The Six Day War
Today, Israel faces a threat to its existence of the same magnitude as the one faced in
June 1967, forty years ago.
Then, as now, Israel was in danger of being “wiped off the map” by 7 Arab armies. She
survived, and in doing so drove the hostile armies back, thereby capturing Gaza from the
Egyptians who had illegally occupied it in 1948; the West Bank from Jordan whose illegal
annexation of it in 1948 was recognised by only two UN states, Pakistan and the UK; and
the Golan Heights from which Syria had been shelling Israeli citizens for nineteen years.
In 1948, Israel successfully repulsed the attack of five Arab armies and signed cease fire
agreements with its neighbours, all of whom refused to negotiate peace. From that
time until 1967, cross-border attacks by Syria, Egypt, and the PLO from Jordan
escalated, culminating in the Six-Day War.
Build-up - 1967
The New York Times (NY Times) reported Syria had shelled the Israeli
May 7th.
village of Ein Gev.
May 15th.
May 19th.)
Egyptian forces rolled into Sinai. (Reported in the New York Times on
President Nasser of Egypt requested the withdrawal of the UN Emergency
May 16th.
Force, stationed in the Sinai since 1956, and the UN complied. This was a direct
violation of the conditions under which Israel had returned control of the Sinai to Egypt
in 1956. The UN Force was supposed to safeguard Israel from Egypt again closing the
Straits of Tiran (Gulf of Aqaba) or launching terrorist attacks from that quarter.
(Reported in the New York Times May 20th.)
Cairo Radio proclaimed: “All Egypt is now prepared to plunge into total
May 17th.
war which will put an end to Israel”
The NY Times reported that the PLO headed by Arafat, pledged to “keep sending
commandos” into Israel.
The Voice of the Arabs radio announced: “As of today, there no longer
May 18th.
exists an international emergency force to protect Israel….The sole method we shall
apply against Israel is a total war which will result in the extermination of Zionist
existence”.
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May 20th.
Syria’s Defence Minister Hafez Assad (later to be Syria’s President),
stated: “Our forces are now entirely ready not only to repulse the aggression, but to
initiate the act of liberation itself, and to explode the Zionist presence in the Arab
homeland”.
May 21st.
The NY Times reported that Egyptian soldiers were massing in the Sinai.
The NY Times reported that the PLO would be stepping up its attacks in
May 22nd.
Israel, that Cairo was calling up 10,000 reserves and that Iraq would be sending aid for a
battle against Israel.
Egypt’s President Nasser announced: “The Israeli flag shall not go
May 22nd.
through the Gulf of Aqaba. Our sovereignty over the entrance to the Gulf cannot be
disputed”.
Egypt closed the Straits of Tiran (Gulf of Aqaba) to Israeli shipping,
May 23rd.
thereby cutting off Israel’s only supply route with Asia and stopping the flow of oil from
its main supplier, Iran. By international law, this was an act of war. (Reported that day
in every major newspaper in the world.)
(In January 1950, Egypt had recognised the international character of the Straits of
Tiran, when it wrote to the American Embassy in Cairo: “It goes without saying that this
passage through the Straits of Tiran will remain free as in the past in conformity with
international practice and with the recognised principle of international law”. In 1957,
17 maritime powers had declared at the UN that Israel had a right to transit the Straits.)
US President Lyndon Johnson declared: “If a single act of folly was more
June 19th.
responsible for this explosion than any other, it was the arbitrary and dangerous
announced decision that the Straits of Tiran would be closed. The right of innocent,
maritime passage must be preserved for all nations”.
Every major world newspaper reported that the US declared Egypt’s
May 24th.
military blockade of the Gulf “illegal”.
The NY Times reported that Jordan would admit Saudi and Iraqi forces
May 27th.
into its country to do battle with Israel.
Egypt’s President Nasser declared: “Our basic objective will be the
May 27th.
destruction of Israel”. (Again reported globally in national newspapers.)
May 28th.
Nasser declared: “We will not accept any…coexistence with
Israel.…Today the issue is not the establishment of peace between the Arab states and
Israel….The war with Israel is in effect since 1948”.
May 29th.
The NY Times reported Egyptian build up of military forces in the Sinai
was continuing.
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May 29th.
The Washington Post reported that despite all of this provocation, Israel
was still reluctant to have a showdown with its enemies.
May 29th.
The NY Times reported new Syrian attacks on Israel.
May 30th.
Jordan’s King Hussein signed a 5-year mutual defence pact with Egypt.
Nasser announced: “The armies of Egypt, Jordan, Syria and Lebanon are
May 30th.
poised on the borders of Israel…to face the challenge, while standing behind us are the
armies of Iraq, Algeria, Kuwait, Sudan and the whole Arab nation”.
Cairo daily Al Akhbar stated: “Under the terms of the military
May 31st.
agreement signed with Jordan, Jordanian artillery, coordinated with the forces of
Egypt and Syria, is in a position to cut Israel in two at Qalqilya, where Israeli territory
between the Jordan armistice line and the Mediterranean Sea is only 12 kilometres
wide”. (NB: The newspaper referred to the “armistice line”, not the “border” which is
now claimed by the Palestinians to be a legal boundary).
