Did Shuqayri Call for "Throwing the Jews into the Sea"?

Author(s): Moshe Shemesh

Source: Israel Studies, Vol. 8, No. 2 (Summer, 2003), pp. 70-81
Published by: Indiana University Press
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 Moshe Shemesh

Did Shuqayri
Call for
"ThrowingtheJewsintotheSea"?

A HMAD AL-SHUQAYRI1 FOUNDED THE PLO (PalestinianLiberation

Organization)towardtheend of the firstPalestinianNationalCouncil
thatwasheldinEastJerusalem in May1964.Establishing thePLO wasthe
of
high-point Shuqayri's and
career,
political he served as itsheaduntilhe
was forcedto resignon December24, 1967.He was harshly for
criticized
hismanagement oftheOrganization and, sinceJanuary 1965,wasblamed
fortheincreased influenceintheArabandPalestinian arenaofthefidaiyun
organizations Fatah).The military
(especially defeatoftheArabarmiesin
theSix-DayWarfurther strengthened
thefidaiyun position.2
Shuqayri, whowasnotedforhisrhetorical skillandvociferous attacks
againstIsraelin international,Arab,and Palestinianforums, reachedthe
nadirofhisstatusaftertheSix-DayWar.TheArabworldaccusedhimof
contributing to itsdefeatwithhisradicaldeclarationsagainstIsraelbefore
the war,whichhad resultedin theworldfavoring Israel.Shuqayrithus
servedas a scapegoat fortheArabdefeatinthewar,a position eagerlyseized
upon by his enemies and opponents.
Sa'ad Jum'a,Jordanianprimeministerduringthe Six-Day War
wrote:

Myopinion ofShuqayri-objectively-is thatheisoneofthedirect

causes
forthecatastrophe
[theArabdefeat intheSix-Day War].Hehadtheappear-
anceandbearings toplaya roleperfectlysuitedtohiminthecatastrophe
of theArabworldand in Arabdisputes, he fulfilled
and unfortunately
thisfunctionwithalacrity
andexpertise.WhentheArabnationandArab
leaders
stoodbeforethebitterfacts,after
thecampaign and
ofhumiliation
shame... [and]whena newperioddawned... Shuqayri nolongerhada
place[init],andhevanished fromthestage.Somepeoplecanbe likened
toa drum-when youstrikeit,itproducesa clamoranddinbecauseofits
emptiness.3

70

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 theJewsintotheSea"? * 71
Did ShuqayriCall for"Throwing

Shuqayribecame famousforsupposedlycallingon theArabs "to throwthe

Jewsintothe sea" on the eve of the Six-Day War. Accordingto Shuqayri,
Israel's "spin doctors" exploited this proclamationin order to prove the
threatto Israel's existenceand to expose theArabs' aggressiveintentions.
Israel hoped in this way to justifyto internationalcirclesthat the war it
had launchedwas one of defenseor no-choice.
The claim that on the eve of the Six-Day War Shuqayri called for
throwingtheJewsintothe sea was pickedup notonlyin theWest,but also
byAraband Palestinianelementsthatused itagainsthim.With Arab "con-
firmation" of thisclaim, researchersin theWest also began referringto it.
According to Mark Tessler,"The PLO's Ahmad Shuqayri coined a famous
phraseassertingthattheArabs would throwtheJewsinto the sea."4
In Helena Cobban's words:

Forhis partShuqayriwas remembered in lateryears,evenbymanyPales-

tinians,as 'theman who gavethePalestinians a bad nameby threatening
to throwtheJewsintothesea.' He himself alwaysstronglydeniedthatthis
was,in fact,whathe had saidon theeveofthe1967War.Butin manyways,
themostsignificantthingis thatthisis thewayhewas remembered byhis
constituency.5

As JordanianhistorianSamir A. Mutawi wrote:

Nasser'sclosureof the straits[theStraitsof Tiran,on May 22, 1967] and

Shuqayri's bellicosestatement-thatthetimehad come to annihilatethe
Stateof Israeland thattheArabswouldthrowtheJewsintothesea-had
alienatedworldopinionto suchan extentthatmilitary activityby Israel
wouldbe regarded withpositivefavor.6

