1 On the raid and its ramifications, see Benny Morris, Israel's Border Wars, 1949—1956: Arab Infiltration, Israeli Retaliation, and the Countdown to the Suez War (Oxford 1993), 349—51.

2 On the flights' discontinuance see Israel's Cabinet Minutes, 13 November 1955, 44—5, Israel's State Archives (hereafter `ISA'). For Egypt's legal argument supporting the aerial blockade, see Shabtai Rosenne, `Legal review', 4 April 1957, ISA, Foreign Office Files (hereafter `FO') 4095/3.

3 For a list of these blows, such as the signing of a major arms deal (the Czech deal) with the Soviet Bloc (mid-1955), see Morris, Israel's Border Wars, op. cit., 273.

4 Oscar Schachter, `The Gulf of Aqaba', 22. UN Archives S 316—12—14.

5 For a recent critical analysis of Israel's justification for this `aggressive design for a coordinated attack on a sovereign state', see: Zeev Maoz, Defending the Holy Land: A Critical Analysis of Israel's Security and Foreign Policy (Michigan 2006), 47—79.

6 Ibid., 74.

7 David Kimche, `Israel's Struggle Against its Isolation', in Moshe Yagar et al. (eds), Ministry of Foreign Affairs: The First Fifty Years (Jerusalem 2002), 65—68. [Hebrew]. If not indicated otherwise, all translations from Hebrew sources are the author's.

8 UNSC doc. S/3442 on 27 September 1955.

9 See `Israel Protests in U. N.', New York Times, 29 September 1955, 3.

10 Moshe Dayan, Milestones — An Autobiography (Tel Aviv 1976), 57 [Hebrew].

11 See UN Doc. A/PV.666, 1275—9.

12 For Nasser's speech, see New York Times, 26 May 1967, 16.

13 For support for the argument that the closure was the watershed precipitating the 1967 crisis for Israel, see e.g. M. Brecher, Decisions in Crisis — Israel, 1967 and 1973 (Berkeley, CA, 1980), 104. For the Egyptian side, see e.g. A. El Sadat, In Search of Identity: An Autobiography (New York 1978), 173.

14 For an account of these two Egyptian moves see, for example, Michael B. Oren, Six Days of War: June 1967 and the Making of the Modern Middle East (New York 2002), 61—75.

15 For the statement, transmitted as an aide-memoire to the American Embassy in Cairo, see Louis M. Bloomfield, Egypt, Israel and the Gulf of Aqaba in International Law (Toronto 1957), 9. For the US ambassador's report to Washington, see Foreign Relations of the United States (hereinafter FRUS), 1950, vol. V, no. 102.

16 FRUS, 1951, vol. V, 62.

17 For these common beliefs see e.g. Michael Comay, UN Peacekeeping in the Israel-Arab Conflict, 1948—1975: An Israeli Critique (Jerusalem 1976), 80. On the true state of affairs, see e.g. a briefing by Meir, Knesset's Foreign Affairs and Security Committee (hereafter KFASC), on 12 March 1957. ISA, KFASC, A/7565, No. 7, 26.

18 See S/2241, 12 July 1951.

19 Bloomfield, Egypt, Israel and the Gulf of Aqaba, op. cit., 4.

20 See UNSC Res. 95, S/2322, 1 September 1951.

21 ISA, Documents on the Foreign Policy of Israel, 1954, vol. IX, Companion Volume, XVI. For the complaint, see Doc s/3168/Add I (29 January 1954), 3.

22 UN Doc. S/3188 corr. 1.

23 For the flight's exact route see Gideon Alrom, El Al Deputy Director-General, Finance Department, to Mordechai Gazit, Deputy Director-General, MFA, 17 November 1966: ISA, FO 4095/3.

24 For new light on this affair, see an interview with the then Israeli Consul in Sofia, Nir Baruch, on the occasion of the publication of a Bulgarian edition of Baruch's book on this affair: Yossi Melman, `Last Flight over Bulgaria', Ha'aretz, 19 June 2003, B3 [Hebrew].

25 Israel's Cabinet Minute, 2 February 1958, 31, 36, ISA.

26 See e.g. Morris, Israel's Border Wars, op. cit., 352.

27 Avner Yaniv, Politics and Strategy in Israel (Tel-Aviv 1994), 64 [Hebrew].

28 See e.g. Mordechai Bar-On, The Gates of Gaza: Israel's Defence and Foreign Policy, 1955—1957 (Tel Aviv 1992), 63 [Hebrew].

