Six Day War Memories (40 Years Ago)

We live in the present. We look to the future. But we learn great truths from the past. -Madame Chaing Kai shek

Short, decisive wars can be a blessing. Exposing the boasting lies of dictators, shortening and minimizing suspense and suffering, providing a pause in the rumors of war, bringing peace, actually, for a time.

I report and link. You decide. - J :)

From a BBC NEWS article, Personal accounts of the war of 1967:

Personal accounts of the war of 1967 [/] Readers of the BBC website share their memories of the Arab Israeli war. [/] Published: 2007/06/06 07:06:59 GMT

SAMIA KHOURY, 73, PALESTINIAN, EAST JERUSALEM

We were living in Beit Hanina, a suburb north of Jerusalem. There was a Jordanian military camp right behind our house. [/] The Israeli planes raiding the area didn't realise that the Jordanian camp had been evacuated before the war had even begun. [/] One of the bombs fell directly on the strawberry bed in our garden, breaking our living room window.

It was not really a six-day war. It was a 24-hour walk-through with minimal resistance. Almost overnight the whole population was facing a new reality. [/] We were under a military occupation, and to add insult to injury we had to put up a white piece of cloth as a sign of surrender. [/] We just stood helpless, not realising what we were up against. [/] In fact our anger was focused on the Arab armies who lost the war on three fronts, and on Jordan specifically for abandoning the area before the fighting had started.

MOSHE, 67, ISRAELI, JERUSALEM

At about 10am we heard a rumour that the Egyptian air force had been destroyed. [/] To be at the Wailing Wall; it was a dream for us! [/] I was doing my military service, working as a technician for the air force. Of course I knew the reservists were already called up; but I didn't have the feeling war was imminent.

No-one believed it would be so easy. Suddenly we had a big Israel with all the sites of the Bible. [/] On the sixth day of war we said "Let's go the Wailing Wall". I hadn't been there before, not to East Jerusalem. [/] Before 1967, there was a viewpoint from which you could see the Wailing Wall; I remember my father pointing it out to me as a child.

You must understand, this was only 22 years after the Holocaust. Remembering my family members who were killed ... and then to be at the wall; it was a dream for us! The history of 2,000 years was coming back!

After the war, there was enormous prosperity in Israel; people started to invest in the country. Jews came from all over the world.

RAHAF, 68, SYRIAN, DAMASCUS

I remember it being quite a hot summer. I was 28 years old and alone with my four children in Quneitra, as my husband was quite close to the front. He was a member of the military police. [/] During the build-up, the media was very one-sided and patriotic. It was all about defeating Israel and gaining a victory for the Arab street, something that was very much needed. [/] You must understand, at the time Damascus was inundated with Palestinian refugees; their suffering was very evident and there was an animosity towards Israel that permeated through society; it still does.

There were a lot of rumours and the only way to determine how close the Israeli army actually was, was by word of mouth. [/] I was anxious and felt quite isolated; I could see my neighbours slowly closing up and leaving for Damascus. [/] My husband finally called me and told me to do the same, which I did. He followed about a week later.

I remember people thinking that Syria had fallen and soon the Israeli army would enter the gates of Damascus. [/] The media was very subdued and did not elaborate on our defeat. The nation went from a state of euphoria, to utter despondency. [/] It was the ultimate anti-climax, and I could see it etched clearly on my husband's face when he returned. He never spoke much of what he saw, as it would bring tears to his eyes, and he hated me seeing him cry.

FATHI SALAMEH, 47, PALESTINIAN, JENIN, WEST BANK

Jenin was under the protection of Jordanian and Iraqi troops at the time. There were just 30 or 40 kilometres between us and Israeli territory. [/] I was seven years old and I remember it all well. When they started to bomb us we hid in caves in the village. My family have horrible stories about what Israel did to our people in 1948. [/] So, we spent two or three nights in the caves without electricity or water.

It's a myth that it was a six day war; everything was finished in just 48 hours. [/] We were at the top of the mountain watching the Iraqis and Jordanians escape from the area. There was no unified command; they gave up the land very easily. [/] There were individual heroes who tried to resist. We watched one lone Iraqi tank stay on the hill and fire on the approaching Israeli tanks. He kept on firing and holding them back until an Israeli war plane flew in and bombed him.

The Jordanians didn't have the strength or weapons that the Israelis had and they didn't want to commit suicide. So, they went home to their families. [/] After we left the caves we went home too. Everyone in the village put white flags on their houses. [/] I'm now 47 and I've spent 40 years of my life under occupation.

