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COMMENTARY
May 19, 2007
Then as now
Forty years have now passed, since a much younger Israel saved herself from extinction through the brilliant, impromptu manoeuvring of the Six Day War. The forces that were gathering around her borders to exterminate her -- they were not subtle in expressing their intentions -- included those of Egypt, Syria, Jordan, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Libya, Tunisia, Algeria, and Morocco.Jordan was the late entry. King Hussein had tried to stay out of the conflict, as has the Jordanian leadership every since. And Israel, as we’ve learned from several histories since written, had no plans ready to invade the West Bank. The whole operation, by which Israel became saddled with the occupation of what has since been re-designated “Palestinian” territory, had to be tossed together from reserve troops, desperately needed on the other fronts. Israel had one chance, and one chance alone, of survival. It was to strike out suddenly against the forces Egypt’s President Nasser was assembling, and throw them into the chaos of a disordered retreat. This was done with a single, incredibly bold stroke, in which the entire Israeli air force was risked in one continuous operation. And then the Israeli army, quite freshly mobilized by the pan-Arab threat, cut like butter through the confused hordes of the best soldiers the Arab world could muster. Responsibility for the war lay almost entirely in the hands of Gamal Abdul Nasser, one of the monsters of modern history -- the demagogue who had triggered the 1956 war by his sudden appropriation of the Suez Canal, and meanwhile wrecked Egypt’s chance to modernize with his socialist dreaming. It was on May 16th, 1967, that he ordered the United Nations to remove the troops that had monitored the peace since the Suez War. And when the U.N. complied, he blockaded the Israeli port of Eilat on the Gulf of Aqaba -- an unambiguous act of war. For three weeks, Israel watched the entire Arab world despatching troops to its frontiers, and listened to Arab leaders crowing about how she would be “driven into the sea.” Then, as now, much of this rhetoric dwelled on the prospect of a great massacre. It was not until June 5th that the tables were suddenly turned. And in the week that followed, the Arab world was re-taught the lesson of 1948. Namely, that it lacked the power to remove Israel. In just six days, the Arab armies collapsed, and Israel found herself unexpectedly with the obligation to rule territories beyond her capacity to assimilate. She began negotiating to return these territories soon after. And she quickly discovered that her defeated enemies would not even negotiate with her over that. In particular, Jordan disclaimed ownership of the West Bank, and then Egypt of Gaza, to solve their own domestic “Palestinian problems.” Israel found herself in extended confrontation with an imaginary state, whose self-appointed leadership -- the terrorist Palestine Liberation Organization -- was committed with general Arab support not only to the “recovery” of the West Bank and Gaza, but to all territory “occupied” by the “Jewish entity,” including western Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, and Haifa. How many people living in Israel today can personally remember not only the Six Day War, but the events leading up to it? I, and so many my age and older, can personally remember a sequence of events, that has been distorted and recast to fit ideological fantasies. Israel was placed entirely on the defensive, under an existential threat, and her decision to strike first was not an option. The American effort to relieve the blockade, by diplomacy, was a complete failure. By force and force alone, could several million Jews be saved from a repetition of the Holocaust. To present Israel as the aggressor in the Six Day War is to invert the facts of history. It is to tell a big lie. But something more needs to be remembered from that history. We must ask ourselves why Nasser led the Arabs into that disaster. The answer is obvious: because it did not look like it would be a disaster. He perceived weakness in the Israeli leadership, and disunity in the West. He thought the moment had come when Israel actually could be annihilated. That is the position of President Ahmadinejad and the Iranian leadership today. And the rhetoric is again echoed, far beyond Iran’s frontiers. Hezbollah and Hamas grow more confident. The Israeli leadership is weak; the West is disunited. And Israel’s enemies know they need only win once. David Warren
© Ottawa Citizen
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