Memoirs of the First Palestine War

4.2/5 ( ratings)

These memoirs first appeared in Arabic in the
Egyptian weekly Akker Sa'a in the spring of 1955. To the best of my know-
ledge this is the first English translation of them to be published. The memoirs
were never finished, although in a letter from the Presidential Office in 1959
granting permission to publish this English translation, the hope was expressed
that "a final chapter entitled 'The End of the Campaign' " would be
finished and sent to me for translation. But unfinished as they are, these
memoirs are of great interest : they are a rare source on the late President's
military thinking from the professional point of view, touching on such ques-
tions as the role of reconnaissance and of logistical and air support. They
throw intimate light on the strength, organization, morale and performance
of the Egyptian army in 1948, as well as on the Palestinian environment in
which the revolutionary ideas of the Egyptian officers matured on the eve of
the downfall of the monarchy. But perhaps most important is the way in
which these memoirs reflect the President's attitudes to peace and war in
general, and to the specific question of the intersection of political and
military responsibility. This last aspect is significant considering that the
memoirs were written immediately after
the massive Israeli raid on Gaza on February 28, 1955. Thus the circum-
stances of their publication would make the memoirs a particularly significant
source on the President's mood in the weeks before he
took the momentous decision to ask Moscow for arms, at least partly to
counter the recently demonstrated power of the Israelis at Gaza. Finally the
memoirs are not without a poignant irony in view of all that has happened
since then and of the current situation