My humble memories of the 1967 Arab- Israeli war .

 The news reaching Arab students in the north east of England of the Arab –Israeli stand up from Arab radio broadcasts in May and the first 5 days in June of 1967 was  that After Israeli soldiers massed against Syria , Egypt ordered UN peacekeepers out of Sinai and Sharmelshikh   and Egyptian forces moved into Sinai and assumed control of the Straits of Tiran  baring all Israeli shipping in the Straits  

Egyptian broadcasts praising the actions of president Nasser and exalting the capabilities of the Egyptian armed forces gave  the impression that Egypt is in control and have the upper hand .Egypt top editor and confidant  of president Nasser Mr. Mohammed Hasanain  Haikal  wrote few days before hostilities broke out : We shall give Israel the privilege of the first strike .Other Arab broadcasts flamboyantly boasting  that Syrian , Jordanian and Iraqi armies are each  capable of crushing Israel .

Israel was on the other was taking the role of the underdog and at the same time drumming up the number of troops and hardware of the Arab countries. I remember a leading paper comparing numbers of aircrafts of both sides included aircrafts bought by the then Sultan of Yemen decades back and left rusting and covered by sand in the desert.

In 1967 I was elected to head the Arab Students Society in the North East of England based in Newcastle University General students Union  building under the name  ; The Arab students society.

Few days before the war a crew from the local TV (Tyne Tees Television) was interviewing Arab and Jewish students about the possibility of war in the Mideast in the Student Union Premises.   I was there listening to the questions and answers.

The Arab students were asked: If war starts, would you volunteer to fight?  . The common answer was:  yes. We want to liberate Palestine and some added and destroy Israel.

The Jewish students were asked: If war starts, would you be worried about the fate of women and children? The common answer was: Yes. The Arabs want to destroy Israel and throw the Israelis into the sea.

I sent a letter to the TV channel accusing them of being  impartial , because they coined  the question to each party  which brings the desired  answer  i.e. to  lead the public  to think  that the Arabs are war mongers  and the Jews are humane , concerned  for  the safety of  women and children.

On the morning of the 5^th of June came the news that war broke out between the Arabs and Israel. I was happy that at last Palestine was going to be liberated at the same I was really concerned for the Israeli women and children because of the rhetoric of the Arab and western media.

 For the whole day, Arab war communiques stating successes .Late afternoon of the same day, Tyne Tees Television contacted me and stated that they read my protest and now they are inviting me to debate the Arab-Israeli conflict with the Rabbi of Newcastle in their program Late Look at 10.30  that night . I thought quickly about the invitation , it occurred to me that may  be they expected me to refuse  as Arabs refuse to talk to Israelis also I thought of the reaction of my government ,  I concluded ; to refuse is harmful to our case as for my  government ,I would say to them : I was debating a British citizen and so I accepted the invitation .

At about 9 o'clock a car came to take me to the TV studios, were I was met by the editor Sid Waddle, we sat in the cafeteria for a while discussing the war, then he took me to the makeup room ,I was told by the lady that its necessary for clarity of the picture then we entered the studio . We were then informed that the Rabbi just telephoned to say that he will not be able to come, so the program will be conducted as a personal interview with me.

I was happy with the change.

The program started with a film, where people in the streets where asked: What do you think of Colonel Nasser (The title used in the British media for President Nasser of Egypt)?

The common answer was he is a new Hitler a dictator ,should be stopped …etc.

The anchor turned to me with a serious face and asked: What do you think of Colonel Nasser?

Thinking that we are on the road of liberating Palestine I replied: Hitler invaded other countries. Nasser is liberating Arab Land Palestine.

We continued the dialog on these lines until a slip of paper was passed to the anchor. After he read it he said: just now King Hussain and Colonel Nasser accuse Britain and France of taking part in the fighting on the side of Israel. He then asked me what would you say?

It was a total surprise to me .I recalled quickly in my mind the 1956 Suez war were a similar accusation was denied only to be admitted later by the British prime minister Anthony Eden  when he wrote his memoirs ( they claimed then they intervened to separate the Egyptian and Israeli armies and safeguard the Suez canal . It turned out they were the instigators of that war)  . So I said I don’t know . Perhaps we shall know when the honorable gentlemen write their memoirs.

Next morning as I was waiting for the bus when  a middle aged Englishman came up to me and said: I beg your pardon sir, were you on Late Look yesterday night?

I replied: Yes.

The man went on: Your reply to the question on intervention was very clever, how did you think of that?

 I answered: Was I in your opinion correct sir?

He laughed and shook my hand and left.

The days from 6 to 11 June brought disastrous news to the Arab students culminating in the loss of Sinai, the Golan Heights and Jerusalem. One of our students a Palestinian post graduate suffered a nervous breakdown and tried to commit suicide.

I summoned the Arab Students to a meeting to avoid the danger of a total breakdown of morale and we decided to launch a money donation campaign for the "front " and a volunteer for" battle" register " I went to Southshield and Sunderland to talk  to small communities of Arab workers  (Yemeni sailors  who settled there some decades past) and the poor souls were  also devastated by the news .       

     Now 50 years hence and after witnessing the turmoil since I say to Arab Youths: Do not follow any body claiming he wants to defend the nation, the faith, and the sect or liberate Palestine. Such people have lead us to the miserable situation we are now in.  

The Six Day War