Woman celebrates the victory with Lebanese army soldiers.

Six days. It took Israel six days to defeat the combined armies of Egypt, Jordan and Syria in 1967. Demoralized Arabs had gotten used to catastrophes and setbacks as Israel colonized their land before the resistance in south Lebanon reclaimed their honor. 

It wasn’t until 2000 that an Arab nation emerged victorious against Israel. The Lebanese resistance, led by Hezbollah, imposed its will on Israel, defeated its superior military and unconditionally pushed it out of illegally occupied territories.

May 25, the anniversary of the liberation of south Lebanon, should be celebrated as a day of pride and honor by everyone who values justice and freedom.

Following the 1967 humiliation, Israel expanded into Arab territories. Zionist forces conquered Egypt’s Sinai and reached the Suez Canal. In Jordan, they occupied the Jordan Valley and annexed East Jerusalem from Jordanian control. They also occupied the strategic Golan Heights, overlooking Damascus in Syria. They placed Gaza and the West Bank under occupation as well. 

Some Arab leaders started to crumble to shameful peace agreements with Israel, settling for partial sovereignty over their land in exchange for abandoning the Palestinian cause.

The Zionist State never compromised. It continued to chew up Palestinians’ territories by building illegal settlements. It established a residential presence in Syria’s Golan Heights and invaded Lebanon in 1982, reaching Beirut.

In the face of Israeli aggression, Arab dictators who do not reflect the aspirations of their people continued to encourage negotiations and promoting the “peace process.” Dovishness got them nowhere and earned them nothing except further shame. 

The Lebanese resistance proved the saying of the late Egyptian leader Gamal Abdel Nasser, “What is taken by force can only be returned by force.”

We are not arguing that peace talks cannot produce solutions. They not inherently unproductive. Dialogue can spare lives and satisfy all sides. But at the negotiation table, a player with no leverage gets neither concessions nor respect.

By giving up on resistance, Arab states rendered their diplomacy useless. They had nothing to offer to keep Israel from continuing its violations and incursions on their sovereignty. Without an alternative to empty peace initiatives, the status quo persisted.

The Lebanese resistance knew from the beginning that Israel is powerful, militarily and politically. The only way to end the occupation was to make the invaders suffer.

The organized resistance inflicted daily losses on the Zionist forces in south Lebanon, making it too costly for them to stay there.

With relentless determination, outnumbered men with modest weaponry defeated
one of the best-equipped armies in the world, forcing it to withdraw unconditionally. 

Sixteen years have past since the historic victory. Footage of displaced Lebanese villagers rushing to their liberated homes is a vivid reminder that justice and freedom can triumph if pursued. 

The Arab masses disagreed on many issues in 2000, but they were able to unite in joy around the resistance.

Since then, the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq started a deadly spark of sectarianism that exploded across the Middle East with the “Arab Spring.” 

However, no matter where you stand on the events in the Arab World today, the May 25 victory should be hailed and used as a blueprint for the struggle against occupation and oppression.