The Six-Day War in their own words
TO UNDERSTAND the origins of arguably the most important of the Arab-Israeli wars, it is important to look at post-1956 changes in the Arab world, Israel and international politics. The war was a result of long-term developments in all three of these key areas, and their impact upon one another.
The origins of the Six-Day War lay in part in the outcome of the previous Arab-Israeli war.
The issues at the core of that 1956 War were complex, for many reasons: the participation of the UK and France, the indirect participation of the US and the Soviet Union, and the strategic objectives of the participants.
For Britain and France, the Suez Crisis marked one of the last stands of the European colonial powers in the Middle East. By the end of the war, the US and the Soviet Union were the two major external actors in the region —as they remained until the demise of the Soviet Union in 1991.
From an Arab-Israeli perspective, the origins of the 1956 War lay in the outcome of the 1948 War. Israel had been unable to translate its military success into a political victory — namely Arab recognition of Israel’s right to exist. Crucially, this failure did not change after Israel’s military victory in 1956. Put simply, two rounds of fighting did not resolve the conflict.
Between 1956 and 1967, while the Israeli-Egyptian border remained relatively quiet (mainly thanks to the stationing of the UN peacekeeping force to act as a buffer between the two sides) the Middle East continued to be extremely volatile. Increasing disputes and military skirmishes over the region’s limited water resources threatened to develop into major conflicts. The US struggled to find a resolution but did at least prevent the outbreak of a major war over the issue.
During this period, President Nasser of Egypt was the central figure in the Arab world, and he attempted to export his brand of Pan-Arabism to other Arab states. Despite Egypt’s military defeat in 1956, Nasser survived with his authority intact. His position within the Arab world had been enhanced as
THE WAR between Israel and its neighbours was almost as much about words as tanks and gunfire.
As tension mounted in the region, Egypt’s President Nasser announced a blockade of the Straits of Tiran. He declared on May 27: “Our basic objective will be the destruction of Israel. The Arab people want to fight.”
Three days later, an announcer on Cairo Radio took to the airwaves to say that Israel “will either be strangled to death or it will perish by the fire of the Arab forces encompassing it from the south, north and east”.
Using the same medium to address his own people, Israel’s Prime Minister Levi Eshkol said on June 5: “Today we stand up in the battle forced upon us, consolidated and strong as we have never been before, trusting in the Rock of Israel, relying upon the valour of the Israel Defence Forces and their power to defeat our enemies and to safeguard peace.”
That same day, he Abba Eban
sent a message to King Hussein of Jordan asking him to refrain from hostilities. Transmitted through the Chief of Staff of the United Nations Truce Supervision Organization (UNTSO) the message read: “We are engaged in defensive fighting on the Egyptian sector, King Hussein
and we shall not engage ourselves in any action against Jordan, unless Jordan attacks us. Should Jordan attack Israel, we shall go against her with all our might.”
A day later Israel’s foreign minister, Abba Eban, addressed the UN Security Council, saying: “I have just come from Jerusalem to tell the Security Council that Israel, by its independent effort and sacrifice, has passed from serious danger to successful resistance.
“Two days ago Israel’s condition caused much concern across the humane and friendly world. Israel had reached a sombre hour.”
In his memoirs Yitzhak Rabin, who was at the time IDF chief of staff, recalled the moment his forces entered the Old City Menachem Begin
of Jerusalem. He said: “I was breathless. It seemed as though all the tears of centuries were striving to break out of the men crowded into that narrow alley, while all the hopes of generations proclaimed, ‘This is no time for weeping! It is a moment of redemption, of hope’.”
Speaking of the same event Shlomo Goren, who was chief rabbi of the IDF, said to Uzi Narkiss, the IDF general who led the conquest of East Jerusalem: “Your men are making history. What is going on
Israel has passed from serious danger to successful resistance’ Our basic objective will be the destruction of Israel. The Arab people want to fight.”