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Jerusalem Day: A Personal Recollection

(Jerusalem Post) Michelle Mazel - One tends to forget the days of terror that preceded the reunification of Jerusalem almost half a century ago. Egyptian president Nasser had blockaded the Straits of Tiran on the Red Sea, effectively cutting off Israeli maritime access to Asia and to Africa; he ordered the UN peacekeeping force to leave the Sinai Peninsula where it had been posted since the 1956 Suez war. On June 5, 1967, a sudden Jordanian artillery barrage on Jerusalem took everyone by surprise. I left work to go to my two-year-old daughter who was with a caretaker. As I walked, there was a pervasive smell of gunpowder and the streets were deserted. The sound of big guns was heard intermittently. The hills of Jerusalem reverberated with artillery fire. Egyptian radio had special broadcasts in Hebrew, and boasted of a string of successes. Any minute we expected Egyptian planes to bomb the city. Around two or three in the morning Kol Israel suddenly announced that the Egyptian air force had been completely eliminated. Meanwhile reinforcements had been pouring into Jerusalem and were soon routing the Jordanians. After a global cease-fire was reached on June 11, the Israeli government took a momentous decision and the walls between eastern and western Jerusalem went down. An incredible event followed. Tens of thousands of Israelis walked to what had hitherto been forbidden territory, while tens of thousands of Arabs were going the other way, eager to discover the new city. There was not the slightest incident to mar this extraordinary day where we all thought that a new beginning was bringing hope to all.
2016-06-06 00:00:00
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