GEORGE MUENZ, 52, CANADIAN/ISRAELI, VANCOUVER

I was 12 years old in 1967, living in Montreal. As the son of an Auschwitz survivor, this was initially a traumatic time for me and Jews in general. [/] I first heard about the war when I came into the kitchen for breakfast and my foster mother was crying. [/] I did not really understand war, but I sensed that we were in great danger. [/] I remember watching TV and seeing mobs in Cairo screaming "Itabch Al Yahud" - "Slaughter the Jews" and there was real fear that we were facing another holocaust.

The subsequent Israeli victory was a huge watershed in our lives, and in 1974 I moved to Israel and joined the Israeli Army.

ADNAN AWAMLAH, 58, JORDANIAN, JORDAN (From BBCArabic.com)

I was a student when the war broke out. We were expecting certain victory over Israel.

However, I woke up out of a series of dreams to a surprising and horrific reality. [/] These dreams were fuelled by the Arab leaders of the time and by the official media. They included a romantic desire to return Palestinian lands occupied by Israel; and another one of forming an unbeatable joint Arab army.

If there is one main consequence of the war, it could be that I lost confidence in Arab leaders. [/] I still remember King Hussein of Jordan promising Arab armies would "eat up Israelis with their hands and teeth" - words that later proved no more than rhetoric after Israel destroyed three Arab armies in a few hours.

I also can't forget my friends and relatives breaking down in tears after the defeat. [/] With all pre-war talk about certain victory, we just didn't expect to lose.

RONNIE DALLAL, 54, FORMERLY IRAQI JEW, NOW BRITISH CITIZEN

By 1967 there were only about 2,500 Jews left in Iraq. We kept ourselves to ourselves and were generally left alone; but things changed dramatically after the war. [/] I was 14 and went to the Jewish school where we tried to maintain a semblance of normal life despite the many restrictions imposed on us as Jews.

On the day it started, all I was aware of was parents coming to pick their children up. I couldn't understand what was happening. The mother of a friend told me war had started. [/] For the first few days of the war no-one knew what was happening. When the truth came out, we started being persecuted.

After this, Jews were not allowed to have 'phones, my brother couldn't go to university. In 1969 nine Jews were publicly hanged in Iraq for spying for Israel. We had our own ID to show we were Jewish. Guess what colour the card was: yellow. [/] I was 18 when I left; I was smuggled into Iran. I think the Jewish community in Iraq has dwindled to about 10.

NASHED RASHED, 53, EGYPTIAN/CANADIAN, CANADA

I was 13 years old at the time, living in Cairo. After 40 years the events are still fresh in my mind. [/] We used to live near a railway line connecting Cairo to Suez. Before the war you could see the heavy equipment being taken by rail from Cairo to Sinai, through Suez. [/] You could see the faces of the soldiers; they were singing and chanting as if they were going on a picnic.

After the war, the trains used to sneak back after midnight, carrying the wounded, the dead and the destroyed artillery. [/] It was such a shock to me and everyone else, but at the time we knew very little; neither when nor how the war ended, because all information was controlled by the Nasser regime. [/] More and more memories come to my mind, but they are all sad. We felt destroyed as a nation.

JOSEPHINE BACON, 65, BRITISH/ISRAELI, LONDON

For the first three days of the war we were told nothing by Israeli radio, we did not know if we were winning or losing. [/] I was living in Jerusalem with my husband, a reservist in the air force, and my baby daughter. [/] We lived opposite the head of news at Kol Israel, Israeli Radio, who was a friend of ours, but he would not tell us what was happening.

On the third day, people who had stayed at home started to venture out, as we realised the shelling had stopped. [/] When I went to buy groceries I saw a crowd of people had gathered. When I got closer, I saw they were crowding around a jeep with an Israeli soldier in it - but could see immediately from the camouflage that it was not an Israeli jeep! [/] Sure enough, there were the Arabic numerals on the number plate. That was the first time I knew we had won. [My ellipses and emphasis]

POLL J:) Test Fertility At Age 18?

Asking tomorrow's question today!!! --- A poll that takes you ahead of the curve.

See article below, and: Vote! Make your opinion (or lack thereof) count!! Vote at Adult Christian Forum Thread 113547!!!. (Choices and link also given after article below.)

From a New York Times article, At-Home Fertility Screening Available for Men:

At-Home Fertility Screening Available for Men [/] By RONI CARYN RABIN [/] June 4, 2007

Many men, faced with the prospect of going to the doctor for a fertility evaluation, will tell you: they would rather just stay home. [/] Now they can. [/] A new at-home screening test, called Fertell, lets couples find out if they have fertility problems without stepping into a doctor's office. The test has his and hers components - a screening test for men that is the first at-home device to measure the concentration of motile sperm, and a test for women that measures a hormone considered a marker of egg quality.

