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Egypt The June 1967 War
During the mid-1960s, tensions between the Arab states and
Israel increased. In November 1966, Egypt and Syria signed a
five-year defense pact. In the same month, Israeli forces crossed
into the West Bank of Jordan to destroy the village of As Samu in
retaliation for increasing Palestinian guerrilla raids. In 1967
Israeli leaders repeatedly threatened to invade Syria and
overthrow the Syrian government if guerrilla raids across the
Syrian border did not stop. In April 1967, there were serious
Israeli-Syrian air clashes over Syrian air space. Israeli prime
minister Levi Eshkol warned that Damascus could be occupied if
necessary.
The Soviet Union warned Egypt that they had information that
the Israelis had mobilized two brigades on the frontier. Nasser
reacted by sending troops to the Israeli border, and Syria
followed suit. The claim has been made that Nasser believed that
the presence of Egyptian troops would deter the Israelis from
attacking Syria. Israel responded by deploying its own forces. It
was clear that it would be difficult for Egypt to come to Syria's
aid according to the terms of their agreement because of an
obstacle--the presence of UNEF troops, stationed on the Egyptian
side of the Egyptian-Israeli border since the 1956 War. A great
deal of pressure to remove the troops had been put on Nasser by
Arab critics such as King Hussein of Jordan and Crown Prince
Faisal (Faisal ibn Abdul Aziz Al Saud) of Saudi Arabia, who
accused him of not living up to his responsibilities as an Arab
leader. He was accused of failing to match words with deeds and
of hiding behind the UN shield rather than thinking about
liberating the Palestinian homeland.
On May 16, Nasser made the move that led inexorably to war.
He asked the UN to remove the UNEF from the Egyptian-Israeli
frontier in Sinai. Once the UNEF was withdrawn, Nasser declared
he was closing the Strait of Tiran, which connects the Gulf of
Aqaba and the Red Sea, to Israeli shipping--a threat he never
carried out. Israel, for its part, regarded the withdrawal of the
UNEF troops as a hostile act and the closing of the strait as a
casus belli. Meanwhile, Jordan and Iraq signed defense agreements
with Egypt.
Field Marshal Amir, deputy supreme commander of the armed
forces, and Shams ad Din Badran, the minister of defense, urged
Nasser to strike first, saying the Egyptian army was strong
enough to win. The Soviet Union and the United States urged
Nasser not to go to war. Nasser publicly denied that Egypt would
strike first and spoke of a negotiated peace if the Palestinians
were allowed to return to their homeland and of a possible
compromise over the Strait of Tiran.
On the morning of June 5, Israel launched a full-scale attack
on Egypt, Jordan, and Syria. In three hours, at least 300 of
Egypt's 430 combat aircraft were destroyed, many on the ground as
the pilots did not have time to take off. Israeli ground forces
started a lightning strike into Sinai and by June 8 had reached
the Suez Canal
(see The June 1967 War
, ch. 5). On that day, both
sides accepted a UN Security Council call for a cease-fire. By
June 11, the Arab defeat was total; Israel now held all of
historic Palestine, including the Old City of Jerusalem, the West
Bank, and the Gaza Strip, as well as Sinai and part of the Golan
Heights of Syria.
Data as of December 1990
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