The Six Day War : Causes And Effects

Each superpower wanted to increase their sphere of influence in the region as they sought to gain strategic and geographical advantages as well as safeguarding their economic and resource interests, especially with regard to the supply of oil. Both superpowers fuelled the regional conflict by providing Middle Eastern countries with financial and military assistance in an attempt to align these states politically and promote their respective interests. However, the Cold War superpowers were not the direct cause of the conflict, which sprang from diverse religious beliefs and nationalism.

The superpowers, namely the USSR and US were in engaged in a war by proxy, which is very easy to identify if you analyze the conflicts in the Middle East from 1948 until, and including, the Yom Kippur War of 1978. The superpowers would employ tactics such as supplying their various ‘allies’ in the Middle East with weapons and finances which would afford them the ability to engage in the many conflicts that took place in that period such as the Suez Crisis, Six Day War and the Yom Kippur War. All of this was done without either superpower’s putting their own men on the ground to fight, for fear of an all out war between each other. However much the superpowers might have fuelled the conflicts with supplying the Arabs and Israelis with weapons and finances, they were not the cause for the conflicts as they are much deeper rooted. Israel and the Arab states have always seen tension as per their culture and religious differences, and the growing nationalism of the Arab states and Zionism in Israel, which amounted to extreme actions such as the three major conflicts during the time period 1956-1978.

The Suez Crisis was an incident that first commenced on the 29th of October, 1956, in which Israeli military forces entered the Sinai Peninsular and attacked Egyptian positions, driving them back. By the next day, Israeli forces had reached the Suez Canal, after taking a majority of the Sinai Peninsular. (Best, Hanhimaki, Maiolo & Schulze, 2008, p.432). Britain and France then both issued an ultimatum, for both Israeli and Egyptian forces to withdraw from the Suez Canal, citing its safety from the violence of war as extremely important. After Gamal Abder Nasser, Egypt’s President at the time, rejected the ultimatum, on the 30th

Since the middle east had rich oil the Soviet Union and western powers fought for territory and influence. The Soviet Union tried to control the countries Iran and Turkey, but the U.S. won them over by giving them military help and financial aid. But the Arab nations betrayed the U.S. trust by helping Israel their enemy. The Soviet Union saw that and saw that as an opportunity to take the Arab countries.

Following the partition plan in 1947, the state of Israel was created in 1948. I will be discussing the extent to which the creation of Israel was a turning point throughout a hundred year period. The conflict can be split up into 3 different strands which include: Arab Israeli, Palestinian-Israeli, Western involvement. The Arab-Israeli conflict is the regional conflict that erupts in 1948 when the newly created Arab states invade Israel and is partially resolved by 1996. The Palestinian-Israeli conflict is the local conflict throughout the 100 year period between the native Palestinians and the Israeli’s, it is still unresolved. Western involvement represents the foreign nations that were associated in the conflict. My main argument is that the creation of Israel was the principle turning point for the Arab-Israeli dispute strand because; it transformed a civil war to an interstate conflict. I also feel that it was the principle turning point for the Palestinian-Israeli strand because, it saw a huge change in policy and led to the dissolution of the Palestinian people with many fleeing into surrounding Arab nations, this is known as the Palestinian problem. The Suez crisis was the pivotal moment for the Western Involvement strand because it saw a new era with the start of the Cold War’s influence in the Arab-Israeli conflict.

(History of Zionism Web). “The success of Zionism has meant that the percentage of the world's Jewish population who live in Israel has steadily grown over the years and today 40% of the world's Jews live in Israel. There is no other example in human history of a nation being reestablished after such a long period of existence as a diaspora.”(History of Zionism) That diaspora was cause by anti-Semitism and persecution, but the Jews managed to still thrive. Even with the creation of their own state there are still problems among them. “The 1967 war between Israel and the Arab states (the "Six-Day War") marked a major turning point in the history of both Israel and of Zionism. Israeli forces captured the eastern half of Jerusalem, including the holiest of Jewish religious sites, the Western Wall of the ancient Temple.” (History of Zionism Web) The Palestinians and the Jews fought for power over the state. The Zionist pursued and gain most land in Israel. They were not going to let their promised land go. They took power over the Gaza strip, Golan Heights and West Bank. In 1968 the “Jerusalem Program” was established as the start of modern

The Great Power involvement in the Middle East politics often creates and contributes to more conflicts and wars. The Middle East, a region described by Victor Israelyan as ‘one of sharp confrontation between the two superpowers unavoidably fell victim to such pressures.

