Understanding Your World: Six Days That Changed the Middle East

By BILL STEWART

Stewart: Little has changed in 40 years

June 6 marks the 40th anniversary of the 1967 Six Day war. This was the war in which Israeli armed forces won an amazing and historic victory in six days over the combined forces of Egypt, Syria and Jordan. As a result, all of Palestine, including historic East Jerusalem, fell under Israeli rule. Once again, Jews could worship at the Western (“Wailing”) Wall. Jerusalem was theirs, never again to be divided. Many Israelis — and many of their American supporters — saw the hand of God in their astonishing victory, and the nation was transformed. It was no longer the Biblical David surrounded by the menacing Arab Goliath. Israel had now become the military Goliath of the Middle East. It has remained so for the past 40 years, thanks in large part to American aid.

More than just what remained of Palestine was conquered. Syria’s Golan Heights, which was never part of historic Israel, fell to the Israeli military. Israeli forces and Jewish settlements remain there to this day. Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula was also captured, leading some Israelis to proclaim “Fly to Israel and see the Pyramids!” Israel later withdrew from the Sinai as a result of the Camp David agreement between Egypt’s Anwar Sadat and Israel’s Menachem Begin, brokered by President Jimmy Carter. In fact, Israel conquered an area three times the size of its 1948 boundaries. It wasn’t just the Arabs who were stunned by the Israeli triumph; so were the Israelis. The war changed the map of the Middle East and permanently altered the regional strategic balance. The notion of “Eretz,” or greater Israel, soon became engraved on Israel’s national consciousness. Israel and the Middle East were changed forever.

But to what end? Both The Economist and The New Yorker have run extensive articles on the 40th anniversary, and both publications lament the tragedy that has ensued as a result of the war. The Six Day War was indeed an historic victory for Israel. It has also been a Pyrrhic one. We now know that there were deep divisions among Israeli leaders at the time of the war. The army was dominated by hawks, including Yitzhak Rabin, at the time chief of staff of the Israeli Defense Forces. Nevertheless, Rabin was so agitated during the run-up to the war that he suffered a nervous breakdown. Prime Minister Levi Eshkol opposed military action up until the last minute. Menachem Begin later confessed that despite the menacing rhetoric and actions of Egypt’s Gamal Abdel Nasser, Israel was uncertain that the Egyptians really wanted to go to war. The closing of the Straits of Tiran to Israeli shipping, however, the dismissal of U.N. observers in the Sinai and the movement of Egyptian troops into the Sinai peninsula convinced a divided Israeli leadership that a pre-emptive strike was essential. And that is what happened, with the destruction of the Egyptian air force on the ground on the first day ensuring an Israeli victory several days later.

The extraordinary scope of the Israeli victory transformed the nation’s political, military and psychological outlook. Israel was no longer threatened with defeat and possible annihilation. It could now stare down its Arab neighbors and dictate terms. The Arab defeat was so thorough that it put an end to any pan-Arabist dreams of a united Arab world. Nasser died only three years later. Israel, Egypt and Syria fought again in 1973 in the Yom Kippur, or Ramadan or October war. Though Israel eventually emerged victorious, it was a close-run thing. Egyptian forces had managed to cross the Suez Canal and retake part of the Sinai, something military experts said would be impossible. The myth of Israeli invincibility had been broken, which allowed Anwar Sadat to travel to Jerusalem and later to Washington for the Camp David talks.

In the meantime, the Palestinian national movement came into its own under the leadership of Yasser Arafat. Whereas before 1967, the Palestinian cause was dominated by various Arab countries who used it for their own purposes, the Palestinians now took charge of their own fight, carrying the struggle to Israel itself under the direction of the Palestine Liberation Organization. Flush with their victory, the Israelis refused to countenance the idea of a Palestinian state, with Prime Minister Golda Meir saying in 1969 that the Palestinians didn’t exist. Nevertheless, the U.N. Security Council in 1967 issued U.N. Resolution 242, calling for an Israeli- Palestinian settlement based upon the borders that existed before the Six Day War. It is still the basic document behind any Israeli- Palestinian settlement. The notion of Eretz Israel, however had taken hold. It would prove difficult to break.

The Israelis found it impossible to destroy the Palestinian national movement, but refused to negotiate with the PLO, the legitimate representative of the Palestinians. The PLO found it could not destroy the state of Israel. Eventually, both sides began to negotiate secretly, and the result was the 1993 Oslo Peace Accords. Palestinian extremists rejected it, as did right-wing, nationalist Israelis. Nevertheless, the PLO leadership was able to move to Gaza and the West Bank. Prime Minister Rabin was assassinated by an Israeli extremist, and in the months and years to come the Oslo Accords fell apart. Two Palestinian intifadas, or uprisings, took place and Israel used its iron fist in the occupied territories. The bitterness deepened, along with the rise of religious extremists among the Palestinians, who in the failure to achieve a Palestinian state, laid claim to the leadership of Palestinian nationalism.

That is where matters stand at the moment. Israel could have used its enormous strength following the 1967 war to reach a generous settlement with the Palestinians. Instead, it denied any need for a Palestinian state. The Palestinians could have reached beyond their own bitterness over 1948 to do likewise. Each side failed to seize the moment and the other moments that were to follow. The Jewish settlers and their powerful backers still believe they have a divine right to all the land of ancient Israel. Their views are mirrored by Hamas, which believes the land belongs exclusively to the Muslims. Most Israelis and most Palestinians still want a deal despite their weak and ineffectual governments. That might be possible with strong leadership offered by the U.S. But the Bush administration thought the road to peace in Jerusalem lay through Baghdad. Instead, it lies where it always has, in Jerusalem.

(c) 2007 The Santa Fe New Mexican. Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning. All rights Reserved.