Six-Day War deliberately provoked by Israel: former Dutch UN observer
Watch the video
By Daan de Wit
Former Dutch UN observer, Colonel (ret.) Jan Mühren, said last Monday on the Dutch current affairs program Nova that in the run up to the the Six-Day War Israel provoked most border incidents as part of its strategy to annex more land. Jan Mühren, who was stationed interchangeably at the Golan Heights and the West Bank in 1966 and 1967, says Israel was not under siege by Arab countries. Mühren said neither Jordan nor Syria had any intention to start a war with Israel. Last Tuesday it was forty years ago the Six-Day War started. Watch the video with English subtitles (the segment is broken down into two parts). Below the video's the subtitles are printed as text. Downloadable 70 MB Avi (divx4) version: (choose 'free', and then type over the 4 digit code from the image to download). - Subtitles: 1 00:00:00,923 --> 00:00:02,647 Tomorrow is exactly 40 years after .. 2
00:00:02,748 --> 00:00:06,091 .. Israel decided to attack it's neighboring countries.
3 00:00:06,352 --> 00:00:09,336 In just a few days the armies of Egypt, Syria ..
4 00:00:09,504 --> 00:00:11,325 .. and Jordan were devastatingly defeated.
5 00:00:11,827 --> 00:00:16,204 The general view then was that Israel would be wiped of the map by their Arab neighbors.
6 00:00:16,987 --> 00:00:21,067 But it is exactly the opposite, says Jan Mühren a former UN observer.
7 00:00:21,624 --> 00:00:26,879 Our reporter traveled with him to the Middle-East in an attempt to reconstruct what happened.
8 00:00:31,294 --> 00:00:33,118 It's a journey in time.
9 00:00:33,957 --> 00:00:37,569 40 years after he shot these images with his 8 mm camera..
10 00:00:38,138 --> 00:00:41,914 .. Jan Mühren is back for the first time in the West Bank.
11 00:00:48,246 --> 00:00:50,881 An unique experience.
12 00:00:50,882 --> 00:00:56,153 And I have to say from Jerusalem the landscape has changed so much.
13 00:00:56,753 --> 00:00:58,944 We have seen some beautiful settlements.
14 00:00:59,828 --> 00:01:05,049 The wall.. this is actually really unimaginable.
15 00:01:09,475 --> 00:01:18,356 In 1966 and 1967 Jan Mühren was stationed as UN observer at the Israeli border.
16 00:01:20,153 --> 00:01:25,699 Here he witnessed in person how Israel was continuously provoking it's Arab neighbors.
17 00:01:25,700 --> 00:01:32,454 He never reconciled himself in the way in which the Six-Day War ended up in our history books.
18 00:01:33,914 --> 00:01:35,554 The general view improved a little ..
19 00:01:36,039 --> 00:01:40,670 .. but the image we had in the first few decades afterwards was totally outdated.
20 00:01:41,373 --> 00:01:46,854 The small Israel being threatened from all sides ..
21 00:01:47,426 --> 00:01:48,663 .. that is completely incorrect.
22 00:01:49,008 --> 00:01:50,008 It's totally incorrect?
23 00:01:50,133 --> 00:01:51,288 - Yes, nothing adds up.
24 00:01:53,501 --> 00:01:55,352 This is Samua ..
25 00:01:55,711 --> 00:01:58,693 .. a small Palestinian village in the occupied West Bank territory.
26 00:01:59,085 --> 00:02:02,179 Before the Six-Day War it was part of Jordan.
27 00:02:03,219 --> 00:02:08,509 The inhabitants of this village have never forgotten the date of November 13, 1966 ..
28 00:02:09,382 --> 00:02:16,458 .. when a large Israeli force of over 1000 soldiers with planes and tanks attacked Samua.
29 00:02:27,178 --> 00:02:30,564 A meeting with the Samua municipality spokesperson.
30 00:02:30,617 --> 00:02:33,705 As 17 year old boy he was witness to the Israeli attack.
31 00:02:42,318 --> 00:02:48,135 Khalil Abu Lkibash remembers exactly what happened that early Sunday morning in November.
32 00:03:07,361 --> 00:03:09,915 He shows the cave where he then sought refuge.
33 00:03:34,304 --> 00:03:39,118 While the inhabitants of Samua went in hiding, the Israeli army went on a rampage.
34 00:03:40,516 --> 00:03:42,947 More than 80 homes were demolished.
