World History: The Six-Day War

With tensions mounting in the Middle East, war was in the air. Syria and Egypt were struggling about which country would be the “Arab Leader” in the Middle East, and Arab armies poised to strike from Egypt, Syria, Jordan, and Lebanon. Israel decided, on June 5, 1967, to launch a pre-emptive attack on the massive forces aimed at her from all sides. Within minutes of the attack, the backbone of the Egyptian air force was broken, and by the end of the first day of war most of the Egyptian airplanes were destroyed. Backed by complete air superiority, Israeli army divisions then thrust into the Sinai desert approaching the bank of the Suez Canal. At the same time, Israel issued an appeal to Jordan to stay out of the war. Jordan refused and opened a heavy artillery barrage on both west Jerusalem and the Tel-Aviv area which forced Israel to counterattack. By June 8, 1967, the Israel Defense Forces defeated the Jordanian forces and captured the whole of Judea and Samaria. On the morning of June 9, 1967, Israel attacked the Syrians and captured the Golan Heights. From these heights, Syria had shelled and destroyed houses, 100s of acres of orchards and acres of fields and crops.

The six days of fierce fighting ended in Israel’s occupation of the Sinai desert, the Gaza Strip, the Golan Heights and the West Bank, providing Israel’s cities with a much needed buffer zone and dramatically reducing the danger of extinction by a surprise Arab attack. Furthermore, victory had a special religious meaning because of the unification of Jerusalem and the return of Jews to Judea and Samaria which was part of biblical Israel.

This quick victory proved to the world that Israel was a super power not to be reckoned with. Out numbered and with not enough weapons, the world and Israel thought for sure that this war would end in many deaths. Before the war started, Israeli towns dug thousands of graves to prepare for the large number of deaths. Once over, only 750 Israelis died in the war, all of which died fighting for what they believed in, a free Jewish State.

Pictured above: Syrian bunkers, signs stating that there are still active mine zones, views of the Golan Heights (the area won during the Six-Day War), and an armored truck.