The cause of the Six Day War

The cause of the Six Day WarThe immediate causes of war apprize be traced back to Soviet plotting. A large parade was plotted for Israel Independence Day, but afterwards some controversy, heavy weapons were not permitted in the capital. The Soviets took advantage of the situation and claimed that the reason was because Israel was amassing its army on the northern casting with Syria. This in gradeation was quickly passed to the Egyptian president who declared a stir of emergency and sent soldiers to the Sinai Peninsula. The claims were debunked but ignored and Egypt continues the troop buildup. In repartee Israel sent troops and tank companies to the s offhern border. On the morn of the may 16, the number of Egyptian and Palestinian troops in the Sinai had tripled overnight. Egyptian planes began a reconnaissance of the nu gather in reactor in Dimona on May 17 prompting Israel to call up 18,000 reservists. War seemed imminent on May 18 as the Egyptian General in caution of th e Sinai forces stated on C varianto radio The Egyptian forces have interpreted up positions in accordance with our predetermined plans. The morale of our armed forces is precise high for this is the twenty-four hour period they have so long been waiting for, for this saintly war (Committee for truth in Middle tocopherol Reporting in America). By May 20 more than 80,000 Israeli reservists had been called up to alert duty.On May 22 Egypt committed an act of war by blocking Israeli shipping through the notch of Tiran. Israel made some(prenominal) attempts at diplomacy for the rest of the month and appealed to the U.S. for support. The U.S. rejected a pre-emptive strike but offered upkeep in retrogressing access to the Strait of Tiran. By the end of the month the surrounding Arab nations had made several alliances and demur pacts, Israel now surrounded by 500,000 troops, more than 5,000 tanks, and almost 1,000 fighter planes (Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting i n America). Israel received expression that the U.S. could support a preemptive strike and the newly appointed denial minister, Moshe Dayan finalized the war plan. On June 4, the Israeli cabinet learned that France had issued an arms trade stoppage on the region and once again the U.S. no longer back up a preemptive strike and also issued an arms embargo. The U.S. State division announced that Our position is neutral in thought, word and deed (Bard, The 1967 Six-Day War). never the less, the cabinet voted 12-2 for a preemptive strike that would begin the following morning.warfareThe Israelis faced a war on three battlefronts, the borders with Egypt, Jordan and Syria. On the Egyptian front the Israelis aggressed with unexpected force. The attack was twain-phased, phase one was a coincident activate and ground attack designed to break into the country. Phase both was designed to operate the victory of phase one and attack the stay forces in the Sinai. Phase one was a comple te success, Israel attacked with 90% of its manner exponent inventory, more than double what Egypt expected. Additionally the air attack began not at dawn as expected but strategicalally at 0745 when most of the Egyptian leadership was out of contact in traffic. The air attack first concentrated on disabling the enemy runways because concentrating on bombers and MiG fighter jets before expanding the attack to include all aircraft types and strategic missile and radar locations. The ground attack was a threefold attack coming from the north, east and west. The battles were fought the night before and the morning of June 6 and by mid-day all the Israeli targets were captured. Israel had successfully broken through Egyptian defenses in central Sinai and severely damaged the rest of Egypts defenses.Phase twos purpose was to exploit the success of phase one but due to the rapid success of phase one many Egyptian citizens and even soldiers did not endure the gravity of the situation. The Egyptian military chief, Marshal Amer was well aware of the fortuity and was unable to maintain control. He began s polish contradicting orders to the battlefront before he ordered a complete retreat. After a mere 96 hours the war in the Sinai was over (Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America).On the Jordanian front, Jordan had placed approximately 45,000 troops within the watt strand on 10 of 11 tie into Israel. The morning of June 5 Jordan began an air attack on Israel and Jordan received incorrect intelligence that Egypt had crippled 75 percent of the Israeli Air world power and began an invasion of Israel. Israel did not immediately respond but by mid-day it was clear that a war with Jordan could not be avoided and they began a counterattack. Israel began by get land lost that morning during the initial Jordanian attack and indeed began moving toward Jerusalem. At the end of the first day of combat the Israel air and ground forces were successful in isolating Jerusalem. The next day Israel move their assault on Jerusalem and by the morning of June 7 Israel took the populate objective of the Temple Mount, the holiest site in Judaism. Israel keep into the western chamfer and by that evening both sides agreed to a UN abandon fire, ending the fighting and leaving Israel total control of Jerusalem and the West Bank.On the Syrian front, Syria had received false soviet intelligence claiming that Israel was preparing for an offensive. In response to the warning, Syria activated its mutual defense pact with Egypt and began deploying its troops along its 40 miles of border between Israel. On the first day of the war, Syria began air attacks on northern communities and attempted a strike on the Haifa crude refineries. The Israeli Air Force responded by attacking Syrian airbases. The next day Syria increase their attacks and sent two companies across the border. The attacking Syrians were held off by local defenses until the Isr aeli Air Force responded and pushed them back over the border. By the fourth day of the war on June 8, Syria accepted a UN block fire but after only five hours they disregarded the cease fire. With a majority of Israeli forced currently in the Sinai and the West Bank, Israel had only taken defensive positions and had not begun an offensive with Syria. This gave Syria the false sense impression of security in their positions on the Golan Heights. After achieving victory in the Sinai, Israeli resources could turn their attention to the north. On June 9 the Israeli Air Force began bombing the Golan Heights. By mid-day Israeli ground forced had crossed into Syrian territory. By the next morning, Israeli forces were approximately 10 km out of Quneitra and Damascus radio announced the fall of the city hoping to enlist the aid of the Soviets. However, the tactic backfired and Syrian soldiers in the Golan panicked and fled. By nightfall the fighting in the Golan Heights ended and the Six- Day was over.IMMEDIATE EFFECTSImmediately after the war the Arab nations continued to reject Zionism and vowed to continue to oppose Israel, they demanded no pink of my John deals and no negotiations with Israel. On June 9 U.S. President Johnson offered his five principles for peace in the region. Despite the opposition from the other nations in the region, Israeli Prime attend Levi Eshkol agrees to use the five principles for future negotiations.Five months later the United Nations shelter Council delivered Resolution 242. The resolution was carefully worded to act as a be given for negotiating peace. Shortly after the resolution was passed, Jordan and Israel recognize the resolution. Later Egypt also recognized their own interpretation of it, and continued to state that they would not negotiate with or recognize Israel. Syria refused to accept the resolution and declared it was only another form of occupation (Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America).LONG T ERM EFFECTSOne of the biggest long term set up of the Six-Day War was the number of Arab refugees from the West Bank. Jordans decision to attack Israel caused many Arabs to scarper the West Bank into the East Bank in Jordan. When Israel gained the West Bank many Arabs that fled were now homeless. Eventually most of the refugees were allowed to return and prospered due to increased economic growth. After the war Israel began to invest in the infrastructure of the West Bank and created policies that allowed Arabs to move freely over the border. Despite the economic prosperity in the region that lasted more than two decades, Palestinian leadership continued violent attacks that had led to increased Israeli security measures. Israel did eventually return the Sinai to Egypt, giving up many developed towns, strategic military positions and oil fields (Bard, Israel Makes Peace with Egypt). In return for returning the Sinai, Israel and Egypt signed a peace treaty that has been able to ma intain peace for the last two decades. Despite progress with Egypt the other surrounding Arab nations continue hostilities with Israel, with the latest bout beginning in 2008 along the Israeli-Lebanese border.