35 00:03:42,948 --> 00:03:48,590 15 Jordanian soldiers and 3 civilians lost their lives in the attack.
36 00:03:49,220 --> 00:03:54,100 It was an Israeli retaliation for a terrorist strike by Palestinian terrorists ..
37 00:03:54,862 --> 00:03:57,464 .. but they didn't come from this place.
38 00:03:59,194 --> 00:04:04,160 Had the people from this village anything to do with the attack on Israel?
39 00:04:04,411 --> 00:04:11,186 - Well no. Not just from this village but also NOT from the entire West Bank.
40 00:04:11,423 --> 00:04:18,241 That last half year we, I mean my UN colleagues and I, Belgians ..
41 00:04:18,242 --> 00:04:25,924 .. only western officers operated here and we did patrols. The situation was completely calm.
42 00:04:49,530 --> 00:04:55,897 In the UN Security Council the Israeli attack on Samua was condemned in harsh terms.
43 00:05:16,143 --> 00:05:21,745 The Israeli historian Michael Oren wrote an authoritative book on the Six-Day war.
44 00:05:21,746 --> 00:05:27,002 Also according to him Israel had nothing to fear from Jordan when it attacked Samua.
45 00:05:41,630 --> 00:05:46,623 The UN observers were busy in the months prior to the war.
46 00:05:47,399 --> 00:05:49,847 They drove from incident to incident.
47 00:05:50,297 --> 00:05:52,270 There were firefights going on between the two sides.
48 00:05:52,271 --> 00:05:56,562 And in April '66 Israel even took down a Syrian Mig.
49 00:06:04,398 --> 00:06:07,242 A former Syrian position on the Golan Heights.
50 00:06:07,742 --> 00:06:10,402 Now it's a war memorial.
51 00:06:11,466 --> 00:06:14,403 From this place the Jewish kibbutzes were constantly being shot at.
52 00:06:14,404 --> 00:06:19,426 At least, according to the Israeli version of events.
53 00:06:34,242 --> 00:06:37,019 Frankly I believe this is a case of falsification of history.
54 00:06:37,020 --> 00:06:40,921 Last century's largest chapter of falsification of history.
55 00:06:41,728 --> 00:06:43,979 This is a lie? - An absolute lie!
56 00:06:45,093 --> 00:06:48,782 Syria posed no threat to Israel, says Mühren.
57 00:06:49,038 --> 00:06:51,171 It was the exact opposite.
58 00:06:52,399 --> 00:06:56,779 This was the location of the UN observation post.
59 00:06:57,402 --> 00:07:01,002 From this place Mühren observed how the Israelis provoked a border incident..
60 00:07:01,969 --> 00:07:03,764 .. with armored tractors.
61 00:07:05,314 --> 00:07:09,149 Those armored tractors were fully loaded..
62 00:07:09,563 --> 00:07:18,292 .. and went in, two in front, one backup in the rear, into the demilitarized zone.
63 00:07:18,293 --> 00:07:20,457 Where they had no business going to.
64 00:07:20,458 --> 00:07:22,175 It was in breach of the truce.
65 00:07:22,675 --> 00:07:26,848 On that moment shots were fired from the Golan Heights.
66 00:07:26,849 --> 00:07:32,476 First a couple of gun shots, then later some bursts of machine gun fire.
67 00:07:33,476 --> 00:07:36,178 And the Israelis who had positions over there clearly waited ..
68 00:07:36,678 --> 00:07:44,728 .. until we took note of the shots. That the first shots originated from the Syrians.
69 00:07:45,392 --> 00:07:48,817 And after that within half an hour the whole area was on fire.
70 00:08:00,901 --> 00:08:02,698 Why did the Israelis do that?
71 00:08:03,432 --> 00:08:09,567 - To take possession of another piece of demilitarized zone.
72 00:08:09,568 --> 00:08:16,757 First they simply used the farmers from the kibbutzes to grab land.
73 00:08:17,169 --> 00:08:20,966 And later it became military operations.
74 00:08:21,905 --> 00:08:25,180 Moshe Dayan, the famous Israeli war hero has admitted ..
75 00:08:25,181 --> 00:08:32,268 .. long after the Six-Day war that the majority of incidents were provoked by Israel.
76 00:08:33,314 --> 00:08:36,213 He did this in a conversation with journalist Rami Tal.
