Six-Day War (1967 Arab-Israeli War)

The Six-Day War, or the 1967 Arab-Israeli War, was a military conflict fought between Israel and its Arab neighbors Egypt, Syria, and Jordan from June 5 to June 10, 1967. Iraq provided military support to the Arab states during the war. The conflict ended with Israel’s military and geographical superiority, fundamentally altering the political, demographic, and military map of the Middle East. This defeat and territorial loss are referred to by Palestinians and the Arab world as the “Naksa” (Setback or Day of Territorial Loss).

Tensions in the region remained unresolved after the First Arab-Israeli War of 1948 and the 1956 Suez Crisis. From the mid-1960s onward, border clashes between Israel and its Arab neighbors intensified. On November 13, 1966, a large-scale Israeli military operation against the Jordanian-controlled village of Samu was condemned by the United Nations Security Council and further escalated regional tensions. On April 7, 1967, the downing of six Syrian fighter jets in an aerial clash with Israeli aircraft over the Golan Heights became one of the key turning points leading to war.

One of the largest sparks leading to war was a false intelligence report sent by the Soviet Union to Egypt in May 1967, claiming that Israel was massing troops along its border with Syria. Acting on this report, Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser deployed troops to the Sinai Peninsula to prevent a potential attack on Syria and demanded the withdrawal of the United Nations Emergency Force (UNEF), which had been stationed in the region since 1956. As tensions escalated, Egypt declared on May 22–23, 1967, that it was closing the Strait of Tiran, Israel’s only access to the Red Sea and a vital maritime route for ships carrying strategic materials to Israel.

Israel declared the closure of international waterways a direct “casus belli.” In response, on May 30, Egypt and Jordan signed a mutual defense pact, and on June 4, Iraq joined them in forming a unified Arab defense alliance. On the Israeli side, amid rising perceptions of threat, a national unity government was formed on June 1, 1967, and Moshe Dayan, a commander from the 1956 war, was appointed Minister of Defense.

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Before the war, the numerical balance of forces favored the Arab states. The Arab alliance (Egypt, Syria, Jordan, and Iraq) possessed approximately 537,000 troops, 2,904 tanks, and 900 to 978 combat aircraft. Israel’s forces, including reserves, numbered between 250,000 and 264,000 troops, with 800 to 1,000 tanks and 300 to 365 aircraft.

However, Israel was exceptionally well-prepared in terms of military training and tactical intelligence. The Israeli Air Force had conducted years of target practice on mock-ups resembling Egyptian air bases and had developed a military operation codenamed “Operation Focus.” Additionally, in 1966, Israeli intelligence (Mossad) acquired a Soviet-made MiG-21 fighter jet from an Iraqi pilot for one million dollars, enabling Israeli analysts to identify critical weaknesses in the Arab armies’ primary air power before the war began.

The air campaign and initial offensive began on the morning of June 5, 1967, at 07:45 local time (08:45 Egypt time), with a surprise and simultaneous attack by the Israeli Air Force on Egyptian military airfields (Operation Focus). Israeli jets flew at extremely low altitudes (50 meters) over the Mediterranean Sea to avoid radar detection and maintained radio silence. They caught the Egyptian Air Force completely unprepared on the ground. Israel timed its attack to coincide with the end of Egypt’s morning patrol flights and the change of shifts, destroying over 300 Egyptian aircraft within hours. On the same day, attacks were launched against air bases in Syria, Jordan, and Iraq. By the end of the first day of the war, the Arab countries had lost 80 percent of their air power—more than 400 aircraft—and air superiority had passed entirely to Israel.

Ground operations (on the Jerusalem, West Bank, Sinai, and Golan fronts) saw the Egyptian army, deprived of air cover, suffer heavy losses against rapidly advancing Israeli armored units. Israeli forces captured the Gaza Strip and the entire Sinai Peninsula, reaching the eastern bank of the Suez Canal.

The Jordanian army, which had launched an attack on Israel in the war’s first hours, also suffered a rapid collapse. On June 7, Israeli forces entered East Jerusalem through the Old City walls. Israeli troops, led by Defense Minister Moshe Dayan and Chief of Staff Yitzhak Rabin, reached the Al-Aqsa Mosque and the Western Wall. With East Jerusalem, the entire West Bank came under Israeli control, ending Jordanian rule.

On the Syrian front, after losing air superiority in the first days of the war, Syrian forces engaged Israeli units in artillery duels in the Golan Heights region. On June 9 and 10, Israel advanced northward, capturing the Golan Heights from Syria and began moving toward the Syrian capital, Damascus.

