Screenings set for documentary on war that gave Israel Wailing Wall

By Havre Daily News staff

The organizers of two screenings of the new documentary “In Our Hands: The Battle for Jerusalem,” about the Six-Day War in 1967 that gave Israel control of the Wailing Wall, are inviting people to come watch the story.

Organizer Sharon Hummel said the film, which focuses on the Israeli Defense Force 55th Partrooper Brigade and its role in taking Jerusalem, will be shown in Havre at The Community Alliance Church at 925 Eighth Street Sunday, July 16, at 7 p.m. and in Chinook at the Blaine County Library at 112 Fourth Street West Wednesday, July 19, also at 7 p.m.

Hummel said in a press release that Israel is celebrating 50 years of victory after troops from Arab nations withdrew after six days of fighting, and Israel’s taking control of the Gaza Strip and the Sinai Peninsula from Egypt, the West Bank and East Jerusalem from Jordan, and the Golan Heights from Syria.

“Thus for the first time in 2,000 years, the Jewish people could pray at the wailing wall,” Hummel said in the release.

After Israel became a nation in 1948, England, which had conquered the area from the Ottoman Empire during the First World War, divided the land between the Jews, the Christians, and the Muslims with Israel gaining less than 10 percent of the land, Hummel said. 

A long border of wrapped barbed wire divided Israel from Jordan and Syria. All the Golan Heights, much of Samaria, and half of Jerusalem belonged to Jordan and Syria.

In June 1967, Egypt closed the straits of Tiran to Israeli vessels and started mobilizing its forces along its border with Israel. Israel launched what it said was preemptive strikes against Egyptian airfields and and launched a ground offensive into the Sinai Peninsula, which led to Egyptian evacuation of the peninsula.

Egypt persuaded Syria and Jordan to begin attacks on Israel, and Israeli counterattacks led to its seizure of East Jerusalem, the West Bank and the Golan Heights.

“Within six days, the Arab forces withdrew,” Hummel said. “For the  first time in 2,000 years the Jewish people were praying at the Wailing Wall. Come (watch the film) and celebrate with them.”