Futile Diplomacy, Volume 4: Operation Alpha and the Failure of Anglo-American Coercive Diplomacy in the Arab-Israeli Conflict, 1954-1956

439 Pages·2015·6.71 MB·English

by  Neil Caplan

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Operation Alpha and the Failure of
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Neil Caplan
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ISBN 978-1-138-90525-2
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www.routledge.com(cid:15)aninformabusiness
FUTILE DIPLOMACY
Volume 4
OPERATION ALPHA AND THE
FAILURE OF ANGLO–AMERICAN
COERCIVE DIPLOMACY IN THE
ARAB–ISRAELI CONFLICT, 1954–1956
Page Intentionally Left Blank
FUTILE DIPLOMACY
Volume Four
Operation Alpha and the Failure of
Anglo–American Coercive Diplomacy in the
Arab–Israeli Conflict, 1954–1956
NEIL CAPLAN
Firstpublishedin1997byFRANKCASSPUBLISHERS
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FUTILE
DIPLOMACY
VOLUMEF OUR
OPERATION ALPHA AND THE
FAILUREO F ANGLO-AMERICAN
COERCIVED IPLOMACYI N THE
ARAB-ISRAELCIO NFLICT, 194-5-1956
NEIL CAPLAN
FRANK CASS
LONDON PORTLANDO,R
•
First published in 1997 in Great Britain by
FRANK CASS PUBLISHERS
Newbury House, 900 Eastern Avenue
London IG2 7HH
and in the United States ofA merica by
FRANK CASS PUBLISHERS
c/o ISBS, 5804 N.E. Hassalo Street
Portland, Oregon 97213-3644
Website: http://www.frankcass.com
Copyright© 1997 Neil Caplan
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data:
Caplan, Neil, 1945-
Futile diplomacy
Vol. 4: Operation Alpha and the failure of Anglo-American
coercive diplomacy in the Arab-Israeli conflict, 1954-1956
1. Israel-Arab conflicts 2. Jewish-Arab relations-1949-1967
3. Diplomatic negotiations in international disputes
I. Title
327.5'694'0174927
ISBN 0-7146-4757-8 (cloth)
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Caplan, Neil, 1945-
0peration Alpha and the failure of Anglo-American coercive diplomacy
in the Arab-Israeli conflict, 1954-1956 I Neil Caplan
p. em. -(Futile diplomacy ; v. 4)
Includes bibliographical references (p. ) and index.
ISBN 0-7146-4757-8 (cloth)
1. Jewish-Arab relations-1949-1967. 2. Jewish-Arab
relations-1949-1967-Sources. 3. United Nations-Palestine.
4. World politics-1945-1955. I. Title. II. Series: Caplan, Neil,
1945- Futile diplomacy; v. 4.
DSll9.7.C319
956.04'2--<lc21 82-213007
All rights reserved. No part oft his publication may be reproduced in any form or by any
means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior
permission ofF rank Cass fS Company Limited.
Typeset by
Vitaset, Paddock Wood, Kent
Printed in Great Britain by
Bookcraft (Bath) Ltd, Midsomer Norton, Avon
Contents
Documents V111
Preface lX
Abbreviations Xl
Illustrations X111
Introduction XV
Part One: The Background of Anglo-American
Co-operation, 1948-54
I Anglo-American Support for Bilateral and United
Nations Peace Efforts 3
Dynamics of Anglo-American Co-operation
Support for Bilateral Negotiations
Support for United Nations Initiatives
II The Two-Pronged Approach 14
'A Gradual Process of Education' of the Arabs to Accept Israel
Pressure on Israel for Gestures and Concessions
III Nibbling at the Edges: The Failure of Conflict
Management 27
The Tripartite Declaration
Diplomatic Representations in Support of UNTSO
Anglo-American Proposals for Reducing Frontier Tensions
Starting a Chain of Confidence-Building Measures
From the 'Edges' Back to the Core Issues
IV Attempts at Conflict Resolution 49
Calls for a 'Positive Policy' - A Settlement by Compulsion?
American and British Plans for a Comprehensive
Settlement
Convergence of British and American Thinking
VI FUTILE DIPLOMACY
Part Two: The Best Laid Plans
v Preparing Alpha 73
British Good Offices Offered
Looking for an Arab Opening; Keeping the Israelis Reassured
From Co-operation to Collaboration: Formulation of
Angl(}-American Terms of Settlement
VI First Approaches 96
Eden and Nasir: First Hints of Alpha
Setbacks: Baghdad pact and Gaza Raid
Byroade, Fawzi and Nasir: Early Probings
London and Paris Meetings: Fine-Tuning the Negev
Proposals
Factoring in Israel: Security Treaty versus Arab-Israeli
Settlement
Part Three: Stumbling from Obstacle to Obstacle
VII From Secret Sounding to Public Pronouncements:
The Dulles Statement, August 1955 123
The Waiting Game, April-August 1955
Dulles' Decision to Go Public
The Dulles Statement
Aftermath
VIII Arms and Alpha: The Arab Connection 152
Western Arms and Aid for the Arabs
Soviet Arms for Egypt: The End of the Tripartite Monopoly
Sharett's Hat-in-Hand Diplomacy: Paris and Geneva
Fears of an Israeli Pre-emptive Strike
New Moves to Court Nasir
IX Eden's Guildhall Speech, November 1955 175
Guildhall Speech: Seeking a Compromise between 1947
and the Status Quo
Arab Reactions
The Israeli Reaction
Mahmud Fawzi: Principles behind the Egyptian Position
X Showdown with Sharett 187
Build-Up to a Confrontation between the US and Israel
Dulles' 'Bombshell Surprise', 21 November 1955
Not Another Munich: Israel Sets Out its Position
A New Israeli 'Peace Offensive?
Finessing US-Israeli Differences
Between Optimism and Pessimism
CONTENTS Vll
XI Arms and Alpha: The Israeli Connection 204
Hesitations Regarding Israel's Arms Requests
Lake Kinneret Raid
Arms as Carrots for Negotiations
Arms and the Anderson Mission
A Brief Assessment
XII Alpha's Last Chance: The Anderson Mission 220
Preparing for American Mediation
Anderson's Mission: Mandate and Expectations
First Meetings in Cairo
First Meetings in Israel
Return to Cairo
Return to Jerusalem
Interlude: Washington, Cairo, Jerusalem
Conclusions
XIII Alpha and Gamma: Post-Scripts and Post-Mortems 245
'Last Shot' at a Meeting between Nasir and Ben-Gurion
Anderson's Final Visit
From 'Alpha' to 'Omega'
The Principal Players: Nasir and Israel
XIV Carrots and Sticks: The Limits of Anglo-American
Coercive Diplomacy 262
Militant Protagonists and International Opinion
The Context: British and American Interests
Carrots and Sticks: An Inventory
Angl<r-American Co-operation
American and British Presumptions
The Limits of Coercive Diplomacy
'Arms and the Dam'
Documents 290
Notes 319
Bibliography 392
Index 407