A Blog by the Editor of The Middle East Journal

Putting Middle Eastern Events in Cultural and Historical Context

Tuesday, June 5, 2012

The Fifth of June: The "Naksa" Plus 45 Years

Forty-five years ago today, on June 5, 1967, in the midst of a continuing Middle East crisis, Israel struckl pre=emptively against Arab Air Forces and, in six days, won one of the most decisive short wars in modern times. It also created the Middle East we've been dealing with for the past four and a half decades.  Later wars and peace treaties have changed the details, but all one has to do is realize how often we talk about "the 1967 borders" to confirm that those six days in June created the Middle East we know today. They shattered Gamal Abdel Nasser's reputation and, though he lived another three years, his real era ended with the war. Having dubbed tghe 1948 war that produced Israeli independence the nakba, or catastrophe, the Arab world came to refer to the 1967 war as the naksa, the "setback."

SInce this is the fourth June since I started blogging, I've posted a lot about the war in the past. Rather than repeat myself, I'll just link to myself. My 1967 war tag will bring up previous links, but rather than repeat myself, let me link to them individually:

June 5, 2009: June 5, 42 Years On: Some of the 'What Ifs?'" 

June 5, 2010: June 5, After 43 Years

June 9, 2010: The USS Liberty Incident: Still Starting Fights After All These Years

June 10, 2010: And on the Sixth Day ... 

June 15, 2010: Levi Eshkol in the Six-Day War 

June 6, 2011: June 5, 44 Years and a Day Later

Of course you'll find a lot under my Nasser tagged posts as well, and then there was my recent post on the death of Zakaria Mohieddin.

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