Real Story of the Six-Day War
By Jamal Kanj
Last Tuesday was the 45th anniversary of the outbreak of a war
between Egypt and Israel that would reshape the Middle East.
At 7.30am, on June 5, 1967, 200 Israeli fighter jets took off
in a massive surprise attack, neutralizing Egypt’s air force
before advancing ground troops to occupy Sinai, Golan Heights
and the West Bank.
Drumming up the pilots, Israeli Air Force Commander Mott Hod
proclaimed: "The spirit of Israel’s heroes accompany us to
battle… From Joshua Bin-Nun, King David and Maccabees… scatter
him [the enemy] throughout the desert…"
It was the official Israeli declaration of war, but I will
debunk its version of events – which have long shaped Western
understanding of the Six-Day War.
Towards mid-May, seeking to pressure Israel, Egyptian
President Gamal Abdel Nasser took the uncalculated measure of
ordering a UN peacekeeping force out of Sinai and closed the
Strait of Tiran to Israeli shipping.
Immediately following the closure of the disputed waterway,
Israeli Prime Minister Levi Eshkol and army generals held
meetings in the pit deep underneath Israeli military
headquarters to discuss a response to the threat from Nasser.
A book by current Israeli Ambassador to Washington Michael
Oren revealed Israeli army generals seized on Nasser’s blunder
to execute a plan they had prepared since the US forced Israel
and its British and French allies to abandon Sinai in 1956.
At the meetings, Israeli army generals pressured and cajoled
Eshkol to destroy Egypt’s army. On May 23, Deputy Chief of
General Staff Ezer Weizman spoke of the need to "strike now
and swiftly". Israel’s military commander at the time, Yitzhak
Rabin, added: "First we’ll strike Egypt, and then we’ll fight
Syria and Jordan as well."
Several days later, the Soviets informed Eshkol that Nasser
had unequivocally relayed through a USSR ambassador on May 27
that "Egypt does not want war and is not heading in that
direction."
To assuage Israel, US President Lyndon Johnson urged Eshkol
not to succumb to his warmongering generals, assuring him that
the US would sponsor international efforts to open the strait
while promising economic and military aid if it was given an
opportunity to resolve the Egyptian blockade peacefully.
When briefed on the US offer, Israeli army generals lectured
Eshkol on the prospect of expanding Israeli borders. General
Ariel Sharon, who would himself go on to be prime minster,
emphasised:
passage."
"The
question
isn’t
the
(strait
of
Tiran)
In reviewing newly released records and public statements,
Israeli leaders have unequivocally acknowledged the June war
was neither pre-emptive nor defensive. In an interview in
1968, Rabin was quoted as saying: "I don’t believe that Nasser
wanted war… He knew it and we knew it."
In 1982, then Prime Minister Menachem Begin said: "(The)
Egyptian army concentration in the Sinai approaches did not
prove that Nasser was really about to attack us… We decided to
attack him."
Despite this, most in the West continue to adopt Israel’s
false narratives for the Palestine-Israel conflict since 1948,
with pro-Israel, Jewish media conglomerates suppressing candid
discussion on Palestine – in effect allowing Israel to
maintain the longest, cruellest occupation in modern history.
– Jamal Kanj writes frequently on Arab world issues and is the
author of Children of Catastrophe, Journey from a Palestinian
Refugee Camp to America. He contributed this article to
PalestineChronicle.com. Contact him at: [email protected]. (This
article was first published in the Gulf Daily News Newspaper)