Six-day War

By: Maria Eugenia Trombini, Pedro Henrique Ratti, and Andrea Sarria

Causes of the War

•PLO founded in 1964 as a umbrella for all Palestinian resistance groups.

•Consistent policy of border attacks•In Syria, especially, where border clashes occurred in the demilitarized zones

•Water in Golan Heights

•Nasser’s rhetoric and belligerent attitude:

•“We shall not enter Palestine with its soil covered with sand. We shall enter it with its soil saturated with blood.”•Withdrawal of UNEF- requested by Nasser•(May 14th) Moving of troops into Sinai•(May 22cd) Nasser closes the Straits of Tiran, believing his acts would not lead to war

regarded as a clear casus belli by Israel

Cold War:• Cold War background: US-

Soviet manipulation of regional powers

• Soviet Disinformation:▫ Soviet Union was mislead by Israel and

informed Anwar Sadat that Israeli troops had mobilized and intended to invade Syria Reasons behind possible

motivations of USSR for planting this info remain speculation: 1) inaccurate, poorly evaluated

report; 2) deliberately mislead by Israel,

who wanted to draw Egypt into the war;

3) USSR wanted to take pressure off Syria, believing both the Arabs and Israelis would stop short the war; or

4) The Soviet Union wanted a war

Nasser was bound by the mutual defense pact he decided to act immediately.

• Nasser abandoned his former cautious policy and took the lead for new aggression against Israel. Syria and Iraq eagerly joined Egypt in the preparation for war

Events

Line-upCountries Israel Egypt Syria Jordan

Troops 250,000 150,000-180,000 70,000 56,000 (troops or Iraq, Egypt, Palestinian)

Strengths/ Weaknesses

Air force (IDF most powerful

component)

Intelligence services were incompetent

Training soldiers Long-term professionals

Relatively poorly trained, mechanized,

incompetent and inexperienced commanders

Relatively poorly trained, mechanized,

incompetent and inexperienced commanders

Relatively poorly trained, mechanized,

incompetent and inexperienced commanders

Deployment of troops

Deployed in Sinai and along the Suez

Canal

Motivation Israeli believed that they were fighting

for their life, family, and home

Egyptian, Syrian, or Jordanian soldiers

may have been filled with hatred, or at least animosity,

toward the uprising Israeli

Egyptian, Syrian, or Jordanian soldiers

may have been filled with hatred, or at least animosity,

toward the uprising Israeli

Egyptian, Syrian, or Jordanian soldiers

may have been filled with hatred, or at least animosity,

toward the uprising Israeli

Aims, Plans, and Execution

• During the waiting period and the first days, most people were focused on the here-and-now: the battle against the Arab armies, the efforts to stave off a cease-fire imposed by the Great Powers, and the threat of Soviet intervention.

• The forces that eventually conquered the northern West Bank had been earmarked purely for defense, not offensive

• The same type of thinking dominated considerations regarding the Syrian front- no IDF offensive unless provoked by Syria.

• The Six-Day War was in all essentials a clockwork war carried out by the IDF against three relatively passive, ineffective Arab armies

• Main objective of Israelis:o Destruction of the Egyptian army in Sinai

Attack through airo Plan:

o destroy the Egyptian air force on the ground. attaining strategic surprise first wave- take out the vital runways, leaving the

Egyptian planes on the ground sitting targets, and rendering landing by aircraft already in the air extremely hazardous.

o The Egyptians were caught almost completely by surpriseo First attack- IAF destroyed 197 aircraft and

demolished or damaged eight radar stationso Second attack- 14 air bases hit and 107 aircrafts

destroyedo Third attack- struck Syria, Iraq, and Jordan, whose

warplanes had begun to attack Israeli targets about fifty minutes before.

o Whole Jordanian air force (28 aircrafts) destroyedo Half Syrian air force (53 aircrafts) destroyedo In Iraq ten aircrafts were destroyedo The day’s air offensives gave Israel almost unhindered

superiority over the battlefields of Sinai, the West Bank, and the Golan Heights

o The Israeli planes were to bomb, napalm, and strafe the Arab positions and armored columns almost at will;

Attack through ground (Sinai + Gaza Strip)

• IDF planning:▫ massive offensive against the Egyptian army in Sinai

while leaving relatively sparse defensive forces on the Jordanian and Syrian fronts.

• Aim:▫ destroy the Egyptian army ▫ then deal, if forced to – and if time and the powers permitted – with

the Syrians and Jordanians.• The plan called for a three-pronged east-west offensive across northern

Sinai, initially bypassing the Gaza Strip.▫ June 5

o Three divisional task forces, comprising the IDF´s best conscript units and armors, crossed the border almost simultaneously and rapidly overcame the opposition.

▫ June 6-7 some Egyptian units succeeded in reaching the Canal,

outdistancing the IDF columns advancing from the northeast, who were poised to cut off their routes of retreat Giant trap for Egyptians

▫ June 7 IDF takes the Gaza Strip

▫ June 8 Israeli units were at the Canal

o The Egyptian army defeated

Heliborne troops at the Suez Canal,

Six Day War: Al-Farida, Lebanon, showed Nasser kicking the "Jew," Israel, into the sea,  with the armies of Lebanon, Syria and Iraq supporting him.

Jordan (East Jerusalem + West Bank)

• Israel found itself almost instantaneously engaged against Jordan and, at the same time, so successful against the Egyptians that it was able to switch to the offensive on the Jordanian front by the end of Day 1.

• Israeli government issued a warning and Hussein (Jordanian president) ignored it.

