6-day war begets 50 years of conflict for Israel

JERUSALEM (AP) — It may well be remembered as a pyrrhic victory for Israel: in six days it stunned the world by vanquishing several Arab armies, only to be saddled with a deeply corrosive 50-year fight with the Palestinians for the Holy Land.

A pre-emptive airstrike on June 5 destroyed the Egyptian air force on the ground, and the Israeli army also pushed back Jordan and Syria.

The mainstream Palestinian leadership still says it wants a two-state solution, and polls suggest most Palestinians agree.

A default one-state outcome would be a half-Arab country and not a Jewish state, which the Palestinians may be able to live with more comfortably than the Israelis.

How to resolve Israel's occupation over millions of Palestinians, and whether peace is possible, are the defining question of Israeli politics today.

Even though Israel has not annexed the West Bank — which in theory would force it to offer citizenship to Palestinians there — some 400,000 Jewish settlers now live in dozens of communities strewn about the territory, some near the Israeli frontier, others deep inside.

Israel pulled out troops and settlers in 2005 but continues to blockade the area, controlling the skies, sea access and most land crossings.

On several occasions, Israeli governments have offered peace deals that would give the Palestinians a state in the vast majority of the lands captured in 1967.