Saturday, May 19, 2007

The 1967 Borders

Charles Krauthammer has a really good piece up on the Six Day War; the event that changed Israel's borders and to which various factions are calling for Israel to once again withdraw to- the fabled 1967 border.

As he so eloquently points out, practically the entire Arab world was poised to destroy Israel when it occupied the pre-1967 territory- and the world stood by and watched as it prepared to do so.

It is hard to exaggerate what it was like for Israel in those three weeks. Egypt, already in an alliance with Syria, formed an emergency military pact with Jordan. Iraq, Algeria, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Tunisia, Libya and Morocco began sending forces to join the coming fight. With troops and armor massing on Israel's every frontier, jubilant broadcasts in every Arab capital hailed the imminent final war for the extermination of Israel. "We shall destroy Israel and its inhabitants," declared PLO head Ahmed Shuqayri, "and as for the survivors -- if there are any -- the boats are ready to deport them."

And yet it is that state to which some would have Israel return to. And then what? Would the world once again look on, unwilling to help, as Israel's foes tried to wipe an entire nation off the map?

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