It focuses on the name eventually given to the conflict. Today, of course, we call it, "The Six Day War." (Arabs prefer the name, "The June 1967 War.) But when did it get that name?
Obviously, that name didn't arise until the war was over--it couldn't possibly have--but what we may not know is that it wasn't for several months that that name became official. In the meantime, Israelis offered their leaders various names for the conflict. The Yediot article quoted from several letters that can be found today in the State archives.
First, she suggested "The Sinarama War." That made-up word includes the names of two great theaters of the 1967 conflict: the Sinai desert and the Golan Heights ("Ramat ha-Golan," in Hebrew).
The other name she suggested was "The Selaim War." "Selaim" means "rocks"; it is also an acronym; its consonants are the first letters of the names of countries that had been allied against Israel during the conflict: S (Syria); L (Lebanon); I (Iraq); and M (Mitzrayim=Egypt). Varda, who lives today in Renanah, has no memory of writing that letter. "Today I'm more than 60 years old," she said the other day. "Then, I was a young girl!"
Two weeks after the end of the war, Abraham Abramoff, an attorney, wrote to the Prime Minister's Office to suggest the name, "Milchemet Shai" -- the "Shai" War. "Shai" (shin, yod) is an acronym for "Sheshet ha-Yamim," (Six Days); "shai" is also a Hebrew word meaning, "a gift." Abramoff indicated that he thought the word was appropriate because it referred to one of the many precious gifts that the Israeli army had given to the nation, namely, unifying the city of Jerusalem.
Abramoff (who is now 87 years old) also does not remember sending his letter. As he put it, "I've written many letters in my life!"
Another person suggested a name that's hard to translate: Milchemet Kol ha-Kavod. "Kol ha-Kavod" means something like, "Congratulations," or "More Power to You." This name captures the euphoria that gripped Israel in the wake of the war's extraordinary outcome.
Yehezkel Nissan from Be'er Sheva suggested the name, "Mas'ei." Mas'ei," which means, "journeys," is the name of the last Torah portion in the Book of Numbers; it lists the various places the Israelites camped after leaving Egypt. In addition, "Mas'ei" (much like "Selaim" -- see above) contains the first initials of Egypt, Syria, Iraq, and Jordan -- nations over which Israel was victorious during the war.
Apparently, the Israeli government mulled over these and other recommendations until August 26th, 1967, when it decided that the official name of the conflict would be "Milchemet Sheshet HaYamim," a name that evokes the creation story in the Book of Genesis. In English, the name is "The Six-Day War;" however, because the Hebrew word "yamim" (meaning, "days") is plural, you may occasionally hear an Israeli say, "The Six-Days War."
Whatever it is called today, one thing is clear: generally, a war doesn't acquire a name until it is over. And sometimes, the impact of a war isn't clear until long after that. On the one hand, many people feared that Israel would not survive the Six Day War. The Arab armies arrayed against the young (not yet 20-year old) state were committed to its destruction. Today, of course, Israel is a thriving nation. On the other hand, would anyone in 1967 have imagined that, 46 years later, Israel would still be in control of territories that it had not formally annexed, and millions of stateless Palestinians? Would anyone have imagined then that the frontline states that posed such a threat in 1967 would pose less of a threat today than various non-state actors, such as Hezbollah and Hamas, and more distant states such as Iran?
As Michael Oren (Israel's ambassador to the United States and the author of Six Days of War, the masterful history of the war) puts it, whatever we call it, the Six-Day War is unfortunately the "war that never quite ended for statesmen, soldiers, and historians." Moreover, he grimly notes, it is "liable to erupt again."
One hopes that everyone is mindful of that prognosis as Israel and her neighbors engage in yet another effort at pursuing a peaceful resolution of their long-standing conflict.
