The Six-Day War E-Book

50MINUTES

• Herausgeber: 50Minutes.com
• Kategorie: Bildung
• Serie: History
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 33

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2016

Beschreibung

Keen to learn but short on time? Get to grips with the events of the Six-Day War in next to no time with this concise guide.

50Minutes.com provides a clear and engaging analysis of the Six-Day War. In 1967, relations between the State of Israel and its neighbours, which had long been strained, became dangerously tense. In the ensuing military conflict, Egypt, Jordan and Syria were unable to defeat Israel, and the Israeli victory and territorial gains effectively redrew the map of the Middle East.

In just 50 minutes you will:
• Understand the political and social context of the Middle East prior to the conflict and the reasons for rising tensions in the region  
• Identify the leaders of the states involved in the war and their role in the conflict
• Analyse the impact of the Israeli victory on the rest of the Middle East

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Leseprobe

The Six-Day War

Key information

When: 5-10 June 1967Where: In the Sinai Peninsula, the West Bank and the Golan Heights (Northern Israel)Context: TheArab-Israeli conflict and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict Belligerents: Israel against Egypt, Jordan and SyriaCommanders and leaders:Levi Eshkol, Israeli Prime Minister (1895-1969)Moshe Dayan, Israeli Defense Minister (1915-1981)Gamal Abdel Nasser, President of the Republic of Egypt (1918-1970) Outcome: Israeli victoryVictims:Israeli camp: approximately 829 deadEgyptian camp: between 5 000 and 10 000 deadJordanian camp: 700 dead and 550 taken prisonerSyrian camp: 450 dead and 570 taken prisoner

Introduction

A major crisis in the Arab-Israeli conflict and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the Six-Day War began on 5 June 1967. The Israelis wanted to take preventive action against Egypt, the main military threat to the Jewish state, following the blockade of the Straits of Tiran (west of the Arabian Peninsula). The Egyptian air force was wiped out in just three hours and the Israeli army was then able to walk to the Sinai. The entire Arab world was outraged, condemned this attack and supported Egypt: Jordan and Syria joined the fight by attacking the Jewish state, and other countries, such as Lebanon and Iraq, sent material or human assistance. It should be noted that, at the time of the events, the Palestinian territories were controlled in part by Syria, Jordan and Egypt.

Six days later, after several cease-fires favoring Israel, the geopolitics of the Middle East had changed, and Israel was now in a dominant position compared to that of its Arab neighbors and saw its territory quadruple in size.

Political and social context

A forty-year-old conflict

When the Six-Day War took place, tensions between the Jews and the Arabs had already existed for many years.

From the late 19th century, the Zionist movement began gradually restoring the Jewish state in Palestine, in response to various anti-Semitic waves of violence raging in Europe. Small Jewish farming communities were formed here and there until 1901, the year in which the Zionist movement created the Jewish National Fund for the purchase of land in Palestine, which then belonged to the Ottoman Empire. Seeing no advantage in this, the Ottoman Empire decided to severely restrict the development of Jewish villages in its territory. It was not until after the First World War (1914-1918) that the situation turned around for the Zionists. With the defeat of the Ottoman Empire that had fought alongside Germany, all Arab territories – i.e. Saudi, Iraq, Lebanon, Palestine and Syria – fell under British and French mandates. The British, with the Balfour Declaration of 2 November 1917, were in favor of the establishment of a national home for the Jewish people in Palestine and committed themselves to contributing to the realization of this project. Jewish immigration to Palestine became increasingly significant and continued to accelerate with the rise to power of Adolf Hitler (1889-1945) and the birth of Nazism in the early 1930s.

From 1920-1967, there were three major crises of the Arab-Israeli conflict:

the Arab revolt in Palestine (1936-1938)the War of Independence (1948)the crisis of the Suez Canal (1956).

The Arab Revolt (1936-1938)

The Arab revolt that took place in 1936 aimed to create an independent state in mandatory Palestine (i.e. under British mandate).

Arab revolt against British occupation.