1967: A Story of Occupation

Gulf News

The war between Israel and surrounding Arab states began on June 5 1967 and ended on June 10, when Israeli forces captured east Jerusalem and the Palestinian territories.  See more at: http://gulfnews.com/gntv

Transcript

00:00Palestinians are commemorating 50 years of Israeli occupation since the Jewish nation

00:10seized land in a war that took place in 1967.

00:14The six-day war began on June 5th and ended on June 10th, when Israel captured East Jerusalem

00:19and the Palestinian territories, the West Bank and Gaza, as well as Syria's Golan Heights

00:24and Egypt's Sinai in a series of lightning advances.

00:28Moments immediately leading up to the outbreak of war were messy and sometimes contradictory

00:33in intent, underpinned by Soviet disinformation about an Israeli plan to attack Syria.

00:39After mobilizing its troops against the perceived Israeli threat, Egypt moves its forces into

00:44the Sinai Peninsula in May as UN forces withdraw.

00:48Barely a week later, Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser orders the closure of the Straits

00:52of Tiran to Israeli shipping.

00:55Two hundred thousand strong Arab armies mass near the borders with Israel, but on May 27th,

01:00Nasser cancels the planned attack.

01:02On June 5th, Israel orders a surprise air attack against the Egyptian air force, destroying

01:07most of its craft on the ground.

01:09Jordanian and Syrian airfields are then also targeted.

01:13In response, Syria and Jordan, joined by Iraq, launched airstrikes on Israeli targets.

01:18On June 6th, Jordan, under King Hussein, joined the war.

01:22Israeli forces quickly fought their way into East Jerusalem, overrunning the positions

01:26held in the city by Jordanian forces for 19 years.

01:30In the next days, Israel captures the West Bank, Sinai, and the Golan Heights, in a move

01:35never recognized by the international community.

01:38Since then, the Israeli regime has conducted a systematic colonization on the captured

01:43land, building Jewish-only colonies, displacing hundreds of thousands of Palestinians for

01:48the second time since 1948, and forcing them to live under apartheid.

01:53Since 1967, Israel has demolished over 48,000 homes in the Palestinian West Bank in Gaza,

02:00confiscating over 586,000 acres of land and creating 300,000 refugees.

02:06Currently, there are around 600,000 Jewish colonists living in the occupied West Bank

02:11and occupied Jerusalem, in direct violation of the Fourth Geneva Convention.

02:16Some historians say Israeli colony building is the main obstacle for peace talks, and

02:20they want to return to 67 borders with East Jerusalem as its capital.

02:25Israel also built a separation barrier around the West Bank, allegedly for security reasons.

02:30But areas of the wall cut deep into Palestinian land, cutting people off from their farmland

02:35and sometimes dividing families.

02:37Today, Israel stands in violation of several UN resolutions, and any attempts to condemn

02:43Israeli actions have been vetoed by the U.S.

02:46Attempts by various U.S. administrations to reach a political solution have failed, as

02:50Palestinians say the U.S. is not an impartial broker, pointing to the over $230 billion

02:56of military aid it has given the Israeli regime over the years.

03:01On the 50th anniversary of Israeli occupation, Palestinians see an ever-bleak future as they

03:06continue to live under apartheid, facing daily humiliation and injustice, and watch the Israeli

03:11regime erase Palestinian and Muslim identity from their land.

03:16For more UN videos visit www.un.org

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