Robert Fisk Quotes
Israel lost its war. Will Assad's enemies lose, too?
Fisk, Robert. The Independent, Independent Digital News and Media.
The Arab armies of Egypt, Syria, Jordan and the PLO were preparing a coordinated attack on Israel. After statements like this, the Israeli’s preempted the attack, routed the Egyptian Airforce and Army, and then defeated the other three. The Arab “War of Liberation” resulted in the Arabs losing more with Israel tripling it’s control of area. The quotation however cast a pall over attempts thereafter to create a Palestinian State as in effect the PLO had announced a policy of a Holocaust—the extermination of the Israelis. The dispute over land was not for the Jewish state a land negotiation amenable to compromise and give and take, but instead was an existential threat to Israel whereby any compromise might result in the death of the entire population. As the ultimate intention of the PLO had been revealed.
This was one of the most accurate foreign policy assessments ever made. The next year the first Arab-Israeli war began when the state of Israel came into being. See {624566} for another accurate prediction.
At the time she was herself in exile in Jordan where she worked with the over 1 million Arab refugees (from both Syria and Iraq) in Jordanian refugee camps. The contrast between the two groups of refugees she found dramatic.
Robert Fisk was a writer and journalist who held British and Irish citizenship. During his career he developed strong views, and was especially critical of United States foreign policy in the Middle East and the Israeli government's treatment of Palestinians. His stance earned him praise from many commentators, but was condemned by others.
