ARAB TERRITORIES UNDER ISRAELI OCCUPATION

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP79-00927A006000070004-7
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: S
• Document Page Count: 9
• Document Creation Date: December 20, 2016
• Document Release Date: December 27, 2006
• Sequence Number: 4
• Publication Date: October 6, 1967
• Content Type: REPORT

Approved For Release 2006/12/27: CIA-RDP79-00927AOQ 0 0070004-7
Secret
No Foreign Dissem
DIRECTORATE OF
INTELLIGENCE
MEEKLY SUMMARY
Special Report
Arab Territories Under Israeli Occupation
Secret
N2 38
6 October 1967
No. 0310/67A
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Secret
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Secret
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ARAB TERRITORIES UNDER ISRAELI OCCUPATION
Four months after the Arab-Israeli war, Israel
remains in control of some 26,000 square miles of
Egyptian, Jordanian, and Syrian territory. Although
sizable economic and security problems are presented
by the more than one million Arabs living in these
areas, Arab resistance has thus far been chiefly non-
violent in nature. In any case, Israel has sufficient
resources, especially in the form of contributions
from abroad, to support the additional financial de-
mands as well as adequate security forces to main-
tain control over the occupied territories for the
foreseeable future.
Background
Approximately 1,150,000
Arab civilians were estimated to
be in Israeli-occupied areas of
Jordan, Syria, and Egypt on 1 Sep-
tember 1967. Prior to the war,
the population of these areas was
about 1.6 million.
As a result of the mass exo-
dus of Arabs to Jordan's East Bank
fewer than 750,000 remain of the
approximately 930,000 persons who
resided on the West Bank prior to
5 June. An Israeli census in the
occupied areas in September listed
only 667,000 persons, including
120,000 refugees from the 1948
war in the West Bank area. The
Israelis, however, have a vested
interest in proving the number of
1948 refugees is less than that
carried by the UN because compen-
sation for refugees might be a
part of any peace settlement.
Over 14,000 refugees were repatri-
ated to the West Bank in August,
but they were more than offset by
the Arabs who crossed and who con-
tinue to cross--at an estimated
300 per day--to the East Bank.
Of the more than 400,000 in
the Gaza Strip and the 50,000 in
Sinai when the war started, only
35,000 were able to cross the
Suez Canal ahead of the Israelis.
Gaza residents continue to go to
east Jordan through Israel and
the West Bank, however, with more
than 4,000 crossing before 1 Sep-
tember. In the area of Syria now
controlled by Israel, only about
6,000 Druzes and 250 others re-
main of the estimated 115,000
there prior to 5 June.
The most authoritative re-
port probably is the one made by
a special representative of UN
Secretary General Thant following
an on-the-spot investigation into
conditions of the civilian popu-
lation and prisoners of war.
After investigating Syrian
charges that the Israelis had made
"systematic efforts to expel the
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BEIRUT?'
SYRIA
At Qunaytirah
9e')Jeruselem
,Port Said
Gaza 1 I Hebron JORDAN
GAZA n .: ~~ X11
arRir
!CAIRO Suez
%Port Tauflq
.. _ ' _ - `rte ..1 .. ?~.
(E G Y P T)
Area occupied by Israel
J N I T E D D A R A B
R E P U B L I C
DAMASCUS
SAUDI
ARABIA
68140 10-67
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SPECIAL REPORT
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entire original population" from
the occupied portion of Syria,
the UN special representative con-
cluded that whatever the policy of
the Israeli Government may have
been as regards the population,
it seemed clear that "certain ac-
tions authorized or allowed by
local military commanders were an
important cause of flight."
In regard to similar charges
concerning the civilian popula-
tion on the West Bank, the special
representative stated that al-
though there was no indication
that persons had been physically
forced to cross to the East Bank,
there had been reports of acts of
intimidation by the Israeli armed
forces and of Israeli attempts--
using loudspeakers--to suggest to
the population that "they might
be better off on the East Bank."
The representative concluded,
however, that the main factor in
the exodus from the West Bank had
clearly been the inevitable impact
of hostilities and military oc-
cupation as such, particularly
when no measures of reassurance
were taken.
