It has now been 50 years since the 1967 war between Israel and the Arab states — a war that was initiated by Egypt, by closing the Straits of Tiran, demanding that U.N. peacekeeping forces be removed from the Sinai border with Israel and threatening to eradicate the Jewish state. History has recorded what occurred, namely a defensive strike against Egypt and repelling of attacks by Syria and Jordan, with disastrous results for both of those countries.
Now five decades later, despite all efforts by Israel, there has been no peace. After the ’67 war, Israel made the generous offer of returning some of the territories won in exchange for peace. The answer from both Syria and the Palestinians has been “all or nothing at all.” By contrast, Israel left Gaza in 2005, and essentially turned over 20 percent of the conquered Palestinian territories to a hostile regime.
The lesson to be learned by the Palestinian Authority is that the length of time since the Six-Day War is inversely proportional to the amount of land that will belong to the PA, if there ever is peace. Delay on the part of the PA has decreased the size of any future Palestinian state.
Manhattan
