Six Day War
Does Israel occupy the West Bank? (Part 2 of 2)
https://twitter.com/CptAllenHistory/status/1710357411821711559
Now, we need to talk about the 1967 Six Day War, and the question of: to whom did the land legally belong to when #Israel first “#occupied” it at the end of that war?
First, let’s address the lead-up to the #SixDayWar itself.
I begin with the period of April to early May of 1967.
During those weeks, #Fatah – the #Palestinian #terrorist organization that was headed at the time by Yasser #Arafat and which is now headed by Mahmoud #Abbas – launched more than a dozen attacks on Israel and planted mines and explosives on Israel’s borders with Syria, Jordan, & Lebanon.
Also in May of 1967, and in a move that should be dumbfounding to all considering the holiness with which #Sunni (not #Shia) #Muslims treat the site, #Jordan turned the entire #TempleMount into a military base for the Jordanian National Guard.
Recall that there were only armistice agreements – ceasefires – between Israel & the Arab states.
There were no peace treaties at this point since every Arab state refused to acknowledge the existence of the State of Israel.
Thus, in the years following the end of Israel’s War of Independence, there would be times of armistice violations & saber rattling by Arab leaders.
However, the massive Arab arms build-up supplied by the #SovietUnion, combined with the words and acts of war (particularly on the part of #Egyptian President Gamal Abdel #Nasser), amped up starting in May of 1967 and made war inevitable.
On May 14, 1967, Nasser declared a state of emergency & paraded Egyptian troops through #Cairo on their way into the #Sinai border with Israel.
On May 16, 1967, Nasser ordered the #UN peacekeeping forces (the United Nations Emergency Force, or “UNEF”) to leave the Sinai.
Showing the total cowardice & lack of enforcement power of the UN, the UNEF immediately packed up and left without even bothering to bring the matter to the attention of the General Assembly.
So, UNEF troops left the Sinai the very same day (May 16, 1967), after which the Egyptian government-controlled Voice of the Arabs radio station proclaimed: “As of today, there no longer exists an international emergency force to protect Israel. We shall exercise patience no more. We shall not complain any more to the UN about Israel. The sole method we shall apply against Israel is total war, which will result in the extermination of Zionist existence.”
In the UNEF’s stead, the Egyptians tripled their own troop presence on the Sinai border with Israel by the end of the day on May 16, 1967.
On May 18, 1967, following Nasser’s lead, #Syria massed its troops along the border with Israel in the strategic #GolanHeights.
Also on May 18, 1967, General Murtagi, the Egyptian Commander of forces in the Sinai, declared an Order of the Day, which was broadcasted on Cairo Radio: "The Egyptian forces have taken up positions in accordance with our predetermined plans. The morale of our armed forces is very high, for this is the day they have so long been waiting for, for this holy war."
On the Voice of the Arabs radio station on May 18, 1967, it was also announced that “the sole method we shall apply against Israel is total war, which will result in the extermination of Zionist existence.”
The following day, May 19, 1967, the Voice of the Arabs radio station declared: “This is our chance Arabs, to deal Israel a mortal blow of annihilation, to blot out its entire presence in our holy land.”
Despite the clear threat of annihilation of the Jewish State by the Arab armies (who were funded & armed by the Soviet Union), on May 19, 1967, the #UnitedStates rebuffed Israel’s diplomatic appeals for tanks, jets, and/or for security assurances of any kind.
That same day (May 19, 1967), during an Israel Defense Forces General Staff meeting, Israel’s then Chief of Staff Yitzhak Rabin spoke of #America’s refusal to help and said, “It’s time we stop deluding ourselves that someone will come to our aid … This is the most grave situation since the War of Independence … [and Israel] should prepare for war.”
Then, on May 20, 1967, Syrian Defense Minister Hafez #Assad announced, “Our forces are now entirely ready not only to repulse the aggression, but to initiate the act of liberation itself, and to explode the #Zionist presence in the Arab homeland. 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.”
Also on May 20, 1967, Israel mobilized many of its reserves, and remained on a knife’s edge for several long and extraordinarily stressful weeks.
