Third Arab-Israeli War, 1967 (The Six Day War)

Despite the toughness Israel had shown in both 1948 and 1956, there were persistent Arab desires to destroy Israel. Israel remained constantly under harassment from cross-border action (such as artillery shelling or Palestinian terrorism). The successor bodies to the Fedayeen were the Fatah and then from 1964 the PLO (Palestine Liberation Organisation)
Long term causes of the Six Day War: Desires to destroy Israel (revenge for previous wars), greater Arab confidence to increase pressure on Israel (military supplies from USSR, Egypt-Syria Defence Pact of 1966), the Israelis had military strength to hit at Arabs if need be (modern French fighter jets, further expansion and training of armed forces), they wanted to end the cross-border attacks which were backed by Arab states
Short term causes: In May 1967 Nasser ordered the UN forces to leave the buffer zone in the Sinai, Syria (and Nasser in Egypt) increased its anti-Israeli speeches and artillery bombardments from the Golan Heights, the USSR was providing Arab states with intelligence information that Israel was building up its armed forces along the Syrian border, late May 1967 the Egyptians blockaded the Gulf of Aqaba (as they had done in 1956), a new Israeli government came to power- Moshe Dayan was Defence Minister and strongly argued for a pre-emptive strike (forces mobilised 3-4 June)
Israeli attack against Arab states, 5th June 1967: Israel launched a pre-emptive strike against the Arabs in the form of an all-out air assault on the air bases of neighbouring Arab states (the most important one of which was against Egypt where over 90% of its airforce was destroyed within 6 hours). By the end of the day, Egyptian, Jordanian, Syrian and Iraqi airforces had been almost entirely destroyed, with this ‘air supremacy’ established the Israeli ground ops could now begin
Pattern and development of the war: 5th June: pre-emptive strike, 6th-7th June: Jordanian forces were expelled from East Jerusalem and the West Bank (King Hussein of Jordan agreed a ceasefire), 7th-9th June: Egyptian forces pushed back to the Suez Canal (heavily defeated in the Sinai Desert), 9th-10th June: Syrian forces pushed back off the Golan Heights- Israeli troops advancing on Damascus. All Arab states accepted a UN resolution for ceasefire by 10th June 1967
Reasons for Israeli victory: superior military forces (more technically advanced equipment, particularly air power), very effective leadership and command (well-trained men and exceptional planning for the attack), impact of the pre-emptive strike, lack of preparation among Arab states (no co-ordinated plan of attack, over-confident), lack of unity among Arab states (separate truces)
Israeli gains: Secure success which had inflicted a devastating blow on the military prowess of the Arabs, once again Israel had shown their own, significant territory gains (Golan Heights, Suez Canal, River Jordan, Gulf of Aqaba reopened), Israel now had 1m Palestinians living in its areas (in Gaza and the West Bank) which caused an increase in terrorism and would provide huge problem in years to come, some Arabs states seek better relations with Israel as they see them as a stronger force (e.g. Jordan)
UN resolution 242: After the war the UN laid down a resolution for Arab states to recognise the state of Israel and not act aggressively towards it, in return Israel should return the territories seized in 1967 and treat all Palestinians within its border fairly - the superpowers accepted this
Involvement of the superpowers: political support by the US for Israel was important and they didn’t stop Israel from launching the pre-emptive strike. The USSR supplied a major quantity of weapons to Arab states and informed them of Israel massing a force along the Syrian border (this stirred up the trouble). After 1967 the superpowers became heavily involved in the Middle East Crisis - considerable financial and military aid by both the US (1st time they had done this) and USSR
Terrorist actions, 1968-72: After the failure of the Arab cause in the Six Day War there was a surge in Palestinian Terrorism Activity. The PLO was convinced that Arab states couldn’t destroy Israel so only terrorism could threaten them. Their actions became bolder and designed to attract world attention (e.g. hi-jack and destruction of western airliners and Munich Olympics in 1972)

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Third Arab-Israeli War, 1967 (The Six Day War)

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	Created by Monty Kirk almost 11 years ago