40 years


since the 6 day war


I always remember the joke of my science teacher : "why did the Israelis fight a six day war ?"
Answer, of course, is that they had only hired the uniforms for a week.

Rarely if ever, could there ever have been a conflict between two sides, let alone multiple sides, all of whom supposed to be professional and well-armed fighting forces, where the result was so massively and abruptly one-sided.

People throughout the world, whether they were Israeli supporters or not, were stunned and thrilled by the outcome. Total victory is highly intoxicating. And in those dim, far off days, it did seem that Israel was in the right: its leaders and policies were moderate, and it really was threatened with extinction by all its neighbours, in a territory ridiculously vulnerable - only 12 km wide at its central point.

From the outcome of the war, Arabs have never lost the reputation of big-mouths, long on violent and vituperative rhetoric, short on ideas, capability or delivery, whether military or political. They and the Palestinians have never been taken seriously to this day.

The legacy of the war has been the assumption of total Israeli supremacy, never dented until the Lebanese debacle last year, and the image of the Arabs as blustering cowards. The casualty has been the Palestinians, and their legitimate cause and grievances.