People and Events
Who sat around the table, and which events shaped the period. Each entry links to the moments on this site where it appears, and to Wikipedia for further reading.
120 entries
People
The people who appear in his story. Roles are given as they were at the time.
The main characters
The people his story cannot be told without: who they were, what they wanted, and where they met Gazit.
Golda Meir
Prime minister, 1969–1974, through the Yom Kippur War; before that foreign minister, 1956–1966.
What they wanted. Security for Israel, and peace through direct negotiation, without a return to the 1967 lines.
And Gazit. Gazit ran her office twice: when she was foreign minister in the late 1950s, and when she was prime minister in 1973–1974. He sat beside her at the secret meeting with King Hussein, and kept the record of her talks with Nixon and Kissinger.
At the table with King Hussein →Henry Kissinger
The president’s national security adviser and, from 1973, also secretary of state, that is, America’s foreign minister. The man who in practice ran American policy in the Middle East.
What they wanted. To push the Soviet Union out of the Middle East and make the United States the only broker, through step-by-step agreements.
And Gazit. From October 1973 to the interim agreement of 1975 he faced Gazit in the rooms, in the cables and over the drafting of clauses. It was he who told the room that the Egyptian foreign minister had called Gazit “too sensible”.
“Too sensible”: Kissinger’s shuttle, 1975 →Yitzhak Rabin
Prime minister, 1974–1977, after Golda resigned. Before that chief of staff in the Six-Day War, and ambassador in Washington.
What they wanted. To move step by step, through interim agreements, in return for American guarantees and arms.
And Gazit. Gazit ran his office in his first year as prime minister, and stood beside him through Kissinger’s shuttle and the talks with the Americans.
Beside Rabin at the White House →Simcha Dinitz
Israel’s ambassador in Washington from 1973, and before that Golda’s political adviser. In the war days he faced Kissinger almost daily.
What they wanted. American arms and support, during the war and after it.
And Gazit. The other end of the cable channel: Gazit in Jerusalem, Dinitz in Washington, and between them the night cables of the Yom Kippur War.
Between Jerusalem and Washington: the war →Yigal Allon
Deputy prime minister under Golda, and foreign minister in Rabin’s government, 1974–1977.
What they wanted. Defensible borders, and a territorial compromise with Jordan (the “Allon Plan”).
And Gazit. In 1973 he phoned Gazit with an account of his talk with Willy Brandt, which Gazit wrote up; in March 1975 Gazit handed him the draft clause on the non-use of force.
Kissinger’s shuttle, 1975 →Anwar Sadat
President of Egypt, 1970–1981. He launched the Yom Kippur War, then turned to American mediation, and in the end to peace with Israel.
What they wanted. To get Sinai back for Egypt, and move Egypt from Soviet to American patronage.
And Gazit. The other side of every agreement Gazit worked on in 1973–1975, through Kissinger.
The signing in Geneva, 1975 →King Hussein
King of Jordan, 1952–1999. For years he held secret contacts with Israel, without formal relations.
What they wanted. To keep his kingdom safe between Israel, the Arab states and the Palestinians, and to regain the West Bank.
And Gazit. Gazit sat beside Golda at the secret meeting with him, eleven days before the Yom Kippur War, and kept the record.
The meeting with Hussein, 1973 →David Ben-Gurion
The first prime minister, 1948–1953 and 1955–1963. The man who declared the state.
What they wanted. A strong state, and allies beyond the ring of hostility.
And Gazit. In 1961, after the Ben-Gurion–Kennedy summit in New York, Gazit sent the Foreign Ministry its record from Washington, with an attachment on the Dimona reactor.
The Dimona dispute →Abba Eban
Foreign minister, 1966–1974, and Israel’s voice to the world. Gazit’s minister in his Foreign Ministry years in the late 1960s and early 1970s.
What they wanted. To present Israel to the world as a country seeking peace, and to win support for it.
And Gazit. In 1966 he sent Gazit memos on the flights over the Straits of Tiran; in 1971 Gazit brought the American chargé to him, with the idea of an interim settlement at the canal.
