillage and murder. A policy of deterrence was governed by the tactic of retaliation, which contained the seeds of escalation. At the same time, a military dynamic unfolded in which the logic of field unit response dictated both military and political policy and caught the imagination of a demoralized and war-weary Israeli society.
This book methodically examines the train of retaliatory actions conducted by the Israel Defence Force, the clashing orientations among Israeli political leadership towards the deteriorating military situation, the impact of massive immigration upon the social military fabric, and the restructuring of the Israeli army within the conceptual confines of field unit reprisal actions. A connected narrative of these actions provides case study illumination of the theoretical premises of study, namely the determination of security policy from below and the interaction between agency and structure in a military setting.
The myth of the Israeli paratroopers at the beginning of the 1950s and their heroic deeds in the reprisal raids embodied the new Zionist ethos for which the current Prime Minister of Israel, Ariel Sharon, claims much of the credit. The book thus provides historical insight into some of the most intractable developments of the current Arab-Israel conflict.
Zeev Drory is Director of the Military and Defence Studies Programme at the Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Israel.
ISRAELS REPRISAL POLICY 19531956
The dynamics of military retaliation
Zeev Drory
First published 2005
by Frank Cass, an imprint of Taylor & Francis
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX 14 4RN
Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada by Routledge
270 Madison Ave, New York, NY 10016
Frank Cass is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group
2005 Zeev Drory
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.
The publisher makes no representation, express or implied, with regard to the accuracy of the information contained in this book and cannot accept any legal responsibility or liability for any errors or omissions that may be made.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available
from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Drory, Zeev.
Israels reprisal policy, 19531956: the dynamics of
military retaliation/Zeev Drory. 1st ed.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
1. ArabIsraeli conflict 1948-1967.
2. Israel Armed Forces Parachute troops.
3. Reprisals. I. Title.
DS119.7.D463 2005
956.94052dc22 2004009531
ISBN 0714656321 (hbk)
ISBN 0714685178 (pbk)
CONTENTS
Foreword and Acknowledgements
The army is the clearest and the most tangible of all possible manifestations of the State, and the one which is most firmly connected with its origins and traditions.
(Georges Sorel, Reflections on Violence)
The myth of the paratroopers at the beginning of the 1950s and their heroic deeds in the reprisal raids was the new Zionist ethos on which my generation was nurtured. Bravery, audacity, voluntarism, pioneering spirit, love of the homeland and the people, which found expression in the readiness to give, even to sacrifice, ones life, already had captured my heart at an early age.
For many years I served in the Israel Defence Force (henceforth, IDF) as a soldier and commander in the Paratroopers Unit. The heroes of my youth accompanied me throughout my military career. From the beginning of the 1960s, through the Six Day War of 1967, the War of Attrition in the Suez Canal zone that followed, the hot pursuits after terrorist infiltrators into Israel and the personal trauma experienced in the battle at the Chinese Farm during the Yom Kippur War, these exemplary figures served as personal models for imitation on the battlefields where I fought. Later, as a senior commander, in the framework of the National Security Academy, I decided to undertake an examination of the period that had been so glorified: the period of the reprisal operations.
By virtue of my standing, I had access to the military archives and I immersed myself in a sea of documents. The operational orders, debriefings, and resumes were not only a testimony to historical events; they also afforded a glimpse into the spirit of the times. As a veteran military man, I was familiar with the processes connected with the planning and implementation of special operations at various levels. In particular, I was intrigued by the problematic topic of civilian oversight and control over the military.
Long combat experience in this meritorious corps provided me with the means of comprehending its esprit, the fervour that flowed in the veins of the paratroop commanders: to be an integral part of, to be privy to, to play a leading role. I shared in a feeling of responsibility for the fate of the nation and the state placed in the hands of a soldier in an elite unit whose duty was to defend and secure the safety of the citizens of the state. This esprit de corps, accompanied by the tensions and urgencies of the moment, which come to expression while drawing up battle plans and implementing military operations, cannot be found in the vast majority of written orders.
This research work became the basis for my MA thesis under Professor Yair Evron. The finished product was presented through the History Department of Tel Aviv University in 1987. The research illuminated in a sharp and clear manner the role of the army, and specifically, the Paratroop Unit, in the process of military escalation during this period. This Paratroop Unit, commanded by Ariel Sharon, today the Prime Minister of Israel, bore the operational burden of most, if not all, of the missions carried out in these years. The unit developed operational doctrines, combat skills and an exceptional fighting lan, all of which brought about a revolution in the fighting capabilities of the IDF. This same unit broke boundaries and barriers not only on the battlefield but also in effect in matters of Israeli national security policy.
IDF Field Security did not give permission for the publication of my MA thesis. Categorized as a classified research document, it gathered dust for a number of years in a Tel Aviv University basement. The conflict between Israel and the Palestinians during the late 1980s and early 1990s, and the growing involvement of the IDF in determining the states political agenda in the military field, in effect heightened the urge to see that the research with its attendant issues be published. In truth, current events and the occurrences that are the focus of this book are distant in time from each other but there are many affinities between the two periods.
