The time of the burning sun

The Six Day Israel-Arab War of 1967 was not a war of aggression. From the perspective of International Law, Israel did not invade Palestine, which had been illegally overrun by the Egyptian and Jordanian armies in 1948. Many of the Palestinian Arabs welcomed Israel's victory over the harsh occupants of their land, and rejoiced in the aura of hope, respect and dignity that Israel's Jews offered them. The intense war had produced very few civilian casualties and little damage to civilian property. An era of peace and coexistence was at hand. Jews and Arabs intermingled freely, shopping for bargains in each other's territory. The Israeli cabinet was making plans to give back the captured territories to the Arabs . . . And then, twelve weeks later, the Arab states met in conclave in Khartoum and issued three no's, three vows: No peace with Israel, no negotiations with Israel, no recognition of Israel. Now, 37 years later, the peace that might have been has turned into a murderous and unending war, escalating in intensity by the week. Michael Bernet, a journalist, listened to participants and survivors of the war, Jews and Arabs, soldiers and civilians, clerics and kibbutzniks, at every social level. This is a brilliant account of the war, of the mixture of fears and hopes and anguish experienced by the ordinary man and woman, and the peace that almost was. First published by the New American Library in 1968, this new reprint includes an added preface and an added epilogue to bring it up to date, together with maps, a glossary and a list of characters.… (more)