WATCHING THE WAR AND KEEPING THE PEACE: THE UNITED NATIONS TRUCE SUPERVISION ORGANIZATION (UNTSO) IN THE MIDDLE EAST, 1949-1956 by Andrew Gregory Theobald A thesis submitted to the Department of History In conformity with the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Queen’s University Kingston, Ontario, Canada (May, 2009) Copyright ©Andrew Gregory Theobald, 2009 Abstract By virtue of their presence, observers alter what they are observing. Yet, the international soldiers of the United Nations Truce Supervision Organization (UNTSO) did much more than observe events. From August 1949 until the establishment of the United Nations Emergency Force in November 1956, the Western military officers assigned to UNTSO were compelled to take seriously the task of supervising the Arab-Israeli armistice, despite the unwillingness of all parties to accept an actual peace settlement. To the extent that a particular peacekeeping mission was successful – i.e., that peace was “kept” – what actually happened on the ground is usually considered far less important than broader politics. However, as efforts to forge a peace settlement failed one after another, UNTSO operations themselves became the most important mechanism for regional stability, particularly by providing a means by which otherwise implacable enemies could communicate with each other, thus helping to moderate the conflict. This communication played out against the backdrop of the dangerous early days of the Cold War, the crumbling of Western empires, and the emergence of the non- aligned movement. Analyses of the activities of the Mixed Armistice Commissions (MACs), the committees created to oversee the separate General Armistice Agreements signed between Israel and Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, and Syria, particularly those during the 1954 to 1956 tenure as UNTSO chief of staff of Canadian Major-General E.L.M. Burns, best evaluate both UNTSO effectiveness and Arab-Israeli interaction. ii Acknowledgements I learned more than I ever thought possible from the preparation of this dissertation. My supervisor, Professor Allan English, resolutely supported this work, providing both the freedom that allowed me to work independently and direct encouragement when required. The other members of my dissertation committee, Professors Bob Martyn, Kim Richard Nossal, Bob Shenton, and Dr. Dean Oliver of the Canadian War Museum, supplied valuable editing and thoughtful questions. Professor Sandra den Otter, History Department Graduate Assistant Yvonne Place, Rose Silva of the Queen’s School of Graduate Studies, and Sam Kalb assisted with the submission process. Overall, Queen’s University proved to be a wonderful place to train as an historian. As always, I would also like to thank my parents, Bronwyn McIntyre and Greg Theobald, for their love and support. My brothers, John and Simon, as well as my extended family and friends, were equally encouraging. At Queen’s, I also benefited from a vibrant military history fellowship, whose members included Howard Coombs, Richard Goette, Daniel Gosselin and Matt Trudgen. My students in History 322, “War and Modern Society,” were a constant encouragement as well as a beacon for the future of the field. Professor Marc Milner of the University of New Brunswick, Professor Jonathan Vance of the University of Western Ontario, and other academic colleagues such as Dr. Michael Carroll, Dr. Arthur ten Cate of the Netherlands Institute of Military History, and Dr. Jim Wood epitomized the term academic community. The Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) provided generous funding that supported the writing of this dissertation. The Canadian Friends of iii the Hebrew University of Jerusalem likewise sustained my year-long research fellowship at that institution. That position afforded me the opportunity to conduct extended research in the Middle East as well as the chance to familiarize myself first-hand with many of the locations that figured so crucially in this narrative. The United Nations Archives was the most important repository that I visited. Thanks to Monika Tkacova and the always helpful and well-trained staff of that shamefully underused archive, it was always a pleasure to work there. While in Israel, my research took me to the Israel State Archives, where Eden, Michal, and Shimrit deserve mention for their assistance. Additional support came from Doron Avi-Ad at the Israel Defence Force Archives and Haim Gal at the Arabic Press Archive of the Moshe Dayan Centre, Tel Aviv University. Translation assistance was provided by Efrat Shapir, Eti Shapir, Michael Barak, and Rami Livni. When I was unfortunately unable to visit the British National Archives in-person, research on my behalf was conducted by Bob