In the summer of 1958, a group of eight Syrian children were splashing about in Buhayrat Tabariya, also known as lake Tiberias, near Al Kursi area of the Golan Heights.
Then a restricted area for the Syrian military, it was a popular getaway for the families of officers who would come from across Syria and stay at the nearby Quneitra town in the south-western part of the country.
The tranquil gathering of parents and children where the parents were picnicking in the area, was interrupted with the arrival of an Israeli military boat. One of the uniformed men aboard the boat spoke on a hand-held loudspeaker announcing in Arabic: “Leave the lake now. Go inside. Firing will start.”
The children got out of the lake and ran towards a cave nearby to hide with their parents as sounds of firing echoed from across rocky terrain.
Since the 1948 war, the first Palestine and Arab-Israeli war, in which Israel occupied Palestine, there have been regular exchanges of fire between the Israeli and Syrian armies.
It seemed as if this kind of skirmishes were going to last forever – until 1967.
On June 5, 1967, one of those children, who by then was a teenager, remembered the mood on the streets and how the lead up to the war was charged with pan Arab rhetoric of how Arabs will win back what was taken and they will be united.
“In the morning, the news was all about how the Israeli air force was destroyed and Egyptian president Gamal Abdul Nasser was saying his army shot down hundreds of Israeli planes,” he recalled.
By end of the day, the real news started to trickle in, with reports that the Israelis attacked first, destroyed the Egyptian air force, bombed the airports and that they were moving to destroy Jordan and Syria.
For the past 50 years, historians and experts have debated what really happened and why, with each side telling a different version.
Even today, a search for the real story yields only the winner’s version; that’s because history is written by those who won.
In six days, Israel captured the Sinai Peninsula and the Gaza Strip from Egypt, the Golan Heights from Syria and the West Bank and East Jerusalem from Jordan.
What is important to remember is the human story, that the war resulted in more than 250,000 Palestinians becoming refugees (to add to more than 700,000 Palestinian refugees from the 1948 Nakba) apart from more than 100,000 Syrians who also became refugees as they were expelled from villages and towns in Golan. Some remained in the now Israeli-occupied parts, such as the Druze, but most civilians lost their land and homes.
“Just like the refugees today, refugees then were not treated well,” said the man, who watched the streets of Damascus packed with hungry and weary refugees. He also saw the defeated and exhausted army men walking away from the lost territories.
There was great human misery and suffering, a recurring theme in the region.
However, as in every war, there were some heroes. Tel Fakkhar, a fortress and a Syrian military outpost, which even the Israelis admitted in their reports, was the site of one of the fiercest battles in 1967.
Israeli men who fell there have been commemorated through a memorial. However, you would find the names of the fallen Syrian soldiers and officers only in some old Arabic reports here and there. There is hardly any proper list of names.
While renamed Tel Faher now if you check, the Syrian story goes that while the battalion there did get an order to retreat, dozens of men disobeyed and stood their ground. They kept shooting at the Israeli army, and if one Syrian fell, another came forward and kept shooting. They fell one by one.
Occupied places have been renamed, some turned into settlements and others into ski resorts and parks, but for Arabs even after 50 or 100 years, they remain Arab land.
Over the past 15 years as a journalist, I have met hundreds of Arab families who were victims of these wars.
Many of them told me tales of losses, of broken families and crushed spirits. Many would pull out a “key”, a key passed down in the family to a home they will probably never be able to go back to, if it is even still standing.
rghazal@thenational.ae
Twitter:@Arabianmau
MATCH INFO
What: 2006 World Cup quarter-final
When: July 1
Where: Gelsenkirchen Stadium, Gelsenkirchen, Germany
Result:
England 0 Portugal 0
(Portugal win 3-1 on penalties)
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Business Insights
- Canada and Mexico are significant energy suppliers to the US, providing the majority of oil and natural gas imports
- The introduction of tariffs could hinder the US's clean energy initiatives by raising input costs for materials like nickel
- US domestic suppliers might benefit from higher prices, but overall oil consumption is expected to decrease due to elevated costs
Squid Game season two
Director: Hwang Dong-hyuk
Stars: Lee Jung-jae, Wi Ha-joon and Lee Byung-hun
Rating: 4.5/5
A timeline of the Historical Dictionary of the Arabic Language
- 2018: Formal work begins
- November 2021: First 17 volumes launched
- November 2022: Additional 19 volumes released
- October 2023: Another 31 volumes released
- November 2024: All 127 volumes completed
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: HyperSpace
Started: 2020
Founders: Alexander Heller, Rama Allen and Desi Gonzalez
Based: Dubai, UAE
Sector: Entertainment
Number of staff: 210
Investment raised: $75 million from investors including Galaxy Interactive, Riyadh Season, Sega Ventures and Apis Venture Partners
India squads
Test squad against Afghanistan: Rahane (c), Dhawan, Vijay, Rahul, Pujara, Karun, Saha, Ashwin, Jadeja, Kuldeep, Umesh, Shami, Pandya, Ishant, Thakur.
T20 squad against Ireland and England: Kohli (c), Dhawan, Rohit, Rahul, Raina, Pandey, Dhoni, Karthik, Chahal, Kuldeep, Sundar, Bhuvneshwar, Bumrah, Pandya, Kaul, Umesh.
