Witnesses to history: Israelis, Palestinians recount Six-Day War

A Palestinian man who runs a stall in the old town of Hebron hold photos on May 8, 2017 showing the market full of Palestinians in the early years following the 1967 Six-Day war.

To mark 50 years since the 1967 Six-Day War, AFP spoke with Israelis and Palestinians who witnessed the conflict.
Here are their stories:
"When the war was declared, I was with my father and my three brothers in our coffee store in the Old City. We closed and the souk closed too. We took refuge with relatives. On June 6, four Jordanian soldiers posted on a roof fired at Israeli planes. The Israelis entered in the courtyard of the house and fired at my two brothers and uncle. They told us in bad Arabic: 'Leave here with your hands in the air!' We left without even looking at the two bodies of my brother and my uncle. The shadow of death weighed on us. My brother was hurt but was able to leave before collapsing. My father, my other brother and me tried to save him, but he died and then I could think of nothing but of saving myself. I ran and I was able to reach my uncle's house. They put us all in a lorry and we drove toward the Allenby bridge (to Jordan)."
Yeivin took refuge along with her children aged 10, nine and three at a friend's apartment close to the frontline in Jerusalem. Her friend had used sandbags to barricade the room where 12 people had holed up.
"We all slept on the ground. The children were able to sleep, but me personally I had to spend several nights without sleeping. Before and during the capture of east Jerusalem, mortar fire could be heard. Rahel (one of her friends) was sitting next to a window that stretched the entire room and was blown out by an explosion. We thought that she was hurt, but she was just bruised. The sandbags had stopped the gunfire. One night at midnight, gunfire was so intense toward our street that it was a nightmare. We woke up the children and put them in the safest corner of the room and we laid on top of them for an hour. We were sure that we were going to be hit."
"For me it was a three-day war. In 1967 I was in the Palestine Liberation Army. We were around 5,000 young men - every family in Gaza had to send one. We thought that we were ready. Not to attack, but to defend at least. We had a dream that we wanted a country. On the first day I was at a base on the border near Khan Yunis. Around 10:00 am we heard explosions. Around an hour later an officer from a base to the north came to us and said: 'The country is lost.' A number of tanks had entered and we were not prepared to resist. 'Those of you who want to go can leave,' he told us. We were five at the base. Three of them deserted and two of us stayed. We had Kalashnikovs and only one old cannon. On the third day, I returned to (Gaza) city to see what had happened. Everything was damaged and everyone was leaving. I knew we had lost."
"Others took Jerusalem and the Sinai. We were annoyed to see that the Golan was still not a priority. Morale was at its lowest. We didn't understand the policy. Then the order came: 'We advance (on the Golan Heights)'. We went with high spirits. The feeling of happiness and ease quickly disappeared when Syrian artillery broke loose. We began the day with 25 tanks. We finished with three."
"We were here in Ramallah. (Israeli soldiers) deployed and everyone was affected. We all left our homes and our villages. They entered in a village and searched all the houses. Half of the people left for Jordan, thinking of the massacres by the Jews against the Palestinian people," he said, referring to alleged abuses committed by Israelis and Arabs in fighting surrounding the creation of Israel in 1948. "(After the war) life changed because the Jews made the people work for them. The aim was to make them forget their land."
"Israel found itself alone like in 1948 (against Arab countries). Those who didn't know the state of our forces were afraid. Me, who was in the army like many others, we weren't worried. The surprise was that it happened so quickly, but we were sure of winning. We were the first to know that we had destroyed the Egyptian, Syrian and Jordanian air power in three hours. We jumped for joy and raised a toast - it was a military joy. But several hours later when we heard that they arrived at the Kotel (Western Wall), it was a national joy."
 

• MENA