Colonel Fawzi Silalu. In October 1948, Sasson summoned to Paris
Yolande Harmer, the Israeli spy in Egypt who had recently been re-
leased from an Egyptian prison, and asked her to continue the con-
tacts with her Egyptian sources.
Sasson served as director of the Foreign Ministry’s Middle East
Department (1948–1950) and was on the Israeli delegation for cease-
fire negotiations in Lausanne in 1949. He became the Israeli envoy to
Turkey (1950–1952), where he served in the dual position of diplomat
and intelligence officer and attempted to foster the Israeli Periphery
Doctrinewith Turkey; and then Israeli envoy and ambassador to Italy
(1953–1960). Even in Rome he continued to develop Israel’s relations
with Turkey and met regularly with the Turkish ambassador to Rome,
Fatin Zurlu. Sasson served as Israeli ambassador to Switzerland
(1960–1961). After retiring from his diplomatic-intelligence career,
Sasson was elected a member of the Knesset, where he served from
1965 to 1973; from 1965 to 1969 he was a member of the Israeli gov-
ernment.SASSON, MOSHE (1925– ).Born in Damascus, Syria, Sasson immi-
grated to Palestine in 1926. In 1948 he was the head of the Arab De-
partment of the Information Servicein Haifa. He served in the Israeli
Foreign Ministry’s Middle East Department from 1949 to 1952. In
January 1950, a time of revolution and counterrevolution in Syria,
Sasson suggested informing the pro-Western ruler of Syria, Colonel
Adib al-Shishakli, of the names of antigovernment conspirators and
the seditious role played by the Iraqi military mission in Damascus.
The idea was to exploit the presence of dissident elements in Syria to
try to rupture the united front of Arab hostility to Israel. Israeli intelli-
gence interests focused on Iraq, which tried continuously to topple the
regime in Damascus. The assessment was that the Iraqi mission in
Syria was attempting to organize a counterrevolution in that country.
In 1977 Sasson was appointed director of the Center for Political Re-
searchin the Foreign Ministry. Later he became the Israeli minister to
Turkey and, from 1981 to 1988, Israeli ambassador to Egypt.SAYANIM. The Hebrew word for local assistants; sayanin the singu-
lar. Local assistants refer to a pool of people who are available when
needed to provide services and who will keep silent about their ac-244 • SASSON, MOSHE06-102 (04) Q-Z.qxd 3/24/06 7:25 AM Page 244