Aerial provocations
1967 | On April 7, 1967, a minor incident on the Syrian-Israeli border degenerated into an air battle over the Golan Heights. Six Syrian Mig-21 aircraft were shot down over Lake Tiberias. Syria is unable to overcome this crisis. For weeks, every day, fighter planes from both countries took off, making their menacing rounds in the sky, before landing, leaving their crews to go to lunch.
Work to divert the precious waters of Mount Hermon is progressing apace. Syrian cannon fire on the kibbutzes of the Jordan Valley intensifies. It’s a kind of game, but not one Israelis like. Above all, the words of Syria’s Defense Minister Hafez el Assad make us shudder: … our forces are now ready, … to liquidate the Zionist presence in the Arab homeland of Palestine. The Syrian army, with its finger on the trigger, is united. I believe the time has come to launch a war of annihilation.80
The Voice of Arabia airwaves broadcast messages of hatred, calling for the liberation of the sea coast from the Jews. They are an unworthy people and it is the duty of every Arab to eliminate them. Put your money where your mouth is! And that’s what’s happening.
Regular attacks on Israeli villages in the Gaza region further aggravate the situation. In addition, large Egyptian units are crossing the Suez Canal and entering the demilitarized zone, in total contradiction with the peace agreement. The UN remains tight-lipped. No reaction to Israeli protests. On May 22, 1967, instead of opposing the Egyptian advance, the UN packed up and withdrew its troops from the Sinai Peninsula.
On June 5, 1967, the usual ritual of the Eagles’ Ball continued. Instead of going to lunch like their Syrian neighbors, the Israeli pilots, planes cocked, take off again immediately. The still-warm engines of Syrian and Egyptian aircraft on the ground are prime targets for the new heat-sensing rockets. Within three hours, the Egyptian air force was decimated, and the Syrian air force two-thirds destroyed.
A dazzling victory
Without air support or protection, Egyptian tanks were targeted by Tsahal aircraft. In four days, the Sinai Peninsula was conquered, and the Egyptian army withdrew to the other side of the Suez Canal. Nearly 4,000 Egyptians were taken prisoner and exchanged for 15 Israelis.
King Hussein of Jordan was invited by Prime Minister Levy Eschkol to stay out of the fight. When the Arab rout had already been completed, and listening only to the false declarations of victory from the Arab nations, he threw himself and his army into the battle. Radio Amman broadcast on June 6 1967: O Arabs, wherever you are, shoot! Shoot until victory is at hand. Write a new page of glory, revenge, crush the aggressor, the end of Israel is in our hands… Jordanian troops pounded Jerusalem for a day, destroying over a thousand houses and setting Jerusalem ablaze. On June 7, Jewish paratroopers storm the Old City of Jerusalem. By midday, the Jordanian troops were either annihilated or taken prisoner. In the space of a few hours, Jerusalem was reunited, a murmur and soon a clamor spread: The Temple Mount is in our hands. The shofar (a ram’s horn used as a wind instrument in Israelite ritual since antiquity) sounds and the crowd rushes to the Western Wall.
War correspondent for Le Figaro, journalist R. Bauduc writes: A fear, a mystical anguish is gripping our hearts. There is something superhuman in the great events of these days. We live in an irrational atmosphere of miracles and reality. I heard a tank commander declare: “This battle has been won by the God of armies”.
French journalist N. Ducreane has the same impression: ” For many, the return to Zion after 2,000 years of exile is an extraordinary act, comparable to the Hebrews’ departure from Egypt. It’s the fulfillment of God’s promise to return to his People. It is a new miracle…81
For Jews and Christians alike, June 7 1967 was a momentous event: one chapter of sacred history ended, another began. In his discourse on the end of time, Jesus had said: ” They will be led captive among all nations, and Jerusalem will be trodden down by the nations, until the time of the nations is fulfilled”.82 Since Christ’s words, for the first time in history, after 2000 years of exile, on June 7 at noon, Jerusalem has once again become free! And the time of the Gentiles has come to an end: I don’t want you to be ignorant of this mystery! … Part of Israel has fallen into hardness, until all the Gentiles have entered.83
By the end of the Six-Day War, from June 5 to 10, 1967, the surface area of the country had tripled. In addition to the Gaza Strip, Sinai, the entire West Bank, the southern part of Mount Hermon and the Golan Heights were conquered.
Peace treaty
The Arab peoples are angry at having lost every battle. Immediately, the UN called all nations to peace talks, which took place at Km 242, on the Sinai Peninsula between Suez and Tel Aviv. Israeli forces are ordered to withdraw from all conquered territories. All other paragraphs are open to interpretation. There is no guarantee of security against lawbreakers.
Km 242 resolution
1.
Affirms that the fulfillment of the principles of the Charter requires the establishment of a just and lasting peace in the Middle East, which should include the application of the following two principles:
a. Withdrawal of Israeli armed forces from the territories occupied during the recent conflict;
b. An end to all claims or states of belligerence, respect for and recognition of the sovereignty, territorial integrity and political independence of each state in the region, and its right to live in peace within secure and recognized borders, free from threats or acts of violence.
2.
