EUGENE Parte claims (June 17) that the 1967 Arab-Israel war was not a "war in the accepted sense" and that "Israel was not threatened by the Arab States".
Now, I am all for freedom of speech and thought but when it comes to ignorance of the facts or an attempt to rewrite history then I must challenge Mr Parte. Israel struck back at Arab intimidation and threats on June 6 1967 with breathtaking skill and pin-point accuracy. For months the surrounding Arab states had threatened and cajoled the Jewish state. There had been both verbal threats as well as incursions into Israeli territory.
On May 27 Egyptian president Nasser declared on state radio: "Our basic objective will be the destruction of Israel. The Arab people want to fight." The same day the Egyptians blocked and mined the Straits of Tiiran - instantly denying Israel access to its southern most port of Eilat.
On May 30 Cairo declared that Israel "will either be strangled to death, or it will perish by the power of the Arab forces".
So, Mr Parte, there was no threat from the Arabs in 1967? Israel made it all up? Read the facts for yourself, don't ignore them.
Further, Mr Parte claims that "Israel was not threatened by the Arab States as they knew that Israel had the capacity to destroy them".
Once again let's look at the facts.
Israel faced more than 2,500 enemy tanks on its borders with 800 tanks to defend itself. In the air Israel had 300 combat aircraft, the Arabs had 680.
So, whatever reason Mr Parte had in submitting his recent letter, it was not in the furtherance of factual historical comment. Perhaps it was just another attempt to denigrate the illegitimacy of the state of Israel?
ANDREW J SHAW
Belfast BT10
