Six Days of War: June 1967 and the Making of the Modern Middle East [Hardcover]

Oren does a great job in presenting the viewpoints of both the Arab and Israeli sides. Some of the anecdotes from the Arab side -- such as the comment "We shall meet in Tel Aviv" when the Arab armies were on the run, or the plea from Nasser's chief aid Amer that his plane not be shot at by Egyptian forces during the 1st day of the war -- are as illuminating of the chaos and lies during the "fog of war" as they are funny.

Some people claim that Oren is biased towards the Israeli side. This confuses two words -- bias and objectivity -- that are often used interchangeably, but have different meanings. If Oren were of Arab descent or if any Arab historian were to write an account of the 1967 conflict, it would have to follow the same path as Oren took. Bias deals with predisposition to favor one side or another; whether Oren does or doesn't is irrelevant. One can be biased towards one side or the other and still be objective. Of course, most instances concerning lack of objectivity concern individuals who allow their biases to color their judgment. Since Oren deals strictly with the facts of the 1967 conflict and the events leading up to it, there really isn't an opportunity for him to show "bias" by justifying the Israeli positions. Mind you, Oren does show Israel's position on the War -- just as he presents the Arab position with regard to the War and also the creation of the state of Israel (the real reason for the War and the 20 years of conflict up to that time). Anybody saying this book is "biased" either doesn't know the definition of the word biased, is confusing it with being objective (the two are not mutually exclusive), or hasn't read the book.

My only quibbles with this book are that like many history books, it goes into great detail on the events leading up to the conflict, and the early days of the conflict, but then it seems to "rush" a bit at the end. This is especially noteworthy in the chapter "Aftershocks" where I felt that a bit more detail on the events post-1967 could have been written. I also would have preferred additional commentary on the "where are they now?" discussions of the major Middle East players. Oren does spend some time talking about the major figures -- Sharon, King Hussein, Nasser, Arafat, Dayan -- but I would not have minded hearing his thoughts on the 1970's peace initiatives with Sadat and Egypt as well as Begin's tenure, the Oslo accords, etc. Of course, this has little to do with the 1967 conflict per se, but it would have been a nice "what has it led to?" ending to the story.

Of particular interest, the controversy regarding Security Council Resolution 242 is treated rather quickly. Given the focus today on land-for-peace the question of whether 242 refers to "territories" or "the territories" (the former implying Israel can hold on to some land, the latter demanding a return to the 1967 Green Line) is or paramount importance. Oren states that the official English translation refers to "territories" while the French and Arabic versions translate as "the territories." This may seem like a minor issue, but given the importance today, it deserved a few extra paragraphs at least, especially on how 242 was interpreted in the respective countries immediately after it was passed. It is possible that the two sides have been reading their own (correct) interpretations into the resolution since mid-1967, which goes along way to explaining the difficulties in achieving a peace agreement even today.

The meticulousness of the research is shown by the nearly 100 pages (almost 20% of the book) that are devoted to the bibliography and footnotes. Note the large number of personal interviews with many key players and actors from that time; only current historical books (like Bob Woodward's) are noted for their voluminous 1st-contacts and interviews with individuals actually involved in events. Oren interviewed dozens of Israeli, Arab, Russian, and American sources to get specific information not available from the books and newspapers and government documents dealing with the 1967 War.

Take a look at the photo section. There are some very good photos of younger-looking names you might know and some you might not: Begin (deceased) and Sharon (the current prime minister) come to mind. The cartoons from the Israeli and Arab press are also very informative. Several of the Arab cartoons directed at Israel are very chilling in presenting the atmosphere that Israel was contending with at that time. They show why Israel could not afford to take chances and endanger their survival.

All in all, an outstanding research piece which not only dissects the events leading up to, during, and after the 1967 War, but also shows how one should conduct research on any topic of history, by hitting all the available research materials (printed, classified, oral testimony) and interpreting it in the context of the time in which the events occurred.