Beyond the Periphery – Israel’s Intervention in the Yemen Civil War in the 1960s

Abstract

In recent years, archival material concerning Israel's intervention during the 1960s civil war in Yemen has come to light. The article examines and interprets the events of the war and the motives behind the intervention using the recently declassified materials and the fresh insight these afford. The article argues that Israel was driven by fear of Nasser and the domino effect Arab nationalism might spread through the Arab Middle East to intervene in the war in support of the Imam's forces via the British mercenaries operating in Yemen. In a deeper sense, Israel's chief concern was the re-emergence of the 1958 regional crisis, and as such it chose to respond through the extension of an "Alliance of the Periphery."