Origins of the Six-Day War

The origins of the Six-Day War, which was fought between June 5 and June 10, 1967 by Israel and the neighboring states of Egypt (known then as the United Arab Republic, UAR), Jordan, and Syria, include both longstanding and immediate issues. At the time of the Six-Day War, the earlier foundation of Israel, the resulting Palestinian refugee issue, and Israel's participation in the invasion of Egypt during the Suez crisis of 1956 continued to be significant grievances for the Arab world. Arab nationalists, led by Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser, continued to be hostile to Israel's existence and made grave threats against its Jewish population. By the mid-1960s, relations between Israel and its Arab neighbors had deteriorated to the extent that a number of border clashes had taken place.

In April 1967, Syria shot at an Israeli tractor ploughing in the demilitarized zone, which escalated to a prewar aerial clash. In May 1967, following misinformation about Israeli intentions provided by the Soviet Union, Egypt expelled UN peacekeepers who had been stationed in the Sinai Peninsula since the Suez conflict, and announced a blockade of Israel's access to the Red Sea (international waters) via the Straits of Tiran, which Israel considered an act of war. Tension escalated, with both sides' armies mobilising. Less than a month later, Israel launched a surprise strike which began the Six-Day War.

The conventional view and memoirs of key Israelis indicate that Israel's actions leading into the war were prudent and the blame for the war rested on Egypt. According to political scientist Zeev Maoz, most scholarly studies attribute the crisis to a complicated process of unwanted escalation, which all sides wanted to prevent, but for which all were ultimately responsible. Nasser knew that his blockade of the Straits of Tiran from Israeli vessel passage, on 23 May 1967, might very likely provide Israel with reason to launch war. His decisions to ask for the removal of the UN peacekeepers from Sinai and especially to block the Gulf of Aqaba to Israeli shipping via the Straits of Tiran, are commonly accepted as the point where war became inevitable. Some commentators consider the war as the classic case of anticipatory attack in self-defense, while in the 21st century the view that Israel acted in self-defense has become increasingly contested.

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