A week today the world will note the 50th anniversary of the start of the most enduring conflict of the modern era, and one which has caused untold misery for those living with the consequences.
On June 5, 1967, Israel launched a pre-emptive strike against surrounding Arab states in retaliation for an Egyptian blockade of the Gulf of Aqaba.
In a matter of hours, Israel had destroyed 90 per cent of Egypt’s Soviet-supplied air force, and over succeeding days, in what became known as the Six Day War, it seized the Sinai Desert and Gaza Strip from the Egyptians, Jerusalem and the West Bank from Jordan and the Golan Heights from Syria.
Overnight, the Jewish state trebled the size of territory under its control.
Read the story by Tony Walker in the Sydney Morning Herald.
[Tony Walker is the co-author of Arafat: The Biography and a former Middle East correspondent for the Financial Times.]