US never wanted Israel to move beyond armistice lines

By Ted Belman

In the Conspiracy to Shrink Israel a few months ago and now Amir Oren has added to the picture by advising that U.S. had emergency plan for attacking Israel in 1967 ,

The basis for the directive was Washington’s policy of support for the existence, independence and territorial integrity of all the states of the region. This translated into adherence to the Israeli-Arab armistice lines of 1949. The policy was not to allow Egypt, or any combination of Arab states, to destroy Israel, but also not to allow Israel to expand westward, into Sinai, or eastward, into the West Bank.

The American pressure in this regard brought the IDF back from El Arish in Operation Horev in 1949 and from Sinai in 1956. A version of it would appear in Henry Kissinger’s directives after the IDF encircled Egypt’s Third Army at the end of the Yom Kippur War of 1973.

[..] Conway’s reply to this, dated May 28, is described in the top-secret study as “a strong plea for complete impartiality.” The United States was liable to lose its influence to the Soviets, the general warned, and therefore it must demonstrate “strict neutrality” and avoid open support for Israel.

The true importance of the Middle East lay in the American-Soviet context of the Cold War, Conway argued, and the American stance must derive from those considerations, not from “local issues.”

April 23, 2007 | Comments Off on US never wanted Israel to move beyond armistice lines

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