Prior to the start of the war, attacks conducted against Israel by fledgling Palestinian guerrilla groups based in Syria, Lebanon, and Jordan
had increased, leading to costly Israeli reprisals. In November 1966 an
Israeli strike on the village of Al-Samūʿ in the Jordanian West Bank left 18 dead and 54 wounded, and, during an air battle with Syria in April 1967, the Israeli Air Force shot down six Syrian MiG fighter jets. In addition, Soviet
intelligence reports in May indicated that Israel was planning a
campaign against Syria, and, although inaccurate, the information
further heightened tensions between Israel and its Arab neighbours.
Egyptian president Gamal Abdel Nasser had previously come under sharp criticism
for his failure to aid Syria and Jordan against Israel; he had also
been accused of hiding behind the United Nations Emergency Force (UNEF)
stationed at Egypt’s
border with Israel in the Sinai. Now, however, he moved to
unambiguously demonstrate support for Syria: on May 14, 1967, Nasser
mobilized Egyptian forces in the Sinai; on May 18 he formally requested the removal of the UNEF stationed there; and on May 22 he closed the Gulf of Aqaba to Israeli shipping, thus instituting an effective blockade of the port city of Elat in southern Israel. On May 30, King Ḥussein of Jordan arrived in Cairo to sign a mutual defense pact with Egypt, placing Jordanian forces under Egyptian command; shortly thereafter, Iraq too joined the alliance.
In response to the apparent
mobilization of its Arab neighbours, early on the morning of June 5,
Israel staged a sudden preemptive air assault that destroyed more than
90 percent Egypt’s air force
on the tarmac. A similar air assault incapacitated the Syrian air
force. Without cover from the air, the Egyptian army was left vulnerable
to attack. Within three days the Israelis had achieved an overwhelming
victory on the ground, capturing the Gaza Strip and all of the Sinai Peninsula up to the east bank of the Suez Canal.
An
eastern front was also opened on June 5 when Jordanian forces began
shelling West Jerusalem—disregarding Israel’s warning to King Ḥussein to
keep Jordan out of the fight—only to face a crushing Israeli
counterattack. On June 7 Israeli forces drove Jordanian forces out of
East Jerusalem and most of the West Bank. Photos and films of Israeli troops taking control of the old city of Jerusalem have proved to be some of the war’s iconic images.
The UN Security Council called for a cease-fire
on June 7 that was immediately accepted by Israel and Jordan. Egypt
accepted the following day. Syria held out, however, and continued to
shell villages in northern Israel. On June 9 Israel launched an assault
on the fortified Golan Heights, capturing it from Syrian forces after a day of heavy fighting. Syria accepted the cease-fire on June 10.
The Arab countries’ losses in
the conflict were disastrous. Egypt’s casualties numbered more than
11,000, with 6,000 for Jordan and 1,000 for Syria, compared with only
700 for Israel. The Arab armies also suffered crippling losses of
weaponry and equipment. The lopsidedness of the defeat demoralized both
the Arab public and the political elite. Nasser announced his
resignation on June 9 but quickly yielded to mass demonstrations calling
for him to remain in office. In Israel, which had proved beyond
question that it was the region’s preeminent military power, there was
euphoria.
The Six-Day War also
marked the start of a new phase in the conflict between Israel and the
Palestinians, since the conflict created hundreds of thousands of
refugees and brought more than one million Palestinians in the occupied
territories under Israeli rule.