There are lots of debates concerning the causes that gave birth to this endless conflict; some believe that religion has been the main reason of the dispute due to the importance of the holy city of Jerusalem for both Islamism and Judaism. Others believe that it has been caused by the Western colonialism, which has favoured the self-determination of the Zionists by denying the self-determination of the Arabs of Palestine. Others even think it is an ethnic dimension that has led the two populations to the war.

Osama bin-Laden and his supporters have claimed their hostility toward the West is partly a result of the United States' past support and involvement with Israel. U.S. involvement began during the conflict between Egypt and Israel, Great Britain, and France when their diplomatic intervention persuaded the countries to withdraw. The United States, however, continually supported Israel by aiding them financially and militarily. Israel proceeded to engage in the Six Day War of 1967, which caused the oil producing Arab States to issue a 15 percent reduction of oil production and an embargo of shipments to the United States. The October War soon broke out in 1973, and the same countries issued yet another reduction, this time a 25 percent reduction, causing the United Nations to call a cease-fire. The Arab nations and Israel both refused direct diplomatic relations with one another, solidifying their conflictual positions. American administrations however became intent on breaking the diplomatic barriers between the two groups. This brought the Arab nations and Israel into the Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union. Large advances in the acclimation of peace were facilitated by America's Henry Kissinger in 1973. The Camp David Accords were drafted, facilitated by U.S. President Jimmy Carter, and Israel and Egypt were promised large amounts of amounts of military aid, and the two countries signed a peace

The Arab-Israeli Six Day War began on the 5th of June 1967, with Israel in the position of being surrounded by extremely hostile forces on 3 sides, out numbered in troops and weapons, limited in resources, and a significant possibility of annihilation as a nation. Their selected defensive option was an extremely well planned and exactingly executed pre-emptive strike on the air and ground forces of Iraq, Jordan, Syria, and Egypt. The primary objective was to gain early air superiority, eliminate the air threat against Israel’s citizens, and to provide air support to the Israeli ground forces. The accomplishment of the mission by the Israeli Air Force (IAF) was an unprecedented example of an air campaign that literally destroyed critical

On the 23rd May 1967, the Israelis declared war on the Arabs due to the blocking of the straits to Israeli shipping. The 1967 Six Day War had a major impact on Arab-Israeli relations. This is due to Israel gaining control over the occupied territories, large increases of Jewish settlement in the occupied territories, the increase of Israeli military in the Middle East.

that religion and politics have a long history in the Middle East does not mean that religion is always, or even most of the time, a crucial factor driving political conflicts. Most of the politics of the Middle East have been viewed by those inside and outside the region as driven by religious difference. From the Arab-Israeli conflict to the Iranian revolution to the emergence of

The conflict between Israel and Palestine is just one of the many facets that have shaped modern day politics in the Middle East. It is a conflict rooted in generations of violence, discrimination and prejudice that is complicated by a history older than any of the modern day superpowers. Ever since the creation of the state of Israel by the 1947 UN partition of Palestine

During the time of 1948 and 1956 there were two major events that happened with regards to the Middle East crisis. The 1st major event that happened was the War of Liberation. The 2nd was the Suez crises. The War of Liberation was fought between the Arab states surrounding Palestine and newly formed Israel. While some countries like the US had officially recognised the State of Israel, which had caused the Arabs to become anti west, Jordan, Syria and Egypt immediately

The 1948 War was a war purely provoked by means of conflict between the Arab world and the state of Israel and can be is the start of the conflict and tension to follow, the 1948 war was essentially built on the foundation of the Arab states attacking Israel in an attempt to crush her existence and although there was no superpower influence in this war there was a small superpower involvement in the middle east at this stage which can be seen in the Partition plan of 1947, a document created by the UN which both the USSR and the USA were involved in creating. The UN partition plan of 1947, also known as Resolution 181 was essentially what sparked the tension, and later conflict between the Arab states and what is now Israel as what it tried to