Sources & Archives

This research draws on primary sources, government documents, visual archives, contemporary newspapers, scholarly literature, poster collections, and declassified intelligence records.

This page allows readers to examine the research behind the project, trace the sources of its main claims, and distinguish between historical records, scholarly research, and visual materials.

1. Primary Sources, Government Records, and Diplomatic Documents

United Nations / UN Official Records

United Nations records, including Andrei Gromyko’s 1947 speeches, the UN Partition Plan, General Assembly resolutions, and debates on the question of Palestine.
Key documents include Resolution 181, Resolution 302 establishing UNRWA, Resolution 3236 on Palestinian rights, and Resolution 3379, which declared that “Zionism is a form of racism.”

UNISPAL - United Nations Information System on the Question of Palestine

A United Nations archive of documents on the question of Palestine, including investigative commissions, resolutions, reports, and historical records related to refugees, UNRWA, the UN Conciliation Commission for Palestine (UNCCP), and the Arab-Israeli conflict.

U.S. Department of State - Office of the Historian / FRUS

U.S. foreign policy records, including:
Foreign Relations of the United States: Arab-Israeli Dispute, 1955–1957;
documents on the Czechoslovak–Egyptian arms deal;
the 1956 Suez Crisis;
and the 1948 Arab–Israeli War and the Cold War in the Middle East.

CIA Reading Room / CREST

Declassified CIA records, including materials on:
the Soviet arms offer to Egypt in 1955;
Soviet support for international terrorism;
and biographical profiles and background reports on key figures in the Middle East.

The National Archives, UK
British Foreign Office records, including file FO 371/115505 and diplomatic cables from Cairo dating to 1955, covering Nasser, regional alliances, and the Czechoslovak–Soviet arms deal.

Presidential Library of Russia
Official Russian records on the establishment of the KGB on March 13, 1954, along with materials related to Soviet state institutions.

Churchill Archives Centre - The Mitrokhin Archive
The Mitrokhin Archive at Cambridge, based on Vasili Mitrokhin’s notes from the KGB archives. It was used as background material for claims about KGB ties to Palestinian figures, including alleged code names linked to Arafat, Abbas, and others.

2. Press, Propaganda, and Contemporary Sources

Pravda
This includes Pravda, No. 265, dated September 21, 1948, featuring Ilya Ehrenburg’s article “По поводу одного письма” (“Regarding a Letter”). The article was used to examine the Soviet government’s attitude toward Soviet Jews and the newly established State of Israel.

Izvestiia, TASS, Krasnaya Zvezda, New Times, World Marxist Review, International Affairs

Soviet newspapers and periodicals were used to examine Moscow’s official language and political framing, including anti-imperialism, anti-Zionism, national liberation movements, and Israel’s place within the broader global struggle of the Cold War.

Falastinuna / Filastinuna
Fatah’s publication, launched in 1959, was used to trace the shift from the refugee issue to a broader framework of Palestinian national struggle.

Free Palestine, Journal of Palestine Studies, PLO communiqués
Palestinian sources and PLO publications were used to examine the political language of the Palestinian movement, its relationship with the Soviet Union, and the shift toward a framework of “national liberation.”

BBC Summary of World Broadcasts / FBIS
Translations, summaries, and translated broadcasts from Arabic and Soviet sources were especially useful when the original newspapers and publications were not directly accessible.

3. Academic Literature and Key Articles

Arnold Krammer, The Forgotten Friendship: Israel and the Soviet Bloc, 1947–1953. University of Illinois Press, 1974.
A key source for understanding the period of “forgotten friendship” between Israel and the Soviet Union, including Czechoslovak military aid, Golda Meir’s visit to Moscow, the Soviet regime’s concerns about the loyalty of Soviet Jews, and the decline in bilateral relations.

Galia Golan, The Soviet Union and the Palestine Liberation Organization: An Uneasy Alliance. Praeger.
A comprehensive study of relations between the Soviet Union and the PLO, including Soviet strategic interests, the tension between political support and opposition to some Palestinian tactics, and Moscow’s approach to different factions within the Palestinian movement.

Christopher Andrew and Vasili Mitrokhin, The World Was Going Our Way: The KGB and the Battle for the Third World.
A major scholarly source on KGB operations in the developing world, including the Middle East, national liberation movements, intelligence networks, and propaganda.