The availability of the two-in-one test helps drive home the message that both men and women can contribute to infertility, experts say. [/] "It takes two to have a baby, as silly as that sounds," said Dr. Harry Fisch, director of the Male Reproductive Center at New York-Presbyterian Hospital/Columbia University Medical Center, who does not have a financial relationship with the maker of the test, Genosis Inc.

The test results could give couples early warning that they should see a doctor, Dr. Fisch said. "Couples often don't appreciate this," he said. "So many times the woman goes through all these tests, and the guy doesn't even have a semen analysis."

The test for the male requires a semen sample; it assesses the ability of sperm to swim through a solution similar to cervical mucus, as well as the number able to do so, said Dr. Keith B. Isaacson, an associate professor of obstetrics, gynecology and reproductive biology at Harvard Medical School who is on the board of medical advisers at Genosis. Results are available in 80 minutes.

The female fertility test is a urine stick, much like a home pregnancy test, that measures the level of follicle stimulating hormone on the third day of the m%nstr%%l cycle. An abnormally high level is an indicator that the ovarian reserve, indicating egg quality, is low. The result is available in 30 minutes.

The tests are not definitive and do not substitute for a thorough professional evaluation. They screen for main problems, experts say, but will not pick up all fertility-related difficulties.

About one million American women seek medical help for fertility-related troubles each year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The problem lies with the woman 40 percent of the time, with the man 40 percent of the time, and with both 20 percent of the time, experts say. [/] "Most people are surprised to hear that almost 50 percent of the time, it's a male factor," Dr. Isaacson said. [/] But, he added, women are still more likely to initiate treatment. "My guess is the female partner is the one who's going to buy this and encourage the guy to use it."

Fertell, which has been approved by the Food and Drug Administration, goes on sale today. No prescription is necessary, and it is expected to cost around $100. [My ellipses and emphasis]

Poll Question: Test Fertility At Age 18? | Poll choices:

1. Yes. Why wait??? / 2. Yes. IQ tested earlier. / 3. Yes. Physical exams earlier. / 4. Yes. Driver's test earlier. / 5. Yes. Optimize future choices. / 6. Yes. Full disclosure before commitment. / 7. Yes. All of above. / 8. Yes. / 9. Possibly. / 10. Possibly. Depends on individual. / 11. Possibly. Male test procedure upsetting. / 12. Possibly. Female test procedure upsetting. / 13. No. / 14. No. Results may mislead. / 15. No. Trust providence. / 16. No. Love is the important thing. / 17. No. Distrust science. / 18. No opinion. Important issues deserve much study. / 19. No comment. / 20. No opinion. / 21. This poll is worthless. / 22. This poll is of negative value. / 23. Other.

Vote at Adult Christian Forum Thread 113547! Vote!! Make your opinion (or lack thereof) count!!!

POLL J:) The Submissive Christian Woman: A Myth?!?

See article below, and: Vote! Make your opinion (or lack thereof) count!! Vote at Christian AAA Bible Study Forum Thread 29708!!!. (Choices and link also given after article below.)

From an Amazon .com book description, The Myth Of The Submissive Christian Woman::

The Myth Of The Submissive Christian Woman: Walking with God without Being Stepped On by Others [/] by Brenda Waggoner

[...] Editorial Reviews [/] Book Description [/] Many women have been lured into trying to live out a mythical version of biblical submission. They appear authentic on the outside, but on the inside they're chained by misperceptions of the truth that skew their priorities and cause them to doubt themselves. The Myth of the Submissive Christian Woman is about living a life surrendered to Jesus by embracing God's gifts, offering them back to him, and passing them on to others. This book is about living truthfully and freely the abundant life Jesus has promised us as Christians.

From the Back Cover [/] The Myth of the Submissive Christian Woman [/] Walking with God without Being Stepped On by Others

God didn’t call you to be a doormat! [/] Yes, Scripture calls us to die to self—self-absorption, self-centeredness, self- righteousness, and self-indulgence—but nowhere does Scripture tell us to abandon all of the wonderful God-given gifts and talents that make us who we are.

In The Myth of the Submissive Christian Woman, author Brenda Waggoner dispels the myth that biblical submission requires that women reject who they are and become passive in their relationships with God and others. [/] Along the way, the author shatters the misconception that good manners, niceness, and passivity equal godliness and reveals that true biblical submission does not mean submitting to everyone else’s wants, needs, and opinions while ignoring your own. Instead, it means living truthfully by putting God first, submitting yourself to his will, and living your life according to what he desires.

