Six Day War
The Six Day War, fought in June 1967, saw Israel defeat the combined forces of Egypt, Jordan and Syria in less than a week. Israel emerged in control of the Sinai Peninsula, the Gaza Strip, the West Bank including East Jerusalem, and the Golan Heights. It more than tripled the territory under Israeli control and reshaped the politics of the Middle East. Many of the disputes that followed remain unresolved today.
The roots of the war lay in the unresolved conflict that followed Israel's founding in 1948 and the wars of 1948-49 and 1956. Through the mid-1960s, tensions rose along the Syrian border, where there were frequent clashes over the Golan Heights and water diversion projects, and Palestinian guerrilla raids added to the friction. In May 1967, Egyptian president Gamal Abdel Nasser, under pressure to show leadership in the Arab world, ordered the removal of the United Nations emergency force from Sinai, moved large numbers of troops into the peninsula, and closed the Straits of Tiran to Israeli shipping. Israel regarded the blockade as an act of war. Egypt then signed a defense pact with Jordan, and Iraq and other Arab states also pledged support.
On the morning of 5 June, Israel launched a surprise air attack that destroyed most of the Egyptian air force on the ground, and soon struck Syrian and Jordanian aircraft as well. With air superiority secured, Israeli ground forces advanced rapidly across Sinai toward the Suez Canal. Jordan entered the fighting despite Israeli messages urging it to stay out, and Israeli troops took East Jerusalem, including the Old City, and then the rest of the West Bank. On the final days of the war, Israel attacked and captured the Golan Heights from Syria. A ceasefire took hold on 10 June. Historians still debate whether Israel's strike was a justified preemptive act or a war of choice, though most agree that both sides misread one another's intentions.
The consequences were profound. The defeat damaged Nasser's prestige and discredited the pan-Arab politics he embodied. Israel gained strategic depth, but it also took control of a large Palestinian population, and the Israeli settlement of occupied territories began soon afterward. Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians were displaced, many for a second time. Jerusalem's reunification under Israeli control gave the city new religious and political weight.
In November 1967, the UN Security Council adopted Resolution 242, which called for Israeli withdrawal from territories occupied in the conflict and for the right of all states in the region to live in peace. Its wording, which differs between the English and French versions, has been argued over ever since. Israel returned Sinai to Egypt under the 1979 peace treaty, but the status of the West Bank, Gaza, East Jerusalem and the Golan Heights continues to shape diplomacy and conflict.