How did the 1967 War change King Faisals role towards the Arab-Israeli conflict?
I don’t think it changed his role toward the Arab-Israeli conflict. I think two things developed as a result of all of this: one, that Nasser had been defeated, Syria had been defeated, Jordan had been defeated, [and] Faisal’s role, Saudi Arabia’s role, correspondingly increased. Now, true, Saudi Arabia hadn’t lost any territory, but, in fact, the Israelis occupied two little islands at the entrance to the [Straits] of Tiran, Tiran and Sanafir islands, unoccupied, that belonged to Saudi Arabia. So the king could say that “The Israelis have taken some of my territory, too.” We pressed the Israelis to return it, these two little islands — President Johnson did — and when they offered to do so, the king said, “No, I’d rather not have them back at the moment,” because he wanted to be able to say that [the Saudis], too, had lost territory. But anyway, it made Faisal a more important figure in overall Arab counsel, particularly since he had money and was offering it to the states that had
