Hey guys,
It's a war; dirty, messy, cruel, inhuman and
unnecessary - unless you happen to be a Palestinian yearning for your land
back or an Israeli who's been threatened with annihilation since birth. It's
also a war that's been going on since mankind began. It's about land and
religion and culture and who dominates who. There are no rights and wrongs
there are only who wins and who loses. The winners write history and we move
on.
Mike Weaver made the point when he wondered if he might be living on land
owned by an indigenous people, a point which also applies to you too, Fritz,
despite your disingenuous attempt to justify occupation of "unwanted" land.
However, before you think of noble savages, remember that all those nice
peace-loving indigenes slaughtered and plundered their way through the
millenia since they left Africa (where we all originated) to wherever they
finally settled. The 19th century saw the last vestiges of this land grab.
If you were a theologian you'd call it original sin. Darwin was earthier,
and more enlightening, he called it survival of the fittest. You may take
sides, wring your hands, jump up and down, talk about human rights but we
are all - even those nice people in the rain forest who we think live in
harmony with nature - guilty of genocide and dispossession. In the present
case it's called the Arab-Israeli war. We'll know who was right when
somebody wins.
And if you've forgotten how it all began, here's a brief sketch. I found it
on my thumbnail.
The UNO blessing on the establishment of Israel in 1948 was merely the
recognition of a de facto situation. From that moment on Israel was de jure,
i.e. a legal entity in international law. The Arabs disagreed. Five Arab
armies (Egypt, Syria, Trans-Jordan, Lebanon and Iraq - including the
British-trained and armed Arab Legion) immediately invaded the fledgling
state. The world responded by clapping a total arms embargo on Israel.
Against that the Israelis had nine obsolete aircraft, a few tanks, fewer
than 20,000 armed civilians -and balls. They won, and pushed out their
frontiers to safeguard their collective backsides from future attacks.
The attacks never stopped (rockets, mines, cross-border shelling and
guerilla incursions) but the next big one came in 1967 - the so-called Six
Day War. This time the Arabs meant business. Egypt closed the Straits of
Tiran to all Israeli shipping, cutting off Israel's only supply route with
Asia and stopping the flow of oil from its main supplier, Iran.
President Nasser of Egypt challenged Israel to fight. "Our basic objective
will be the destruction of Israel. The Arab people want to fight." He
ordered all UN peace-keeping forces stationed on Israeli borders to leave.
The UN complied without even calling a meeting. The Voice of the Arabs radio
station proclaimed: "As of today, there no longer exists an international
emergency force to protect Israel. The sole method we shall apply against
Israel is total war, which will result in the extermination of Zionist
existence". Syrian Defense Minister Hafez Assad was more blunt: "The Syrian
army, with its finger on the trigger, is united....I, as a military man,
believe that the time has come to enter into a battle of annihilation.
Nasser topped that: "We shall not enter Palestine with its soil covered in
sand; we shall enter it with its soil saturated in blood." He meant Israeli
blood.
The armies of Egypt, Jordan, Syria and Lebanon massed on the borders of
Israel. Backing them with men and munitions were Iraq, Algeria, Kuwait,
Sudan and the whole Arab world. The actual count was 465,000 troops, more
than 2,800 tanks, and 800 aircraft. President Johnson warned the Israelis
not to fight. The Red Cross stocked up on blankets, the rest of the world
stood by and watched. Israel couldn't get a hearing in the UN. The Security
Council, it seemed, was difficult to contact.
We all know what happened. The Israelis didn't wait for the war. They
pre-empted it. In six days (about the same time God needed to create heaven
and earth) the Israelis - using an army 80% of which were weekend soldiers
i.e. civilians taking time off from work -and an airforce a fraction the
size of that possessed by the Arabs defeated the lot and pushed out the
borders to a more comfortable fit. Figuring that sauce for the goose was
sauce for the gander they also closed the Suez Canal to all nations. On the
sixth day just as the Israelis were heading for Damascus the Security
Council suddenly found time to convene and ordered a cease fire on all
sides. Nasser promptly died and left the mess to his successor, Anwar Sadat.
Sadat waited six years and then famously announced he was willing to
"sacrifice one million soldiers" (nice man) in a showdown with Israel. He
joined Syria in assembling a vast army - the equivalent of the total forces
of NATO in Europe. On the Golan Heights alone 180 Israeli tanks faced up to
1,400 Syrian tanks. Along the Suez Canal 500 Israeli defenders were pitted
against by 80,000 Egyptians.
There was going to be no mistake this time. Nine Arab states, including four
non-Middle Eastern nations, actively aided the Egyptian-Syrian war effort.
Iraq transferred a squadron of Hunter jets and MiGs to Egypt and deployed a
full division of 18,000 men and several hundred tanks in the central Golan.
Besides serving as financial underwriters, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait also
committed troops. A Saudi brigade of approximately 3,000 men was dispatched
to Syria. Violating a French ban on the transfer of French-made weapons,
Libya sent Mirage fighters to Egypt. President Gaddafi gave Cairo more than
$1 billion in aid to re-arm Egypt and to pay the Soviets for weapons
delivered. Other North African countries responded to Arab and Soviet calls
to aid the frontline states. Algeria sent three aircraft squadrons of
fighters and bombers, an armored brigade and 150 tanks. Approximately
1,000-2,000 Tunisian soldiers were positioned in the Nile Delta. Sudan
stationed 3,500 troops in southern Egypt, and Morocco sent three brigades to
the front lines, including 2,500 men to Syria.
Lebanese radar units were used by Syrian air defense forces. Lebanon also
allowed Palestinian guerillas to shell Israeli civilian settlements from its
territory (do you get a sense of deja vu?). Palestinians lined up on the
Southern Front with the Egyptians and Kuwaitis. Hussein of Jordan sent two
of his best units, the 40th and 60th Armored Brigades. Three Jordanian
artillery batteries and some 100 Jordian tanks also participated.
Irael, having been battered for the previous six years by the propaganda
line that they were warmongers, decided to wait it out. The Arabs bided
their time and struck in October, 1967, on Yom Kippur day - the holiest day
in the Jewish calendar. They caught the Israelis napping. Again the world
watched as Israelis died. Israel appealed but the Security Council was
noticeably quiet. While it looked as if the Arabs were winning the Soviet
Union showed no interest in initiating peacemaking efforts. The same was
true for UN Secretary-General Kurt Waldheim who stayed quiet.
But lo and behold, on October 22, after 12 days of slaughter, the Security
Council adopted Resolution 338 calling for "all parties to the present
fighting to cease all firing and terminate all military activity
immediately."
The vote came on the day that Israeli forces cut off and isolated the
Egyptian Third Army and were in a position to destroy it. Israel and Egypt
signed a peace treaty which stands to this day, Israel gave up territory,
the Canal was re-opened and the rest of the Arab world sulked. Sadat was
subsequently assassinated by pro-Palestinian forces for agreeing to peace.
Since then the Palestinians have switched to killing civilians with suicide
bombers and rocket attacks. The present debacle is the result. Israel,
maddened by constant bloodletting, has loosed its big guns. Like the sleeper
who flails around in the dark swatting a mosquito and wrecking the
furniture, this present disaster makes sense only in the context of what
went before.
It will never end until either Israel is destroyed or the Arabs agree to its
existence. Neither is likely.
Regards,
Bob.
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