On the other hand, Randolph S. Churchill and Winston S. Churchill

emphasizedshortlyafterthe war that Shuqayri'sstatementregardingthe
destructionof those Jews remainingafterthe war made no mention of
throwingthem into the sea:

Meanwhile, inAmman,AhmedShuqayri, theheadofthePalestinianLibera-

tionOrganization,was sayingthatitwas'possibleandevenmostlikely'that
hisPalestinianLiberationArmywouldfirethefirst shot.If theArabstook
he
Israel, said,the Jews
surviving would be helped returnto theirnative
to
'But in myestimation
countries. noneofthemwillsurvive.'7

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72 * ISRAEL STUDIES, VOLUME 8, NUMBER 2

Afterthe war Shuqayrivigorouslytried-unsuccessfully-to refutethese

accusations.The factthathis announcementreferred to theanni-
explicitly
hilation of theJewsstrengthenedthe credibilityof the claim that he had
called forthrowingthemintothesea. Shuqayrimaintainedthat'thisis one
of the greatlies beingspreadbyZionist propaganda.'8The issuebecame an
obsession thatplagued him to his dyingday.
The PLO representative in Beirut,Shafiq al-Hut, who accompanied
Shuqayri to theArab summit meetingin Khartoum(August29-September
II, 1967) wrote about this issue in his memoirs.AfterquotingShuqayri's
speech at thesummit,al-Hut recalled:

WhenShuqayri finishedspeakingtheatmosphereatthesummitwastense.If
thesessionhad notconcludedimmediately afterthespeech,morethanone
responsible Arabwouldhavepouncedon Shuqayri,and forvariousreasons
would haveplacedon him,unjustifiably, the responsibility
forthe entire
defeat.The circleshostiletowardhimwereaccustomedto dailyrepeatsof
the 'lie' in Shuqayri's
speechregardingthePLO's determination
to 'throw
theJewsintothesea!'9

Al-Hut quotes Shuqayri'sstatementsduringthe sessionsand his repliesto

Nasser and Hussein:

The politicalsolutionis one thing,turningto the worldanother.As for

turning tothe[world],we can discussthisissuefromitspropaganda aspect.
And I knowthevalueofpropaganda.The enemy'smechanisms twistedmy
statement inJerusalem regardingthrowing theJewsintothesea. Israelhas
also twistedyourstatements;itseemsto methatwe havebecomethevictim
and preyofIsraelipropaganda.1'

The sourceoftheaccusationagainstShuqayricame froman announcement

he made at a pressconferencein East Jerusalemon June2, 1967,afterstop-
ping offin Amman on the way back fromCairo in King Hussein's plane
(Hussein leftforCairo on May 30 and returnedthe same day). According
to the Lebanese daily Al-Yawm (3 June 1967), Shuqayriwas asked what
would happen to thecitizensofIsraeliftheArabswon thewar.His answer:
"We will endeavorto assist [theJews]and facilitatetheirdepartureby sea
to theircountriesof origin."Regarding the fate of Israeli-bornJews,he
replied:"Whoeversurviveswill stayin Filastin,but in myopinion no one
will remainalive."l
Shuqayri'sstatementelicitedno special attentionat thetime,not even

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 theJewsintotheSea"?
Did ShuqayriCall for"Throwing * 73