Administration of Occupied Areas
Israeli policy in regard to
the administration of occupied
areas is formulated at the cabi-
net level. Implementation of
this policy is supervised by a
joint coordination committee com-
posed of representatives of the
Ministry of Defense and the office
of the premier's adviser on Arab
affairs, and headed by Colonel
Shlomo Gazit, Defense Minister
Dayan's aide for the occupied
areas. The military government
of the occupied areas is the re-
sponsibility of the chief of the
Israel Defense Forces General
Staff, Itzhak Rabin. Rabin's
three area commanders, in turn are
responsible for the actual admin-
istration of the Golan heights in
Syria, the Jordanian West Bank,
and the former Egyptian territo-
ries. The primary mission of these
officers, according to the Israe-
lis, is the "normalization of life"
in the areas under their command.
Contrary to a UN General As-
sembly resolution, the Old City
of Jerusalem has, for all intents
and purposes, been incorporated
into the state of Israel. The
members of the former municipal
council of the Old City, which
has been dissolved by the Israe-
lis, have refused even to discuss
meeting in a combined council un-
der Israeli rule inasmuch as this
might be construed as recognition
of Israeli sovereignty over the
Old City.
In the remainder of the West
Bank, however, the Israelis have
to a large extent used the admin-
istrative structure established
by the Jordanians. Local mu-
nicipal councils have continued
to administer essential serv-
ices, such as health, utili-
ties, and public welfare. In
cases where the local council has
been unable to cope with a prob-
lem, the Israeli military governor
has provided whatever assistance
is necessary. In this connection,
some hospital patients have been
evacuated from the West Bank to
Israel, fuel has been sent from
Israel to the West Bank, and
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local road construction and works
projects for the unemployed that
had been started before the war
are now continuing with Israeli
assistance.
Israeli officials are more
closely involved in the adminis-
tration of occupied Eqyptian and
Syrian territories, including the
Gaza Strip, because many of the
Egyptian administrators were re-
patriated to Egypt by the Israelis
in early September and because,
with the exception of the Druze
villagers near Mount Hermon, the
area of Syria occupied by the Is-
raelis is almost uninhabited.
Israeli financial experts
feel that the burden of support-
ing the occupied territories over
the next year is manageable. Tak-
ing into account the reduced level
of remittances formerly provided
to West Bank Arabs by relatives
abroad and the merchandise Is-
rael supplies to the West Bank,
it is estimated that the foreign
exchange cost to Israel of the
West Bank alone will be $20 mil-
lion annually, although income
from tourism could reduce this
figure substantially. The problem
of marketing the excess of West
Bank agricultural products, es-
pecially abundant during July and
August, was eased by allowing the
export of as many as 400 truck-
loads per day to East Jordan.
Large Israeli expenditures on the
West Bank may serve as an anti-
recession device for Israel. In
any case, the additional demands
imposed by the occupied areas will
not seriously tax Israel's more
than adequate financial resources,
which have been considerably
strengthened by donations from
the Jewish community abroad.
Arab Resistance and
Israeli Reaction
The Israeli occupation is
viewed by Arab residents of the
occupied areas with varying de-
grees of dislike. In all the oc-
cupied areas, however, Arab re-
sistance has in general been non-
violent in nature and has mostly
taken the form of civil disobe-
dience.
West Bank Arabs engaging in
civil disobedience are by and
large members of an urban minor-
ity who before the war comprised
only 25 to 30 percent of the
West Bankers, and are even less
numerous now as more townsmen
than villagers have fled. In the
weeks immediately after the Is-
raeli occupation, the first signs
of opposition were the appearance
of leaflets threatening reprisals
against those Arabs who were co-
operating with the Israeli author-
ities, and the refusal of some
Arab officials to resume their
positions under the Israelis. The
first real indication of large-
scale resistance to Israeli rule
was an almost 100-percent effec-
tive strike in Jerusalem on 7 Au-
gust by Arabs protesting the "uni-
fication" of the old and new cit-
ies. Subsequent attempts to bring
about general strikes on 21 August
and 19 September, however, met with
only partial success.