• June 5- ▫ Israelis had the all-important advantage of complete mastery of the

skies.• Jordan’s aggressiveness was apparently prompted by misinformation and

deliberate deception.▫ Hussein, it seems, had been persuaded by false Egyptian reports of early

victories, Israeli air losses, and Egyptian air raids on Tel Aviv and IAF bases.

• The IDF returned fire, but at the same time Israel issued one last appeal to the Jordanianso Warnings ignored

• June 7▫ IDF were ordered to take the Old City

• June 7-8▫ West Bank cities: Nablus, Bethlehem, Hebron, and Jericho fell to the IDF

Syria (Golan Heights)

• Israel’s decision to attack had to do with the harassment of the border settlements during the previous five years, and a desire for territorial expansion pressed by these self-same settlements, which coveted the lands on the Golan.

• The Syrian army had turned the western edge of the heights into fortified emplacements backed by artillery and antiaircraft batteries.

• June 9- ▫ Dayan ordered the IDF to storm the slopes

• The Syrian general staff had ordered the withdrawal of all its units, and many had begun to retreat even earlier, without orders.

• June 10- ▫ Israel takes over Golan Heights▫ cease-fire came into effect

Events Timeline

Date Israel vs. Egypt Israel vs. Jordan Israel vs. Syria

Monday, June 5 Israeli planes bombed all 19

Egyptian airfields and wrecked 300

planes. Israeli troops advanced

into the Gaza Strip and Sinai desert.

The Israelis destroyed the Jordanian air

force.Jordanian troops

atacked West Jerusalem.

Israeli planes crippled the Syrian

air force

Tuesday, June 6 The Israelis raced the Egyptian

forces to the Suez Canal. The israeli

air force destroyed many Egyptian tanks and other vehicles, while Israeli ground

forces destroyed or captured the rest.

Heavy fighting for control of

Jerusalem and the West Bank of the

River Jordan

Wednesday, June 7 The Israelis won complete control

of Sinai and accepted the UM

call for a ceasefire with Egypt.

The Israelis captured all of

Jerusalem. Jordan accepted for a

ceasefire.

Thursday, June 8 Egypt accepted the call for a ceasefire

Israel won control of all the West

Bank of the River Jordan

Friday, June 9 Israeli troops attacked the Golan

Heights

Saturday, June 10 Israelis took control of the

Golan Heights. Syria accepted the

UM call for a ceasefire

Date Israel vs. Egypt Israel vs. Jordan Israel vs. Syria

Results

Israel

• Land Gained:▫ Sinai (Egypt)

Ending Syrian artillery attacks on northern Israel

Providing Israel excellent intelligence and observation locations overlooking the bulk of the Syrian army and air force”

▫ Suez Canal (Egypt) Closed strategic waterway

▫ Golan Heights (Syria)▫ Gaza Strip (Egypt) ▫ West Bank/ River Jordan (Jordan)▫ East Jerusalem (Jordan)

Victorious Israeli soldiers at the Western Wall in Jerusalem, 1967.

Israeli taken control of East Jerusalem for the first time in

nearly 2,000 years.

Israeli Settlements• Israeli government decided:

▫ Military occupation of the conquered lands▫ Army confiscate Arab land▫ Build Jewish settlements

Secure conquered lands• “Were established both for security reason –they ‘covered’

the border, dominated strategic crossroads, and so on – and as part of the settlement drive”.

• 1968-• 6 settlements on the Golan• 1973- “17 settlements established in the West Bank, 7 in

the Gaza Strip and in the northwestern corner of the Sinai Peninsula”

• By 1977- 11, 000 Israeli were living in the territories • Total it was established approximately 145 settlements

▫ Palestinians deeply resented the settlements

Arab states

• Instability▫ 1968- Syria had another military coup▫ 1968-69- Egypt and Israel continued hostilities in the

“War of Attrition”• Arab aid

– Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and Libya helped the states that had suffered the most (Egypt and Jordan)

– Payed £266 million annually

• Egypt– Army destroyed– Lost equiptment– Suez Canal blocked indefinitely– Sinai oil fields in Israeli hands

Palestinians• “Israeli victory contributed to the re-focusing on

particularistic Palestinian-nationalism”• “Placed the Palestinians back on the international agenda”• Before June 1967

▫ 1.5 million lived in Jordan▫ 350,000-400,00 lived in the Gaza Strip▫ 300,000 lived in Lebanon and Syria

• After June 1967▫ Israel became the country with the largest Palestinian

population• Israeli relations with Palestinians living in Israel

▫ No competition allowed against Israel: Industries

Industrial development frustrated Farming

Prevent farmers to increase their productivity that much▫ Political freedoms diminished:

Censorship: news publications, journals, and books Parties regarded as potential resistance hunted

▫ Civil disobedience

Cold War

• United States▫ “started to see Israel as a valuable asset in the region

through which to counter Soviet influence▫ US support was based primarily on Israel´s military

strength and reliability as well as Israel´s opposition to the radical Arab states whic were perceived as Soviet clients.”

• Soviet Union▫ Replaced the weapons lost during the war▫ June 10 roke off diplomatic relations with Israel

Soviet puppet regimes: Bulgaria, Poland, Yugoslavia, Czechoslovakia, and Hungary did the same

Resolution 242• Nov. 22, 1967- United Nations Security Council prepared

it as a result of the Six Day War• It stated:

▫ Inadmissibility of the acquisition of territory by war▫ Withdrawal of Israel armed forces from territories

occupied in the recent conflict- West Bank, Gaza, Golan Heights, Sinai Peninsula

▫ Termination of all claims or states of belligerency and respect for the sovereignty, territorial integrity and political independence of every State in the area and their right to live in peace within secure and recognized boundaries free from threats or acts of force

▫ Freedom of navigation through international waterways in the area

▫ Just settlement of the refugee problem