Ruthie Blum
Tonight is the eve of Jerusalem Day,
which marks the reunification of the Jewish capital in 1967, during the Six-Day
War.
Contrary to widespread belief, based
on a concerted propaganda campaign, this was not the event that created what has
come to be called the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. On the contrary, it was
precisely the pan-Arab attempt to eliminate the "Zionist entity" that sparked
the three-front war in the first place. And it was Israel that liberated
Jerusalem from Jordanian occupation.
This is something that most Israeli
children are not even taught any more, which might explain why it is so easy to
persuade them that if Israel would only make sacrifices for peace, the so-called
Palestinian people could get about the business of building a state. After all,
it is not only the Arabs born in Israel after 1967 who have been brainwashed by
with a false narrative; so, too, have Jews been sold a bill of goods.
The difference is that the former are
being educated in the art of annihilation, while the latter are being fed
formulas for peace. Most cooperation programs funded and initiated by left-wing
nongovernmental organizations involve groups of Israelis and Arabs gathering
together to blame Israel for constituting an obstacle to Palestinian statehood.
Kumbayah.
Anyone who has forgotten the
atmosphere prior to and following the Six-Day War need do little more than watch
today's news. While the entire Middle East is burning with Islamist fever,
Sunni-Shiite enmity, tribal factionalism and a swift shift backward in time,
Israel continues to lead the Western world in modernization.
And though the rhetoric and actions
of the Arab world remain just as vitriolic against Israel as they were during
that period, Israel has not ceased, in word and deed, to attempt outreach and an
end to bloodshed. All any Arab leader has ever had to do is lay down his sword
and Israel has handed him over not only the plowshares but the land for tilling.
The only fertile pursuits that have ensued on such soil, however, have been
aimed at killing Jews.
It is only when absolutely necessary
for the survival of the country and safety of its citizens that Israel engages
in warfare. That has been true since time immemorial, and 1967 was no exception.
A brief review of the days leading up
to the war whose outcome we are celebrating this week is in order.
On May 15, the Egyptian army issued a
battle order and moved a division through the streets of Cairo. Israel reacted
by dispatching troops to the Sinai desert and conveying a message to Egyptian
President Gamal Abdel Nasser that this was a defensive, not offensive, response.
"Israel wants to make it clear to the government of Egypt that it has no
aggressive intentions whatsoever against any Arab state at all," said Prime
Minister Levi Eshkol.
On May 22, Syrian President Dr.
Nureddin al-Attasi gave his troops a pep talk in which he said, "We want a full
scale, popular war of liberation ... to destroy the Zionist enemy."
On May 23, Egypt closed the Straits
of Tiran, severing Israel's only supply route with Asia and stopping the flow of
oil from Iran.
On May 28, Nasser held a press
conference, in which he asserted: "We will not accept any ... coexistence with
Israel ... The war with Israel has been in effect since 1948."
On May 30, Jordan signed a defense
treaty with Egypt -- and by extension, with Syria -- placing Jordanian forces
under Egyptian command.
On June 1, Iraqi President Abdel
Rahman Aref gave a radio address in which he encouraged the demolition of
Israel: "This is the day of the battle to avenge our martyred brethren who fell
in 1948 ... We shall, God willing, meet in Tel Aviv and Haifa."
By June 5, the day that Israel
launched a surprise attack on Egypt's air force, there were Egyptian divisions
deployed along Israel's southern border, tens of thousands of Jordanian soldiers
and Iraqi forces stationed along Israel's eastern border, and tens of thousands
of Syrian troops along Israel's northern border. Hundreds of Egyptian,
Jordanian, Syrian and Iraqi planes were prepped and ready.
Following the attack, Israel sent a
message to King Hussein of Jordan, promising not to attack the West Bank (Judea
and Samaria) if he would stay out of the conflict. But the king ignored the
plea. He was emboldened by false information he had received from Egypt. Rather
than admitting that Israel had basically wiped out the Egyptian air force,
Nasser boasted that it was he who was emerging victorious.
Buoyed by this lie -- the purpose of
which was to save Arab face -- Jordan went on a rampage. It shelled Tel Aviv
suburbs and the Ramat David military airfield; attacked Netanya and Kfar Saba
from the air; sent mortars flying all over west Jerusalem, hitting targets such
as Hadassah Hospital, the Domition Abbey on Mount Zion, the Knesset and the
Prime Minister's Office.
It was only then that Israel had no
choice but to retaliate, precisely what it had wanted to avoid. In this respect,
Israel has King Hussein to thank for the reunification of its
capital.
On June 7, Dayan issued the following
statement: "This morning, the Israel Defense Forces liberated Jerusalem. We have
united Jerusalem, the divided capital of Israel. We have returned to the holiest
of our holy places, never to part from it again. To our Arab neighbors we
extend, also at this hour -- and with added emphasis at this hour -- our hand in
peace. And to our Christian and Muslim fellow citizens, we solemnly promise full
religious freedom and rights. We did not come to Jerusalem for the sake of other
peoples' holy places, and not to interfere with the adherents of other faiths,
but in order to safeguard its entirety, and to live there together with others,
in unity."
Though the war wasn't even over yet,
Israel's first concern was "extending our hand in peace." And despite incessant
declarations of hostility from the Arabs, both in the liberated territories and
elsewhere, Israel has kept every word of Dayan's promise about how Jerusalem
would be handled.
How shamefully befitting, then, that
singer Achinoam Nini (known internationally as Noa) was asked to perform at the
official Jerusalem Day ceremony. Nini is not only famous for her voice; she is
also a vocal supporter of handing over east Jerusalem to the Palestinian
Authority. Is it any wonder that the Arabs assume it is only a matter of time
before Israel relinquishes its legitimate claim to the wholeness of its
capital?
Ruthie Blum is the author of "To Hell in
a Handbasket: Carter, Obama, and the 'Arab
Spring.'"
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