Proud2BeHumble
Seek Truth, Be Happy
The war began on the morning of June 5 with devastating Israeli air strikes on the Egyptian airforce, most of which was destroyed on the ground. Arab nations then came to Egypt's defence. Israel's first-day success brought air superiority which enabled it to decimate numerically superior ground forces.
Which countries were involved in the fighting?
Israel, Egypt, Syria, and Jordan. Other Arab countries, including Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Algeria, contributed arms and small contingents of troops.
What was the outcome?
Israel quickly defeated the Arab armies, and seized the Syrian Golan Heights, the West Bank (including East Jerusalem), the Gaza Strip, and the Sinai Peninsula.
How did Israel justify its attack?
Israeli UN envoy Abba Eban initially claimed to the United Nations Security Council that Egyptian troops had attacked first and that Israel's air strikes were retaliatory. Within a month, however, Israel admitted that it had launched the first strike. It asserted that it had faced an impending attack by Egypt, evidenced by Egypt's bellicose rhetoric, removal of UN peacekeeping troops from the Sinai Peninsula, closure of the Straits of Tiran to Israeli shipping, and concentration of troops along Israel's borders. The Soviet Union introduced a resolution to the UN Security Council naming Israel the aggressor in the war. This resolution was blocked by the US and Great Britain. Thereafter, the UN failed to rule definitively on the legality of Israel's actions, although it called for Israel's withdrawal from territories it seized.
Is Israel's version of the facts universally accepted?
Israel's claim of an impending Egyptian attack has been widely accepted in the West. The Israeli public had been led to believe that it faced a threat of imminent attack, and perhaps even annihilation. However, the veracity of Israel's claim is increasingly questioned. A number of senior Israeli military and political figures have subsequently admitted that Israel was not faced with a genuine threat of attack, and instead, deliberately chose war. Yitzhak Rabin, the Israeli army chief of staff during the war, later stated: "I do not believe that Nasser wanted war. The two divisions he sent into Sinai on May 14 would not have been enough to unleash an offensive against Israel. He knew it and we knew it."
If Israel's claimed reasons for the attack were false, what were its true objectives?
One objective may have been territorial expansion. Some Israeli politicians and military leaders, such as former Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion and Minister of Defence Moshe Dayan lamented the failure to seize East Jerusalem and the West Bank in the 1948 war. Before the war, Jordan's King Hussain told the American ambassador: "They want the West Bank. They've been waiting for a chance to get it, and they're going to take advantage of us and they're going to attack."
Second, Israeli politicians were genuinely fearful of Jamal Abdul Nasser, the charismatic leader of Arab nationalism. They may have seen the war as an opportunity to embarrass him and deflate the movement he embodied.
Third, Israeli leaders may have seen military confrontation with the Arab states as inevitable, and chose to engage in battle at a time and under terms of their choosing. Menachem Begin, for example, characterised Israel's war aim as to "take the initiative and attack the enemy, drive him back, and thus assure the security of Israel and the future of the nation."
What was the chain of events leading up to the war?
The progression toward war was sparked by Israel's attack on the West Bank village of Samu' in November 1966. Israeli forces killed 18 civilians and Jordanian soldiers, and razed nearly the entire village. After the attack, King Hussain bitterly criticised Nasser for "hiding behind" the UN Emergency Force, stationed in the Sinai Peninsula after Israel's 1956 attack on Egypt, and failing to act in line with his Arab nationalist rhetoric. The criticism, echoed by the Arab press, drove Nasser into a more militant posture toward Israel. Tensions were also building between Israel and Syria, largely due to Israel's repeated attempts to farm in the Demilitarised Zone that had separated Israeli and Syrian troops since the first Arab-Israeli war in 1948-49. In April 1967, one such incident escalated into an aerial battle during which Israel shot down six Syrian fighter jets, including two over Damascus.
The Soviet Union, at the time closely allied with Syria, then shared intelligence reports with Nasser that suggested an impending Israeli attack on Syria. In early May the Israeli Cabinet had authorised an attack on Syria. Soviet exaggerations may have been designed to stir Egypt into a more aggressive stance in support of Syria, thereby deterring the feared Israeli strike.
Nasser responded by requesting the removal of the UN Emergency Forces from the Sinai Peninsula, replacing them with Egyptian troops, and declaring the Straits of Tiran (leading from the Gulf of Aqaba into the Red Sea) closed to Israeli shipping.
http://www.gulfnews.com/region/Middle_East/10130302.html
Which countries were involved in the fighting?
