Book Review
Taking Sides: America's Secret
Relations with a Militant Israel
By Stephen Green.
New York: William Morrow and
Company, Inc., 1984.
370 pp. $14.95
Reviewed by Donald Neff
January 23, 1984, Page 7
There is probably no area in the
world of comparable size that has
been the subject of so many
studies, commissions, reports,
scholarly dissertations and
journalistic articles as
Palestine. There are literally
hordes of basic and reliable (and
some not so reliable) data about
Palestine readily available in
archives and libraries throughout
the U.S., and especially in the
Presidential libraries which
harbor the raw reports and
communications of America's
diplomats. Beyond that, there is
a mountain of generally reliable
reports undertaken by the U.N.,
the archives of the British
Mandate and endless biographies
and memoirs left by the colorful
parade of characters who have
trod the ancient land. Yet, with
all this, the history of the
emergence of the State of Israel
in Palestine remains shrouded in
myth and misinformation.
Myth and Reality
Now, with the publication of
Stephen Green's engrossing and
illuminating book, the gap
between myth and reality is
decisively narrowed in a number
of areas. Taking Sides is a
tautly written, carefully
researched expose of some of the
greater myths surrounding Israel.
One reason why those myths have
continued to be perpetuated into
the present is revealed by Green
at the beginning of his book by a
stunning anecdote involving the
author's request in 1981 to see
the 1948 Consular File of the
U.S. State Department at the
National Records Center at
Suitland, Maryland.
For anyone writing on the
emergence of Israel, these
documents would, of course, be
indispensable source
material-since they originated in
the vortex of a turbulent period
that included the ending of the
British Mandate, the proclamation
of Israel's existence, the
uprooting of three-quarters of a
million Palestinians and Israel's
war with five Arab states. Yet,
Green reveals, no researcher in
the 33 years since Israel's birth
had bothered to examine the file.
Instead of relying on the
essential data in such files,
writers about Israel's
creation-such as Leon Uris
(Exodus), Dan Kurzman (Genesis
1948) and Collins and Lapierre (0
Jerusalem!) -have largely foisted
on a credulous reading public
romanticized myths that have
nothing to do with Israel's
reality. Green's book shatters
many of these myths.
For instance, a foremost myth
perpetuated by many writers is
that the new Jewish state was
dangerously short of weapons,
ammunition and men. By relying
mainly on military intelligence
and diplomatic reports of the
period, Green convincingly shows
it was the reverse that was true
that it was the Arabs who were
out-manned and outgunned. Jewish
manpower came partly from
overseas volunteers but mainly
from a careful selection of male
Jews in Europe's displaced
persons camps for immigration
into Israel at the end of World
War II. Thus, although there were
1.3 million Arabs in Palestine
and only 600,000 Jews in 1948,
the difference between the two
communities of men in military
age was insignificant- 149,000
Arabs against 121,000 Jews.
In weaponry, Green reveals in
detail Israel's massive secret
purchases of arms in Europe and
the U.S., as well as Israel's
secret relations with
Czechoslovakia, which allowed
Jews to receive essential
military training on its soil as
well as use it as a base for
transshipment of weapons into
Palestine.
As a result of these activities,
a Defense Department intelligence
report of the time concluded that
the Jews enjoyed "the advantage
in strength, training,
discipline, leadership, combat
experience and reserves in arms
and ammunition." While Collins
and Lapierre were still writing
as late as 1972 that Israel's
armed forces were limited in 1948
to only 18,900 fully armed men,
the same intelligence report
cited by Green reveals that
Israel had 40,000 fulltime troops
supported by 50,000 reserves.
Another report adds that they
were all fully armed.
Nuclear Textiles?
So disappear like autumn leaves
the myths confronted in Green's
highly readable book. Other areas
Green illuminates: how the Dimona
"textile mill" became the site
for Israel's nuclear arsenal; how
Lyndon Johnson turned his back on
the policy of three presidents
and openly chose sides with
Israel; and how the Pentagon
received an astonishing prior
warning that Israel was about to
attack the U.S. Navy spy ship
Liberty-and how the whole sorry
matter was swept under the rug.
Taking Sides is a book of
surprising twists and turns, of
revelations and convincing
documentation. There are a few
mistakes, not crucial enough to
be misleading but which should be
set right for the historical
record. For instance, the United
Arab Republic did not include
Syria in 1967, nor did Israel
that year celebrate its
anniversary in Jerusalem by
parading its military might.
There was a parade, but it had
become controversial precisely
because Prime Minister Eshkol
refused to flaunt Israel's heavy
weapons.
Despite these minor caveats, this
is a book of powerful conviction
and astonishing revelations, a
long over-due corrective to the
myths that have befogged
Americans for so many years about
the Middle East. It deserves a
wide audience and careful study.
Donald Neff is the author of
Warriors at Suez and the
forthcoming Warriors For
Jerusalem.
(c) Copyright 1995-1999, American
Educational Trust. All Rights
Reserved.
