The Arab-Israeli war of 1967, which broke out 38 years ago, represented a continuation of Israeli territorial expansion as well as a completely new stage of Israeli military superiority. In less than a week, Israel expanded its territory fourfold. Exactly 19 years after the Palestinian and Arab tragedy (Al Nakba) of 1948 and the formation of the Jewish state, the Arab world was dealt another heavy blow. In a matter of days , some say even hours, the tripartite military alliance between the United Arab Republic (Egypt), the Syrian Arab Republic and the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, was defeated in a most embarrassing manner. At the time President Nasser of Egypt deemed the defeat of 1967 a mere ‘setback,’ which he considered reversible. However, no one in 1967 and in the years that followed could have forecast that the Palestinian people in the year 2005 would still be living under such cruel, gruesome and inhumane conditions, all of which are the result of the prolonged occupation that started in 1967.

Immediately after the 1967 Arab-Israeli war, the United Nations Security Council, the main executive organ of the UN, convened an emergency session. France drafted a resolution which was accepted unanimously by the Council members, Resolution 242. In short, the resolution calls for the withdrawal of Israeli armed forces from territories occupied in the recent conflict.". The UN repeated its call on Israel to withdraw forces from occupied lands in 1973 by issuing Security Council Resolution 338. To date Israel remains in breach of resolutions 181 (partition of Palestine), 194 (right of return of Palestinian refugees), 242 and 338.

38 years after the Six Day War, the West Bank and Gaza are still under occupation, and what an occupation it is! Today the Occupied Palestinian Territories remain in a state of humanitarian catastrophe. The military occupation of Palestinian land and people is one of the most unjust practices of our time. Within the time-frame of 38 years, the state of Israel has been able to accumulate and compile a seemingly endless list of one of the worst human rights records mankind has ever witnessed. A few examples of this are the devastating ‘Apartheid Wall,’ the continued expansion and creation of illegal settlements, the continued policy of targeted, as well as ad hoc killings, home demolitions at frightening pace, the judaization of east Jerusalem, continued curfews forcefully imposed on Palestinian towns and villages.

In a sense the 1967 war was a catalyst that brought about a major change in Arab foreign policy with concerns to dealing with Israel. Around the time of the Madrid conference in 1991, the Arab states collectively chose to pursue a policy of making peace with Israel rather than engaging in warfare. The latest attempt at trying to make peace with Israel was presented at the Arab league Summit in Beirut in 2002, by the Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah. His proposal called for full Israeli withdrawal from occupied Arab lands in return for full normalization of relations with all Arab states. This brings us to Israel: the then and current Prime Minister, Ariel Sharon, reciprocated the Arab peace proposal by ordering his troops to carry out the bloody incursion of Jenin, in which at least 62 Palestinians were killed, most of them innocent civilians.

Military occupations do not last for ever, and this one, too, must come to an end; the earlier, the better. Military occupations are extremely costly affairs, both in terms of human lives and human/economic development. This one has reached absurd proportions. Israel has now had over five decades to implement various Security Council Resolutions. This grace period must be declared “over”. Israel’s alleged quest for peace and security must be questioned more resolutely and consequently by the international community. It is time for the world, including the Israeli public, to say “enough,” or better yet, “more than enough”. It is time to set the Palestinians free, for they have done nothing to deserve what is being done to them.

The formula for a just and lasting peace has not changed. It is still negotiations on the basis of Resolutions 242, 338, and the subsequently added land-for-peace formula.