Two sides of the Six-Day War

Tuesday, 5th June 2007

Tom Gross has put together a detailed round-up of fortieth anniversary coverage, including reflections from Saul Singer and Charles Krauthammer. The Arabist, meanwhile, complains about western media bias. And the US-based academic who goes by the name of The Angry Arab remembers the atmosphere surrounding Nasser's decision - quickly rescinded - to step down in the days after Egypt's humiliation:

It was an odd moment. The days before the resignation, I remember my father coming home from work and reporting the early bogus stories of Arab military successes. He was sceptical. I remember that. He distrusted claims of Arab regimes--all of them. I also felt that he was not as much as everybody else under the spell of Nasser. He liked him, and and would watch his speeches and listen to them sometimes, but he also was capable of being critical of his regime.
I asked my mother the other day: I told her that I remember her crying, but I don't remember my father crying then (I remember him crying in 1970, when Nasser died). She said that, no he did cry. She said that we all cried. I remember that we did. I remember that odd night. I remember that men were on the balconies: smoking and some audibly crying. I remember the neighbour across the street: that he fainted.

[Photo: Ultra-orthodox Jewish men pray at the Western wall at the Western wall in Jerusalem, June 4, 2007. Credit: Uriel Sinai/Getty Images]