THE SANDSTORM: The Arab-Israeli War of June 1967: Prelude and Aftermath

The authors (both of whom fought for Israel in the June war) choose to begin their journalistic history with the Fatah and the Syrian Ba'th's pressures on Nasser, which they see as a key precipitating cause of the outbreak. Conflicts within the Israeli camp as well as intra-Arab differences are analyzed quite trenchantly, and the intersection of Mideastern conflict with the cold war antagonism receives extended treatment. The Soviets emerge looking more clumsy than sinister, although the authors view their increased involvement in Arab armaments as a guarantee of further strife, while the U.S. comes out preoccupied with avoiding collusion or the appearance of it, though delighted by the coincidence of interest with the victorious Israelis, contra oil lobby and State Department ""Arabist"" fears. The war itself is concisely described; the aftermath up to March 1968 remains quite opaque, a tangle of diplomatic maneuvers and U.N. speeches. One of the better reports on the subject, comparable to the Churchills' The Seven Day War, but better balanced and more sensitive to the Arab predicament.