A near-verbatim record, 1971 →Moshe Dayan
Defence minister in the Yom Kippur War, and foreign minister in Begin’s government, 1977–1979.
What they wanted. Defensible borders; and after 1977, as foreign minister, peace with Egypt.
And Gazit. When Dayan was foreign minister, Gazit was his ambassador in Paris. The family album keeps a photograph of the two at a reception.
At a reception, in the album →John F. Kennedy
President of the United States, 1961–1963. The first president to sell Israel advanced American weapons, the Hawk missiles.
What they wanted. To prevent the spread of nuclear weapons, including at Dimona, and to build ties with the Arab states as well.
And Gazit. During his presidency Gazit was deputy ambassador in Washington. Twenty years later he wrote a book on his policy.
“Gazit grinned”, 1963 →Yevgeny Primakov
A Soviet journalist and orientalist who served as a secret envoy of the Kremlin leadership. Later Russia’s foreign minister and prime minister.
What they wanted. To test whether Israel could be influenced without renewing relations, and to strengthen Moscow’s place in the peace process.
And Gazit. His counterpart in the secret Vienna channel in 1973. In his memoirs he wrote that Gazit “softened the tone of his remarks”.
The secret channel to Moscow →
Israel: leaders and diplomats
The people Gazit worked alongside, and for.
Golda Meir
Prime Minister, 1969–1974. Gazit headed her office twice: when she was Foreign Minister in the late 1950s, and as Director-General of the Prime Minister’s Office from 1973.
What they wanted: Security for Israel, and peace through direct negotiation, without a return to the 1967 lines.
Yitzhak Rabin
Prime Minister, 1974–1977; earlier Deputy Chief of Staff and ambassador in Washington.
What they wanted: To move step by step, through interim agreements, in return for American guarantees and arms.
Gideon Rafael
Director-General of the Foreign Ministry until 1972. Gazit succeeded him, and was succeeded in 1973 by Avraham Kidron.
What they wanted: An active Israeli diplomacy, at the UN and with the powers.
Yigal Allon
Deputy Prime Minister, and Foreign Minister in Rabin’s government.
What they wanted: Defensible borders, and a territorial compromise with Jordan (the “Allon Plan”).
Abba Eban
Foreign Minister, 1966–1974.
What they wanted: To present Israel to the world as a country seeking peace, and to win support for it.
Simcha Dinitz
Israel’s ambassador in Washington from 1973.
What they wanted: American arms and support, during the war and after it.
Aharon Yariv
Major General, former head of Military Intelligence and adviser to the Prime Minister.
What they wanted: To use the ceasefire for direct military talks with Egypt, at Kilometre 101.
Meir Rosenne
Legal adviser to the Foreign Ministry.
What they wanted: Precise legal texts that leave no opening for readings against Israel.
David Ben-Gurion
Israel’s first Prime Minister.
What they wanted: A strong state, and allies beyond the ring of hostility.
Avraham Harman
Israel’s ambassador in Washington, 1959–1968; Gazit was his deputy at the embassy.
What they wanted: A close tie to the Kennedy administration, without the Dimona dispute damaging it.
Herzl Shafir
IDF major general; appointed with Gazit to represent Israel at the Geneva Peace Conference in 1975.
What they wanted: Security arrangements that would hold on the ground.
Yosef Hadass
Diplomat, born in Aleppo, later Director-General of the Foreign Ministry; his memoir recalls the talk with Gazit and the Arabic test.
Yosef Ben-Aharon
Diplomat; Gazit brought him into the Prime Minister’s Office during the Yom Kippur War.
Hanan Bar-On
Diplomat; worked beside Gazit, who led the secret channel to Moscow, in the early 1970s.
Ephraim Halevy
Mossad officer and later its head; from 1974 he coordinated the Soviet channel.
Teddy Kollek
Mayor of Jerusalem, 1965–1993.
What they wanted: A united city in which every community would feel at home.
Moshe Dayan
Defence Minister, 1967–1974, and Foreign Minister, 1977–1979.