[...] Spotlight Reviews [/] Write an online review and share your thoughts with other customers. [/] Search Customer Reviews

** Must Read [/] [...] Where, oh where, was this book about 2 years ago when I was learning these lessons the hard way? Fortunately God brought someone into my life to teach me these things. It would have been so much easier if he could have just given me this book rather than spending months helping me sort out all of the inaccurate submissive ideas I had gotten over the years. [/] [...] The light came on for me and I will never go back to what it was. I think this book has the potential to turn the same light on for many women!

** The Myth of the Submissive Saint [/] This is a good book. My only problem with it is that it is written for women. I understand that Brenda Waggoner specializes in ministry to women and that this book would make a great study book for a ladies' reading group. I also understand that it touches on an area concerning women where there has been much erroneous teaching. However, it has been my experience that struggles with dominance and submission are not gender specific. Many women have control issues and many men are recessive. Also, while the majority of illustrations in this book are gender specific, the Scriptures, quotes, and outline certainly are not. This book would be of value to people of both sexes. Many people, both male and female, both dominant and recessive, could benefit from wrestling with the statements made in this book.

Customer Reviews [/] ** Finally I understand [/] [...] I always felt uneasy about this area in my christian walk, because I have seen and heard of many women trapped in marriages when submission is interpreted as "subservience". Submission has been a much abused principle, and much of the "abuse" happens in the body of Christ. This book opened my eyes, giving me the correct perspective on submission. It is a "must read" for persons involved in women's ministries, pastors and marriage counsellors, so that the correct perspective can be taught to both men and women. It is also a good gift for single women who are contemplating marriage, and for married women who have difficulty with "submission" as we know it. An EXCELLENT book, and the exercises at the end of each chapter allow for personal reflection.

** Not your ordinary Christian self-help [/] With passionate caring, Brenda Waggoner delves into a dense area of Christian struggle. Not just for women, and not just on the obvious topic suggested in the title, this book probes your heart. Going deeper than most self-help Christian books, you can receive guidance from Brenda if you are ready to spend real time with each chapter. She offers scripture to meditate upon, and questions that initiate your own inner exploration. Perhaps most importantly, she opens up her own life struggles to the reader. She comes to the book not just as the therapist that she is, but as the woman she is, who became the therapist. Highly recommended. [...] [My ellipses and emphasis]

Poll Question: The Submissive Christian Woman: A Myth?!? | Poll choices:

1. Yes. Like the Unicorn (and Alice) a Fabulous Monster! / 2. Yes. Male chauvinist trickery. / 3. Yes. Old Testament notion. / 4. Yes. Primitive tribal notion. / 5. Yes. Victorian era notion. / 6. Yes. Radical Middle East notion. / 7. Yes. Mistaken interpretation of scripture. / 8. Yes. / 9. Possibly. / 10. Possibly. Have not seen any. / 11. Possibly. But could exist, theoretically. / 12. Possibly. But miracles can happen. / 13. No. / 14. No. But "obedient" is a better term. / 15. No. But "properly subordinate" is a better term. / 16. No. But "appropriately loving" is a better term. / 17. No. Remember example of Sarah (1 Peter 3:5-6). / 18. No opinion. Important issues deserve much study. / 19. No comment. / 20. No opinion. / 21. This poll is worthless. / 22. This poll is of negative value. / 23. Other.

Vote at Christian AAA Bible Study Forum Thread 29708! Vote!! Make your opinion (or lack thereof) count!!!

POLL J:) Has Hillary Found Grace?

Hillary was convinced there would be grace in her life, and meanwhile, she would just carry on."

See rest of article below, and:

Vote! Make your opinion (or lack thereof) count!!

Vote at Christian AAA Bible Study Forum Thread 29706!!!. (Choices and link also given after article below.)

From a Washington Post article, Portrait of the Candidate as a Young Climber:

Portrait of the Candidate as a Young Climber [/] By Carl Bernstein [/] Sunday, June 3, 2007; B03

The most important man in Hillary Rodham Clinton's life during her years at Wellesley College was Don Jones, a Methodist youth minister whom she had known since 10th grade, when he rolled into her hometown of Park Ridge, Ill., driving a red Chevy Impala convertible and advocating justice and social reform.