President Aref of Iraq declared: “The existence of Israel is an error
May 31st.
which must be rectified. This is our opportunity to wipe out the ignominy which has
been with us since 1948. Our goal is clear - to wipe Israel off the map”.
The NY Times reported that Britain declared the Egyptian blockade could
June 3rd.
lead to war. It was reported that four Syrian commandos were intercepted in Israel.
Israel was now surrounded by an Arab force of 465,000 troops, over 2,880 tanks and 810
aircraft. The USA and France, Israel’s main weapons suppliers, imposed an arms
embargo on the entire region, while the USSR continued to supply massive amounts of
arms to the Arab states. Israel had to act as quickly as possible, and responded to
Egypt’s act of war.
40 years ago, after searching in vain for a diplomatic solution, Israel
June 5th.
belatedly responded to the aggression and threats of her neighbours, and the Six-Day
War began. Israel told Jordan that it would not be attacked unless it initiated
hostilities, but Jordan shelled West Jerusalem and other Israeli cities. Israel acted to
defend its capital, and in doing so pushed the Jordanian troops back - re-unifying
Jerusalem and regaining access to its holy sites as laid down by the UN but never
adhered to under Jordanian annexation.
Israel rolled back all its attackers, taking control of East Jerusalem from Jordan; Judea
and Samaria on the west bank from Jordan; the Golan Heights from Syria; the Gaza Strip
and Sinai desert from Egypt. (NB: The victories over all three countries derived from
their aggression and acts of war against Israel). For the first time in her history, Israel
now had defensible borders.
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Aftermath
UN Resolution 242.
On November 22nd 1967, UN Security Council unanimously adopted Resolution 242 which
called for:
i)
“The right of every nation to live in peace within secure and recognised
boundaries from threats or acts of force
ii)
Withdrawal of Israeli armed forces from territories occupied in the recent
conflict”. (Not “all the territories”, and not “the territories”.)
Lord Caradon, one of the architects of the resolution, was quoted in the Beirut Daily
Star on 12/6/74 as saying: “It would have been wrong to demand that Israel return to
its positions of June 4th 1967, because these positions were undesirable and artificial”.
The Soviet Union, which supported the interests of the Arab world, stated: “Part of
these territories can remain in Israeli hands”.
Land-for-Peace.
On September 1st 1967, the Arab league responded to UN Resolution 42 and to Israel’s
offer to negotiate land-for-peace with its three “Noes”: “No peace with Israel, no
recognition of Israel, and no negotiations with Israel”. This position has never
changed, is reiterated frequently by Hamas, and taught in all Palestinian school books.
The West Bank and Gaza remained under Israeli jurisdiction until 1993.
time:
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During this
Palestinian Authority GNP grew 13% p.a.;
Per capita income grow tenfold;
Unemployment dropped from 40% to below 5%;
Israel built 166 clinics, provided universal insurance and medical programmes;
Israel expanded water, sewage and electric systems;
Freedom of association, trade unions, civic organisations and opposition parties
were permitted for the first time;
There was freedom of the press, even for anti-Israel opinions;
Voting rights were extended to poorer classes and to women for local elections for
the first time in the Palestinian Arabs’ history;
Israel built six Arab-speaking universities and 20 community colleges;
Illiteracy dropped from 50% to 30% between 1967 and 1980;
Israel employed up to about 120,000 Palestinians from the disputed Territories.
Their earnings accounted for 43% of the West Bank’s overall income in 1999;
Between 1949 and 1971 Israel repatriated 140,000 Palestinian refugees, who are
now full Israeli citizens;
In 1949, the UN set up UNRWA (United Nations Relief & Works Authority) to
provide Palestinian Arab refugees with housing, schools, health care and job
training. The US and the EU provided over 80% of the funding. Until 1973 Israel
contributed more annually than Saudi Arabia.
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In a peace treaty with Egypt in 1978, Israel gave the Sinai back to Egypt.
Israel signed a peace treaty with Jordan in 1994.
In 1993, as a result of the Oslo peace agreement, Israel gradually handed over territories
in the West Bank and Gaza to the jurisdiction of the Palestinian Authority.
After the failure of the talks at Camp David in 2000, the Palestinian Authority launched
the second “intifada”, which escalated the attacks on Israel and increased suicide
bombings of innocent Israeli citizens within Israel. Israel responded with incursions of
its army into the Palestinian-ruled territories and began building its security barrier
which, so far, has already decreased the number of successful suicide attacks by 95%.
Questions
If the West Bank and Gaza belong to the Palestinians, why were they ruled by Jordan
and Egypt from 1948 until June 5th 1967?
If Arab “Palestinians” just want their own state, why did they not ask for it before 1967?
There were no “occupied territories” until 1967, so when Arabs talked about liberating
“occupied” land they were, as now, referring to all of Israel.
This article by Naomi Benari is used by permission.
June 2007
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