What they wanted: Defensible borders; and after 1977, as foreign minister, peace with Egypt.
Shimon Peres
Deputy Defence Minister, 1959–1965; Defence Minister in Rabin’s government, and Foreign Minister in the unity government in 1987; later Prime Minister and President.
What they wanted: To rebuild the army after the war, while keeping room for talks.
Eli Cohen
An Israeli agent in Damascus; caught and executed in Syria in 1965.
Uri Lubrani
Diplomat; head of Israel’s mission in Tehran, 1973–1978.
Eliashiv Ben-Horin
Israel’s Ambassador in Bonn, the West German capital, in the early 1970s.
Uri Milstein
Military historian; interviewed Gazit about the battle of Qastal in 1982.
Yosef Tekoah
Israel’s Ambassador to the UN, 1968–1975.
Aharon Remez
The first commander of the Israeli Air Force; Israel’s Ambassador in London, 1965–1970.
Ze’ev Shek
Director of the West European department at the Foreign Ministry, 1964.
Yuval Ne’eman
Physicist; president of Tel Aviv University in the early 1970s, and a senior adviser at the Defence Ministry.
Arie Braun
An officer in the Defence Minister’s bureau; military secretary to Moshe Dayan.
Daniel Megiddo
Gazit’s assistant in the Director-General’s bureau, first at the Foreign Ministry and then at the Prime Minister’s Office.
Yitzhak Shamir
Prime Minister, 1983–1984 and 1986–1992. In 1987 he headed the national unity government, with Shimon Peres as his Foreign Minister.
What they wanted: Direct negotiations, without an international conference.
The United States
The most important ally, and the heaviest pressure.
Henry Kissinger
U.S. National Security Adviser and Secretary of State.
What they wanted: To push the Soviet Union out of the Middle East and make the United States the only broker, through step-by-step agreements.
William Rogers
U.S. Secretary of State, that is, foreign minister, 1969–1973.
What they wanted: A comprehensive American peace plan, and first of all a ceasefire in the War of Attrition.
Joseph Sisco
Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs, the senior State Department official responsible for the region.
What they wanted: To advance the American initiatives and bridge the parties’ positions.
Harold Saunders
U.S. National Security Council staff, the White House body that advises the president on foreign and security affairs.
What they wanted: To prepare texts and options for Kissinger’s negotiations.
Richard Nixon
President of the United States, 1969–1974.
What they wanted: Stability in the Middle East and a check on Soviet influence, without a direct clash between the powers.
Gerald Ford
President of the United States, 1974–1977.
What they wanted: To continue Kissinger’s path: a second interim agreement between Israel and Egypt.
John F. Kennedy
President of the United States, 1961–1963. Gazit wrote a book on his policy.
What they wanted: To prevent the spread of nuclear weapons, including at Dimona, and to build ties with the Arab states as well.
Robert Komer
A member of President Kennedy’s National Security Council staff; when he asked in 1963 about Israel’s nuclear intentions, he wrote in his memo “Gazit grinned”.
What they wanted: To understand where Israel was heading on the nuclear question, and keep the Arab states’ trust in America.
Dean Rusk
US Secretary of State, that is, foreign minister, 1961–1969.
What they wanted: Regional stability, without direct American involvement in the conflicts.
Brent Scowcroft
US Deputy National Security Adviser in 1973, Henry Kissinger’s deputy in that role; later National Security Adviser.
Richard Murphy
US Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern affairs, 1983–1989.
George Shultz
US Secretary of State, 1982–1989.
Samuel De Palma
US Assistant Secretary of State for International Organization Affairs.
Roy Atherton
An American diplomat, a senior official of the State Department’s Near East bureau; later Assistant Secretary of State and Ambassador to Egypt.
Robert Strong
Director of the State Department’s Near East office, 1962.
Maxwell Taylor
General; President Kennedy’s military adviser, and from late 1962 Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
Arthur Schlesinger
Historian; special assistant to President Kennedy.
Myer Feldman
Deputy Special Counsel at the White House; President Kennedy’s point man on Israel.