Israel was alone and facing the full might of a Soviet-backed and Soviet-armed Arab coalition.
On May 22, 1967, Nasser announced #Egypt was closing the Straits of Tiran to all Israeli shipping.
Blockading International Waterways is considered an act of war under international law, and Israel had long made clear that blocking the Israeli port of Eilat by closing the Straits of Tiran would be cause for war.
Thus, this move by Nasser was the casus belli for war. And Nasser most certainly knew this was the case, as he ended his announcement by taunting Rabin, saying, “Let him come, I’m waiting.”
Egypt had blockaded Israel’s one southern port in Eilat and the Gulf of Aqaba though which vital cargo, including 80% of Israel’s oil imports and its entire supply route with Asia, traversed.
The same day the #Soviet-backed Nasser closed the Straits of Tiran (May 22, 1967), Cairo radio announced, “The Arab people is firmly resolved to wipe Israel off the map.”
On May 23, 1967, the Syrians blocked UN observers from the border with Israel and meanwhile poured its troops into the strategic Golan Heights.
That same day, May 23, 1967, Israeli Prime Minister Levi Eshkol called up the country’s remaining reservists so that all 80,000 were fully mobilized.
Meanwhile, Nasser was well-aware of the pressure he was exerting to force Israel’s hand, and on May 23, 1967, (the day after he closed the Straits of Tiran), he said defiantly: "The #Jews threaten to make war. I reply: Welcome! We are ready for war."
On May 26, 1967, Mohammed Heikal, Nasser’s closest advisor & the leading journalist in the Arab world, wrote in the Egyptian newspaper Al Ahram: “This week the closure of the Gulf of Aqaba to Israel was an alternative accomplished fact imposed and now being protected by the force of Arab arms. To Israel this is the most dangerous aspect of the current situation … Hence I say that Israel must resort to arms. Therefore I say that an armed clash between the UAR and the Israeli enemy is inevitable.”
On May 27, 1967, Nasser announced, "Our basic objective will be the destruction of Israel."
Nasser continued to taunt Israel on May 28, 1967, when he announced, “We will not accept any ... coexistence with Israel. ... Today the issue is not the establishment of peace between the Arab states and Israel .... The war with Israel is in effect since 1948.”
On May 30, 1967, Nasser signed a defense pact with other Arab countries against Israel & announced, “The armies of Egypt, Jordan, Syria and #Lebanon are poised on the borders of Israel … to face the challenge, while standing behind us are the armies of #Iraq, Algeria, Kuwait, Sudan and the whole Arab nation. This act will astound the world. Today they will know that the Arabs are arranged for battle, the critical hour has arrived. We have reached the stage of serious action and not declarations.”
By May 30, 1967, Israel was already surrounded by more than 500,000 Arab troops on its borders, along with more than 5,000 tanks and 1,000 fighter jets. The Arabs had four times as many fighter jets and five times as many tanks as Israel.
On May 31, 1967, Iraqi President Abdel Rahman Aref, who had committed his troops to annihilate Israel as well said, “The existence of Israel is an error which must be rectified. This is our opportunity to wipe out the ignominy which has been with us since 1948. Our goal is clear – to wipe Israel off the map. We shall, God willing, meet in Tel Aviv and Haifa.”
During these last days of May 1967, the mood in Israel was grim and tense.
Schools and public transportation were suspended.
Teenagers tried to help by filling sandbags.
School buildings were converted to bomb shelters.
Medicine and more than 14,000 hospital beds were prepared.
Parks throughout the whole of Israel were dug up – to be ready for mass graves for the tens of thousands of Israeli soldiers and civilians that would surely die.
All of Israel felt a second #Holocaust was at its doorstep.
As June of 1967 approached, Israel was surrounded by the full might of the Egyptian, Jordanian, and Syrian militaries on their borders (with a large contingent of Iraqi forces moving into place, along with contingents from other Arab countries as well) (Picture on Left).