Christopher Andrew and Vasili Mitrokhin, The Mitrokhin Archive.
Background material on the Mitrokhin Archive and KGB methods, including “active measures,” agent networks, disinformation, and covert political operations.

Ion Mihai Pacepa - writings on Soviet disinformation and Arafat/KGB links
Testimony by a senior defector from the Communist bloc. It was used mainly as a supplementary source for claims about Soviet disinformation, Arafat’s political background, and the provision of money, weapons, and training.

U.S. State Department, Global Engagement Center, More Than a Century of Antisemitism: How Successive Occupants of the Kremlin Have Used Antisemitism to Spread Disinformation and Propaganda, 2024.
A U.S. government report on antisemitism, anti-Zionism, and Russian and Soviet disinformation, including efforts to equate Zionism with fascism and Nazism.

Avner Cohen, Israel and the Bomb.
Background on the early development of Israel’s nuclear program, its strategic ties with the West, and the growing recognition that Israel’s long-term security depended on alliances outside the Soviet sphere.

Or Rabinowitz, “Imagining a ‘Jewish Atom Bomb’.
A supplementary source on David Ben-Gurion, Ernst David Bergmann, and the strategic vision behind Israel’s nuclear program.

Thomas M. S. Skaggs, The Czech-Egyptian Arms Deal of 1955: A Turning Point in Middle Eastern Cold War History. University of Louisville, 2015.
A study of the Czechoslovak–Egyptian arms deal, Nasser’s turn toward the Soviet Union, and the agreement’s impact on the balance of power in the Middle East.

Motti Golani, “The Historical Place of the Czech-Egyptian Arms Deal, Fall 1955.”
A scholarly article on the significance of the Czechoslovak–Egyptian arms deal in the history of the Cold War in the Middle East.

David Ben-Gurion and Yitzhak Ben-Zvi, Eretz Israel in the Past and Present, 1918.
Used as background for early discussions of identity, population, borders, and pre-state political ideas.

Yitzhak Ben-Zvi, Our Population in the Country, 1929.
An early historical source for understanding demographic debates and questions of identity in Mandatory Palestine before the establishment of Israel.

4. Biographical and Reference Sources

Encyclopaedia Britannica

Used for basic background research on:
Gamal Abdel Nasser;
Yasser Arafat;
the KGB;
the Munich Olympics massacre;
and Czechoslovak military aid to Israel.

PalQuest

A key reference source for background sections on:
The Soviet Union and the Palestine Question, 1950–1991;
Yasser Arafat;
Fatah and PLO leadership;
Muhammad Amin al-Husseini;
and UNRWA, the UNCCP, and the Palestinian refugee issue.

United States Holocaust Memorial Museum / USHMM
A key source on Haj Amin al-Husseini, his meeting with Hitler, his activities during World War II, and Nazi propaganda in Arabic.Yad

Vashem Archives
Materials documenting the ties between Haj Amin al-Husseini and Nazi Germany from 1937 to 1945.

Jewish Virtual Library
Used as a supplementary background source, particularly when it referenced other materials or publications on KGB–PLO ties.

5. Contemporary News Reports and Publications Used for Verification

Ynet / Ronen Bergman - “The KGB’s Middle East Files”
Articles on the Mitrokhin documents, alleged code names, and Palestinian figures reported to have had ties to the KGB.

BBC Russian, 2016 - Abbas / Krotov / Mitrokhin Archive
An article examining the claim that Mahmoud Abbas appeared in the Mitrokhin Archive under the code name “Krotov.”

CNN, Reuters, Haaretz
Secondary news sources used to verify reports concerning Mahmoud Abbas, the Mitrokhin Archive, and alleged ties to the Soviet Union.

Times of Israel, 2017 - Munich Olympic terror mastermind and Prague
Used as background on Eastern European and Prague-based connections involving figures linked to the Munich massacre.

Uvda, Keshet, 2012 - Shabtai Kalmanovich

A video investigation into Shabtai Kalmanovich, his espionage on behalf of the KGB, his return to Russia, and his business and political connections.

Ynet, N12 / Channel 2 News, and Haaretz - Shabtai Kalmanovich

Background articles on Kalmanovich’s murder in Moscow, his history as a spy, and his connections in the Middle East.

Catherine Belton, Putin’s People, 2020.
A supplementary source for understanding how Soviet and KGB-linked networks evolved into the business and political networks of post-Soviet Russia.

