Gabe Pressman, Senior Correspondent
Israel this week marks the 40th anniversary of the Six-Day War. On June 5, 1967, the Jewish state repelled eight Arab armies and, in less than a week, won the war.
Israel and its friends hailed the outcome as a great triumph. Clearly the Arab states that surround Israel don’t agree.
They believe that the war, in which Israel took over lands previously controlled by Syria, Jordan and Egypt, was, for them, a disaster. For years these nations have worked ceaselessly to make Israel give up the conquered territories.
As Israel celebrates its victory in the Six-Day War, it has received a pledge of support from the president of the European Union Parliament, Hans-Gert Pottering. “Rest assured,” Pottering told members of Israel’s parliament, “If ever Israel’s security and existence are threatened by speeches like those made by the Iranian president or even actions, the EU will support you unhesitatingly.”
Pottering said he was “appalled” by speeches in Iran claiming that the Holocaust never happened. “Anyone who denies the Holocaust,” he said, “denies humanity.” Pottering was born in Germany. His father was killed fighting in the German army in World War II’s last days.
The coincidence of Pottering’s visit and the anniversary of the Six-Day War focuses attention on the urgent need for a renewed effort to find a peaceful solution to the never-ending Mideast conflict.
In Jerusalem, Pottering visited Yad Vashem, the memorial to the six million Jews who died in the Holocaust. “That this suffering was inflicted in the name of my own people, the German people,” Pottering declared, “fills me with shame.”
Pottering visited Gaza, where he said he was also committed to the rights of Palestinians to a state of their own. He was deeply shocked, he said, by the economic, social and humanitarian conditions he found there. He asked that Israel release $700 million of Palestinian tax revenues that it is holding.
Four decades after the Six-Day War, it is clear that neither the Israelis nor the Palestinians are any nearer to a peaceful solution of the conflict. The Palestinians are still launching rockets into Israel from Gaza — and the Israeli armed forces have zeroed in on Palestinian militants in Gaza and Lebanon. And the extremist Palestinians in Hezbollah and Hamas are still targeting Israeli soldiers and civilians when they’re not attacking fellow Palestinians. The Palestinians on the West Bank still denounce the Israelis for what they regard as aggression and occupation. The Palestinian governing authority is divided. Hamas is battling Fatah, in a political sense, but with ominous overtones.
Over the years, it has become clear that many, if not most, Israelis and Palestinians want peace. I have met families from both groups and, clearly, they have much in common. They want their children and grandchildren to grow up in a stable environment. They don’t want violence. There is a growing realization that a way has to be found to build two states, one Palestinian and the other Israeli, to live together side by side, with economic ties to each other.
Isaiah’s prophecy was: “They shall beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.”
After 4,000 years of bloody fighting, the prophecy still has not been fulfilled. But many of us still have hope.
