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Indelible History of June 1967 |
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Muahmmed Vall – AlJazeeraTalk
Israeli fighter jets drawing the star of David on Arab horizons. A brief display but with indelible marks on History. On the 5th of June 1967 Israel launched a massive pre-emptive strike… aborting more than just a possible Arab offensive ...
Up to four hundred Egypt based military aircraft were destroyed in surprise attacks on air bases across the country.
On the 6th of June Israel captured the Gaza Strip defeating part of the Egyptian army.
The next day the West Bank including the old city Jerusalem was captured and annexed to Israel.
On the 8th of June Israel captured the Sinai from the Egyptian Army.
By the 10th of June Israel had defeated the Syrian army in the Golan Heights.
The fighting ended when Israel heeded UN warnings not to advance into Syria.
In just 6 days three Arab armies were crushed.
The consequences of the defeat were far reaching.
The vision of pan-Arab nationalism was shattered.
The dream of one nation from the Atlantic to the Gulf gave way to narrow nationalist concerns.
The belief that Arab armies would free Palestine ended in frustration.
Arab countries neighboring Israel had a new priority to deal with: freeing their own lands from Israeli occupation.
The Khartoum summit shortly after the war displayed Arab defiance… The famous three "No's" to any recognition, negotiation or peace with Israel... But it was on the margins of that very summit that Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser hinted secretly at the idea of a negotiated settlement.
Palestinians decided to take matters into their own hands. The Palestinian Liberation Organization was created as a purely Palestinian resistance.
In 1973 Israel's Arab neighbors retaliated almost succeeding in dislodging the Jewish state.
But again it was a botched attempt which didn't last or change reality on the ground.
The fitful attack turned out to be a maneuver by Egyptian president Anwar Al Sadat to prepare better negotiating conditions with Israel.
Since he signed Egypt's notorious peace treaty with the Israelis, humiliating blows by Israel succeeded one another.
The destruction of Iraq's nuclear reactor in 1981
The invasion of Lebanon in 1982
And the subsequent expulsion of Palestinian fighters from around Israel
The Oslo peace agreement brought the fighters home to the West Bank and Gaza.
But many believe it did little except to free the Palestinian leadership from Arab jurisdiction and place it under Israeli occupation.
With the dismembering of occupied territories by Jewish settlements and an Israeli separation wall, the dream of a viable Palestinian state appears more distant by the day.
The Pan Arab impasse no less dramatic: Weak and divided, they can neither wage a successful war nor negotiate a fair peace.
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