Because of its small population, Israel’s combat strength depended on civilian reservists, and with full mobilization (and oil imports largely blocked by Nasser’s illegal closing of the Straits of Tiran) Israel’s economy faced collapse.
As Nasser and Heikal correctly observed, in such a situation, Israel either had to surrender or attack.
On June 1, 1967, #PLO Chairman Ahmad Shukeiri announced, “We shall destroy Israel and its inhabitants and as for the survivors – if there are any – the boats are ready to deport them.”
In the days before the Six Day War broke out, the New York Times reported that children in Cairo came home from school singing, “#Palestine… we are your fighters. We have sworn to drive the hated enemy from your soil.”
On June 4, 1967, Israel received official word from France – which had been one of Israel’s only arms suppliers during its first decade plus - that President Charles De Gaulle had issued a complete ban on weapons sales and transfers to Israel.
This was the final blow.
Israel was alone, severely outmanned, & wildly outgunned.
Israel, and its 2.5 million civilians, faced total annihilation.
And so, on June 5, 1967, with Israel’s troops having been mobilized and the entire country being shutdown and placed at a standstill for three weeks, with Isarel’s economy facing total collapse, and with Israel being alone without a friend in the world while facing Soviet-backed and Soviet-armed Arab troops along their entire border to the north, to the east, and to the south that sought to exterminate the Jews, Israel had no choice but to launch an attack.
But Prime Minister Eshkol was strategic in his attack, and he first took action solely against the biggest Arab army – the Egyptians.
Israel completely surprised Egypt by launching an air campaign that came from the west by cutting through the Mediterranean Sea; and in a matter of hours, Israel destroyed nearly the entire Egyptian air force.
The Syrians followed with an air attack, and Israel struck back with a shattering blow to the Syrian air force. By the end of the first day of fighting, at least half of the Syrian air force had also been destroyed.
Israel, however, specifically did not want to go to war with King Hussein of Jordan whom Israel saw as a more “moderate” Arab leader.
Israel was fighting for its survival and did not begin the war with any intention of gaining any land in the “West Bank” or otherwise.
Therefore, immediately after the attack against Egypt started on June 5, 1967, Prime Minister Eshkol sent a message to King Hussein pledging that Israel would not attack any Jordanian positions whatsoever until or unless Jordanian forces initiated hostilities against Israel.
King Hussein did not listen.
He would not “sit out” the “glorious Arab annihilation of the Jewish State.”
Hussein immediately ordered the Jordanian forces to takeover the UN headquarters near Talpiot and to begin shelling western #Jerusalem.
Jordanian snipers shot directly at people inside the King David Hotel while Jordanian mortars struck the Israeli #Knesset (Israeli parliament).
By June 7, 1967, Jordanian forces were firing artillery barrages toward Tel Aviv and western Jerusalem.
Israel miraculously fought back and managed to repel the Jordanian forces, and retake the Old City of Jerusalem, #Judea, and #Samaria within the next two days.
Within the brief span of six days, the #IDF overran the whole Sinai Peninsula (up to the #SuezCanal); retook the Old City of Jerusalem; retook the entire “#WestBank”; and, in the last days, captured a great part of the extremely strategic Golan Heights, including the dominant Mount Hermon - from then on "the eyes and ears of Israel".
After Israel captured the Old City, Israel’s Minister of Defense Moshe Dayan made a speech directly to Arabs indicating Israel’s peaceful intent and its pledge to preserve the religious freedom for all faiths in Jerusalem.
Specifically, Dayan said, “To our Arab neighbors we extend, especially at this hour, the hand of peace. To members of the other religions, Christians and Muslims, I hereby promise faithfully that their full freedom and all their religious rights will be preserved. We did not come to Jerusalem to conquer the Holy Places of others.”
So, at the conclusion of the 1967 Six Day war, what was the status of Judea and Samara (the “West Bank”)?
There are two possibilities.
One, the land was Israel’s under the axiomatic, unflinching international legal rule of uti possidetis juris. If this is the case, then Israel merely “liberated” its own land in 1967, and a state cannot occupy its own land. Therefore, no occupation exists.
