Six-Day War
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The Six-Day War or June War (Hebrew: מלחמת ששת הימים, transliterated: Milhemet Sheshet Ha Yamim; Arabic: النكسة transliterated: an-Naksah (The Setback), or حرب 1967,Ḥarb 1967 (War of 1967)), also known as the 1967 Arab-Israeli War or the Third Arab-Israeli War, was fought between June 5 and June 10, 1967, by Israel and the neighboring states of Egypt [known then as the United Arab Republic (UAR)], Jordan, and Syria. At the war's end, Israel had seized the Gaza Strip and the Sinai Peninsula from Egypt, the West Bank and East Jerusalem from Jordan, and the Golan Heights from Syria. The status of theIsraeli-occupied territories and the concurrent refugee problem, are central concerns in the ongoing Israeli–Palestinian conflict, raising issues in international law, and having far-reaching consequences in global affairs.[9]
After the 1956 Suez Crisis, Egypt agreed to the stationing of a United Nations Emergency Force (UNEF) in the Sinai to ensure all parties would comply with the 1949 Armistice Agreements.[10] In the following years there were numerous minor border clashes between Israel and its Arab neighbors, particularly Syria. In early November, 1966, Syria signed amutual defense agreement with Egypt.[11] After several attacks on Israel that killed and injured dozens of people, reportedly by the Palestinian fedayeen group Fatah, three Israeli paratroopers were killed when they ran over a mine. In response Israel attacked the city ofas-Samu in the Jordanian-occupied West Bank.[12] Jordanian units sent to engage the Israelis were quickly beaten back. [13] King Hussein of Jordan criticized Egyptian PresidentGamal Abdel Nasser for failing to come to Jordan's aid, and "hiding behind UNEF skirts".[14] In May of 1967, Nasser received false reports from the Soviet Union that Israel was massing on the Syrian border. In response Nasser began massing his troops in the Sinai Peninsula on Israel's border (May 16), expelled the UNEF force from Gaza and Sinai (May 19) and took up UNEF positions at Sharm el-Sheikh, overlooking the Straits of Tiran.[15][16] Israel reiterated declarations made in 1957 that any closure of the Straits would be considered an act of war, or justification for war.[17][18] Nasser declared the Straits closed to Israeli shipping on May 22–23. On June 1, Israel formed a National Unity Government by widening its cabinet, and on June 4 the decision was made to go to war. The next morning, Israel launched Operation Focus, a large-scale surprise air strike that was the opening of the Six-Day War.
Israel completed a decisive air offensive in the first two days, then carried out three successful land campaigns. The air campaign caught Egyptian aircraft still on the ground. It crippled the Egyptian, Syrian and Iraqi air forces, destroyed Jordan's Air Force, and rapidly established complete air supremacy, which accelerated subsequent victories on land. The Sinai ground campaign from June 5–8 broke through Egyptian defenses, blocked their escape, and imposed disastrous losses, leading to Egypt's unconditional acceptance of a cease-fire on June 9. From June 5–7, Israel seized Jerusalem, Hebron, and the entire West Bank from Jordan. The battle with Syria for the heavily fortified Golan Heights lasted from June 9 to June 10.
The Six-Day War has been characterized as a preemptive war,[d] an "inadvertent war",[19]and an action designed to preserve the credibility of Israel's deterrence strategy, among other things. Israel and Egypt have both been described as either the victim or the aggressor. The war established Israel as the premier military power in the region and left it in control of more defensible boundaries and in a position to threaten Damascus, Cairo, and Amman.[20] The nature and outcome of the war caused a significant realignment in the competition for power between the Arab states, brought secular nationalism into widespread disfavor among Arabs, and led to a concurrent rise in the growth and influence of Islamism in the Arab world.