If you really want to experience the victory and miracles of the Six Day War then a trip to Ammunition Hill is a must for you. The story of the Six Day War really begins in 1964. Israel is still a relatively young country. One of the most pressing issues then was getting water distributed throughout the country. The then Minister of Agriculture Levi Eshkol proposed a brilliant idea. Let’s bring the water down from the north to the south using a national water carrier.
The Arab countries were not happy. They felt that Israel was taking water away from them since this the water would come from the Kineret and the Jordan River feeds the Kineret and the springs that create the Jordan River are in Lebanon and Syria. What was their answer? Redirect water into Syria by digging channels. As our guide Yoni said, this sounds like color war water wars. Welcome to the Middle East.
Fast forward to 1967 and Gamal Abdel Nasser, Prime Minister of Egypt proclaims that he will destroy Israel. He informs the UN that they are to remove their troops from the Sinai Peninsula and they do. Unbelievable. Hafez al-Assad, Prime Minister of Syria joins in and announces that he is advancing his troops. Nassar forces Jordan to sign an armistice agreement with them. Israel asks them not to telling Jordan they have no fight with them. (Thank G-d Jordan signed this deal – more on that later)
Israel knows there will be a war and are very, very concerned. The country is preparing for the worst. Now the miracles begin. You really see how G-d is watching the land. Israel begins the war on June 5, 1967 and within one and half days they destroy the entire Egyptian air force, giving Israel control of the skies. Up in the North Syria is advancing their troops. We will get to those miracles when we are up north.
Getting back to Jerusalem, Israel’s plans were originally to secure Mt. Scopus and an agricultural school. They had no plans of going into the Old City. But, since Jordan is fighting with Egypt, because of that deal they signed, we took advantage of this. This was a blessing in disguise and yes, another miracle from G-d. Israel began securing areas around the Old City and then realized that if they could capture Ammunition Hill, then the Old City would be back in their hands.
Ammunition Hill is a strategic hill with trenches dug out by the Jordanians. There were snipers and hidden bunkers in the trenches. The soldiers that went into the trenches knew that many would die to defend Israel. We saw the faces of these heroic men, as a beautiful memorial of pictures and artifacts is on display. In the memorial one can also read from the poetry and journals these solders kept. It was very bittersweet.
After securing Ammunition Hill, it was onto the Old City. What a miraculous moment to hear the Kotel is in our hands.הכתל בידני We watched an amazing movie that tells the story from the soldiers’ perspective and at the same time watched an interactive map of Jerusalem light up as areas were secured by Israel.
While there we noticed a beautiful plaque donated in memory of Dr. Allan Barron, ob”m by his wife Dr. Ros Barron and family. It was so nice to see this at his amazing site.
We actually broke into 2 groups here. While one group was living the miracles of the Six Day War, the other group enjoyed a ropes course, zip lining and propelling. Everyone cheered each other on. It was just beautiful.