Or two, one could argue (though there is no legal precedent for this) that because Israel never “perfected” its sovereign borders initially in 1948-1949, the land was “disputed.”
Regardless, even if the land was “disputed,” Israel had by far the strongest claim to legal title to the land.
Never in the history of planet Earth has there been any territory that contained a sovereign Arab State of Palestine, and the Jordanians – to the extent they ever could have claimed sovereignty in the “West Bank” and the Old City of Jerusalem – expressly waived any claims to those lands through its Peace Treaty with Israel in 1994.
In either scenario, Israel would have the unassailable legal right to establish “settlements” in the “West Bank.”
Mandates had created borders of many countries – all of which are still in force today.
The very existence of Jordan, as well as most of the borders of the Middle East, are based fully on mandatory borders.
Additionally, while many people on television and at the UN like to repeatedly call Israel’s alleged “occupation” an “illegal occupation,” under international law, occupation is, in fact, legal.
It is yet another express & unambiguous tenant of international law that any country is entitled to occupy areas of land won in a defensive war until there is no longer any belligerency.
Since there has been no end to the belligerency, even if Israel is “occupying” the “West Bank,” it is doing so legally (just like the American occupation of #Berlin and #Japan following World War II, which lasted for decades, was considered entirely “legal”).
Since international law applies equally to all countries and is not/cannot be applicable only to Israel, we can look at how international law has treated and/or will certainly treat similar situations.
For example, we almost never hear about “illegal occupations” in any of the following scenarios:
East Timor is occupied by Indonesia;
Western Sahara is occupied by Morocco;
Lebanon is occupied by Syria;
Cambodia is occupied by Vietnam;
Azerbaijan is occupied by Armenia;
Georgia is occupied by Russia;
Abhazia is occupied by Russia; and
Crimea (and now other portions of the Ukraine, such as the Donbas Region) is occupied by Russia.
Turkey, for example, occupies Northern Cyprus through an illegal aggressive war of expansion. However, we almost never hear about the Turkish presence in Cyprus; and we certainly don’t hear it being constantly raised on television, in newspapers, or at the UN as being an “illegal occupation.”
- Crimea is another good example.
If Russia continues to occupy Crimea for a period lasting 19 years (as long as Jordan occupied the “West Bank”) would the international community suddenly proclaim that 19 years is long enough, and #Russia is the legal sovereign in Crimea? Of course not.
If #Ukraine manages to retake Crimea from Russia, will the international community suddenly proclaim Ukraine as an “illegal occupier” simply because Russia had been the administrative power in the region for many years? Not a chance.
Why is that?
Is it because the people of Crimea are mostly ethnically Ukrainian?
No, in fact most of the people of Crimea are ethnically Russian.
Is it because the people of Crimea are mostly religiously or culturally tied to Ukraine?
No, in fact most of the people of Crimea are religiously and culturally tied to Russia over Ukraine.
The only reason the entire international community (outside of Russia) recognizes Crimea as being part of Ukraine is because the Kremlin decided in 1954 to redraw the boundaries of the Soviet Union’s Socialist Republics to include Crimea as part of the Ukraine. At the time, it did not really matter since all Soviet Socialist Republics were run by the #Kremlin anyway.
But when the Soviet Union broke up in 1991, the borders of the newly independent country of Ukraine, even if they were “not fair,” become the internationally recognized borders of Ukraine because of the unambiguous and universally applied international legal rule of uti possidetis juris, which required that Ukraine retain the borders that exactly matched the borders of the previous geopolitical entity in that territory.
Period.
End of story.
No arguments to be made.
The role of the Oslo Accords
In 1994, the #PalestinianAuthority (“PA”) was established as part of the Oslo Accords.
Israel did not have to agree to the creation of the PA, nor did it have to agree to grant the PA autonomy in certain areas of the West Bank, but it did.
While under international law there remains no independent sovereign state of “Palestine,” the PA does operate independently of Israel.
It is important to note that it is the PA, not Israel, that governs the lives of Palestinians living in the West Bank.