in Israel,norwas it relayedon Arab radio stations.Radio PLO, too, made

no mentionof it, although on the same day,June2, 1967, it announced
thatthispressconferencehad takenplace. I founda reference to Shuqayri's
statementin the FrenchweeklyL'Express(June5-11,1967) in a reporton
the Middle East situation. The L'Expressreporterin Amman described
Shuqayri,noting "his skill at whipping up [the] crowds."The reporter
quoted Shuqayri:"In the eventof a conflict[a confrontation],in effect,no
Jewwould remainalive."'12
It was only afterthe war, when Israel launched its own information
campaignfocusingon Arabs hostilityto Israelpriorto thewar,thatfulluse
was made of Shuqayri'sdeclaration.His publishedreplyin the Lebanese
newspaperwas explainedbytheIsraeliinformation bureau,and laterby the
westernmedia, as an explicitcall to throwtheJewsintothesea. Arab circles
adopted this interpretationtook advantageof it in revilingShuqayriafter
the Six-Day War with the claim thathe had contributedto theirdownfall
bywinninginternationalsupportforIsrael.
In his memoirs,formerJordanianPrimeMinisterSa'ad Jum'a,whose
hostilitytoward Shuqayriwas no secret,mentionedShuqayri'sreturnto
Jordanin Hussein's plane:

On thesameday[June2, 1967]when[Shuqayri] leftthemosque[inJerusa-

on
lem] Friday, he held a pressconference.
On thisoccasionhe utteredthe
famousstatement thatIsraelexploited
so maliciously:'We
shalldestroyIsrael
with
together its inhabitants,and forthose who remain-if any do-the
boatswillbe waitingto banishthem.'

Jum'acontinues:

Dr.AbdaAzm,a lecturer attheJordanian toldmethatheviewed

University,
Shuqayri on the television
screenin Londonspeakingthesevapidwords.
Afterthe war we discoveredthatthisgibberish had terrifiedthe nations
ofEuropeand theAmericanpeopleand causedeveryone to identifywith
Israel,thatShuqayriintendedto annihilate
andwhosewomenand children
murder.13

Verbalassaultsagainst Shuqayriincreasedduringtheweek leading to his

resignationand his opponents capitalized on his June2, 1967 statement.
In a pressconferenceon 2o December 1967,PalestinianStudents Union
Chairman,Muhammad Subeih recalledShuqayri'sstatementon the eve of
the Six Day War and demanded his removalfromhis position.

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 *
74 ISRAEL STUDIES, VOLUME 8, NUMBER 2

The IsraelistookadvantageofShuqayri'sscathingdeclarations
as a pretext
forlaunchingan attackon theArabstates.Shuqayri'shoundingwords,on
theeveoftheArab-Israeli war,threatenedtheJewswithdeathand a warof
Thisis completely
totalannihilation. ludicrous.We onlywantedthelibera-
tionofFilastinand expulsionof theIsraeligovernment.We wouldlivein
peacewiththeJewsunderthePalestinianflag.14

Shuqayrisoughteveryopportunityto refutethe connotationplaced on his

words as the Israeli"informationdoctors"and Arab elementsinterpreted
them.In an interviewon Frenchradio (September28, 1967)thatwas picked
up by Radio PLO thesame day,it was reported:

thattheArabswouldcasttheJewsintothesea,attribute
As forthedeclaration
by western news agenciesto Shuqayri,thelatterreplied:'I statedexactlythe
opposite.I was in Ammantwo daysbeforetheIsraeliaggression and was
askedat a pressconference ifwe would throwtheJewsintothesea ifthe
Arabswonthewar.I immediately answeredthisquestionand said thatwe
haveno desireto throwtheJewsintothesea nordo we wantto annihilate
theJews.ButJewishsourcestwistedthesestatements around,and as you
knowZionismis expertat lyingand distorting things.'

Shuqayrithenadded, "We see thatIsrael is throwingthe Palestiniansinto

the desert,and this is no less dangerous than throwingtheJewsinto the
sea. Where thenis the public uproar?"'5
Shuqayriwas asked to respond to this issue on November9, 1967 at
a pressconferenceto conclude his visitto Algeria. Radio PLO broadcast
his reply:

On thequestionofworldZionism'sfallaciousclaimsregarding theArabs'
toward
position the
Jews, he said:'No conflict
existsbetween theJewsandus.
We havealwaysdistinguished betweentheJewas a humanbeingupholding a
andracistZionismand imperialist
faith,
religious Israel.Zionismhasalways
fabricatednumerousclaimsagainstthePalestinianpeople,andaccusedthe
Arabsofcallingfortheslaughter oftheJewsand tossingthemintothesea.
Thisassertion,
however,is a distortionand prevarication.'"6

