The Six-Day War that continues till today

The Six-Day War — also known as the Third Arab-Israeli War — that broke out on June 5, 1967 changed the map of the region and its aftershocks can be felt in the Middle East even to this day.
Some analysts claim that the so-called Arab Spring is a result of this war. The defeat of Arab armies was so humiliating that they called it Naksah (setback). The Arab forces were led by then United Arab Republic (Egypt) and forces from Syria, Jordan and many other Arab countries took part in the effort to liberate Palestine.
Despite then Egyptian President Gamal Abdul Nasser’s willingness to strike Israel first, the Israelis took him by surprise. With very limited military experience, Nasser was overseeing the war as the supreme commander.
Few hours prior to the start of the war, Egyptian, Syrian and Jordanian forces were put on a high alert and Egypt’s Field Marshal Abdulhakim Amer was in the air with all air defenses put on weapon tight status. This is a NO, NO in a high alert situation. The rest is now part of history.
In less than six days, Israel occupied the Sinai Peninsula, the Golan Heights, Gaza Strip and the West Bank. What is more, the Israel did not only win the war but it also won the media war. In other words, this made Israel stronger and the Arab world became busy with the aftermath. The war ended on June 11 but in reality it continues till today.
From June 5, 1967 till this day, we still see people killed because of that conflict. After the end of the war, many in the Arab world forgot the need to develop their countries and to introduce social and political reforms. As a result of this approach and for not exploiting the Arab potential, we are facing this phenomenon known as the Arab Spring.
Prior to the war, Israel has a very critical strategic depth. It only takes less than two minutes for an air force jet with its afterburner on to cross the 9 miles distance from the West Bank to Netanya. But there were no Arab air force jets to do that because they were destroyed on the ground. In other words, the Egyptian high command simply made Israel more powerful and opened the doors for Israel to become the closest ally of the United States. Israel entered the war using mainly British and French weapons with only a squadron of US made A-4 Skyhawk. Before the war, the US refused to supply Israel with advanced weapons such as the F-4 Phantom.
What if that war had never taken place? What if the Arabs and Israelis had entered into a dialogue to sort out the issues or simply put, what if both sides had looked for common ground between them?
Wars have never resolved any conflict and one loses nothing with simple round table negotiations even at a very low level or unofficial debates. Last week Prince Turki Al-Faisal and a retired general from Israel, Amos Yadin, debated the issue in Brussels.
During and after the debate, the reactions and the articles written on the subject took me aback.
The debate was followed and talked about more than the official visits of US Secretary of State John Kerry. Why the attention? People had been longing to see simple and genuine talks or perhaps it was the first Saudi-Israeli face-to-face (though unofficial) contact. Or may be Saudi Arabia is very trustworthy in any negotiations?
Saudi Arabia is a country that commands great respect in the world and is one of the most influential countries. The Kingdom had played crucial role in the resolution of this conflict in the past.
The debate highlighted the need for face-to-face talks. The Israeli retired general did not only offer a glass of water to Prince Turki but also invited him to address the Israeli Knesset.
A question came to my mind: Had the two sides adopted a similar approach before June 5, 1967, that disastrous war could have been prevented. Arab world could have concentrated on social reforms and would have been spared the ugly Arab Spring, which has resulted in the deaths of Arab young men and women. The death toll is much higher than all the Arab-Israel wars.
Apparently people are waiting for the longest “short” war to end. Peace must be achieved and the negotiating table is far better than a battleground. Human lives are too precious to be wasted. Now, it is the duty of all parties to find common grounds to end the agony of many people especially the Palestinian refugees.

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