Foreign Relations of the United States, 1964–1968, Volume XIX, Arab-Israeli Crisis and War, 1967

Editor:

Harriet Dashiell Schwar

General Editor:

Edward C. Keefer

United States Government Printing Office
Washington
2004

Office of the Historian
Bureau of Public Affairs

Table of Contents

• Press Release
• Summary
• Preface
• Johnson Administration Volumes
• Sources
• Abbreviations
• Persons
• Arab-Israeli Crisis and War, 1967
• Prewar Crisis, May 15–June 4, 1967 (Documents 1-148)
• Six Days of War, June 5–10, 1967 (Documents 149-262)
• Postwar Diplomacy, June 11–September 30, 1967 (Documents 263-452)
• UN Security Council Resolution 242, October 3–November 22, 1967 (Documents 453-542)
• Index

Overview

Major topics covered in this volume include: 1) the U.S. search for a peaceful solution to the crisis that erupted in the Middle East in May 1967, including efforts to persuade both sides to avoid military action, and attempts after Egypt's closure of the Strait of Tiran to obtain international action to guarantee the right of passage by ships of all nations through the Gulf of Aqaba; 2) the U.S. desire to avoid involvement in the war that broke out on June 5 and to see it end swiftly, including the halting of military shipments to both sides, U.S. support for UN Security Council resolutions calling for a cease-fire, and U.S. efforts to persuade Israel to comply with the resolutions; 3) the U.S. response to the decision by Egypt and some other Arab states to break off relations with the United States and to Egyptian charges of U.S. involvement in Israel's air strikes against Egypt; 4) U.S. concern with the possibility of Soviet involvement in the war and the exchange of hot-line messages between President Johnson and Soviet Premier Alexei Kosygin in which Johnson assured Kosygin of the U.S. desire for a swift end to the conflict and requested that the Soviet Union urge restraint on Egypt and Syria; 5) the U.S. response to the June 8 Israeli attack on the USS Liberty in international waters; 6) U.S. support for a comprehensive peace settlement in which Israel would exchange the territories it had conquered for recognition and secure borders, including U.S. attempts to persuade Israel against taking steps that might tend toward making its occupation of the occupied territories permanent; 7) the concern of Johnson administration officials with massive Soviet aid to Arab countries after the war and its effect on the military balance in the Middle East; 8) U.S. efforts to bring about a compromise UN Security Council resolution linking withdrawal of Israeli forces with mutual recognition and an end to belligerence, leading to the passage of UN Security Council Resolution 242 on November 22, 1967.