On 24 November1967,two days afterthe UN SecurityCouncil passed

its Resolution 242, Shuqayri convened a press conferencein which he
announced his rejectionof the Resolution. Once again, he was asked to
discuss his June2, 1967 statement.Radio PLO reportedhis answer the
followingday:

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 theJewsintotheSea"?
Did ShuqayriCall for"Throwing * 75

TheheadofthePLO denied,in answerto a questionaboutwhattheZion-

ist propagandahas alreadyspread,claimingthatthe head of the PLO
announcedthat'we will butchertheJewsand throwtheminto the sea.'
[Shuqayri] assertedthatthiswasoneofthemostflagrant liesthattheZionist
had
propaganda propagated. He admittedthat 'theaim ofthePalestinian
peopleis liberationand thegoal ofliberation
is nottheslaughtering of the
Jews,[or]killingthemand throwing themintothesea,rather ourgoal is the
liberationoftheland [heldby]theStateofIsrael.Andwe did notconsider
these[other]thingsat all. TodayJewsliveeverywhere in theArabworld,in
theUAR, Lebanon,Iraq,Morocco,and Lybia,and duringthe eventsof 5
Junewe did notbutcherthemorthrowthemintothesea.'

Accordingto a laterversionof thispressconference, whichhe describedin

hisI973 memoirsShuqayriwas asked, ifit was "truethatin the statement
you made in Amman priorto the Junewar you called forthrowingthe
Jewsinto the sea?" To which he replied,thatit "is not true at all ... The
Zionist propaganda machines pervertedthese words in my name." He
was thenasked, "Why didn'tyou denythesestatements?"and he replied,
"Askyourselves.I denied it at the time. I denied it at severalpressconfer-
ences butyournewspapersdidn'tpublishit. Only theFrenchradio station
broadcastmydenial."
Shuqayrialso blamed the Egyptianpressof ignoringthe November
24, 1967 press conference,and al-Aharam,al-Akbar,and al-Jumhuriya
made do with a couple of lines, to the effectthat,"the head of the PLO
held a pressconferencein which he explainedhis positionon the Security
Council resolution."Accordingto Shuqayri

Thissituation mademeveryangry.I calledthe[Egyptian] ministerofinfor-

mation, Muhammad Fariq,who promised me thathe wouldissueinstruc-
tionsthefollowingday fora completecoverageofthepressconference.I
askedhimto devotespecialattention to theissueofthrowing theJewsinto
thesea sinceit stilldisturbedworldopinion.He relied:'I am personally
interestedin thisissue.Don't worry,
tomorrow The
you'llreadeverything.'
I
nextday readeverything, butI readnothing,nothingon thequestionof
theSecurityCouncilor on throwing theJewsintothesea.

Shuqayriadds thathe had no choice butto turnto theLebanese newspaper.

"Indeed, the pressconferencethatwas publishedand broadcast in Beirut
. . reportedthe storyof'throwingtheJewsinto thesea'.""17
As partofhis campaign to exoneratehimselfofthechargeand correct
the impressionthat he believed his June2, 1967 declarationhad created

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 *
76 ISRAEL STUDIES, VOLUME 8, NUMBER 2

in the world, Shuqayri sent a message to "the Jews of Israel" in time for
November 2, the day on which the Arab world commemorates the Balfour
Declaration. Shuqayri's message, which Radio PLO broadcast in Hebrew
on October 31,1967, reiteratedhis radical attacks against Israel and referred
to the issue of throwing the Jews into the sea:

