On
the 40th anniversary of the Six Day War, it seems that the region remains
trapped in conflict. It is every bit as explosive as it was in 1967- if
not more so.
Though physically confined to the Middle East, the war’s political
impact reached far beyond the boundaries of the region. Rarely in modern
times has so short and localized a conflict had such profound global consequences.
The 1967 war was a true seismic eruption in historic terms; it reshaped
the regional political landscape, destroyed old systems and brought new
forces to the surface.
The consequences of this war, born out of secular nationalist dreams,
unleashed religious conflicts which permeated the region and the world
until today. From our present-day vantage point the 1967 war could be
seen as the death of two sets of dreams: the secular Arab nationalist
dream and the secular Zionist dream.
Six Days in June, a ground-breaking
documentary, brings a contemporary perspective to the Six Day War by documenting
how the 1967 war forever transformed the politics of the Middle East by
helping destroy the secular basis of Pan-Arab nationalism and transform
secular Zionism. It gave rise to a Palestinian nationalist movement and
helped unleash the furies of nationalism and fundamentalist religion throughout
the region.
The weeks that preceded the war, its six days of fighting and the repercussions
serve as the narrative spine of the film.
Six Days in June is the first
documentary film that looks at the war not only as a tale of victory and
defeat, but as the birth of the new Middle East: the region that continues
to shape world politics.
Using declassified archives, newly discovered footage and photographs,
evocative recreations, unpublished personal diaries as well as dozens
of interviews with those implicated in the war, including politicians,
generals and soldiers from all sides, Six
Days in June weaves a complex tapestry and presents the
viewer with a fuller picture of the region in this critical moment of
transition. Our dramatic narrative builds with the intensity of a thriller,
as the film is played out in Jerusalem, Cairo, Damascus, Washington, Moscow,
Amman and the UN.
Levi
Eshkol
Israeli
Prime Minister, Levi Eshkol, and Egyptian
President, Gamal Abdel Nasser, are
at the center of our narrative, and their rise and fall provides the film’s
dramatic arc.
Both figures begin the film in the command of their countries and in command
of mighty armies. Both end as broken men. While Israel is swept by the
intoxicating euphoria of its early victory over Egypt, Levi
Eshkol, the Prime Minister, is almost forgotten. He was forced
to accept General Moshe Dayan as his
Defense minister and was thus de facto removed from any real impact on
the unfolding war. He died eighteen months later from cancer, which according
to his wife was brought on” by a broken heart.”
Gamal Abdel Nasser
Gamal Abdel Nasser, the symbol of
the Arab world’s hopes and aspirations, begins the film as the new
Salah A Din, the legendary Muslim leader who expelled the Crusades from
Jerusalem. By the end of the war he announces his resignation to a stunned
nation, causing millions of sobbing Egyptians to pour onto the streets
begging their leader to stay. “It was the best and most powerful
manifestation of the power of Arab nationalism.” recalls
Eric Roulleau, Le Monde’s Middle East correspondent. “It
was also its end.”
The ideological vacuum left by the destruction of the Arab national dream
was filled by a militant Islamic movement. Six months later, Nasser will
die of “a broken heart.”
Thus the fate of these two leaders is not only a riveting personal
drama, but a tale full of historical symbolism.
If Nasser’s personal tragedy reflects the larger predicament of the
Arab world, the destruction of Israeli Prime Minister Levi
Eshkol’s political career reflects the birth of a new
Israeli national dream.
In the weeks leading to war the hesitant Yiddish speaking Prime Minister
with his thick glasses and lack of military background was seen as a stereotype
of the “Diaspora Jew,” a contrast to the “Sabra,”
Israeli born courageous military generals with impressive combat records
behind them. This cautious man who was suspicious of his generals’
promises and of the ultimate power of the gun, was eventually swept away
by his general staff and his Defense minister, Moshe
Dayan. Eshkol was intoxicated
by Israel‘s military might, not realizing that both on the West Bank
and in Jerusalem the seeds for an extended conflict were sown. By the
end of the war, his political career was over. The country chose to follow
a new set of heroes that better fit its new self-image.
The film tightly focuses on the story arc of these two characters.
The first half focuses almost exclusively
on the buildup to the war. The story of the dramatic three weeks that
preceded the war is told through the personal dramas of the Egyptian Leader
Gamal Abdul Nasser and the Israeli Prime Minister Levi Eshkol. Eshkol
never wanted to go to war. At the time, the Israeli General Staff described
him as weak and indecisive. Today, we recognize him as a man with a keen
sense of history driven by a sense of foreboding, not only about the coming
war but about the forces it will unleash.
SIX
DAYS IN JUNE MOVIE CLIP
Gamel Abdul Nasser did not want war either, yet he initiated a journey that led Egypt to what turned out to be the country ‘s biggest catastrophe in modern times. The film’s interviews with his former aids and confidants help to chart a portrait of this complex man driven to a war he sensed he was bound to lose. In the end, we see Nasser as a prisoner of his own ideology and rhetoric; a man pushed to the limits by his own military.
In the second half, the drama focuses
on the war with Jordan, the occupation of the West Bank and the unification
of Jerusalem. Eshkol, Nasser, Hussein and their military advisors and
commanders are in the background and a new cast of characters takes center
stage. Those are Israeli and Jordanian soldiers, first- hand accounts
of Palestinians stunned by victorious Israeli troops and Israeli soldiers
who fought in Jerusalem and became leaders of a settlement movement.
On June 5 , 1967 Israel launched a pre-emptive strike against Egypt. Within
3 hours Israeli succeeded in destroying the entire Egyptian air force
thus guaranteeing a victory in the ground war. However, in these first
3 hours Jordan, bound by its defense treaty, began shelling West Jerusalem.
Israel responded and used this opportunity to occupy Arab Jerusalem with
its historic sites, as well as the rest of the West Bank .
SIX
DAYS IN JUNE MOVIE CLIP
The
expansion of the war from the Sinai to Jerusalem and the West Bank proved
to be a crucial one. Far from just a geographic move, the occupation of
both Jerusalem and the West Bank changes the meaning of the war and its
legacy. Part 2 of Six Days in June traces this dramatic story from the
euphoric first hours of the Israeli attack to the moment when Palestinian
refugees find themselves standing in what was once their neighbourhood
which is today the plaza at the Wailing Wall.
The
fact is that here is a struggle which has deep religious roots. It's not
something you can defuse. And if we don't recognize our religious, spiritual
truth then we're going to leave everything to the Moslems and the Christians.
Hanan Porat, Israeli paratrooper and settler
Those who listen to my story of the war may not realize the scope of
the tragedy, the fierceness of the battle, the fear, the hunger, the pain,
the responsibility. Defeat is bitter. Its psychological effects stayed
with us for a very long time.
Ghazi Rubbaya, Jordanian Commander
We are a foreign implant and around us are hundreds of millions of
others and nothing will change that. It is not a solution to depart from
here and give them the country. And if we don't leave here this conflict
will not end very soon.
General Yeshayahu Gavish, Commander of the Southern Front, Israeli
Army
And when I saw this destruction (in Jerusalem), there was a part of
me that felt tremendous dread. That like a whole new problem was going
to be created.
A whole new problem.
Abdullah Schleifer, American-born Jew who converted to Islam
and a journalist for The Palestine News
So, all right, Nasser made a mistake and Hussein made a mistake. So
why do we have to fall into the trap of their mistake and to turn our
lives into an ongoing hell? 40 years, 40 years, we have been living in
an ongoing hell because of this cursed occupation.
Yossi Sarid, political advisor to PM Levi Eshkol
