Summary
Mapai’s leading Middle East academic, writing in Davar; in Peace, Peace, When There Is No Peace he appears twice as a voice of the establishment reading of the conflict — holding in October 1955 that an Israeli newspaper’s “printing error” about Nasser was “actually correct” about Nasser’s inner aspirations, and arguing in Davar on 6/4/61 that Egypt’s hatred of Israel springs from its defeats, fear of Israel’s strength and frustration at Israel’s reining in of Nasser (spelled “Asaf” once, PDF p.464) (Peace, Peace, When There Is No Peace, PDF p.377, p.463-464).
Details
- In the October 1955 “printing error” episode, after Davar (9/10/55) ran the small correction of the headline “we must destroy Israel”, Assaf wrote in Davar (14/10/55) that “the mistake was actually correct regarding the true internal aspirations of Gamal Abd al-Nasser” (Peace, Peace, When There Is No Peace, PDF p.377).
- In Davar of 6/4/61 — one of the “Three articles from Davar” the book uses to elucidate Mapai’s approach — Assaf asked ”… What is the nature of, and how deep is this hatred [for Israel] in its various manifestations in the land of Pharaoh [!]? And what are its sources in this particular period?”, taking it as beyond doubt that the conflict’s source is emotional rather than political; his reply: “Without a doubt the source of Egypt’s hatred of Israel and the Jews at this time is to be found to a great extent its failures in the two wars (1956 and 1948) with Israel, in fear of Israel’s strength, and in helpless gnashing of teeth, because of the role that the State of Israel is fulfilling by its very existence, in reining in Nasser’s pretensions in the Middle East” (Peace, Peace, When There Is No Peace, PDF p.463-464).
- The book’s reply: Nasser was not responsible for Egypt’s 1948 policy — his enemy, “the British puppet Farouk”, was, and Nasser saw that war largely as a British stratagem; the 1956 war “ended indeed with the victory of Egypt” and raised Nasser’s prestige; and the 1948 battles lasted about 60 days against 1956’s seven, so “The decisive test of force between Israel and the Arab states has not yet taken place” (Peace, Peace, When There Is No Peace, PDF p.464).
Related pages
Peace, Peace, When There Is No Peace, Gamal Abd al-Nasser, Ezriel Carlebach