Benny Morris on the Six-Day War

The ultimate consequence is that, paradoxically, the war both contributed to advancing towards peace with the Arabs as well as undermining the peace between Israel and the Arabs. 

On the one hand it contributed to peace because it was so decisive that it persuaded the Arab regimes that Israel couldn’t be beaten militarily, and it gave Israel the bargaining chips in terms of land it could give in Sinai for peace with the Egyptians.  On the other hand it gave rise in Israel to a messianic rightwing expansionism and ideology that had not really existed before 1967.  Once Israel took over the West Bank and more and more settlements were built, these became a major obstacle that worked against peace.

~ Benny Morris, visiting professor of Israel studies at Georgetown University and author of 1948: A History of the First Arab-Israeli War

(As quoted in The Guardian, "The six-day war: why Israel is still divided over its legacy 50 years on," May 20, 2017.)

2008