A Palestinian view

My father was eight years old when the so-called "Six-Day" War started. He and his family had fled to the hills of Jenin (my grandad was in Jordan , but was on his way back to pick his family up and emigrate to Jordan). They had limited food supplies but stayed the night.

My dad doesn ' t remember much , but one incident stuck in his mind. The Six Day war was referred to in Arabic as al-Naksa (the setback) and was widely pereceived as a massive failure for the Arab armies . It was then, my father said, that he lost his faith in the Arabs and bel ie ved that only Muslims and Palestinians can solve the conflict.

My father had a clear view of the two sides fighting and he witnessed many Iraqi tanks on one side - but they did not engage in any combat as they had orders to leave. One Iraqi tank, however, refused to return and proceeded to bomb every Israeli tank that appeared on the mountain.

The Iraqi destroyed many tanks and everytime he hit one there were cheers in the cave. But then the sound of the Israeli warplanes were heard and the Iraqi tank commander knew that he did not stand a chance , so he got out of his tank and started shouting Allahu Akbar! Allahu Akbar! and then died a martyr.

My father said that he greatly admired the courage of the Iraqi and that we should not rely on anyone but ourselves. Also, my father said for him the war was only 48 hours , and not six days .