Grandma's army

    The United Nations quickly passed a resolution calling for a cease-fire, and in a rare instance of Cold War alignment, both the United States and the Soviet Union pressured Great Britain, France and Israel to withdraw.  The  Soviet Union, which had supplied arms and money to Egypt, made ambiguous—and ominous—threats about using nuclear weapons to aid its ally, while the United States wielded its economic power. The  Defense Minister, Golda Meir made an impassioned speech: “They want us to tremble at the Russian threat, obey the UN, and withdraw from Sinai forthwith. Not a chance. We Zionists have built up and fought for and won this land, and that’s why Israel exists! When a great power befriends us, it’s to serve its own interest in the region, nothing more. For the British we were a buffer against the French, until the Arabs made it too hot for them to stay here. As for the Americans, they have been embargoing arms to us while Russia armed Egypt. If...

  A DIFFERENT WAR – I   The Israeli paratrooper battalion was duly dropped at the Mitla Pass , in the Sinai Peninsular of Egypt, as the detonator for an international bombshell - the French and British landings in Suez. That was its sole mission. As for the Israeli objective, Moshe Dayan , the IDF Chief of Staff, knew that the only way to get the Tiran Straits reopened and free passage guaranteed by the Americans was, if we are holding Sharm el Sheikh .   So, the children of Israel went marching once more into the Sinai desert as in Bible times - only this time going the other way! The route to reach Sharm was “man-killing” territory, murder on machines, and seventy miles of it uphill. They knew they had only three days in order to stall the UN from forcing them to withdraw.   When the brigade had at last struggled over the top of the seventy-mile rise, it was strung far out of sight along the slope, and desperately needed a respite.   The politica...