MORDECHAI GAZIT
369
preceden t with its dec ision to a uthorize the sale o f the Hawk m issi le
system to Israel, its inte nsive, though short li ved, woo ing o f Nasser
disturbed Israeli leaders dee pl y. Ben G uri on , in pa rticul ar, was
deepl y upse t by a Kennedy pla n to se ttl e the Arab refu gee problem ,
in whi ch Israe l was expec ted to take back a considera ble number o f
refu gees. Ameri can speeches a nd votes in the Security Council we re
often a cause of Israel i re entment. It was then still uni maginable
that the U ni ted Sta tes would use its ve to powe r to protec t Israe l from
conce rted Sov iet-Arab a saults. The Ni xon admini stration dealt
Israel a seve re blow when , in December
1969,
Sec retary of Sta te
Roge rs decla red th a t Israe l would have to withdraw completely from
the Sina i a nd a lmost completely from the Wes t Ba nk . T o the
Israelis, as Ki singer's memo irs tell us, it was o f ve ry li ttl e
ignificance that Pres ide n t Nixon did no t comple tel y support hi s
secreta ry. M ore we igh t was give n to the fac t tha t fo r a lmos t a year
the U nited States had been e ngaging in nego ti a ti ons with the Sov iets
in a n a ttempt to come up with a fin a l se ttl eme n t between Israe l a nd
the Arab count ries. T hese ta lks were dee ply resented in J erusalem
and were a ma tter of consta nt wo rry . O ccas ional breaks in
communi ca ti on tha t occurred in thi s per iod added to the suspicion ,
as, for exampl e, when wo rking pa pers which clea rl y conce rned
Israel we re not shown to Israel i leaders.
Eve n Israel's rela ti onship with H e nry Ki ss inge r , on the whole
close and fruitful , had its stormy moments. His e ffo rts on beha lf o f
the encircled Egy ptia n 1 hi rd Army, a t the end of the
1973
Yom
Kippur Wa r , were viewed in J erusalem as a di splay o f excess ive zeal
to please Israel's e nemies. When in the spring of
1975
he blamed
Israel for the fa ilure of hi s M a rch medi a ti on shuttle, the R abin
government a nd the Israe li public in ge neral not onl y fe lt tha t hi s
accusati on was unjustified , but tha t it could cause long- term damage
to Israe l's pos ition in American public opinion . In thi s case, as in
earlier ones, the q ue tion of whether or not Israel's reac ti on was
exagge ra ted is esse nti a ll y imma terial. Wha t ma ttered was the
intensity of fee ling a roused. T he convicti on tha t I rae l is a lone, a nd
tha t even its bes t fri end canno t be trusted too fa r , rema ined as strong
as eve r in Israel.
T he hu ge a irlift moun ted by the United Sta tes to resuppl y
Israel during the Yom Ki ppur Wa r , the long a nd impress ive history
of American generos ity toward Israel , a nd the ma ny insta nces in
which the United Sta tes was alone in its suppo rt of the J ewi sh state
in the interna tiona l a rena constitute the o ther side o f the bala nce