By mail, he became her counselor, confessor, partner in Socratic debate and spiritual adviser. When depression struck in college, she turned to him, as she would for the next three decades, including the year of her husband's impeachment. He focused her on theologian Paul Tillich's sermon "You Are Accepted," in which he says that sin and grace coexist. "Grace strikes us when we are in great pain and restlessness," Tillich said. "It happens; or it does not happen." Hillary was convinced there would be grace in her life, and meanwhile, she would just carry on.

Since then, spiritual and quasi-spiritual axioms (some imbued with New Age jargon, others profound) have served as soothing balms in painful times; they would provide answers to questions that seemed otherwise confounding. These comforting postulations would also be used by Hillary to justify, often publicly, her or her husband's less palatable actions or aspects of character.

Peter Edelman, who knew Hillary before she met his wife-to-be, Marian Wright Edelman, thought Hillary's politics while in college "reflected what you would expect in a certain kind of young person at the time . . . sort of on the liberal side. She was opposed to the war in Vietnam, and she had a very instinctive interest in children's issues that had already manifested itself" before she graduated from Wellesley in 1969.

[...] One of Jones's letters to Hillary at Wellesley alluded to Edmund Burke's emphasis on personal responsibility and raised the question of "whether someone can be a Burkean realist about history and human nature and at the same time have liberal sentiments and visions." In her response, Hillary mused, "It is an interesting question you posed -- can one be a mind conservative and a heart liberal?" [/] No description of the adult Hillary Clinton -- a mind conservative and a heart liberal -- has so succinctly defined her as this premonitory observation at age 18. She believed it was possible, though difficult, to be both.

N.B.: One who is not a socialist before age 40 has no heart. One who is still a socialist after age 40 has no brain. - Prominent nineteenth century French statesman, I believe, modified to avoid sexism

Hillary's ambition was always to do good on a huge scale, and her nascent instinct, so visible at Wellesley, to mediate principle with pragmatism -- without abandoning basic beliefs -- seemed a powerful and plausible way to achieve it. Bill Clinton, too, wanted to do good, and on a grand scale, but his gaze had always been fixed at the ground level of practical politics. Hillary's looked heavenward, toward theologian John Wesley's message of service. Part of what Hillary brought to her union with Bill was an almost messianic sense of purpose, a high-mindedness and purity of vision that hovered above the conventionally political. Bill's political beliefs were strongly held, but "with Bill, you felt he just wanted to be president, whereas Hillary had this religious zeal," said a friend from their Yale Law School days. Hillary had seemed to believe since her adolescence that her life was an unending search to determine what was right and how to make it happen.

[...] But Hillary's is not the caricatured, b%tchy, b%ll-breaking toughness that their enemies like to attribute to her. She has almost always been much more thoughtful than they granted. It is more like a kind of military rigor: reading the landscape, seeing the obstacles, recognizing which ones are malevolent or malign, and taking expedient action accordingly.

[...] In Arkansas, she would not be a woman in charge--something she knew was not necessarily antithetical to being married but was antithetical to being married to Bill, on his turf. She would, by choice, inhabit the more traditional universe in which she would invest her talent, dedication and energy to brighten her man's star--as her mother's generation had done. She would be the partner, the manager, the adviser. She would follow her heart.

Carl Bernstein shared, with Bob Woodward, a Pulitzer Prize for their coverage of Watergate for The Washington Post. This article is adapted from his forthcoming book, "A Woman in Charge: The Life of Hillary Rodham Clinton." [/] Post a Comment [/] View all comments that have been posted about this article. [My ellipses and emphasis]

Un-Sponsored Link: For those, particularly husbands, who might want to purchase a discreetly assertive, $12, "Another Woman In Charge", coffee mug.

Poll Question: Has Hillary Found Grace? | Poll choices:
1. Yes. Magnificent moral role model for us all! / 2. Yes. Faith, Hope, and Love abound! / 3. Yes. Justice, Courage, Prudence and Moderation abound! / 4. Yes. Like the Magdalene, "She hath done what she could." / 5. Yes. All of the above! / 6. Yes. Much more evident in her than in most. / 7. Yes. More evident in her than most. / 8. Yes. / 9. Possibly. / 10. Possibly. Suffering in adversity is impressive. / 11. Possibly. Adherence to political creed is impressive. / 12. Possibly. She is impressive. / 13. No. / 14. No. Still waiting. / 15. No. Still looking. / 16. No. Still seeking. / 17. No. No clear testimony. / 18. No opinion. Important issues deserve much study. / 19. No comment. / 20. No opinion. / 21. This poll is worthless. / 22. This poll is of negative value. / 23. Other.
Vote at Christian AAA Bible Study Forum Thread 29706! Vote!! Make your opinion (or lack thereof) count!!!