Preface.

• Author: Hijab, Nadia
• Position: Arab-Israeli conflict and the Association of Arab-American University Graduates

Karl Marx observed that when history appears to repeat itself it comes around "the first time as tragedy, the second time as farce." There has not been much room for comedy in the way history repeats itself in the Arab World; rather, tragedy follows upon tragedy.

During the June War in 1967, relief workers scrambled to organize welfare services for yet another influx of Palestinian refugees, some of whom were being displaced a second time as all their ancestral land was lost, together with the territory of neighboring Arab countries. Outside Palestine, young Arabs and Arab-Americans witnessed their parents' disbelief and heartbreak as the events of two decades earlier were replayed on radio and television.

For a brief period - between 1968 and 1973 - it seemed that the Arabs had learned the lessons of history. The Palestine Liberation Organization rekindled hope in Arab hearts and the Arab governments performed well in preparing for and conducting the October 1973 War. But all too soon internal and external pressures overwhelmed any capacity to plan coordinated responses to dispossession and occupation, and there followed an era of bilateral settlement, invasion and fragmentation.

Future generations may look back at this period and pinpoint 1967 as the height of Israel's expansion, after which the state began to gradually shrink. They may even live in a time in which a much smaller Jewish entity lives at peace with neighbors that include a flourishing Palestinian state. Indeed, they may experience a time where there are no states at all - simply communities within larger multi-state structures. But for those of us who have lived through these years of despair, empty promises and shattered dreams, it has often been difficult to keep the faith in the struggle against seemingly overwhelming odds.

This issue of Arab Studies Quarterly, the flagship publication of the Association of Arab-American University Graduates, commemorates the 30th anniversary of the June War, by offering several analytical pieces that will help us understand the past in order to better deal with the future.

It is particularly appropriate that AAUG dedicates an entire issue of ASQ to this anniversary, given that the organization itself was formed to enable Arabs, Arab-Americans, and others of like mind to offer a response to the events set in motion by the June 1967 War. The AAUG published the truth about Middle East events, as it understood them, when this position was...