A unit of IDF soldiers advance into the Old City of Jerusalem during the Six-Day War, June 1967.
“Thus says the Lord God: This is Jerusalem. I have set her in the center of the nations, with countries round-about her.” - Ezekiel 5:5
This is part seventeen of the FAI Publishing series Center of Nations which examines the history of the modern State of Israel in the midst of an increasingly hostile world.
Emboldened by his diplomatic victory in the Suez War of 1956, Gamal Abdel Nasser decided the time was right to capitalize on the opportunity to make his dream of a pan-Arab state a reality. He began with a campaign to confederate the Egyptian and Syrian governments together into a unified nationalist and secular state in the late 1950’s. Taking advantage of concerns regarding the rise of the Soviet-sponsored Communist Party there, Nasser was able to negotiate a deal with the Syrian government which dissolved all Syrian political parties and subordinated the Syrian military to the Egyptian military in order to create a United Arab Republic, essentially making Syria a vassal state of Egypt. Soon afterwards, a military coup brought about the end of the British-aligned monarchy in Iraq. Nasser immediately formed an alliance with the new Iraqi regime, and concerns began to grow in the royal houses of Jordan and the Arabian Peninsula that their governments might be next. Within two years, the majority of the political and military echelon in Syria had turned against Nasser and his UAR government, and the United States and Britain had already sent troops to reinforce the governments of Lebanon and Jordan against UAR encroachment. By the Spring of 1960, a coup had overthrown the UAR regime in Syria and completely divested from the Egyptian government. Nasser saw the writing on the wall and did not attempt military intervention to restore his pan-Arab experiment. Instead, in an attempt to buttress his regime and regain his prowess as the hero of the Arab World, he eventually turned his attention back to his old archenemy, the State of Israel.
Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser and Syrian President Shukri al-Quwatli sign an agreement to form the United Arab Republic in 1958.
On May 21, 1967, the Egyptian government once again closed the Straits of Tiran in the Gulf of Aqaba to Israeli ships, cutting off Israeli access to the Indian Ocean. Not only was Nasser’s move in violation of previous United Nations resolutions, but it was a blatant act of war. Meanwhile, the Syrian Arab Army had stepped up its campaign of shelling Israeli communities in the Galilee from their positions atop the Golan Heights, and skirmishes between Israelis and Jordanian Arabs in the West Bank were intensifying. Then on May 30th, Nasser and King Hussein of Jordan signed a mutual defense pact, sending shock waves throughout the region, as the Jordanian monarchy had been long considered a staunch ally of the United States and Britain. Having reconciled with the new government of Syria, Nasser’s resurgence placed the Jewish State back in the crosshairs. Israelis prepared for the worst, setting up makeshift hospitals and preparing public parks to become sprawling graveyards. Israeli Prime Minister Levi Eshkol warned of "a real massacre." All-out war, and perhaps another holocaust, was imminent.
In the first days of June 1967, Israel found itself surrounded on every side. The armies of Egypt, Jordan and Syria, had mobilized along the armistice lines, massing hundreds of thousands of ground troops in the Sinai, West Bank, and Golan Heights, supported by thousands of tanks and aircraft. Vastly outnumbered, the Israeli Army knew that a massive, multi-pronged invasion force would likely overwhelm the nascent Jewish State, whose defenders at the time included just 100,000 ground troops, several hundred tanks and aircraft, and a small navy. Defense Minister Moshe Dayan advised that there was "a limit to our ability to defeat the Arabs.” Instead of waiting for the Arab invasion to begin, Dayan and the Israeli cabinet elected to turn the tables by ordering a pre-emptive strike into the Egyptian Sinai. On the morning of June 5, over 200 Israeli warplanes took off from Israel and flew over the Mediterranean, crossing into the Sinai from the north. The Jordanians observed wave after wave of Israeli sorties taking off and attempted to radio the Egyptian army in Sinai, but by a providential stroke, the Egyptians had just changed their military coding frequencies the day before and had not yet informed the Jordanians. The warning was never received, and Egyptian forces were caught completely off-guard. Over 90% of Egyptian warplanes were destroyed on the tarmacs of 18 separate airfields before they could scramble in response. Israeli tanks and ground forces crossed into the Sinai and punched through the Egyptian lines with lightning speed, sending their enemy reeling in confusion and panic, and capturing a strategic junction. Meanwhile, Israeli warplanes also struck Syrian airfields with similar success. Less than 24 hours into the second Arab-Israeli war, the threat of Arab air power from both north and south was completely decimated.
An Israeli tank unit navigates the terrain of the Golan Heights during the Six-Day War, June 10, 1967
As June 6th dawned, Israeli forces in the Sinai expected fierce resistance from the Egyptian army as they approached strategic bases. Instead, they found the bases abandoned. In some cases, the Egyptians had left the bases intact, along with vehicles, weapons and supplies. The Egyptian commander, fearful of a repeat of the Suez Campaign of 1956 that ended with Israeli troops at the Suez Canal, had ordered a full withdrawal of his forces from across the Sinai to the banks of the canal. The IDF had unwittingly captured the Gaza Strip and the entire Sinai Peninsula in just one day, and the Egyptian threat had been completely neutralized.
On June 7th, Israeli commanders turned their attention to Jerusalem and the West Bank. Israeli leadership had warned King Hussein of Jordan to stay out of the fight, but nonetheless, Jordanian artillery had begun shelling Israeli positions in West Jerusalem. The IDF responded with a devastating counterattack, driving Jordanian troops out of East Jerusalem and most of the West Bank in a single day. Israeli troops entered the Old City of Jerusalem, filming some of the most iconic images of the twentieth century as they fought through the narrow stone streets to the Western Wall, finally declaring, “The Temple Mount is in our hands.”
Israeli troops capture East Jerusalem, June 7, 1967:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a6e3kKu5XaU
Alarmed by the escalating conflict, the international community initiated a flurry of diplomacy. By the end of the day, both Israel and Jordan had accepted a UN Security Council resolution for cease-fire. Egypt signed on the next day. After just four days, the southern and eastern fronts were quiet, and Israeli territory had more than doubled in size. There remained only one more menace in the Galilee. The Syrians had rejected the UN ceasefire and continued shelling Israeli communities from the Golan Heights. In response, Israel would surprise the world yet again.
Israeli troops celebrate their victory in the Six-Day War, June, 1967.
Early on the morning of June 9th, Israeli warplanes and artillery bombarded Syrian positions in the Golan. The Syrian Army, having suffered the near annihilation of its air force just days before, could do nothing but dig in. Then IDF brigades stormed up the western slopes of the Golan, forcing the Syrians into a hasty retreat. By June 10th, Israel had captured over two-thirds of the Golan Heights, and Syria sued for peace.
In six days, Israel had fought a three-front war, inflicting over 15,000 casualties against their enemies, while sustaining less than 800 casualties of their own. The IDF had captured all the territory on their southern flank up to the Suez Canal, on their eastern flank to the Jordan River, and the strategic Golan plateau to the north. The entire city of Jerusalem, the City of David, was in Jewish hands.
And on the seventh day, the Land rested.
Gabe Caligiuri is the editor of THE WIRE, as well as an occasional contributor to other FAI digital content on the subjects of history and geopolitics as they relate to the Great Commission. Gabe and his family live in California.