What Were the Origins of the 6 Day War of 1967 free essay sample

This was mainly due to the fear that the Israelis had struck into their enemies, after their fearsome show at the Suez Crisis on the 29th October 1956, in which they captured the whole Peninsula in Egypt. However, on the contrast, the Egyptians, and hence the Arab countries had gained the backing of the USSR, who were looking to expand their sphere of influence into the Middle East. The latter, would prove a main reason for the eventual conflict between the Arabs and the Israelites, as the Arabs felt far more secure with the backing of a major superpower. Furthermore, Israel would be forced to defend themselves against the Arabs. Long-term causes of the Six Day War predate back to 1948. Firstly, Arab-Israeli enmity persisted since Israels creation (the 14th of May 1948) by the UN-Partition-Plan, which was formally recognized from November of 1947. Jewish-Israel was carved into Palestine against the will of its Arab-residents due to religious and political reasons. We will write a custom essay sample on What Were the Origins of the 6 Day War of 1967? or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Furthermore, Arab-Israeli border tensions increased due to the 1948-49 wars. Israels invasion of more Palestinian land as reprisals to Palestinian-terrorist and Arab-Nations resulted in more Palestinian-refugees. Thus, with Arabian-governments continual refusals of Israels existence, Israel refused to return Palestinian land, consequentially, relations worsened. This tension, undoubtedly, proved one of the major causes of this conflict. Nasser had failed to unite Egypt with their neighbours Syria, and was stuck in a long and seemingly futile civil war in Yemen, from 1962-65. Thus he seemed weakened, and so felt that he needed to prove himself, and receive the support of his nation again. This was compounded with the fact that he was mocked by a variety of Syrian propaganda which portrayed him as weak and helpless. He desperately needed a convincing win in order to re-assert his authority on his country, and to regain respect from his neighbouring Arab states. Syria pressured Nasser to show his determination to destroy Israel: Syria, in both 1966 and 1967 allowed small scale attacks on Israel. Hence he was almost forced to provoke the Israelis – this was attained when he closed, on the 22nd of May, the Gulf of Aqaba – a major Israeli shipping route. As already mentioned the Soviets were desperate to increase their sphere of influence and thus offered to provide arms and other equipment for the Arab states. However, the Arabs were not the only side backed by a major superpower. America too, had boosted Israeli military confidence. They had promised to help with the UN, unlike in the Suez Crisis, to counter the Soviet military aid to the Arabs, and to provide some military assurance with its Mediterranean fleet. In Mid-May of 1967, Russia gave a false alarm that Israel is massing around 10-12 brigades in preparation for an attack on Syria, which is supposedly going ahead on the 17th of May. Egypt reacts by putting their troops on alert and reinforcing units in the Sinai. This leads to a front between the two sides, and causes a mass escalation in tension. His show of aggressive rhetoric in closing the Stairs of Tiran antagonized Israel, as Israel desperately needed the Straits of Tiran in order to get oil from its surrounding countries. In 1958, in the wake of the Suez Crisis it had been agreed that any future closing of the Tiran Straits would be seen as an act showing intention for war. Prior to this, Israel had built up a powerful defence force under her new aggressive minister of war, Moshe Dayan, who essentially wanted war. His main idea being that of a pre-emptive strike on the Arab states, to take them by surprise. Thus, when Nasser closed the Straits on May the 22nd 1967, Israel assumed Arab declaration of aggression, and ergo prepared them for war.