Open War: 1967 Naksa Remembered
Every year on 5 June, Palestinians and Arabs remember the 1967 war, known as the Naksa (Setback).
This is a pivotal turning point in the history of the Palestinian cause. The war ended with the Israeli occupation of the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and the Gaza Strip, the Syrian Golan Heights and the Egyptian Sinai Peninsula.
This year it is the 59th anniversary of that terrible war. But the Israeli appatitite for aggression continues. Apart from its genocide on Gaza Israel has moved ahead with its settlement construction, arrests, with its military operations in the West Bank are escalating. It reflects the ongoing repercussions of the Naksa and the occupation policies that have entrenched military control and prevented a just settlement to the Palestinian question.
Six-Day War – Decades of Occupation
The war began at dawn on 5 June, 1967, with a massive Israeli air attack targeting Arab airfields and military bases. Six days later, it ended with the occupation of the remaining Palestinian territories, in addition carving up parts of Syria and Egypt.
The war’s consequences didn’t stop at altering geographical borders but also paved the way for an expansionist settlement project based on land confiscation, displacement of residents, and the imposition of new realities on the ground. These acts were in continuous violation of international law and UN resolutions that demanded an end to the occupation and withdrawal from the occupied territories.
International Resolutions: Ink on Paper
The war was followed by a series of international resolutions, most notably UN Security Council Resolution 242, which called for Israel’s withdrawal from the territories it occupied in 1967. However, the occupation continued its settlement expansion and the imposition of a fait accompli, ignoring repeated international demands to end the occupation and the respect for international law.
Over the following decades, settlements transformed from limited projects into a vast network that spread throughout the West Bank and occupied Jerusalem, undermining the prospects for establishing an independent and geographically contiguous Palestinian state.
Displacement and Settlements: Policy Since the 1967 War
The 1967 war led to the displacement of about 300,000 Palestinians from the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Displacement policies, land confiscation, and settlement expansion continued at an escalating pace in the years since.
Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics data shows of the existence of 645 Israeli settlement sites and military bases in the West Bank as of the end of 2025, including 151 settlements and 350 outposts.
The number of settlers also rose to 778,567 by the end of 2024, while the Israeli occupation authorities continuing to seize Palestinian land and expand their settlement projects, despite their illegality under international law.
Oslo: Political Process Stalled…
The Oslo Accords in 1993 marked a significant political milestone, stipulating a transitional phase to pave the way for the establishment of an independent Palestinian state. However, the continued expansion of Israeli settlements and the imposition of facts on the ground have weakened the prospects for the success of the political process.
With successive Israeli governments, the chances for a settlement gradually diminished, and political negotiations stalled since 2014, amidst Palestinian accusations that Israel is using negotiations as a cover to continue settlement construction and seize more land.
Palestinians believe that successive Israeli policies have emptied the settlement process of its substance by reneging on signed commitments and refusing to implement the political obligations related to ending the occupation and establishing a Palestinian state.
A Military System Governing Every Detail of Palestinian Life
Following the occupation of the Palestinian territories in 1967, Israel imposed a system of military orders that granted it broad control over all aspects of life, from managing land and natural resources to arrests, trials, and civil laws.
The occupation authorities issued dozens of military orders that reshaped the legal system in the occupied territories, while military courts continued to try Palestinians according to procedures that international human rights organizations refuse to consider compliant with international standards of justice.
Prisoner support organizations also confirm that more than one million Palestinians have been arrested since 1967, while approximately 9,500 prisoners and detainees are currently held in Israeli prisons.
War on Gaza: An Extension of a Long Conflict
Palestinians believe that the ongoing war on the Gaza Strip, which began in October 2013, represents an extension of the occupation’s policies based on the use of military force and the imposition of facts on the ground by force, far removed from any political solutions that would end the conflict.
The war resulted in tens of thousands of martyrs and wounded, most of them women and children, in addition to thousands missing and widespread destruction of infrastructure and civilian facilities.
In the West Bank, raids, arrests, and settlement expansion continued, leading to the martyrdom of 1,168 Palestinians, injury of 12,666 others, the arrest of approximately 23,000, and the displacement of 33,000.
The Naksa Anniversary: A Reality Persisting for 59 Years
Fifty-nine years after the June 1967 war, the effects of the Naksa remain present in the Palestinian landscape, through the continuation of the occupation, settlement activity, land confiscation, displacement of residents, and the stalled political settlement process.
As the anniversary is commemorated this year amidst the war in Gaza and the escalation of violence in the West Bank, Palestinians emphasize that the core of the conflict remains linked to the ongoing occupation and Israel’s refusal to implement international resolutions and fulfill its obligations. This has kept the Palestinian cause open to further crises and tensions over the past decades. Palestinian Information Center
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