Today marks the 54th anniversary of the June Naksa/Setback, which began after the Israeli occupation attacked Egyptian, Syrian and Jordanian forces, resulting in occupying the West Bank, East Jerusalem, the Gaza Strip, the Egyptian Sinai, and the Syrian Golan Heights.

Today, the occupation authorities continue to commit more heinous crimes against the Palestinian people. Their policies aim at displacing Palestinians and uprooting them from their lands in the West Bank and Jerusalem, amid the escalation of Judaization and settlement operations, land confiscation, and attacks on sanctities, especially the Al-Aqsa Mosque.

On June 5, 1967, Israel began the war with a sudden military attack on the Egyptian front, targeting Sinai and the Suez Canal. The tension continued for three weeks between Israel, Egypt, Syria, and Jordan, backed by Iraqi forces during the Israeli aggression.

After the occupation army finished eliminating the Egyptian Air Force, it turned to the fronts of Jordan and Syria. The Jordanian and Syrian air forces, along with the Iraqis, began launching raids on Israeli settlements to relieve pressure on the Egyptian front.

By the end of the day of June 5, the Egyptian, Syrian and Jordanian were outside the war. Israel tookover large areas of Arab land, an increase of four times what it had occupied when the announcement of its establishment after the Nakba in 1948; it annexed the West Bank, the Gaza Strip, the Sinai, and the Golan Heights.

Moreover, Israel tookover the oil resources in Sinai, and the water resources in the West Bank, and the Syrian heights, which enabled it to increase immigration and settlement operations in the occupied Arab lands.

The occupation began operations to Judaize Jerusalem in a planned and systematic way and was able to seize large areas of the West Bank to improve its strategic, security and military situation.

Also, Israel extended its full sovereignty over the city of Jerusalem, which occupied its western part in 1948, and after the setback, it caused a new wave of displacement that affected about 300,000 Palestinians, most of whom settled in Jordan.

The Setback became another title for the displacement of Palestinians after what they were subjected to during "The Nakba” in 1948.

The Six-Day Setback resulted in the martyrdom of 15-25 thousand Arabs for the killing of only 800 Israelis, and the destruction of 70-80% of the military equipment in the Arab countries.

Source : Safa