meter) cell. He was deprived of basic rights, including access to news-
papers, radio, and television. He was permitted a short walk every day,
but alone so that he would not come into contact with other prisoners.
The number of visitors he was allowed was reduced to a handful of
family members and his lawyers. On 21 April 2004 Vanunu was re-
leased from prison with strict restrictions on his freedom of movement
in the country and a ban against talking to foreign media; he was for-
bidden to travel abroad.VARASH.See COMMITTEE OF DIRECTORS OF THE INTELLI-
GENCE SERVICES.VERED, DAN.See TURKI, DAOUD.– W –
WAR OF ATTRITION.Egyptian artillery started pounding Israeli
positions near the Suez Canal again soon after the Six-Day War
ended. Forty-seven Israeli mariners were lost on 21 October 1967 in
the Israeli destroyer Eilat’s sinkingby the Egyptians. A few months
later, Israeli military patrols began to be ambushed. Thus began the
so-called War of Attrition, a bloody, three-year confrontation. From
15 June 1967 to 8 August 1970 (when a cease-fire came into effect),
Israel lost 1,424 soldiers and more than 100 civilians killed. Another
2,000 soldiers and 700 civilians were wounded. Underlying this ac-
tion by Egypt’s president Gamal Abdel Nasser was his belief that Is-
rael could not long sustain a war of attrition because most of its army
was made up of reserves. The economic burden, he thought, would
be too heavy for Israel to bear, and the unending stream of casual-
ties would wear down morale. This strategy of measured enfeeble-
ment of Israel led Nasser to order graduated attacks that would not
trigger an Israeli reply of all-out war.
During the War of Attrition, Military Intelligence(MI) was asked
primarily to assess the Egyptian intention to open fire against the Is-
raeli Army along the Suez Canal. Until February 1969, MI based its
assessments on the questioning of Egyptian defectors who crossedWAR OF ATTRITION• 30306-102 (04) Q-Z.qxd 3/24/06 7:26 AM Page 303