Former Chief of Staff Gen. Mordechai Gur said yesterday that he believed an American military presence in Sinai could guarantee a future peace agreement with Egypt. Gur, newly elected to the Labor Party Bureau, said at a lecture here that he in fact made such a proposal to the then U.S. Secretary of Defense James Schlesinger shortly after the Yom Kippur War in 1973.
Gur said he suggested that the U.S. transfer soldiers from Vietnam to Sinai to serve as a buffer force between the Egyptians and Israelis. At the time, the Nixon Administration was gradually withdrawing American forces from Vietnam. But Schlesinger rejected the idea. The American Defense Secretary said that after Vietnam, the involvement of U.S. troops in another country would not be feasible, Gur said. He added, however, that he still believed an American presence in Sinai would be helpful.
He criticized the Likud government for failure to consult with the army before it offered to return Sinai to Egypt. “Just as they did not study thoroughly the Sadat initiative, the government did not properly read the facts,” Gur said.
JTA has documented Jewish history in real-time for over a century. Keep our journalism strong by joining us in supporting independent, award-winning reporting.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
