An Arab World War Fought In Six Days Against Israel; Israel Won, So Why Can't Israel Today?

 Nadene Goldfoot                               

        IDF Paratroopers Visiting Western Wall (Wailing),( kotel maaravi) after 20 years of Waiting to See it             

Half of the world of nations conspired against Israel and fought against her in 1967.  Israel won the war in Six Days.  

Golda Meir, who was Israel's Foreign Minister at the time of the Six-Day War in 1967, regarded the conflict as a necessary defensive action initiated by the Arab states. She maintained that Israel's stunning military victory was driven by necessity, not a thirst for conquest.                                                   

In a controversial 1969 interview, Meir denied the existence of a Palestinian people, stating, "There was no such thing as Palestinians". This comment is considered a significant part of her legacy and an example of Israeli denial of Palestinian identity. 

There had been an Israel lasting from King Saul of 11th century BCE to King Hosheawho reigned from 730 to 721 BCE, and then Judah's king of the Southern part ofIsrael continued on as only Judah with King Zedekiah of 597-586 BCE.   . 

 There had never ever been a Palestine until the Romans in35 C E renamed Judah as Palestine after Bar Kokhba, a Jewish General, had re-takenJerusalem in 132 CE and held it for 3 years against the toughest army in the world,the Romans.  They were angry and humiliated, so they renamed it after thePhillistines, the worst enemy Israel had fought.  

Meir opposed returning to the pre-1967 borders, which she considered indefensible. She believed that peace depended on Arab nations choosing coexistence over war. She also expressed the difficulty of forgiving the Arabs for having "forced us to kill their sons," highlighting the war's human cost. 

Meir described the war as a fight for survival, famously stating, "We Jews have a secret weapon in our struggle with the Arabs: we have no place to go". She contended that the Arab states, led by Egypt, were the aggressors, leaving Israel with "no alternative" but to fight. She also argued that the resulting territorial gains were a consequence of the Arab states initiating the hostilities. 

In 1967, the 6 days was a war between Israel and Egypt, Jordan, and Syria precededby a building -up of tension due to over 2 years of sabotage activities inside Israeland border incidents, mostly by Syrians who were interested in involving the otherArab states in a further war with Israel.  

Fearing Israel retaliation against Syria and in an effort to deflect it, Egypt beganmoving its army into the Sinai peninsula on May 15, 1967.  Nasser demanded theremoval of UN troops who had been posted along the Gaza Strip and at Sharm e-Sheikh and when the UN secretary-general, U thant, immediately acceded,  Nasserdecreed a blockade of the Straits of Tiran so that no Israel shipping would bepermitted to go to the port of Elath.  

Israel inaugurated diplomatic activity to try and prevent the situation from deterior-ating into war but Nassser moved 100,000 men and 1,000 tanks into Sinai while theother Arab states (all the others joined in) rapidly made their preparations andcoordinated their moves for a unified attack on Israel, including an agreementbetween Nasser and King Hussein of Jordan.  The Arab world was seized with warhysteria and in a preemptive move, Israel struck on June 5th.  

Miracles kept happening in favor of Israel and she won against this all Arab Statesattack!  

The Israel Air Force went into action, attacking grounded Egyptian planes, over 300of which were destroyed in 3 hours.  Other attacks wiped out the Syrian and Jordan-ian air forces.  Israel troops attacked Egyptian positions along the Gaza Strip. 

A few hours after the fighting had begun, Jordan attacked Israel, despite the messagesent to Hussein by the Israel prime minister Levi Eshiol that if she remained out ofthe war, she would not be attacked.  (Israel Jerusalem) and border towns were heavilyshelled by the Jordanians anyway.  Late on June 5, Israel troops began their movesagainst Jordan's positions and in a pincer-move, starting from the latrun salient,cut off (Jordanian Jerusalem)  including the Old City which fell on June 7.  Theentire area West of the Jordan River, including Bethlehem, Hebron, and Nablus (arabtowns) fell to the Israel army.  

IDF soldiers who had been kept from visiting the Western Wall (Kotel) now had accessto which had been barred to Jews for almost 20 years.  Here they are, dancing theHora.  

Resource
The New Standard Jewish Encyclopedia,    The Six Day War