James Schlesinger
US Secretary of Defense, 1973–1975.
Lyndon Johnson
President of the United States, 1963–1969.
The Arab world and the Palestinians
The neighbours: adversaries in war, and possible partners for peace.
Ismail Fahmy
Egypt’s Foreign Minister.
What they wanted: An Israeli withdrawal from Sinai through American mediation, without paying with full recognition.
Anwar Sadat
President of Egypt, 1970–1981.
What they wanted: To get Sinai back for Egypt, and move Egypt from Soviet to American patronage.
King Abdallah I
King of Jordan until his assassination in 1951. Gazit researched the contacts with him.
What they wanted: To enlarge his kingdom, even at the price of a settlement with Israel.
King Hussein
King of Jordan, 1952–1999.
What they wanted: To keep his kingdom safe between Israel, the Arab states and the Palestinians, and to regain the West Bank.
Aziz Shehadeh
A Ramallah lawyer, one of the first Palestinians to back a Palestinian state alongside Israel openly; murdered in 1985.
What they wanted: A Palestinian state alongside Israel, decided by the Palestinians themselves.
Hafez al-Assad
President of Syria, 1971–2000.
What they wanted: To recover the Golan Heights for Syria.
The Soviet Union
The power arming the Arab states, which still talked to Israel in secret.
Yevgeny Primakov
Soviet orientalist and envoy in the secret channel to Moscow; later Prime Minister of Russia.
What they wanted: To test whether Israel could be influenced without renewing relations, and to strengthen Moscow’s place in the peace process.
Europe and the UN
Friends, mediators and critics.
Gunnar Jarring
Swedish diplomat, UN envoy to the Middle East, 1967–1971.
What they wanted: A peace agreement based on Security Council Resolution 242.
Shlomo Friedrich
Herut’s man in France, who headed the “France–Israel Alliance Committee” for more than twenty years; Gazit spoke in his memory in 1979.
What they wanted: An alliance between Israel and France, and support for Israel across the French political spectrum.
Willy Brandt
West German chancellor, 1969–1974, and Nobel Peace Prize laureate; visited Israel in June 1973.
What they wanted: Close ties with Israel alongside closeness to the Arab states: a “balanced policy”.
Jean-Paul Sartre
French philosopher and writer.
What they wanted: Justice for both peoples: Israel’s existence, and Palestinian rights.
Jean de Lipkowski
A French Gaullist politician; served as a secretary of state at the Foreign Ministry, and later as a minister.
Jean François-Poncet
Foreign Minister of France, 1978–1981.
Konrad Adenauer
Chancellor of West Germany, 1949–1963.
Ludwig Erhard
Chancellor of West Germany, 1963–1966.
Charles de Gaulle
President of France, 1959–1969.
Iran
An ally of Israel under the Shah, until the revolution of 1979.
Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi
The Shah of Iran, 1941–1979; overthrown in the Islamic Revolution.
Ruhollah Khomeini
A Shiite cleric, leader of the Islamic Revolution in Iran; returned to Iran from exile in February 1979.
Family and friends
The people close to him.
Shmuel Noah Eisenstadt
Sociologist, “father of Israeli sociology” and Israel Prize laureate, 1923–2010. He and his wife Shula were good friends of Motke and Rina.
Shlomo Gazit
His brother. IDF Major General and head of Military Intelligence, 1974–1978.
Abd al-Qadir al-Husayni
Commander of the “Holy War” forces in the Jerusalem area; killed at Qastal in April 1948.
Victor Louis
A Soviet journalist who served as Moscow’s unofficial envoy to Israel, in 1971 and 1973.
Yuri Kotov
A KGB officer who served in Israel until 1967; joined Primakov in the secret talks.
Valéry Giscard d’Estaing
President of France, 1974–1981.
Louis de Guiringaud
Foreign Minister of France, 1976–1978.
Abu Daoud
A leader of Black September; suspected of planning the massacre of the Israeli athletes in Munich in 1972.