O’Hara, Marione Hulverscheidt, and the exceptional – and wonderfully kind – Nina Staehle. Similar assistance was provided, both on-site and at a distance, by Marie-Eve Deleris, as well as the staff at Library and Archives Canada, the Belgian Diplomatic Archives, the Swedish Military Archives, and the Norwegian National Archives. The maps were prepared by Jennifer Grek Martin. All of that support pales in comparison to the encouragement of my wife, Efrat Shapir, and our daughter, Noori Jean, who was born in October 2008. In particular, Noori provided the most welcome distraction from dissertation work that anyone could ever hope to have. I would never have been able to complete this work without them. The errors that remain are my own. iv Table of Contents Abstract……………………………………………………………………………………ii Acknowledgements………………………………………………………………………iii Table of Contents……………………………………………………………………….....v List of Maps……………………………………………………………………………....vi Note on Terms and Transliteration……………………………………………………....vii Abbreviations……………………………………………………………………………viii Chapter 1 Introduction ........................................................................................................ 1 Chapter 2 Literature Review……………………………………………………………..18 Chapter 3 The First Years: August 1949-May 1953……………………………………..30 Chapter 4 Shifting Policies, Same Results: June 1953-August 1954……………………61 Chapter 5 The Arrival of General Burns: September-December 1954…………………..88 Chapter 6 What Can Stop the War? January-December 1955………………………….107 Chapter 7 Keeping the Peace: January-November 1956……………………………….142 Chapter 8 Conclusion…………………………………………………………………...169 Appendix A S/1080, United Nations Security Council Resolution 62 (1948)…………187 Appendix B General Armistice Agreements (1949)……………………………………189 Appendix C S/1376, II, United Nations Security Council Resolution 73 (1949)………229 Appendix D “The 11 Points” (1954)…………………………………………………...232 Endnotes………………………………………………………………………………..234 Thematic Bibliography…………………………………………………………………276 Maps……………………………………………………………………………………287 v List of Maps Map 1, The Middle East, 1949………………………………………………………….287 Map 2, Egypt, the Gaza Strip, and Israel……………………………………………….288 Map 3, Israel, Jordan, and the West Bank……………………………………………...289 Map 4, Israel, Lebanon, and Syria……………………………………………………...290 vi Note on Terms and Transliteration Transliteration, the transfer of words from one alphabet to another – in this case from the Arabic and Hebrew alphabets to the Latin alphabet – remains an inexact practice. While no express transliteration format has been adhered to in this study, every effort has been made to ensure uniformity and avoid confusion. To that end, diacritical marks, which guide pronunciation, have been excluded. Likewise, Hebrew prefixes have been combined into the English wording; for example, rendering the Israeli newspaper Haaretz rather than ha Aretz. Military ranks, including those of the Israel Defence Force and the French Army, have been rendered in their British staff system equivalents; thus, lieutenant-colonel rather than sgan aluf and major rather than chef de bataillon. The Israeli practice of Hebraizing, changing “diaspora” surnames to “Israeli” ones, as in Aryeh Shalev (né Friedlander) explains occasional discrepancies in the narrative. Unless otherwise noted, all translations are my own. vii Abbreviations ADL – Armistice Demarcation Line BDA – Belgian Diplomatic Archives BNA – British National Archives DFPI – Documents on the Foreign Policy of Israel DL – Demarcation Line DZ – Demilitarized Zone EIMAC – Egypt-Israel Mixed Armistice Commission FM – Israeli Foreign Ministry FO – British Foreign Office FRUS – Foreign Relations of the United States GAA – General Armistice Agreement GAS – General Assembly Resolution GSO – General Staff Officer HJKIMAC – Hashemite Jordan Kingdom-Israel Mixed Armistice Commission HQ – Headquarters i/c – In Command ICSC – International Commission of Supervision and Control in Indochina IDF – Israel Defence Force IDFA – Israel Defence Force Archives ILMAC – Israel-Lebanon Mixed Armistice Commission ISA – Israel State Archives ISMAC – Israel-Syria Mixed Armistice Commission LAC – Library and Archives Canada LCA – Local Commanders’ Agreement MAC – Mixed Armistice Commission MEDO – Middle East Defence Organization MO – Military Observer NATO – North Atlantic Treaty Organization N.D. – No Date S/ - Security Council Resolution SMA – Swedish Military Archives UN – United Nations UNA – United Nations Archives UNCCP – United Nations Conciliation Committee for Palestine UNEF – United Nations Emergency Force UNMO – United Nations Military Observer UNMOGIP – United Nations Military Observer Group, India-Pakistan UNOGIL – United Nations Observer Group in Lebanon UNRWA – United Nations Relief and Works Agency