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After 1949, although there was an armistice
between Israel and the Arab states, the conflict continued
and the region remained imperiled by the prospect of another
war. This was fueled by an escalating arms race as countries
built up their military caches and prepared their forces (and
their populations) for a future showdown. In 1956, Israel joined
with Britain and France to attack Egypt, ostensibly to reverse
the Egyptian government's nationalization of the Suez Canal
(then under French and British control). Israeli forces captured
Gaza and the Sinai Peninsula, but were forced to evacuate back to the armistice
lines as a result of UN pressure led by the US and the Soviet Union (in an
uncharacteristic show of cooperation to avert further conflict in the Middle
East). By the early 1960s, however, the region was becoming a hot spot of Cold
War rivalry as the US and the Soviet Union were competing with one another
for global power and influence.
In the spring of 1967, the Soviet Union misinformed
the Syrian government that Israeli forces were massing in northern
Israel to attack Syria. There was no such Israeli mobilization.
But clashes between Israel and Syria had been escalating for
about a year, and Israeli leaders had publicly declared that
it might be necessary to bring down the Syrian regime if it
failed to end Palestinian commando attacks against Israel from
Syrian territory.
Responding to a Syrian request for assistance,
in May 1967 Egyptian troops entered the Sinai Peninsula bordering
Israel. A few days later, Egyptian president Gamal Abdel-Nasser
asked the UN observer forces stationed between Israel and Egypt
to evacuate their positions. The Egyptians then occupied Sharm
al-Shaykh at the southern tip of the Sinai Peninsula and proclaimed
a blockade of the Israeli port of Eilat on the Gulf of Aqaba,
arguing that access to Eilat was through Egyptian territorial
waters. These measures shocked and frightened the Israeli public,
which believed it was in danger of annihilation.
As the military and diplomatic crisis continued,
on June 5, 1967 Israel preemptively attacked Egypt and Syria,
destroying their air forces on the ground within a few hours.
Jordan joined in the fighting belatedly, and consequently was
attacked by Israel as well. The Egyptian, Syrian and Jordanian
armies were decisively defeated, and Israel captured the West
Bank from Jordan, the Gaza Strip and the Sinai Peninsula from
Egypt, and the Golan Heights from Syria.
The 1967 war, which lasted only six days, established
Israel as the dominant regional military power. The speed and
thoroughness of Israel's victory discredited the Arab regimes.
In contrast, the Palestinian national movement emerged as a
major actor after 1967 in the form of the political and military
groups that made up the Palestine Liberation Organization. |