Israel, Egypt, Syria, and Jordan. Other Arab countries, including Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Algeria, contributed arms and small contingents of troops.
What was the outcome?
Israel quickly defeated the Arab armies, and seized the Syrian Golan Heights, the West Bank (including East Jerusalem), the Gaza Strip, and the Sinai Peninsula.
How did Israel justify its attack?
Israeli UN envoy Abba Eban initially claimed to the United Nations Security Council that Egyptian troops had attacked first and that Israel's air strikes were retaliatory. Within a month, however, Israel admitted that it had launched the first strike. It asserted that it had faced an impending attack by Egypt, evidenced by Egypt's bellicose rhetoric, removal of UN peacekeeping troops from the Sinai Peninsula, closure of the Straits of Tiran to Israeli shipping, and concentration of troops along Israel's borders. The Soviet Union introduced a resolution to the UN Security Council naming Israel the aggressor in the war. This resolution was blocked by the US and Great Britain. Thereafter, the UN failed to rule definitively on the legality of Israel's actions, although it called for Israel's withdrawal from territories it seized.
Is Israel's version of the facts universally accepted?
Israel's claim of an impending Egyptian attack has been widely accepted in the West. The Israeli public had been led to believe that it faced a threat of imminent attack, and perhaps even annihilation. However, the veracity of Israel's claim is increasingly questioned. A number of senior Israeli military and political figures have subsequently admitted that Israel was not faced with a genuine threat of attack, and instead, deliberately chose war. Yitzhak Rabin, the Israeli army chief of staff during the war, later stated: "I do not believe that Nasser wanted war. The two divisions he sent into Sinai on May 14 would not have been enough to unleash an offensive against Israel. He knew it and we knew it."
If Israel's claimed reasons for the attack were false, what were its true objectives?
One objective may have been territorial expansion. Some Israeli politicians and military leaders, such as former Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion and Minister of Defence Moshe Dayan lamented the failure to seize East Jerusalem and the West Bank in the 1948 war. Before the war, Jordan's King Hussain told the American ambassador: "They want the West Bank. They've been waiting for a chance to get it, and they're going to take advantage of us and they're going to attack."
Second, Israeli politicians were genuinely fearful of Jamal Abdul Nasser, the charismatic leader of Arab nationalism. They may have seen the war as an opportunity to embarrass him and deflate the movement he embodied.
Third, Israeli leaders may have seen military confrontation with the Arab states as inevitable, and chose to engage in battle at a time and under terms of their choosing. Menachem Begin, for example, characterised Israel's war aim as to "take the initiative and attack the enemy, drive him back, and thus assure the security of Israel and the future of the nation."
What was the chain of events leading up to the war?
The progression toward war was sparked by Israel's attack on the West Bank village of Samu' in November 1966. Israeli forces killed 18 civilians and Jordanian soldiers, and razed nearly the entire village. After the attack, King Hussain bitterly criticised Nasser for "hiding behind" the UN Emergency Force, stationed in the Sinai Peninsula after Israel's 1956 attack on Egypt, and failing to act in line with his Arab nationalist rhetoric. The criticism, echoed by the Arab press, drove Nasser into a more militant posture toward Israel. Tensions were also building between Israel and Syria, largely due to Israel's repeated attempts to farm in the Demilitarised Zone that had separated Israeli and Syrian troops since the first Arab-Israeli war in 1948-49. In April 1967, one such incident escalated into an aerial battle during which Israel shot down six Syrian fighter jets, including two over Damascus.
The Soviet Union, at the time closely allied with Syria, then shared intelligence reports with Nasser that suggested an impending Israeli attack on Syria. In early May the Israeli Cabinet had authorised an attack on Syria. Soviet exaggerations may have been designed to stir Egypt into a more aggressive stance in support of Syria, thereby deterring the feared Israeli strike.
Nasser responded by requesting the removal of the UN Emergency Forces from the Sinai Peninsula, replacing them with Egyptian troops, and declaring the Straits of Tiran (leading from the Gulf of Aqaba into the Red Sea) closed to Israeli shipping.
http://www.gulfnews.com/region/Middle_East/10130302.html
And even if Arabs started the offensive out of the blue, it's still their right and duty to remove the 
