Date: Thu, 6 Sep 2001 08:14:55 +0100 (BST)
From: =?iso-8859-1?q?eldorra=20mitchell?= <manynotone-AT-yahoo.co.in>
Subject: june 1967 -- Plateau of 'First Strike'


Palestine, Israel and the Arab-Israeli Conflict
                                   A Primer

   

   The June 1967 War

   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 (PLO --
   click here for more information).
                                                      
        


____________________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Send a newsletter, share photos & files, conduct polls, organize chat events. Visit http://in/ groups.yahoo.com