Six-day War

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Six-day War

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

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Causes of the War
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• 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
• Nassers 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

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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

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Events
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Line-up
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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
• Destruction of the Egyptian army in Sinai

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Attack through air

• Plan
• 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.
• The Egyptians were caught almost completely by
  surprise
• First attack- IAF destroyed 197 aircraft and
  demolished or damaged eight radar stations
• Second attack- 14 air bases hit and 107 aircrafts
  destroyed
• Third attack- struck Syria, Iraq, and Jordan,
  whose warplanes had begun to attack Israeli
  targets about fifty minutes before.
• Whole Jordanian air force (28 aircrafts)
  destroyed
• Half Syrian air force (53 aircrafts) destroyed
• In Iraq ten aircrafts were destroyed
• The days air offensives gave Israel almost
  unhindered superiority over the battlefields of
  Sinai, the West Bank, and the Golan Heights
• The Israeli planes were to bomb, napalm, and
  strafe the Arab positions and armored columns
  almost at will

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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
• Three divisional task forces, comprising the
  IDFs 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
• The Egyptian army defeated

Heliborne troops at the Suez Canal,
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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.
• Jordans 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 Jordanians
• 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

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Syria (Golan Heights)

• Israels 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

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Events Timeline
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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.
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Date Israel vs. Egypt Israel vs. Jordan Israel vs. Syria
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
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Results
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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)

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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

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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

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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

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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 Israels
  military strength and reliability as well as
  Israels 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

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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

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