Filastin is the homeland of the Palestinian people. The Palestinian people

and theArab nation will neversurrenderFilastin . . . Zionism, Israel,and
imperialismare leading you to perdition. .. .There is no peace between the
thiefand the person who has been robbed ... There will never be peace
. . Battleswill surelymultiply,neverthelesswe will fightIsrael until it is
destroyed.This is a holywar and a war of liberation.If our generationloses
the war, the coming generationswill continue fightinguntil the State of
Israel is destroyed... We do not wish to annihilate theJewsor throwthem
into thesea. Israel'saccusationsare a pack of lies,just remember:theJewish
communityin Filastinenjoyedpeace and securityin Filastinbeforethe rise
of Zionism. Today membersof theJewishcommunitylive in Arab countries
and enjoypeace, security,and equality.Thousands ofyou are leavingforthe
United States,Canada, and the lands ofyourorigin,and settlingthere.This
factis thefirststeptowarda solutionofa just peace. Returnto yourcountries
of origin. Return to the places that you came from.Immigrateto a place
whereyouwill finda quiet life.Filastinwill not be thehomelandwherequiet,
peace, and tranquilityreignuntil our people returnto it ... Thefidaiyunare
not murderersor terrorists. They are heroicfighterssacrificingtheirlivesfor
the liberationof theirhomeland ... One hundredthousandArabs surround
you; theywill not leave Israel alone and allow it exist ... Search forpeace,
prosperityand peace outsideof Filastin,go to places wherethereare Jewish
communitiesand wheretheyenjoy prosperityand stability... This is the
only solutionto peace ... The Balfourdeclarationthatcreateda catastrophe
broughton the immigrationof Jews to Palestine . . . The catastrophewill
end by emigrationfromPalestine.18

Accusations continued to be hurled against Shuqayri forhis 'throwing the

Jews into the sea' remarkformany years afterhis resignation on December
24, 1967. In his memoirs he devoted a whole chapter to this issue and titled
it "Throwing the Jews into the sea and throwing the Arabs into the desert."
Once again Shuqayri rejected the charges and insisted that Zionism was
guilty for disseminating them:

ThrowingtheJewsinto the sea was a slogan the Jewsinvented.It is an old

slogan, fortyyearsold or more. From time to time it resurfacesin public

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 theJewsintotheSea"? * 77
Did ShuqayriCall for"Throwing

eventsand politicalcircumstances. It enterednumerousbooks and was

pickedup by journalists,stateministers, and headsof state,and it even
reacheddiscussionand protocolsat theUnitedNations.Itsgoal is to inflict
injuryon thePalestinianpeopleand thentheentire Arabnation.This hap-
pened afterthe Palestine-Jewishconflictbecame an Arab-Israelistruggle.
Historyhas beencreatedaroundthisslogan,ithasa beginningand I doubt
it will have an end untilthe Stateof Israelis liquidated,and Zionism is
destroyed as a faith,a movement,and an organization. Thentheworldwill
haverespitefromthissloganand itsmasters.

Shuqayricomplained that Israel's campaign to malign him pursued him

even afterhe had resignationfrompolitics, and turned to writing his
memoirs:

Israelcontinuesto remindtheworldat everyopportunity'that

In effect,
'al-Shuqayri'wantedto throwtheJewsintothesea . .. I haveheard this
manytimes. . . evenon theVoiceofIsrael. . . Thisis whythesubjectof
throwing theJewsintothesea has turnedintoa generalissuethatneeds to
be analyzedand learnt,sinceitis partofourgreatcampaignagainstIsrael,
Zionismand worldimperialism.