Shimon Agranat
President of the Supreme Court; chaired the commission of inquiry into the Yom Kippur War.
Yisrael Galili
Minister without portfolio and one of Golda Meir’s closest advisers.
Israel Lior
Brigadier general; the Prime Minister’s military secretary.
Moshe Sanbar
Governor of the Bank of Israel, 1971–1976.
Kenneth Keating
United States ambassador to Israel, 1973–1975.
Gamal Abdel Nasser
President of Egypt, 1956–1970.
Robert Kennedy
Attorney General of the United States, 1961–1964; brother of President Kennedy.
Amos Eran
Director-General of the Prime Minister’s Office after Gazit, from 1975.
Yaacov Herzog
A diplomat; Gazit’s predecessor as minister at the Washington embassy.
Eleazar Galili
Headed the Maarachot team that researched and wrote the history of the War of Independence.
Shlomo Hillel
A diplomat, later a minister and Speaker of the Knesset.
Dov Yosef
Minister of Justice.
Dov Sion
A colonel in the IDF Planning Branch; one of Israel’s representatives in the disengagement talks.
Avraham Kidron
Director-General of the Foreign Ministry during the Yom Kippur War.
Yigael Yadin
The IDF’s second Chief of Staff and an archaeologist; a member of the Agranat Commission.
Mordechai Shalev
Minister at the Israeli embassy in Washington.
Meir Shamgar
Attorney General; later President of the Supreme Court.
Eli Mizrachi
Head of the Prime Minister’s bureau.
Jimmy Carter
President of the United States, 1977–1981.
King Hassan
King of Morocco, 1961–1999; before that Crown Prince Moulay Hassan.
Asher Goren
The senior researcher in the Foreign Ministry’s research department.
Uri Bialer
A historian of Israel’s foreign policy.
Alec Epstein
A historian; wrote on Israel’s relations with Egypt.
Yoav Gelber
A military and political historian.
Yair Even
A researcher; wrote on the secret talks between Jerusalem and Moscow.
Ken Stein
An American historian of the Middle East; interviewed Gazit.
McGeorge Bundy
National security adviser to Presidents Kennedy and Johnson.
Yehoshafat Harkabi
Head of IDF Military Intelligence, 1955–1959; later a professor of international relations.
Walter Eytan
The first Director-General of the Foreign Ministry, 1948–1959; later Israel’s ambassador to France.
Hafez Ismail
National security adviser to Egypt’s President Sadat. In 1973 he conducted secret contacts with Kissinger on Sadat’s behalf.
Events
The historical events his work touched, from 1948 to 1978.
The 1948 War
The battles for Jerusalem, al-Qastal and the Jewish Quarter.
The debate over the West Bank, 1948–1949
Why Israel did not try to take the West Bank at the end of the 1948 war. Gazit wrote on this in 1989.
The Partial Test Ban Treaty, 1963
Israel acceded to the treaty; Gazit signed on its behalf in Washington.
The Six-Day War, 1967
Afterwards the Soviet Union broke off relations, and Jerusalem was united.
The Jarring mission, 1967–1971
The UN mediation effort based on Resolution 242. Gazit was in charge of the file at the Foreign Ministry.
The War of Attrition, 1967–1970
Ended in a ceasefire in August 1970.
The Yom Kippur War, 1973
Gazit headed the Prime Minister’s office during and after the war.
The Agranat Commission
The commission of inquiry into the war. Gazit testified before it.
The Geneva Conference, 1973
The peace conference that opened in December 1973.
The Egypt–Israel disengagement agreement, 1974
Signed on 18 January 1974.
The Israel–Syria disengagement agreement, 1974
Signed on 31 May 1974.
The Sinai Interim Agreement, 1975
Signed in Geneva on 4 September 1975. Gazit led the delegation.
The Abu Daoud affair, 1977
His release in Paris led to Ambassador Gazit’s recall for consultations.
The Coastal Road massacre, 1978
Israel then launched Operation Litani.
The Camp David Accords, 1978
Signed during his years in Paris; they led to the 1979 peace treaty with Egypt.