Affirms the need to
a. To guarantee freedom of navigation on the region’s international
waterways;
b. To achieve a just settlement of the refugee problem;
c. To guarantee the territorial inviolability and political independence of each state in the region, through measures including the creation of demilitarized zones.
Did Jordan withdraw from the territories it conquered in 1949, i.e. the West Bank? It had annexed the city of Jerusalem, and nobody said a word or protested.
The resolution was very badly received in Israel, as little David was rapped on the knuckles, while the Arab nations were left untroubled. Israel decided to keep the Golan and Hermon as a strategic measure and for military defense. The status of Jerusalem is also non-negotiable.
The Arab nations interpret point 2, paragraph b, in a particular way. For them, it is up to Israel to solve the problem of Palestinian refugees. The Israelis, on the other hand, believe that everyone should look after their own refugees. This text will be the subject of much tension. The Palestinians use it to blame Israel for all their misfortunes.
1968 | The situation of the Palestinians is important to Israel. If we give them work, the Palestinians will have money, they will be able to support themselves, they will no longer have an interest in violence. Kibbutzes, mochavs (farming villages) and companies are invited to give work to Arabs, train them and integrate them into the country’s economic life.
The Makassed islamic hospital, the first Arab hospital, is inaugurated in Jerusalem.
1969 | For some time now, Jews have been arriving illegally from Russia. They expatriate themselves thanks to a secret network. These refugees arrive with only the clothes on their backs. Israel welcomes and houses them. Between 1968 and 1977, 110,000 immigrants arrived.
Israel’s prosperity was great and its development dazzling. Technical inventions in irrigation and agronomic research turned the desert country into an agricultural region much admired by tourists. Jaffa citrus fruits , led by oranges, grapefruit, mandarins and lemons, have conquered the shelves of stores all over the world, from Japan and Hong Kong to the United States and Europe. The prophecy is fulfilled: In times to come, Jacob will take root, Israel will sprout flowers and offshoots, and fill the world with its fruit.84
Despicable violence
1970 | The violence of the Palestinian attacks takes the world by surprise. A bomb placed in a Swissair aircraft explodes. Captain Beringer was unable to bring the plane down unharmed. 47 passengers and crew perished, victims of a vicious act by Palestinians against a neutral state.
It’s no longer soldiers who are targeted. The courageous terrorists are even targeting children and school buses. After the attack in Avivim, which claimed the lives of twelve children and nine school companions, Israeli opinion is beginning to despise the Palestinian people. Crazy terrorists who attack children with guns and are hailed as heroes by their fellow human beings. Unthinkable!
In September, dinner is served in almost religious silence in Swiss households, as the news concerns us so much: three planes have just been hijacked by Palestinian terrorists over the town of Zarka in Jordan. One of the planes belongs to our national airline Swissair, and many of the passengers are Swiss nationals.
First, the non-Jewish hostages were freed. Then the fighters blew up the planes. Four days later, all the passengers and crew were freed by the Jordanian army.
King Hussein ben Talal, a cultivated and intelligent man, in favor of discussions and understanding with his western neighbor, was offended by the terrorist methods of the Palestinians. He decided to drive them out of Jordan. The fighting between his army and the Palestinians resulted in the death of over 6,000 combatants. Yasser Arafat leads the Palestinians. After trying to overthrow the monarch, he fled to the Syrian town of Hama. It’s Black September. The Palestinians are driven out of the Hashemite kingdom towards the north and the Syrian deserts. A large column headed for Lebanon.
1972 | Palestinians hold a grudge against Israel and make it known with hostage-taking, improvised shootings and other terrorist acts. With the help of a Japanese activist, Palestinians shoot and throw grenades at travellers at Lod airport. The result: 26 dead and a hundred injured.
Massacre at the Munich Olympics
On September 5, a group of eight terrorists entered the Olympic Village in Munich. They took the Israeli athletes hostage. Negotiations were difficult. In the end, eleven Jewish athletes were executed, along with five terrorists, while television cameras filmed live. The other three Palestinians were taken prisoner.
The shock is even greater when the inhabitants of Israel learn that they are considered responsible for this terrorist act: If the Jews gave work to the Palestinians, if they integrated the Arabs into their country, such pitiful acts would not occur. It’s because they stole Palestinian land that such acts occur! If we want to reduce the terrorists’ acts of desperation, we have to give them back the conquered territories. This kind of assertion is gradually becoming the dominant discourse of the pro-Palestinian Left!
Partial withdrawal from Sinai
Under international pressure and in the interests of peace, the UN demands that Israel leave Sinai!
The peninsula must be a demilitarized zone, as agreed in Resolution 242, point 2, paragraph c. The UN guarantees the application of the resolutions. Very reluctantly, Tsahal withdraws from Sinai for the second time.
1973 | An international Marxist left-wing movement, the Arab Workers’ Movement, is born. It was a tiny group dedicated to supporting the cause of Palestinians in Israel. It provides information on trade union struggles for workers and employees.
The Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) is officially recognized by the UN as a fighting movement of the Palestinian people. In spite of such unpeaceful declarations as: the PLO will fight by all means until the total liberation of the Palestinian territory. For Israel, the objective of the Charter, art. 17, is a veritable declaration of war, while the movement receives invitations and solicitations from the press.