But while it was not widely recognized at the time, the most far-reaching effect of the war in the Arab world would be to destroy the ability of Nasser, or any other Arab president or monarch, credibly to speak any longer on behalf of the Palestinians. An Egyptian-born Palestinian nationalist named Yasser Arafat and a tight band of comrades had in the late 1950s formed a new Palestinian group called al-Fatah. Within months of the Six-Day War, Arafat began to emerge as the voice of a new, militant and independent brand of Palestinian nationalism. By 1969, he -- not Nasser's Shukeiri -- was head of the PLO.
Israel was slow to recognize, or at least accept, the implications. It was not until more than a decade after the Six-Day War that Israel made serious attempts to negotiate a peaceful resolution of the core problem it created -- the future of the West Bank and Jerusalem -- with the local Palestinian Arabs who lived there rather than through Jordan or Egypt. It would be a further two decades before any direct talks with Arafat or the PLO.
The years since have been blighted by diplomatic failure, terrible violence and suffering on both sides. But neither side doubts any longer that the only workable alternative is a directly negotiated agreement, however elusive, on the future of the ancient towns and olive hilltops of the West Bank, of Jerusalem and of the Israelis and Palestinians who live there.
In short, no one doubts that Middle East peace depends on resolving the decades-long repercussions of those six days of war.
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