Six Days in History

Forty years ago, one of the most intriguing conflicts began on this day and ended six days later with repercussions that are felt to this day. The aftermath of the conflict put Israel in control of the Golan Heights, which were captured from Syria, the Sinai Peninsula and Gaza, which were captured from Egypt, and the West Bank including the Old City of Jerusalem, which were captured from Jordan.

Since 1967, the Israelis have returned control of the Sinai to the Egyptians under the terms of the Camp David Accord, and handed over the Gaza Strip to the Palestinian Authority in 2005. The Israelis have a peace agreement with Jordan, and Syria still seeks to regain control over the strategic Golan. Yet, the thorny issue of the Palestinians remains - the Palestinian Authority has control over Gaza, though I use that term loosely considering that the situation there is near anarchy and Hamas and Fatah are slugging it out for supremacy and the direction of Palestinian intentions towards Israel. Fatah is willing to destroy Israel with thousands of papercuts, while Hamas wants to destroy Israel yesterday. Hamas is unwilling to recognize Israel's right to exist, and considers it its religious obligation to destroy Israel.

It is against that backdrop that one of the best books on the subject is Michael Oren's Six Days of War: The Making of the Modern Middle East. He traces the origin of the conflict and the repercussions.