The most serious resistance
has been the failure of most West
Bank teachers to report for the
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opening of the fall school term.
As a result, schools on the West
Bank, especially in the north,
were still closed three weeks after
the school year was scheduled to
start. The teachers charge that
Israeli educational authorities
have deleted religious passages
and phrases from textbooks; the
Israelis counter that they have
banned or altered only textbooks
containing anti-Jewish material.
The teachers' action, however,
probably stems primarily from a
desire to demonstrate a more
general dissatisfaction with the
Israeli presence in the area.
Israeli authorities from the
first have demonstrated their
readiness to act against uncoop-
erative elements, including those
who periodically refuse to coop-
erate with the occupying author-
ities. In recent weeks, they
have adopted an increasingly
harder line toward those advocat-
ing resistance. On 31 July,
four prominent West Bank political
figures--including Anwar al-Khatib,
former governor of the Jerusalem
district--were identified as sign-
ers of a petition calling for non-
cooperation with Israeli author-
ities. ,Arrested for "obstructing
law and order," they have been
exiled to towns in Israel for
three months.
In early September, the Is-
raeli commander of West Bank
forces issued an order prohibit-
ing oral or written attempts to
influence public opinion that
might harm or disturb safety and
order. Violators are subject to
a large fine and ten years im-
prisonment. Persons communica-
ting with the enemy in any way
are liable to five years impris-
onment. On 23 September, the
president and acting chief jus-
tice of the High Muslim Court in
Jerusalem was deported to the
East Bank on charges of inciting
noncooperation with Israeli au-
thorities. By moving against the
spiritual leader of the West Bank
Arabs, the Israelis have indicated
that they are willing to adopt
extreme measures in dealing with
dissidence.
Residents of the occupied
territories have become increas-
ingly tense as time passes with-
out any movement toward ending
the Israeli occupation or settling
the political future of the West
Bank.
a high
vv.Lume of violent inci-
dents as local Arabs become in-
creasingly annoyed by the petty
irritations of life under occupa-
tion by members of an essentially
alien culture.
Israeli authorities state
that a rash of incidents in early
September was the work of Pales-
tinian terrorists based in Syria
rather than an indication of in-
digenous sentiment. Nonetheless,
some measure of aid and assistance
must have been given to the ter-
rorists by the indigenous popula-
tion. Israeli reaction to these
acts of violence has been swift
and harsh, including the demoli-
tion of houses belonging to people
suspected of aiding the saboteurs.
Israeli officials have stated that
the captured terrorists will be
tried by military courts which
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will have authority to mete out
the death penalty.
Israeli Views on the Future
Of the Occupied Territories
Israeli authorities have not
made an official policy statement
with respect to the eventual status
of the occupied territories, pre-
sumably because they do not want
to jeopardize any eventual nego-
tiations with the Arabs. Indi-
vidual Israeli views, including
those of cabinet members, vary
widely--except with regard to the
status of the Old City of Jeru-
salem, which almost all Israelis
insist must remain under Israeli
control.
Some Israelis have argued
that Tel Aviv should propose to
King Husayn the return of most
of the West Bank in exchange for
a peace treaty. Others have
suggested that the West Bank be-
come an independent state feder-
ated with Israel. Hard liners,
such as Labor Minister Allon,
have stated that the West Bank
and the Syrian heights should be
incorporated into Israel.
The establishment in late
September of Israeli settlements
on the West Bank and on the Syrian
heights is probably intended pri-
marily as a warning to the Arabs
that in the absence of any prog-
ress toward negotiations, Israel
may move toward permanent posses-
sion of the areas.
Outlook
Meanwhile, as the frustration
of the Arabs in the occupied ter-
ritories increases, acts of vio-
lence seem likely to increase
against both the Israelis and the
Arabs cooperating with them. Is-
raeli security forces, however,
are capable of suppressing any
dissident elements and of main-
taining order. (SECRET NO FOR-
EIGN DISSEM)
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