6. Visual Archives, Posters, and Photographs

National Library of Israel / Historical Jewish Press

Used to locate historical newspaper coverage, including articles from Maariv, on:
the Lod Airport massacre, May 31, 1972;
the 1972 Munich massacre;
reports concerning Adolf Eichmann’s visit to Mandatory Palestine;
and Israel–Soviet relations.
The Knesset Website / Hans H. Pinn
A photograph of Golda Meir in Moscow and Soviet Jews gathered outside the Moscow Choral Synagogue in 1948.

Palestine Poster Project Archives
A collection of Palestinian, Arab, Soviet, and anti-Zionist posters. Materials reviewed included:
Same Coin;
Familiar Handwriting;
Stop the Aggressors;
Strangle Freedom;
Ominous;
Caught Red-Handed;
and posters related to the PFLP, anti-Zionism, the Soviet Union, and the portrayal of Israel through the language of imperialism and colonialism.

Wikimedia Commons
Used to locate visual materials with clearly documented licensing, including:
a PFLP press conference following the Dawson’s Field hijackings, September 15, 1970;
photographs of George Habash, the Japanese Red Army, and the PFLP;
historical photographs of the Mandatory Palestine national soccer team;
and a 1954 photograph of Ahmad Shukeiri with Omar Elwary.

RGAKFD - Russian State Archive of Film and Photo Documents
Soviet photographic materials were reviewed, including items from the photo.rgakfd.ru archive, such as records 95350053 and 18876453, as well as images related to Soviet solidarity campaigns, Moscow, Patrice Lumumba University, and anti-imperialist movements.

Net-Film
Soviet films and newsreels were reviewed, including:
Поддержка справедливого дела (Support for a Just Cause), 1981, documenting a PLO delegation’s visit to the Soviet Union;
and newsreel footage related to the 1972 Munich massacre.

Getty Images / Bettmann
Visual materials were reviewed and licensed, including Andrei Gromyko Addressing the United Nations, Image No. 515449084.

Bundesarchiv / German Federal Archives
Materials related to the 1972 Munich Olympics were reviewed, including items such as B 145 Bild-F037753-0037.

Staatsarchiv München / Bayerisches Hauptstaatsarchiv
Reviewed as a possible source for original records related to the 1972 Munich Olympics and the terrorist attack.

Hoover Institution / Stanford Digital Collections
A stronger alternative source for some early Zionist posters, including Jewish Legion materials, some of which are marked “No known restrictions.”

NAC — Narodowe Archiwum Cyfrowe
Photographs from the 1955 World Festival of Youth and Students in Warsaw were reviewed, including items 51-372-100, 51-372-129, and 51-372-130.

Google Arts & Culture
Used as a visual and interpretive source for Soviet anti-Zionist posters, including Yury Ivanov’s Beware: Zionism!, published in 1970.

International Poster Gallery
A supplementary source for Soviet and anti-Zionist posters, including Zionism = Racism (1976).

KAN Archive / Israeli Public Broadcasting Corporation

Reviewed for historical footage related to the 1972 Munich massacre, Israel’s response, and Mossad operations. Use requires permission or licensing from the archive.

7. Sources on Terrorist Incidents and Organizational Links

Encyclopaedia Britannica - Munich Massacre
Basic historical background on the 1972 Munich Olympics massacre.

CIA Reading Room - Soviet Support for International Terrorism
Used as background for examining direct and indirect Soviet support for armed organizations and international terrorism.

Rewards for Justice / U.S. Government
Reviewed in connection with the Japanese Red Army, the PFLP, and the 1972 Lod Airport massacre.

The Bukovsky Archives
Reviewed as a source on Wadi Haddad, the PFLP, and their ties to Moscow.

Office of the Historian / FRUS
Also used to examine the Black September Organization, Fatah, the PLO, and their intelligence and diplomatic ties with the United States.

8. A Note on Methodology and Transparency

The research does not rely on a single source. It draws on primary documents, contemporary newspapers, visual archives, scholarly literature, investigative reporting, and testimony from defectors.
Where sources are sensitive or disputed - such as the Mitrokhin Archive, Ion Mihai Pacepa’s testimony, or claims involving alleged KGB code names - the language is deliberately cautious. Such claims are presented using phrases like “according to,” “it has been alleged,” or “reports based on,” rather than as established fact.

A distinction was also made between sources used for research and materials used visually.
A credit line does not necessarily grant permission to use an image. Some materials are available for viewing or research purposes only and may not be published on the website without an explicit license.

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