Issue No.328
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5 - 11 June 1997 Issue No.328 Supplement |
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| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 | Recommend this page | ||
Children of the setback
Thirty years after the 1967 defeat, many Egyptians -- even those who were not born at the time -- are still living the aftermath. Khaled Dawoud investigates
Soheir Morsi, an anthropology professor at the American University in Cairo, believes that students should not be confined to their text books and has always made it a point to teach them about real life as well. Once, one of her students asked her about the 1967 war, and what she was doing at the time. The usually outspoken professor looked as if she had just been punched. Instead of answering the question, she started weeping.
"Was it that bad?" the student asked. "Worse," wept Morsi. "We were cheated, deceived and humiliated, not just because of the defeat, but more because we felt betrayed by our leadership at that time."
Most people of Morsi's generation reacted to 1967 with shock, grief, disbelief and tears. Their memories still provoke the same reaction.
In less than four days, Israel, which Arab leaders claimed they could destroy in a few seconds, not only defeated the Arab armies, particularly those of Egypt and Syria, but also occupied a massive amount of land. Israel occupied all of Sinai, the Golan Heights and the West Bank and Gaza Strip, with minimum Arab resistance but extremely heavy losses.
Abdel-Fatah Ahmed, a 55 year-old veterinarian, says that he remembers that there was much talk of war weeks before 5 June, mainly because of Israeli threats to Syria. "When the war started on 5 June, we all gathered in coffee shops or at home around the radio to listen to military statements. We would count the number of Israeli aircraft which were said to have been gunned down by Egyptian artillery: 40, 50, 100, and so on."
One radio announcer who probably enjoyed unprecedented popularity among Egyptians at that time was Ahmed Said. Any mention of 1967 includes his name, but now he is considered one of the symbols of the defeat. His strong baritone informed Egyptians repeatedly that victory was near.
The picture changed, of course, on 9 June 1967, when President Nasser announced that he was resigning and admitted the defeat. Millions of Egyptians rushed into the streets to protest Nasser's decision.
Today, Ali Soliman, a 30-year-old accountant, says that he is not involved in politics and is only worried about the prices of shares and the government's privatisation programme. Still, he feels that he always had a price to pay for the 1967 defeat simply because he was born only a few weeks after 5 June the same year.
"When my teachers asked me at school what year I was born, I would say 1967," says Soliman. "Then all I would see on their faces were signs of disgust: you were born the year of the defeat, they seemed to be saying. You brought the defeat."
Soliman's father was no kinder. He joked that all those who were born in 1967 would not be allowed to perform the compulsory military service, because they might bring bad luck to the army. When Soliman graduated from university, of course, he did his year in khaki. He always noticed that he was not very much liked by his superiors.
Sami Tahan, a 23-year-old computer graduate, says he does not care about 1967 or even know anything about it. "I know we were defeated in 1967, but we won in 1973. And that is it."
Now, with the deadlock in the Arab-Israeli peace process, there is renewed talk of war. And whenever there is talk of war, memories of 1967 float to the surface.
For Tamer El-Mihi, a 30-year-old graduate of politics who now works as an advisor for a private development agency, the only remaining effect of 1967 is the sense of defeat which it left in the hearts of many Arabs, particularly among an older generation of his family. "But I do not feel at all responsible for the defeat. Why should I? I was only born that year."
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