Jerusalem after Six-Day War. 'Peaceful solution is nowhere to be seen in the horizon'
Photo: David Rubinger
June 5, 1967 is still with us
Op-ed: Six-Day War created a problem which has not been solved for 47 years and will likely not be solved any time soon.
The weather on Thursday, was warm. The news focused on two girls who died in a swimming pool in Savyon. Some newscasts opened with the never-ending presidential election. It was just another Thursday, one of the days of the year.
Forty-seven is not a number which requires any media attention. That war will not lead the newscasts, and it's possible that it doesn't really interest the vast majority of Israel's citizens. Most of them were not even around those days. And 47 is not a number which requires memorial days, celebrations, ceremonies and different references to that day.
But for many in Israel, perhaps in the world too, this is still a day unlike all others: Today, at 7:45 am, an air raid siren shocked Israel's citizens, and the Six-Day War began. It happened 47 years ago, and today, 47 years later, there is no glory for that war.
Undivided City?
Noam (Dabul) Dvir
After 47 years of unification, religious and secular communities in Jeruslaem remain divided in a battle for the character of the Holy city.
One has to be more than 60 years old today to know that the State of Israel changed its face that day, 47 years ago. That war left its mark on the lives of millions of people in the Middle East and many others in the entire world to this very day. The families of the 700 fallen soldiers of that war have not forgotten the victim for a minute. Those who became disabled in that war are still suffering. For them, these 47 years are one long memorial day. The politicians who led the State of Israel and the surrounding Arab countries at the time are no longer alive, and are definitely not in power.
The number of people who remember that this was once a different country is diminishing. It was a divided country, suffering from its Arab neighbors' hostility. For example, people find it difficult to believe that a high concrete wall was erected on Jerusalem's Mamilla Street which split the city in two and, at the same occasion, defended Jerusalem's residents against Jordanian snipers firing from the towers of the Old City's walls. It has all changed since then, some will say for the better, and others will say for the worse.
The small State of Israel believed at the time, 47 years ago, that it was facing a second holocaust. In the days before the war, people walked on the street with a sad face. The fear was evident in their eyes. There was great danger. That's why the joy over the unprecedented military victory was so great and delightful, and some are still enthusiastic about it to this very day, 47 years later.
That war expanded the State of Israel's territory, allowed it to subjugate hundreds of thousands of Palestinian citizens, and created a problem which has not been solved for 47 years and will likely not be solved any time soon.
The Arab hostility has increased despite the signing of two peace agreements, with Egypt and with Jordan, and the efforts made for reconciliation with the Palestinians. There has also been an increase in the hostility of the world, almost all of it, towards the State of Israel, which is trying to maneuver inside the international minefield.
In the years that have passed, hostility has also increased between those who believe that the creator of the universe came down to the land 47 years ago today and entrusted us with the land for eternity, according to the bill payable presented in the Bible. And there are those among us, and they are called the "peace camp," who believe that the State of Israel will only reach a state of tranquility if it compromises with its Palestinian neighbors.
In any event, today we are almost in the same situation we were on Saturday evening, June 10, 1967, 47 years ago minus six days, when the fire on the Syrian front ceases, and even earlier on the Egyptian front. A peaceful solution is nowhere to be seen in the horizon.