According to Shuqayri others, too, were creditedwith the "throwing

the Jews into the sea" slogan, and mentionedsimilar claims that-he
believed-were made against the mufti,Amin al-Husseini, in the 1930s,
and the Egyptian foreignministryand Syrianarmyduringthe 1948 War,
"Then came the assault on Shuqayrifromthe Israelipress and radio to
join Zionist propaganda afterthefoundingofthePLO." Shuqayrigave his
own versionof theJune2, 1967 pressconference, whichwas quite different
fromthat in the Lebanese paper. To the question,"What is your goal if
you win thewar?"he claimed to have answered,"Our goal is theliberation
of our homeland fromIsraelioccupation."To the question "What will be
the fateof the Israelis?Will you throwtheminto thesea?" He replied, "I
do not wish to toss theJewsinto the sea, this is an old libel. It was Zion-
ism thataccused the Palestinianleadershipof this,firstin 1929 during the
uprisingovereventsat theWailing Wall. As forthefateof the Israelis,this
is a subjectthat the UN will resolvesince it is an internationalproblem."
To thequestion,"could you give us some detailson thisidea?" he claimed
to have replied,"Back in 1957 I presenteda proposal to the UN calling
forthe establishmentof an agencyto be named "theSettlementAgency"
thatwould facilitatethe returnof the Israelisto theiroriginalhomelands.
Now I would add that since the Arab statesare membersof the United

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 *
78 ISRAEL STUDIES, VOLUME 8, NUMBER 2

Nations, theywould be willingto participatein the budgetof thisagency

in orderto facilitatethe returnof Israelisto theirfirstcountryof origin."
When asked whetherthis meant he was preparedto expel theJewsfrom
Palestine, he answered:"This is not true. We oppose the State of Israel
[but] not theJewsas such. We are strugglingagainst Zionism and all the
Zionists, whetherin Filastinor abroad. The PalestinianJewscan remain
in Palestine,so can the Jewswho came fromthe Arab countries. . . We
ask nothingofthemexceptone condition,and thatis thattheywon'thave
any links [loyalty]to Zionism or the State of Israel."When asked, "What
about therestoftheJews?"Shuqayristated,accordingto hisaccount:"They
will go back to wheretheycame from.They came by sea, and by the sea
theywill return.We are readyto cooperate with the United Nations to
facilitatetheirreturnto theirfirsthomeland."Afterwardshe relatedhow
this slogan was transformed into the centraltheme of Israel's anti-Arab
propaganda, and reiterated:
"The storyof throwingtheJewsinto the sea,
that theJewsconcoctedin 1929,is similarto the anti-Semiticslogan they
devised in Europe. What I stated at the press conferencein Amman in
June1967 I alreadysaid a decade earlier-in 1957-in the United Nations
with emphasison 'we do notwish to throwtheJewsintothe sea."'19In his
memoirsShuqayrielaborateson how the Israeli propaganda exploitedhis
declarationafterthe Six-Day War.

EVALUATION

The versionin the Lebanese newspaperal-Yawm gives the impressionof

being closer to the truththan the doctored one in Shuqayri'smemoirs.
Although radical,thestatementdoes not appear to implythathe intended
to throwtheJewswho "remainedin Filastin,"intothesea "ifanyremained."
His intentionwas thattheywould be deportedoverseas,by ship,to their
countriesoforigin,in otherwords,bythe same way theycame to Israel.At
the same time,his statement"in myestimatenone of themwould remain
alive" obviouslysounded like the intentionto destroyor liquidatetheJews
and that theirfatewas sealed. It certainlylentcredibilityto theclaim that
he had called forthrowingtheJewsintothesea. This statementwas usually
accompanied by referenceto the exterminationof the remainingJews,or
vice versa,namelythe intentionto annihilatethe Jewswas accompanied
by a plan to throwtheminto the sea.
His declarationofJune2, 1967 should be viewed againstthebackdrop
ofwar fervoragainstIsraelthatenflamedtheArab worldduringtheMiddle

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 Did ShuqayriCall for"Throwing
theJewsintotheSea"? * 79

East crisisthateruptedon May 15,1967when Egyptianforcescrossed into

theSinai Peninsula,in orderto deterIsraelfromattackingSyria.The crisis
peaked on May 22, with Nasser's announcementthatthe Straitsof Tiran
would be closed to Israelishipping.It was obvious fromthis momentthat
warwas inevitable.As the crisisintensified,theArab media increasedtheir
venomousattackson Israeland ralliedforitsdestruction.The cryto liqui-
date Israelwas raised by Ahmad Sa'id, stationmasterof the Cairo-based
VoiceoftheArabs(Sawt al-Arab),and reachedunheardoflevelsofstridency.
Arab broadcasts,especiallyfromEgypt,whipped up the Arab masses to
believethat Israel's liquidationwas a foregoneconclusionand the goal of
theentireArab nation,and that"Israellacksthestrengthto endureagainst
theArabs even forone hour. The Arab people's decisionis unfaltering:to
wipe Israeloffthe face of the map and returnArab honorto Filastin."20

