OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, (PIC)
Palestinians and Arabs recall on June 5 of each year the anniversary of the 1967 war, known as the “Naksa” (setback), which formed a pivotal turning point in the history of the Palestinian cause and the region, after it ended with the Israeli occupation of the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and the Gaza Strip, along with the Syrian Golan Heights and the Egyptian Sinai Peninsula at that time.
The 59th anniversary comes this year while the Israeli war on the Gaza Strip continues, and the pace of settlement, arrests, and military operations accelerates in the West Bank, in a scene that reflects the continuation of the repercussions of the Naksa and the policies of the occupation that established military control and prevented access to a just settlement of the Palestinian cause.
From the Six-Day War to decades of occupation
The war began at dawn on June 5, 1967, with a broad Israeli aerial attack targeting Arab airports and military bases, before ending six days later with the occupation of the remainder of the Palestinian territories, in addition to Syrian and Egyptian lands.
The results of the war were not limited to changing the geographical borders, but rather opened the door for an expansionist settlement project based on the confiscation of land, displacement of the population, and imposing new facts on the ground, in continuous violation of international legitimacy resolutions that demanded an end to the occupation and withdrawal from the occupied territories.
International resolutions remained ink on paper
The war was followed by a series of international resolutions, most notably Security Council Resolution 242, which called for the withdrawal of Israel from the territories it occupied in 1967, but Israel continued its settlement expansion and imposed the status quo, ignoring repeated international demands to end the occupation and respect international law.
Over the following decades, settlements transformed from limited projects into a vast network expanding across various parts of the West Bank and Jerusalem, which undermined the chances of establishing an independent and geographically contiguous Palestinian state.
Displacement and settlement: A continuous policy since the Naksa
The 1967 war led to the displacement of about 300,000 Palestinians from the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, while the policies of displacement, land confiscation, and settlement expansion continued at an accelerating pace during the subsequent years.
Data from the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics indicates the presence of 645 settlement sites and Israeli military bases in the West Bank until the end of the year 2025, including 151 settlements and 350 settlement outposts.
The number of settlers also rose to 778,567 settlers until the end of the year 2024, at a time when the occupation authorities continue to seize Palestinian land and expand their settlement projects despite being considered illegal under international law.
Oslo: A political path that stumbled due to settlement
The signing of the Oslo Accord in 1993 formed a prominent political station, as it stipulated a transitional phase paving the way for the establishment of an independent Palestinian state, but the continuation of Israeli settlement expansion and the imposition of field facts weakened the chances for the success of the political process.
With successive Israeli governments, the chances of a settlement gradually declined, while political negotiations stopped since 2014, amid Palestinian accusations against Israel of using negotiations as a cover to continue settlement and impose control over more land.
Palestinians believe that successive Israeli government policies emptied the settlement path of its content, through disavowing signed commitments and refusing to implement political entitlements related to ending the occupation and establishing the Palestinian state.
A military system governing the details of Palestinian life
Following the occupation of the remaining Palestinian territories in 1967, Israel imposed a system of military orders that granted it broad control over various aspects of life, starting from the management of land and natural resources, reaching to arrests, trials, and civil laws.
The occupation authorities issued dozens of military orders that reshaped the legal system in the occupied territories, while military courts continued to try Palestinians according to procedures that international human rights organizations refuse to consider compliant with international standards of justice.
Prisoner institutions also confirm that more than one million cases of arrest have been recorded against Palestinians since 1967, while about 9,500 prisoners and detainees currently languish in Israeli prisons.
The war on Gaza is an extension of a long path of conflict
Palestinians believe that the ongoing war on the Gaza Strip since October 2023 represents an extension of the occupation policies based on the use of military force and imposing facts by force, away from any political solutions that end the conflict.
The war has resulted in the martyrdom of tens of thousands of martyrs and wounded, most of them women and children, in addition to thousands of missing persons and widespread destruction that affected infrastructure and civilian facilities in the enclave.
In the West Bank, incursions, arrests, and settlement expansion continued, which led to the martyrdom of 1,168 Palestinians, the injury of 12,666 others, the arrest of about 23,000, and the displacement of 33,000 since October 2023.
The anniversary of the Naksa: A situation continuing for 59 years
After the passage of 59 years since the war of June 1967, the effects of the Naksa remain present in the Palestinian scene, through the continuation of the occupation, settlement, land confiscation, displacement of the population, and the stumbling of political settlement paths.
At a time when the anniversary is renewed this year to the tune of the war in Gaza and the escalation in the West Bank, Palestinians confirm that the core of the conflict is still linked to the continuation of the occupation and Israel’s refusal to implement international resolutions and fulfill its obligations, which is what kept the Palestinian cause open to more crises and tensions over the past decades.