ODI squad against England: Kohli (c), Dhawan, Rohit, Rahul, Shreyas, Rayudu, Dhoni, Karthik, Chahal, Kuldeep, Sundar, Bhuvneshwar, Bumrah, Pandya, Kaul, Umesh
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Farasan Boat: 128km Away from Anchorage
Director: Mowaffaq Alobaid
Stars: Abdulaziz Almadhi, Mohammed Al Akkasi, Ali Al Suhaibani
Rating: 4/5
List of alleged parties
May 15 2020: PM and Carrie attend 'work meeting' with at
least 17 staff members
May 20 2020: PM and Carrie attend 'bring your own booze'
party
Nov 27 2020: PM gives speech at leaving do for his staff
Dec 10 2020: Staff party held by then-education secretary
Gavin Williamson
Dec 13 2020: PM and Carrie throw a flat party
Dec 14 2020: London mayor candidate Shaun Bailey holds staff party at Conservative
Party headquarters
Dec 15 2020: PM takes part in a staff quiz
Dec 18 2020: Downing Street Christmas party
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
What is Folia?
Prince Khaled bin Alwaleed bin Talal's new plant-based menu will launch at Four Seasons hotels in Dubai this November. A desire to cater to people looking for clean, healthy meals beyond green salad is what inspired Prince Khaled and American celebrity chef Matthew Kenney to create Folia. The word means "from the leaves" in Latin, and the exclusive menu offers fine plant-based cuisine across Four Seasons properties in Los Angeles, Bahrain and, soon, Dubai.
Kenney specialises in vegan cuisine and is the founder of Plant Food Wine and 20 other restaurants worldwide. "I’ve always appreciated Matthew’s work," says the Saudi royal. "He has a singular culinary talent and his approach to plant-based dining is prescient and unrivalled. I was a fan of his long before we established our professional relationship."
Folia first launched at The Four Seasons Hotel Los Angeles at Beverly Hills in July 2018. It is available at the poolside Cabana Restaurant and for in-room dining across the property, as well as in its private event space. The food is vibrant and colourful, full of fresh dishes such as the hearts of palm ceviche with California fruit, vegetables and edible flowers; green hearb tacos filled with roasted squash and king oyster barbacoa; and a savoury coconut cream pie with macadamia crust.
In March 2019, the Folia menu reached Gulf shores, as it was introduced at the Four Seasons Hotel Bahrain Bay, where it is served at the Bay View Lounge. Next, on Tuesday, November 1 – also known as World Vegan Day – it will come to the UAE, to the Four Seasons Resort Dubai at Jumeirah Beach and the Four Seasons DIFC, both properties Prince Khaled has spent "considerable time at and love".
There are also plans to take Folia to several more locations throughout the Middle East and Europe.
While health-conscious diners will be attracted to the concept, Prince Khaled is careful to stress Folia is "not meant for a specific subset of customers. It is meant for everyone who wants a culinary experience without the negative impact that eating out so often comes with."
The biog
Favourite film: Motorcycle Dairies, Monsieur Hulot’s Holiday, Kagemusha
Favourite book: One Hundred Years of Solitude
Holiday destination: Sri Lanka
First car: VW Golf
Proudest achievement: Building Robotics Labs at Khalifa University and King’s College London, Daughters
Driverless cars or drones: Driverless Cars
APPLE IPAD MINI (A17 PRO)
Display: 21cm Liquid Retina Display, 2266 x 1488, 326ppi, 500 nits
Chip: Apple A17 Pro, 6-core CPU, 5-core GPU, 16-core Neural Engine
Storage: 128/256/512GB
Main camera: 12MP wide, f/1.8, digital zoom up to 5x, Smart HDR 4
Front camera: 12MP ultra-wide, f/2.4, Smart HDR 4, full-HD @ 25/30/60fps
Biometrics: Touch ID, Face ID
Colours: Blue, purple, space grey, starlight
In the box: iPad mini, USB-C cable, 20W USB-C power adapter
Price: From Dh2,099
MATCH INFO
Newcastle United 3
Gayle (23'), Perez (59', 63')
Chelsea 0
Mumbai Indians 213/6 (20 ov)
Royal Challengers Bangalore 167/8 (20 ov)
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
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Learn more about Qasr Al Hosn
In 2013, The National's History Project went beyond the walls to see what life was like living in Abu Dhabi's fabled fort:
Israel Palestine on Swedish TV 1958-1989
Director: Goran Hugo Olsson
Rating: 5/5
The five pillars of Islam
Race results:
1. Thani Al Qemzi (UAE) Team Abu Dhabi: 46.44 min
2. Peter Morin (FRA) CTIC F1 Shenzhen China Team: 0.91sec
3. Sami Selio (FIN) Mad-Croc Baba Racing Team: 31.43sec
FIGHT INFO
Men’s 60kg Round 1:
Ahmad Shuja Jamal (AFG) beat Krisada Takhiankliang (THA) - points
Hyan Aljmyah (SYR) beat Akram Alyminee (YEM) - retired Round 1
Ibrahim Bilal (UAE) beat Bhanu Pratap Pandit (IND) - TKO Round 1
Men’s 71kg Round 1:
Seyed Kaveh Soleyman (IRI) beat Abedel Rahman (JOR) - RSC round 3.
Amine Al Moatassime (UAE) walk over Ritiz Puri (NEP)
Herc's Adventures
Developer: Big Ape Productions
Publisher: LucasArts
Console: PlayStation 1 & 5, Sega Saturn
Rating: 4/5
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If you go
Where to stay: Courtyard by Marriott Titusville Kennedy Space Centre has unparalleled views of the Indian River. Alligators can be spotted from hotel room balconies, as can several rocket launch sites. The hotel also boasts cool space-themed decor.
When to go: Florida is best experienced during the winter months, from November to May, before the humidity kicks in.
How to get there: Emirates currently flies from Dubai to Orlando five times a week.
