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In-Depth Information
states grew increasingly supportive of the Soviet Union, however, the United States came to
believe that an alliance with Israel would serve its interests.
As early as the Kennedy administration, in 1962, the United States began supplying arms to
Israel. With Israel's victory in the 1967 war, when it decisively defeated Soviet-armed radical
Arab regimes, U.S. policymakers concluded that the alliance should move into the open. And
when Israel saved Jordan from invasion by Syria in 1970 —by threatening to attack the Syrians
if they crossed the border — the U.S.-Israel relationship moved to the status it has held to the
present day.
At the same time, though, Israel did not give up on trying to build important relations with
Third World countries. Israel perceived itself, like them, as a developing country. It hoped to
leap over the surrounding hostile zone and form trade and diplomatic relationships with other
countries in Africa, Asia, and Latin America.
A special asset that Israel had to offer was its technological expertise in innovative develop-
ment techniques and equipment, particularly for agriculture. Israel established relations with
many sub-Saharan African, non-Communist Asian, and Latin American countries. Between
1958 and 1970, almost 4,000 Israeli experts served in the Third World, mainly in Africa. Even
when Third World countries supported the Arab side diplomatically against Israel, mutually
benefi cial relations continued. After the 1967 war, however, Arab states pressured African
countries to cut relations with Israel and offered them economic benefi ts in exchange. This
campaign was successful in many cases.
THE SIX-DAY WAR OF 1967 AND ITS AFTERMATH
Israel's brief respite from the direct effects of its neighbors' hostility ended in the mid-1960s,
when the Arabic-speaking world was swept by a wave of radicalism, propelled by inter-Arab
rivalries; Egypt's leadership; and Nasser's popularity, along with revolutionary activity by a
number of Palestinian, Arab nationalist, and neo-Marxist groups. Cross-border guerrilla at-
tacks against Israel from Egypt, Jordan, and Syria took place, along with many small shooting
incidents on the Israel-Syria border.
In 1959, a group of Palestinian nationalists, Yasir Arafat among them, founded the Fatah
movement. The goal of Fatah — and other Palestinian organizations formed during that era —
was to wipe out Israel, which members believed would not survive for long if under assault by
Arab armies and Palestinian guerrillas or under the Arab economic boycott's pressure. Five
years later, the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) was founded, largely as an instrument
of Egyptian policy. In the Arab political arena, reversing the results of the 1948 war in which
Israel had won its independence and eliminating that state was again at the top of the agenda.
Arab regimes, politicians, and intellectuals asserted that no price was too high to pay for a total
victory ending in Israel's destruction.
The high level of tension and competition among Arab regimes to prove their militant
opposition to Israel led to a major crisis in 1967. The Soviets, to make the Arabs feel that
they needed Moscow's help, falsely charged that Israel was about to attack Syria. Meanwhile,
Nasser, insisting on his eagerness to confront Israel, allied Egypt with Syria and Jordan and
