The 1967 War and the Enduring Failure of the Peace Process

1967 marks a pivotal moment in the entwined histories of Palestine and Israel. The Six-Day war, as it is often referred, demonstrated the military superiority of Israel over its Arab neighbors (Jordan, Lebanon, and Egypt primarily) and forced these states to sign peace agreements with Israel that undermined or stalled Palestinian claims to national space and sovereignty. In short, the 1967 war provided Israel with the political and military means to occupy far more Palestinian territory than was originally allotted under the UN partition resolution of 1947. While coordinated Egyptian and Syrian advances in 1973 proved Israel to be less than invincible, the hostilities created the means by which Israel would pursue a policy of settlement of ever-increasing amounts of Palestinian land. In response to Israel’s aggression, the ineffectiveness of other Arab states in changing the status quo, and the fumbling of the world’s major powers to secure a sustainable peace, Palestinians, many of them exiled to neighboring countries, created new forms and organizations of resistance to the occupation. The Palestine Liberation Organization and Fatah, two of the most prominent groups, sought to change the international dialogue and achieve political resolutions that halted the expansion of Israeli settlements