So, when people complain that West Bank Arabs do not get to vote in Israeli elections, that’s just nonsense.
West Bank Arabs get to vote in their own elections for the PA that governs them.
Only, unfortunately for the West Bank Palestinians, the corrupt Mahmoud Abbas is no champion of democracy and is much more interested in stealing hundreds of millions of dollars in money donated for the betterment of the Palestinian people than he is in creating a democratic “State of Palestine.”
Essentially, Abbas has no incentive to call for elections (which polls say he would lose) when he can continue flying around on his $50 million private jet, hold offshore accounts to the tune of more than $1 billion, all while being treated like a “head of state” around the world.
That is why Abbas is presently in the 18th year of his 4-year term as PA President.
Why don’t the Palestinians have an independent state today?
The fact that the #Palestinians still do not have an independent state of their own is entirely the fault of the Palestinian leadership.
Israel has offered the Palestinians a fully independent state on multiple occasions, such as in 2000 (Camp David), 2001 (Taba), and 2008 (PM Olmert’s offer) (Photo on Right); and every time, the PA has rejected the offer.
By the way, the PA (which arose out of the PLO – the Palestine Liberation Movement, which is supposedly a “national liberation movement”) has the mind-boggling “honor” of being the only “national liberation movement” in modern times to ever reject the opportunity to gain a fully independent state. And they’ve done it over, and over, and over, and over.
Moreover, those who care about the conflict tend, by and large, not to understand the core issue.
Far too many people continue to think the conflict is not over because of “occupation,” “settlements,” borders, & Palestinian statehood.
People around the world who continue to, stubbornly and unflinchingly, push for a “two state solution” have simply failed to come to terms with the extent to which the Palestinians are committed to the “Palestine from-the river-to-the-sea” vision.
If that was not their vision, the Palestinians would have had a state long ago – possibly even as far back as 1937 with the recommendation from the Peel Commission or at least with the UN Partition Plan in 1947.
However, the Palestinians’ continued commitment to a so-called “right of return,” and their willingness to walk away from repeated deals without one, illustrates how unwilling Palestinian leadership is and has always been to accept the State of Israel in any borders.
Simply, by demanding the right of millions of Palestinians to “return” to what is now Israel (even though well over 90% of them never lived there a day in their lives) would effectively end the Jewish state. This is no accident.
No Western countries would support the expressly stated idea of a Palestine “from the river to the sea,” so the Palestinians have speciously created the impression that the “#refugees” are a “secondary issue,” and a solvable issue at that – which, by the way, it is not under the Palestinian leadership’s current stance.
Despite both Arafat’s and Abbas’ repeated (over and over and over) stance that there is a legal right of return for millions of Palestinian “refugees” (there is not), and that this must be recognized in any agreement with Israel, much of the international community continues to drown out the express words of the Palestinian leadership and simply ignore the obvious contradiction that occurs between “peace” and the “return” of millions of Palestinian “refugees” to the State of Israel – which would destroy the State of Israel.
Meanwhile, in the event a Palestinian state is ever created in some portion of the “West Bank,” then there is absolutely no reason why the Jewish communities living there should not be permitted to stay.
Jews legally live in Judea and Samaria under international law as stated in the British Mandate for Palestine, and the Jews there built solely on state (not private) land.
In the event a Palestinian leadership ever arises that is interested in making peace with Israel and establishing a state in the “West Bank” (as opposed to making a Palestinian state to replace the entirety of Israel), then the decision of whether to remain in their homes in that new Palestinian state should be left up to the Jews living there.
Just as 20% of Israel today is Arab citizens that enjoy the same rights as all other citizens and enjoy equal protection under the law, there is no reason an even lesser percentage of Jews could not live in a future Palestinian state.
Frankly, it is appalling that the PA has repeatedly stated that any future Palestinian State must not have one single Jew living in it.
How is the international community okay with this?
That is a disgustingly racist point of view with no legal basis or logical reasoning.
And yet, the international community continues to humor Abbas, treat him like a head of state, and push Israel to make concessions for an alleged “two state solution” that the PA has time and again refused to accept.