Withtheclosingof thestraits,Israelfacestwopossibilities
bothofwhich
areblood-soaked:eitheritwilldie bystrangulation
in thewakeoftheArab
militaryand economicblockade,or itwill die byshootingfromtheArab
forcessurroundingitin thesouth,north,and east.21

Not onlydid thecalls on Arab radio fora war ofannihilationagainst Israel

expressthe inherentwish of theArab masses,but also createda sweeping
wave of exhilarationat all levelswithinthe Arab world.Arab broadcasts
implantedin theheartsoftheArab publicthecertainty thatIsrael'sdestruc-
tion was imminent.
Spurred by the Arab media, the frenziedatmospherein the Arab
world, and declarationsby Nasser and otherArab leaders who spoke of
theapproachingbattleto liberateFilastin,and in lightof themass hysteria,
Shuqayri,as usual, grewevermorerabidin his choiceof expressions,prov-
ing he was capable of outdoing the extremists.He seemed to be blinded
by theenthusiasticreceptionof his speechon themorningofJune2, 1967,
afterFridayprayersin thecourtyardoftheal-Aqsa Mosque (on theTemple
Mount in Jerusalem),when frenziedPalestinians"criedforstruggleand
liberation."22This, he thought,would reinstatehispopularity,afterhis long
declinein Palestinian public opinion. Moreover,he was convinced that an
Arabvictorywas at hand, and his announcementreflected his characteristic
certainty vis-a-visthe fateof Israel'sJews.
There is no doubt that Shuqayri'sfailingposition and the charges
leveledagainsthim in wake of theArab defeatin theSix-Day War greatly
expeditedtheworld'sreceptionoftheIsraeliinformation campaign. It was
takenin by theWest and even in theArab world,especiallysince Shuqayri

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80 * ISRAEL STUDIES, VOLUME 8, NUMBER 2

was famous forhis unrestrained ranting against Israel. The Arab world's and
the Palestinians' lack of sympathy toward him-especially afterthe Arabs'
defeat-also helped get the message accepted. In face of this information
campaign no Arab dared assist him. Shuqayri himself admitted that even
the Egyptians, who were busy licking their own wounds, refused to offer
him support. Shafiq al-Hut's observation (see above) bears witness to the
Arab leaders' unsympathetic reaction to Shuqayri's speech at the Khartoum
Summit. In his memoirs Shuqayri attempted to blunt the sting of the blame
attributed to him, by tryingto present the issue as part of the Arab-Israeli
struggle. He even sought to "revamp" the Lebanese newspaper's version.
But he did this for the sake of history, and history has generally treated
him unfavorably.

NOTES

I. Ahmad al-Shuqayri was born in 1908 in Tibnin, South Lebanon, but

spent most of his youthin Acre. His father,Assad al-Shuqayriwas a Palestinian
notable duringthe Ottoman Period and afterwardsduringthe BritishMandate.
Ahmad al-Shuqayriattendedthe "Sahion" high school in Jerusalem,and received
a legal diploma fromtheJerusalemLaw College in 1933.Following in his father's
footsteps,he was active in the opposition to the muftiand identifiedwith the
al-Istiqlal Party.At the end of World War II he changed his political colors and
linked up withMusa al-Alami, an associate oftheMuftiAmin al-Husseini. From
Julyto November1945he was sentbyAlami to open an Arab informationbureau
in Washington. In early1946 he was appointed head of theArab Office(an Arab
informationcenter)in Jerusalem.In 195ohe joined the staffof the SyrianForeign
Ministry,servingas Syria'srepresentativeat the UN. In 1951he was appointed
deputy security-general of theArab League. His "Syrian"roleended in 1957and
he was appointedSaudi representative to the UN, a post he was removedfromin
August 1963 for to
refusing carry out the Saudi government'sinstructions.After
the death ofAhmad Hilmi in September1963he was appointed Palestinianrep-
resentativeto the Arab League. For biographical details on Shuqayrisee: Aryeh
Bo'az, "A PoliticalBiographyofAhmad al-Shuqayri,"M.A. Dissertation,Tel-Aviv
University,1987 [Hebrew].
2. The FirstArab Summit (January1964) called on Shuqayri,the Palestin-
ian representative in the Arab League, "to continue his contactswith the Arab
governments thatwere members[in the League] and with the Palestinianpeople
in orderto establishthe necessaryfoundationsforunitingthe Palestinianpeople
to fulfilltheirrolein the liberationof theirhomeland and in self-determination."