29 Dayan, Milestones , op. cit., 230.

30 Michael Bar-Zohar, Ben-Gurion (Tel Aviv 1977), vol. III, 1144. [Hebrew].

31 Dayan, Milestones, op. cit., 150, 345.

32 Oscar Schachter, `The Gulf of Aqaba', 22. UN Archives S 316—12—14.

33 Bloomfield, Egypt, Israel and the Gulf of Aqaba, op. cit., 5.

34 Israel's Cabinet Minute, 13 November 1955, 44—5, ISA. Both Ben-Gurion and Sharett were absent from that meeting.

35 Bar-On, The Gates of Gaza, op. cit., 52—3, 56; Dayan, Milestones, op. cit., 165; Morris, Israel's Border Wars, op. cit., 280—2.

36 Alrom to Gazit, Memorandum, 17 November 1966, ISA, FO 4095/3.

37 Memorandum, Uri Berger, Gazit's assistant, to Gazit, 19 October 1966, ISA, FO 4095/3. For Ben-Gurion's perception, see Israel's Cabinet Minute, 2 February 1958, 36—7, ISA.

38 Moshe Sharret, Personal Diary (Tel-Aviv 1978), vol. 6, 1594—1602 [Hebrew].

39 For a short list of these gains, see e.g. Maoz, Defending the Holy Land, op. cit., 76—7.

40 Ben-Gurion Entry, 11 November 1956, Diary (Tel Hashomer: The IDF Archives [IDFA]) [Hebrew].

41 Berger to Gazit, Memorandum, 27 October 1966, ISA, FO 4095/3.

42 See UN Doc. A/3512, 6.

43 D.R. Livesey to P.H. Laurence, Levant Department, Foreign Office, 11 February 1957; Laurence to UK Delegation, 18 February 1957: The National Archives, Foreign Office Record 371/128131.

44 For the UNGA condemnation see GAOR Res. 1124(XI) 2 February 1957.

45 Bar-On, The Gates of Gaza, op. cit., 294.

46 The aide-memoire, addressing the issue of the Gaza Strip, included the following statement: `the United States, on behalf of vessels of United States registry, is prepared to exercise the right of free and innocent passage and to join with others to secure general recognition of this right'. See FRUS, 1957, vol. XVII, No. 78.

47 Ibid., No. 142.

48 See Golda Meir, My Life (London 1975), 254—5.

49 For the NOTAM, published in the Air Information Publication, see Uri Berger to David Carmon, Deputy Director, the Military Intelligence (MI), Memorandum, 26 October 1966, ISA, FO 4095/3.

50 Elrom to Gazit, Memorandum, 17 November 1966, ISA, FO 4095/3.

51 Rosenne, `El Al Flights Over Sharm-el-Sheikh', 4 April 1957, ISA, FO 4095/3.

52 `Flight Renewal Over the Straits of Tiran', discussion paper, 27 December 1966, ibid.

53 Israel's Cabinet Minutes, 2 February 1958, 29—37; 16 February 1958, 62—5, ISA.

54 For the decision dated 6 May 1962, see Berger to Gazit, Memorandum, 2 November 1966, ISA, FO 4095/3. For the complete quotation, flight schedules and the numerous problems encountered on such a long route, see Arnold Sherman, El Al: Challenging the Skies (Tel-Aviv 1982), 2nd edn, 159. On the line's disadvantages, see Berger to Gazit, Memorandum, 13 October 1966, ISA, FO 4095/3.

55 On Israel's efforts to permit the flights and Iran's formal denial, see memoirs by Meir Ezri, Anyone of His People among You — Mission in Iran (Or Yehuda 2001), 324—7 [Hebrew]. For the legal status of the flights over Iran, see Uri Bialer, `Oil from Iran: Zvi Doriel's Mission in Tehran, 1956—1963 — Part II: The Operation', Iyunim Bitkumat Israel 9 (1999) 133—5, 139 [Hebrew].

56 For the English version see Meir Amit, `Secret Contacts for Peace: A Lost Opportunity', in Hesi Carmel (ed.), Intelligence for Peace (London 1999), 226—58, 244. For an extended version see Meir Amit, Head On (Or Yehuda 1999), 204—28 [Hebrew].

