Until the last decade or so, the identities ofmembers of Israel's intelligence community remained secret, as didtheir actions. There were exceptions, such as Isser Harel,YitzhakShamir, Meir Amit, Chaim Herzog and David Kimche, but in general whothese people were and what they did was shrouded in mystery. Many ofthem operated under the guises of business people and diplomats, andplayed their cards so close to their chests that even their nearest anddearest were unaware of their clandestine activities.
Someof those secrets will be revealed this Friday at 6 p.m. on Channel Onewhen Yigal Ravid, who anchors The Way it Was, interviews Nahik Navot, aformer deputy director of the Mossad and before that director ofspecial operations in Paris.
One of several subjects that will come up in theinterview is King Hussein - while it was always an open secret that theJordanian monarch had excellent relations with all of Israel's primeministers, what is not generally known is that there was one exception- Menachem Begin. The two couldn't stand each other.
Ravid and Navot will also talk about relations with Egypt. Itmay surprise some Israelis to learn that although it was PresidentAnwar Sadat who signed a peace treaty with Israel, his predecessorGamal Abdel Nasser was also interested in reaching some kind ofaccommodation with the Jewish state.
Other previously classified information - about thewars in which Israel was engaged and events related to Israel'sconstant battle against terrorism - will be made public for what insome cases will be the first time.