Previous | Next :: 40 years of Conflict and Occupation : Old City Jerusalem : Israel | June 5, 2007, 10:59 pm

Today its 40 years since the beginning of the amazingly successful Israeli strike against its Arab neighbors. It is the anniversary of the start of the 6 day war.

Israel faced annihilation as arab leaders massed their armies and piled on the speeches about destroying the 'Zionist entity" and 'driving the Jews into the sea'. Instead Israel attacked first and destroyed the air-forces of the hugely larger joint forces of their enemies... all in the first 24 hours and then within 6 days won an astounding victory on the ground that moulded the entire middle east for decades. The Air-forces of Jordan, Syria and Egypt were largely destroyed in their hangers. Israel fought and seized the land of the West bank and Gaza from Jordan and Egypt respectively. Syria lost the hugely strategically important Golan Heights. In Gaza and the West Bank and Jerusalem Israel now occupied territory containing hundreds of thousands of Palestinians who were already refugees after they had run for their lives in 1947........during the war to establish Israel............. and so the tragic occupation for an unwilling hostile population of Palestinians began.

The politics in the West Bank and Gaza have now slid towards Islamic fundamentalism and the nihilism of suicide bombing and martyrdom. The Palestinian Authority Parliament and the office of Prime Minister is now controlled by the fundamentalist Hammas. Opportunities for peace in the past have been squandered, Arafat the previous leader of the PLO must take a lot of blame for starting the second armed Intifada instead of opting for peace and the proper 'Two State Solution' on offer at the time.

This very sad picture was made in the more optimistic times (for some Palestinians at least) back in 1987 during the fist uprising or intifada when youth used no weapons other than stones. Palestinians won worldwide support as they were seen as the good guys the 'David' against the Israeli Defense Forces 'Goliath' In this shot an IDF man and a border policeman drag away this boy who has been caught throwing stones and try to stop this image of their actions being made. Although there was Palestinian suffering during this time there was also hope. Hope seems to have faded and now with the rise of hopelessness comes the rise of islamofascism.

This crying boy will be a fully grown man now and if he has survived the violence he will have lived his whole life under occupation..........

Cheers Jez XX