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Israel Palestinians |
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Jerusalem Israel |
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Israel |
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Part
Three: The 1967 Six Day War
and the Birth of the PLO
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The
Birth Of The PLO |
| After the 1956
Sinai Campaign resentment and hatred toward the Jewish state
of Israel had reached new levels in the region. Israel
sought dialogue with the Arabs but there was only disdain for
the efforts of the unwelcome occupiers in Palestine.
Egypt remained vocal even though it had already been defeated
by the Jews in the campaign of 1956. In 1964 the Arab
League created the Palestine Liberation Organization.
The group was splintered into various factions. The
largest faction, Fatah would come to the front of the
organization, and its leader, Yasser Arafat, would become the
PLO chairman. All the groups directives were working toward
completion of a set of objectives laid out in the Palestine
National Charter, which called for Israel's complete
destruction. The Terrorist organization delivered fatal
attacks on civilian targets. Jordan under King Hussein
began to back away from the Arab League and withdrew backing
the PLO. Syria stepped up it's rhetoric and began
shelling Israel in 1965 through 1966 from the Golan Heights.
The UN refused to condemn the attacks which eventually
resulted in Israel shooting down 6 Syrian Russian made Mig
fighter jets. |
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The Six
Day War 1967 |
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| On May 15, 196,
Egyptian troops began to amass along their border in the
Sinai. On May 18th Syria began moving troops and
weaponry into the Golan Heights. The following
statements were released by Syria during the attack
preparations:
May 20, 1967
Syrian Defense Minister Hafez Assad:
"Our forces
are now entirely ready not only to repulse the aggression,
but to initiate the act of liberation itself, and to explode
the Zionist presence in the Arab homeland. The Syrian army,
with its finger on the trigger, is united....I, as a
military man, believe that the time has come to enter into a
battle of annihilation"
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May 22, 1967 Egypt closed the straits of Tiran to Israeli
shipping. It was an attempt to draw Israel into a conflict.
Egypt ignored the promises from the agreement after the Sinai
Campaign of 1956. Nasser irritated Israel constantly in
the days that followed with threats of destruction and
defiance of any idea that Arabs and Jews can ever come to
terms in Palestine other than the annihilation of the state of
Israel. Jordan
signed a military defense agreement with Egypt on May 30,
1967. Jordan would side with Egypt if attacked.
The coming of war was becoming inevitable as Egypt's
Nasser proclaimed: "The armies of Egypt, Jordan, Syria
and Lebanon are poised on the borders of Israel...to face the
challenge, while standing behind us are the armies of Iraq,
Algeria, Kuwait, Sudan and the whole Arab nation. This act
will astound the world. Today they will know that the Arabs
are arranged for battle, the critical hour has arrived. We
have reached the stage of serious action and not declarations"
As the days passed it became
difficult for Israel to remain on such a high level of
alertness. For weeks Israeli waited for the invasion
from the Arabs from all directions and along all borders.
Israel decided to take the fight to the Arabs rather than to
wait for the Arabs to attack and possibly serve a deadly first
blow. Israel wanted to surprise attack the closest
threats including Egypt, Syria and Jordan. On June 5,
1967 The entire Israeli Air Force, with the exception of 12
fighters left to defend Israeli air space, took off at
7:14 a.m. with the intent of bombing Egyptian airfields
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while the Egyptian
pilots were eating breakfast. An estimated 300 Egyptian
aircraft were destroyed as a result of the early morning attacks.
Later in the morning, Israeli fighters attacked the Jordanian and
Syrian air forces, as well as one airfield in Iraq. Nearly the
entire Egyptian and Jordanian air forces, and the majority of
Syrians’, had been destroyed. Air superiority was
established before the end of the first day of the conflict.
The days that followed included
dramatic tank battles in the Sinai where Israeli tanks blasted
Egyptian armor. On June 7th, 1967 Israel captured the holy
city of Jerusalem. and pushed the Egyptian and Jordanian forces
toward defeat. The forces moved toward Syria to support the
limited number of troops in the Golan Heights that were facing a
tougher foe in Syria that was dug in. Air superiority led to
bombing the Syrian positions for 2 days until the threat was
blasted into submission. After just six days of fighting,
Israeli forces were in a position to overtake Cairo, Damascus, and
Amman if it so chose. At this point Israel gained control of
the Golan Heights, the Sinai region, the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
Under U.S. pressure and again Soviet threats to intervene against
Israel a ceasefire occurred on June 10, 1967. Most
importantly Israel captured and retained possession of it's
historic capital Jerusalem. The crowned jewel for the
sacrifices made in the brief war. |
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UN
Resolution 242 |
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UN Resolution 242 was the guidelines
to achieve Israeli and Arab peace and bring an end to possible
future conflicts. The main area of conflict for Israel was
that it called for the removal of Israeli armed forces in the
occupied lands. Through negotiation of the settlements
affected peace was to be achieved. Their has been debate on
both sides of the conflict as to the true meaning and end result
desired other than that the two parties maintain the peace through
negotiation. Israel gave up the largest part of the
territory gained in the Sinai when it stopped occupying parts of
the Sinai region but kept enough of a presence to keep tabs on
Egypt. This was Israel's way of showing cooperation and
willingness to work toward a peace. Palestinian refugees
were an after thought in the declaration and has created a
quagmire for the countries involved in the war ever since.
It is hard to believe that the basis of the war was the Liberation
of Palestine for the Palestinians by the hands of Arabs
considering the policies that the Arab countries established to
deal with the refugees from there forward.
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Israel Links and
Information |
The Six-Day
War
Israel, Egypt, Syria and Jordan were the major combatants in
the Six-Day War. In addition to these, other Arab countries
played smaller roles in the conflict.
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The 1967 Six-Day
War
By this time, Israeli forces had been on alert for three
weeks. The country could not remain fully mobilized
indefinitely, nor could it allow its sea lane through the Gulf
of Aqaba to be interdicted. Israel decided to preempt the
expected Arab attack. To do this successfully, Israel needed
the element of surprise
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Six-Day
War - MSN Encarta
In the years before the
Six-Day War, the Arab countries continually refused to
acknowledge the legitimacy of the Jewish state, and Arab
nationalists led by Nasser called for the destruction of
Israel.
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Six Day War
- 6 Day war - Definition, History
Tension began
developing between Israel and Arab countries in the 1960s.
Israel began to implement its National Water Carrier plan,
which pumps water from the Sea of Galilee to irrigate south
and central Israel.
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