My Life: The Iron Lady of Israel, Golda Meir - XVIII

The world Jewry asked for the first time,' What if the state of Israel didn't exist '. No jew anywhere in the world could feel free if the state of Israel didn't exist. Golda went to the US for a short period, where she addressed a huge rally organised at Madison Square Garden. Despite the hurry to return home, she went. She wanted to know why the youngsters wanted to come to Israel when the rope was almost tightly bound around their throats. She wanted to meet around 2500 young Jews from the city, who wanted to volunteer and reach Israel. The time available was hardly 24 hours. 1000 youngsters reached to meet her. One young man rose to talk on behalf of all. He said that life would not be the same again, during the six-day war too Israel was so close to destruction, that fact changed everything for him. Golda understood him, he was talking about the identity as a Jew, the threat of extinction it had. All the Jewry, whether they were synagogue goers or not, lived in different parts of the world, they felt deep threat. No one expected a second Holocaust. Of course, most of them could not manage to reach Israel.

The preparation by Arabs was to kill and destroy the nation. The complex situation gave rise to the idea of a coalition of all the political parties. Golda had a different perspective, such conditions with varied points of view made lengthy discussions, so they were ' counterproductive ' in her view. She stated that ' shared ideologies, attitudes, and background ' help in making the decisions ' efficiently and harmoniously'.

Levi Eshkol was the prime minister and had the defense portfolio too. He had a good relationship with the army, he understood the needs of the armed forces well, he could procure all. He was trying to find some way to break the impasse, but it looked uncertain and was something like reluctance to take action. Many looked at Moshe Dayan ( was an Israeli military leader and politician. Was the commander of the Jerusalem front in the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, Chief of the Staff of the Israel Defense Forces (1953–1958) during the 1956 Suez Crisis, but mainly as Defense Minister during the Six-Day War in 1967 )to express determination of nation. People looked at his fearlessness as a strong point of his personality.

Golda however gave the credit to the people of Israel, she did not believe his appointment changed the course of the six-day war, but he provided the kind of dynamic military leadership the nation needed.

Israel fought the war and succeeded because people thought they never would have to fight again. They wanted the enemy to give up the Idea of war. Both needed it. The defeat was total and the Arabs had huge losses. But they could not accept that they could not destroy the existence of Israel.

Ultimately the war started on the 5th of June, early morning. It took 6 hours for the Israeli Air Force to put the 400 planes of enemy countries out of action. Airfields were ruined. Jordan too joined Egypt.

Israeli army entered East Jerusalem to find Jews' quarter of the old city was destroyed. It took 3 days to beat Egypt and 2 days for Jordan, they had to pay the cost of their error of judgment. On 8th June the governor of the Gaza Strip surrendered, Israeli forces reached the east bank of the Suez Canal, and the straits of Tiran came under the control of Israel. 80% of Egyptian equipment was destroyed, around 10,000 soldiers and 1500 officers lost, and 6000 were prisoners of war. Syria was defeated despite favorable Golan heights under Syria. They begged for a ceasefire in the UN. From Golan Heights, she sent the message to the settlements realizing how great were they.

Israel also paid the price of war, there were military funerals of young soldiers everywhere. Many families lost their second generation to the war, and the first generation laid their lives in the war of independence. All the wars fought by Israel were for its existence, and security and the price was paid too. There was a little relaxation after the war, people thronged the old city of Jerusalem to pray in front of the Western Wall. ( Located in the Old City of Jerusalem, it is the last remaining outer wall of the ancient Jewish temple. ) People visited many places, it was almost a ' carefree summer '. There was a hope that Arabs of the area and Jews could stay together. Arabs too traveled to Israel, they were excited and stared at the buildings in West Jerusalem with disbelief, which probably was not expected. The wall between the two halves of the city was annihilated, it became one city.

Israel fought the war of existence and security alone, Golda noted. Though there was hope for peace, Arab nations refused to recognize the Jewish state, nothing has changed. This time Israel learned the lesson, they didn't want to repeat the exercise of 1956 and go back to the old position. It resolved not to withdraw from the region conquered till the conflict ended.

Security council passed a resolution,' Resolution 242 ', which according to Golda did not express a clear and firm stand. A satirical writer and a cartoonist wrote a book ' So Sorry We Won '. The only crime,Golda wrote was to say, ' let's negotiate '. The whole discussion developed in such a direction, that Israel was made villain. She never understood why were they called expansionists,they were called 'a little Sparta ',as they had to rely on their forces( brutal forces ) to maintain law and order in the occupied territories. She clearly stated that they were not interested to win complements for being reasonable and intelligent which would put the lives of the people of Israel in constant danger. She certainly did not want a dead state for being called ' liberal,fine,anti-militaristic '. No one wanted to become ' clay pigeons ' to attain a better image.