77 00:08:36,214 --> 00:08:40,186 The conversation was only published after the death of Dayan.
78 00:09:26,192 --> 00:09:29,202 In the Netherlands little of this transpired.
79 00:09:30,157 --> 00:09:33,503 This is the Mannopam gate in Jerusalem, in Israel.
80 00:09:33,504 --> 00:09:41,009 The only border crossing into the Arab countries surrounding Israel: Syria, Jordan and Lebanon.
81 00:09:41,010 --> 00:09:45,298 The only opening in likely the world's most fiercely contested border.
82 00:09:45,382 --> 00:09:48,369 The media stands firmly on Israel's side.
83 00:09:48,370 --> 00:09:52,227 In November 1966 the current affairs program AVRO Televizier ..
84 00:09:52,228 --> 00:09:55,582 .. reports on how the Jewish state is being threatened from all sides.
85 00:09:56,449 --> 00:09:58,689 Syria is sending tanks to the Israeli borders.
86 00:09:59,168 --> 00:10:03,392 Egypt flew some Mig fighter squadrons to Syria.
87 00:10:03,569 --> 00:10:05,975 Around Damascus and near the border with Israel ..
88 00:10:06,737 --> 00:10:10,288 .. Russian experts are active installing anti-aircraft rockets.
89 00:10:10,667 --> 00:10:15,613 In Israel an increasing number of voices call for teaching the Arabs a heavy handed lesson.
90 00:10:15,614 --> 00:10:21,796 Since January 1963 the Arabs conducted no less than 66 raids on Israel ..
91 00:10:22,482 --> 00:10:27,386 .. while the Security Council or the Truce Commission is unable to do anything against it.
92 00:10:27,387 --> 00:10:31,070 Not one single word about the Israeli provocations.
93 00:10:32,529 --> 00:10:37,667 Mühren returned home to the Netherlands just before the start of the Six-Day War.
94 00:10:37,668 --> 00:10:41,282 On his return he tells in an interview with the 'Army Courier' what he has seen.
95 00:10:41,283 --> 00:10:45,229 The publication of the article was canceled by the upper echelons.
96 00:10:45,230 --> 00:10:52,789 That article never got published. A few weeks later we got notice that the article would not ..
97 00:10:53,250 --> 00:11:01,616 .. appear in the May '67 issue because it was incompatible with the sentiments of the population.
98 00:11:01,617 --> 00:11:03,859 This is literally what they said? - This is literally what they said.
99 00:11:06,884 --> 00:11:14,576 After all these incidents and exchanges of fire on June the 5th, 1967, the war broke out.
100 00:11:14,577 --> 00:11:20,697 Israel attacked Egypt and defeated in 6 days all neighboring Arab countries.
101 00:11:20,698 --> 00:11:26,850 East-Jerusalem, the West Bank and the Syrian Golan Heights were captured.
102 00:11:29,303 --> 00:11:34,600 For Samua the war was the beginning of the occupation that now has endured for 40 years.
103 00:11:34,601 --> 00:11:37,879 The village has now been rebuilt ..
104 00:11:37,880 --> 00:11:42,249 .. but the inhabitants lost much of their land to Israeli colonists.
105 00:11:42,981 --> 00:11:46,105 Since recently there is also 'the wall' ..
106 00:11:46,106 --> 00:11:50,097 .. that's why the people from Samua cannot go to their jobs in Israel.
107 00:11:50,861 --> 00:11:56,355 The war that lasted 6 days for the Israelis is for the Palestinians far from over.
108 00:12:08,934 --> 00:12:11,892 A solution has to be found. It is there actually ..
109 00:12:11,893 --> 00:12:19,977 .. but it has to be executed. And that must happen on short term.
110 00:12:19,978 --> 00:12:24,639 Israel has to be pressured. This cannot continue.
DeepJournal
Sign up for the free mailing list. |
9 September 2013
Why is Syria under attack? - Part 4
‘Syria’ is about power, money, influence and energy
8 September 2013
Why is Syria under attack? - 3
Syria and Iran are like pieces on a geopolitical chessboard
7 September 2013
Why is Syria under attack? - Part 2
On the interests of the parties involved in the Syrian conflict and the role of the media
6 September 2013
Why is Syria under attack? - Part 1
Who is behind the chemical weapons attack in Syria?
1 April 2013
Albert Spits: Creëer je eigen financiële veiligheid
Beluister het interview
|