ENCOUNTERS BETWEEN
AN IDF GENERAL AND
A U.S. ARMY COLONEL
Irving Kett
My military career began in World War II and I fought as a soldier in the Pacific Theater. It ended almost 40 years later when, as a U.S. Army colonel, I was involved in constructing two high performance air bases in the Negev under terms of the Camp David Accords.
However, that was not the first time that the Army sent me to Israel. In the summer of 1974, in the aftermath of the Yom Kippur War, I was sent to make a study of the borders that Israel required for minimum defense.
There is one incident in my long army service that I shall relate because it concerns what is happening in Israel today. I arrived in Israel early in June of 1979. The total military contingent assigned to the project never numbered more than about fifteen.
Some time that fall, I do not recall the exact details, I was invited to visit the Northern Command with a small contingent of U.S. Army and Air Force officers. We arrived at the headquarters which is near Safed, and were ushered into the office of General Ori Orr, who then was either the commanding or deputy commanding officer. The impression that I had of him was that he was a very professional, no-nonsense soldier.
He gave us a long, detailed lecture about the importance of the Golan Heights to the defense of Israel. I recall him emphasizing over and over again how crucial the Golan was to the very survival of Israel. He also enumerated other areas, won in the Six Day war, that Israel could never afford to relinquish.
After the usual amenities, he assigned a colonel to take us on a tour of the fortifications on the Golan Heights. I regret that I do not remember the name of that truly impressive officer.
What I do clearly recollect him stating repeatedly was that for Israel to ever withdraw from the Golan Heights would be tantamount to committing national suicide. There was no need for the Israelis to try and convince the American military establishment of that fact.
In three major U.S. military studies (in one, for the U.S. Army War College, I was an active participant), the consideration of boundaries, terrain, and maneuver area were evaluated as being the determining factors in Israel's defensive and deterrent capabilities.
All three of these high level investigations were conducted independently and they contained some different recommendations. However, on three critical issues they all agreed: that the Israeli Defense Forces must retain absolute control in Gaza, in the high ground of Judea and Samaria, and on the Golan Heights.
In a top secret report to then- U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson, which has since been declassified, the Joint Chiefs of Staff flatly asserted that Israel was not defensible without the ridge line running
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from Hebron to Jenin.
That the conclusions of all these detailed studies seem in direct contradiction to official U.S. government policy toward Israel since 1967, should not surprise any astute observer.
The United States has legitimate and far more important foreign policy interests in the world and in the Middle East than the security or even the survival of Israel. No amount of the most sophisticated military hardware could ever be given to Israel by the United States to compensate for the loss of strategic terrain and borders.
Furthermore, the level of weapons technology is changing at an ever-increasing pace. Today's status symbol is tomorrow's junk while the value of territory increases with time instead of diminishing. What saved Israel at the time of the Yom Kippur War was not the U.S. resupply but the domain she captured in the Six Day War.
The next time that I met General Ori Orr was early in September of 1995. I saw an announcement that he was going to speak at a large Conservative synagogue in Los Angeles on a Friday night under the auspices of
Americans for Peace Now, of which the rabbi, Harold
What saved Israel at the time of the Yom Kippur War was not the U.S. resupply but the domain she captured in the Six Day War.
Shulweis, is a leading light. It was just before my coming to Israel. My curiosity was piqued in light of my previous encounter with Ori Orr, who is not only a very influential Labor Party member of the Knesset, but also holds the extremely important position of Deputy Defense Minister to a Prime Minister and Defense Minister, Shimon Peres, who never served a day in any military establishment.
To my absolute astonishment, General Orr contradicted everything that he so emphatically enunciated 16 years before. Unfortunately, there was no question and answer period. However, I approached him after the services, introduced myself and reminded him of our first meeting.
He obviously was very miffed when I tried to politely confront him about those glaring contradictions, and he refused to engage me in any discussion on the merits of his talk. Rabbi Shulweis, who stood next to Orr as we spoke, glared at me in undisguised anger.
By the strangest of coincidences, a few days later General Orr and I met on the same El Al airplane going to Israel. We sat in the business compartment very close to one another. From Los Angeles to Israel is a long flight. I made one effort to strike up a friendly conversation with Orr but he simply refused to speak with me.
Dr. Irving Kett is a retired U.S. Army colonel and former Professor of Civil Engineering at California State University.
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