57 Berger to Naftali Ben-Yehuda, Ministry of Transport, 21 November 1966, ISA, FO 4095/2.

58 (Emphasis added.) Yoram Nimrod, Angry Waters: Controversy over the Jordan River (Giv'at Havivah 1966), Appendix B [Hebrew].

59 Abba Eban, An Autobiography (Tel Aviv 1978), vol. II, 323 [Hebrew].

60 Eban to Gazit, 24 July 1966, ISA, FO 4095/3.

61 See Berger to Gazit, Memorandum, 20 October 1966, ISA, FO 4095/2. The nationality of Mr Issaui is not specified in the available documents. Nevertheless, the fact that his successor, Mr Halil, was a Pakistani citizen who had visited Israel in late 1966 with the permission of the Pakistani government suggests that Issaui was likewise Pakistani. See Berger to Gazit, Memorandum, 21 October 1966, ISA, FO 4095/3.

62 Protocol, inter-ministerial meeting, 29 November 1966, ISA, FO 4095/3.

63 Only in February 2000 did Shabbtai Shavit, a former head of Mossad, admit Israel's involvement. See Yossi Melman, `Former Head of the Mossad Admits: Israel Intervened in the War in Yemen', Ha'aretz, 21 February 2000, A1 [Hebrew]. For more about those flights see Clive Jones, Britain and the Yemen Civil War (Brighton 2004), 135—50; Yair Stern, `Israel's Involvement in the Yemen's Civil War', Ha'aretz, 26 July 2004, B4 [Hebrew].

64 Memorandum for the Record, 13 October 1966, ISA, FO 4095/2.

65 Amit, Head On, op. cit., 219.

66 Berger to Gazit, Letters, 2 and 3 November 1966, ISA, FO 4095/2.

67 Memorandum for the Record, 30 October 1966, ibid.

68 Letter, British Embassy in Israel to Israel's MFA, 2 November 1966, ibid; Memorandum for the Record, 5 February 1967, ibid.

69 Memorandum, Points for Discussion, 27 November 1966, ISA, FO 4095/3.

70 Alrom to Gazit, Memorandum, 17 November 1966, ISA, FO 4095/1; Berger to Gazit, Memorandum, 14 October 1966, ISA, FO 4095/2; Berger with Alrom, Memorandum of a Conversation, 13 October 1966, ibid.

71 Alrom to Gazit, Memorandum, 17 November 1966, ISA, FO 4095/1.

72 Memorandum of Conversation with Carmon, 5 February 1967, ISA, FO 4095/2.

73 For reflections on this view, see Memorandum for the Record, 19 October 1966, ibid.

74 (Emphasis added.) Shabtai Rosenne, `Flights Over the Gulf of Eilat and the Strait of Tiran', 2 November 1966, ibid.

75 Memorandum, Points for Discussion, op. cit.

76 Gazit and Ben-Yehuda, Letter to the Minister of Foreign Affairs and the Minister of Transportation, 4 January 1967, ISA, FO 4095/3.

77 Sherman, El Al, op. cit., 159—60.

78 Berger to Gazit, Meeting Protocol, 2 November 1966, ISA, FO 4095/3.

79 Oren, Six Days of War, op. cit., 77.

80 For Israel's concerns over its legal rights see Meir's briefing to the Knesset's Foreign Affairs and Security Committee (KFASC) in April 1957. Meeting Protocol, FASC, 30 April 1957, ISA, A/7565, 8, Protocol 27/B, 6.

81 Meeting Protocol, FASC, 18 June 1957, Ibid., 9.

82 On Nasser's declaration see Abba Eban, The Diplomatic Battle in the United Nations and the United States in the Aftermath of the Suez Operation, vol. II, annex I (Washington, DC, June 1957), 7 [Hebrew], Unpublished manuscript, ISA, FO 2458/18—19.

83 For the entire unknown and surprising affair of Israel's freedom of navigation through the Straits of Tiran see E. Barak, `Israel's Freedom of Navigation through the Straits of Tiran, 1956—1967: Between Reality, Secrecy and Vision', The Middle East Journal, 61, 4 (Autumn 2007).

84 (Emphasis added.) International Legal Materials, vol. 18, 1979, 362—93, 365.

The Freedom that Never Was: Israel's Freedom of Overflight Over the Straits of Tiran Prior to the Six Day War

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