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 Did Shuqayri Call for"ThrowingtheJewsinto the Sea"? * 81

On Shuqayri's activityin founding and directingthe PLO and on his decline

beforeand afterthe Six-Day War, see: Moshe Shemesh, The Palestinian Entity
1959-1974:Arab Politicsand thePLO (2ndrevisededition) (London, 1996).
3. Sa'ad Jum'a,"The Collusion and the Fatal Battle,"in: Efraim Kam (ed.),
Husayn Goes to War: 7he Six-Day War in JordanianEyes (Tel-Aviv, 1974) 285
[Hebrew].
4. Mark Tessler,A Historyof the Israeli-PalestinianConflict(Bloomington
and Indianapolis, 1994) 393.
5. Helena Cobban, ThePalestinian LiberationOrganization:People, Power,
and Politics(London, 1984) 31.
6. Samir A. Mutawi, Jordan in the 1967 War (London, 1987) 99. Another
referenceregardingKing Hussein should be mentionedin this respect. In his
book, My War withIsrael, as narratedto the FrenchjournalistsViki Vance and
PierreLaoure, Hussein says: "Shuqayri leftAmman on Saturday,June 3 [1967],
stillwearinghis Mao tunic. He wentto Jerusalemto hold a pressconference,and
deliveredone of his poisonous statementsthatwereso beneficialto Israeli propa-
ganda." In a footnotethe authorsadded details on Shuqayri:"On the stage of the
UN [as Saudi ambassador] he was heard to threatento 'throwthe Jews into the
sea,' a sentencethat greatlyincitedmoderateworld opinion against the Arabs."
7. Randolph S. Churchill and Winston S. Churchill,TheSix Day War (Lon-
don, 1967) 52.
8. Shuqayriat a pressconferencein Cairo, PLO Radio, 25 November 1967.
9. Shafiq al-Hut, TwentyYearsin thePLO (Beirut,1986) 148 [Arabic].
Io. Ibid. I55-156.
11. See also: Bo'az (above, n.i) 143.
12. "Mourir pour Akaba," L'Express(5-11 June 1967) I5. "Ahmad Choukeiri
declare: 'En cas de conflict,il ne resteraitpratiquementpas de survivantsJuifs'."I
wishto thankProfessorB.Z. Kedar (Hebrew UniversityofJerusalem)forbringing
this source to my attention.
13.Sa'ad Juma in: EfraimKam (ed), HusseinOpenstheWar: TheSix-Day War
inJordanianEyes(Tel-Aviv,1974) 285 [Hebrew].
14. Muhammad Subeih, al-Nahar, 21 December 1967.
i5. Ahmad al-Shuqayri,PLO Radio, 28 September1967.
16. Ibid. 9 November 1967.
17. Ahmad al-Shuqayri, The GreatDefeat,II (Beirut,1973) 276-278 [Arabic].
18. PLO Radio, 31 October 1967.
19. Shuqayri, The GreatDefeat, II (Beirut,1973) 279-296 [Arabic].
20. RadioDamascus,23 May 1967.
21. Radio Cairo, 27 May 1967.
22. PLO Radio, 2 June1967.

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