The operation is considered to have led to the Six-Day War of 1967 along with many other factors.
The Samu Incident refers to events centered around an Israeli military operation on November 13, 1966, when the Israeli Defense Forces entered the southern Jordanian-controlled West Bank in response to Fatah attacks against Israelis near the West Bank border.
It was the largest Israeli military operation since the 1956 Suez Crisis.
Israel's goal in the operation was to demolish houses in Palestinian villages located south of Hebron for aiding and providing a safe-haven for Fatah and other PLO militants. Israel hoping then, that the residents of those villages would appeal to King Hussein to tame Fatah and other Palestinian militant groups. Israel also aimed at warning Jordan as well as Syria of its military strength without actually confronting the Jordanian Armed Forces. Operation Shredder 3 Operation Shredder |
clipped from en.wikipedia.org
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Two days later in a memo to President Johnson his Special Assistant Walt Rostow wrote
"retaliation is not the point in this case. This 3000-man raid with tanks and planes was out of all proportion to the provocation and was aimed at the wrong target"
...and went on to describe the damage done to U.S. and Israeli interests:
"They've wrecked a good system of tacit cooperation between Hussein and the Israelis... They've undercut Hussein. We've spent $500 million to shore him up as a stabilizing factor on Israel's longest border and vis-à-vis Syria and Iraq. Israel's attack increases the pressure on him to counter-attack not only from the more radical Arab governments and from the Palestinians in Jordan but also from the Army, which is his main source of support and may now press for a chance to recoup its Sunday losses... They've set back progress toward a long term
accommodation with the Arabs... They may have persuaded the Syrians
that Israel didn't dare attack Soviet-protected Syria but could attack US-backed Jordan with impunity."
Facing a storm of criticism from Jordanians, Palestinians and his Arab neighbours for failing to protect Samu, Hussein ordered a nation-wide mobilization on 20 November. Riots spread throughout the West Bank demanding the king be overthrown.
On 25 November the United Nations Security Council adopted Resolution 228 unanimously deploring ...
"the loss of life and heavy damage to property resulting from the
action of the Government of Israel on 13 November 1966", censuring
"Israel for this large-scale military action in violation of the United Nations Charter and of the General Armistice Agreement between Israel and Jordan" and emphasising "to Israel that actions of military reprisal cannot be tolerated and that, if they are repeated, the
Security Council will have to consider further and more effective steps as envisaged in
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lyndon_B._Johnson
President Johnson
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