On June 8, 1967, while sailing in international waters of the Mediterranean, the American intelligence ship USS Liberty was attacked by Israeli warplanes and torpedo boats. Thirty-four American sailors were killed and 171 wounded. The Israeli government later claimed the attack was the result of a misidentification (mistaking the ship for an Egyptian vessel), apologized to the United States, and paid compensation.

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Following interventions by the Soviet Union and the United States and a United Nations Security Council call for a ceasefire, the war officially ended on June 10, 1967, after Jordan accepted a ceasefire on June 7, Egypt on June 8, and Syria on June 10.

The consequences of the six-day war were severe in both military and territorial terms:

• Human Losses and Damage: Egypt, Syria, and Jordan suffered approximately 20,000 military casualties, and a large portion of their arms and aircraft were destroyed. Israel’s losses amounted to approximately 800 personnel.
• Territorial Losses: Israel expanded its borders by more than three and a half times, occupying the Gaza Strip and the Sinai Peninsula from Egypt, the West Bank and East Jerusalem from Jordan, and the Golan Heights from Syria.
• Demographic Consequences (Naksa): Approximately 300,000 Palestinians living in the West Bank, East Jerusalem, and the Gaza Strip were displaced by the war and forced to flee as a massive wave of refugees to neighboring countries, particularly Jordan.

The military outcome of the war deeply shook the balance of power in the Middle East. Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser announced on radio that he accepted responsibility for the heavy defeat and would resign. However, after mass protests erupted in the streets, he reversed his decision.

Following the war, the United Nations Security Council adopted its historic Resolution 242 on November 22, 1967. The resolution emphasized the principle that “territory cannot be acquired by war,” called for Israel’s withdrawal from occupied territories, and urged respect for the political independence and borders of all states in the region and their right to live in peace. Although Israel withdrew from the Sinai Peninsula in 1982 following its 1979 peace treaty with Egypt, its occupation of East Jerusalem, the West Bank, and the Golan Heights continues to this day. Israel declared East Jerusalem its eternal capital in 1980 and annexed the Golan Heights in 1981.

From the perspective of Israeli domestic politics and Jewish faith, the war created a major turning point. The secular state of Israel, founded on secular ideals, came to be viewed by many Jews as a theological affirmation and even a “divine miracle” due to its capture of religiously and historically significant territories such as East Jerusalem (particularly the Western Wall and Al-Aqsa Mosque) and the West Bank (known in the Torah as Judea and Samaria). This perception laid the groundwork for the rise of religious-nationalist settlement movements in Israel after the war, such as Gush Emunim, and for the settlement of Jewish civilians in occupied territories. Like the Nakba following the First Arab-Israeli War, the Six-Day War has been cemented as the foundational act of an ongoing occupation that has lasted for decades.

The 1967 Six-Day War is regarded by Palestinians as the second most devastating turning point in their history after the 1948 Nakba (Catastrophe) and is referred to by them as the “Naksa” (Setback).

The military, territorial, demographic, and political consequences of the war have left lasting effects on the Palestinian people that persist to this day.

The most direct territorial outcome of the war was the complete military control of historic Palestine by Israel. After the 1948 war, Israel had controlled 78 percent of Palestinian territory; with the 1967 war, the remaining territories—the West Bank, East Jerusalem, and the Gaza Strip—were militarily occupied, bringing the total under Israeli control to 100 percent.

Although United Nations Security Council Resolution 242 called for Israel’s withdrawal from these occupied territories, the resolution was never implemented, and Israeli military dominance over Palestinian land became permanent.

The violence and destruction caused by the war triggered a new wave of forced displacement among Palestinians. According to statistics, between 300,000 and 350,000 Palestinians living in the West Bank and Gaza Strip were displaced as a result of the war and subsequent occupation policies, with the vast majority seeking refuge in neighboring Arab countries, especially Jordan.

The 1967 occupation opened the door to the settlement of Israeli Jews in the West Bank, East Jerusalem, and Gaza, and to new demographic engineering projects.

Despite being considered a war crime under the Fourth Geneva Convention, Israeli civilians were relocated to occupied territories, and every new settlement established required the state or military to confiscate land owned by Palestinians.

As a result of these policies over the years, 85 percent of the 27,000 square kilometers of historic Palestinian land has been seized by Israel, leaving Palestinians with access to only 15 percent of their homeland.

One of the most dramatic outcomes of the war occurred in East Jerusalem. Immediately after capturing East Jerusalem, Israeli forces demolished the entire historic Maghariba Quarter to create a large prayer and gathering area in front of the Western Wall.

To disrupt the demographic balance in favor of Jews and sever Jerusalem’s ties with other Palestinian cities, twelve new settlements housing a combined population of 200,000 were established within the city.

In 1980, Israel passed a law declaring Jerusalem its eternal capital in an attempt to legitimize its occupation. However, this annexation decision was rejected by the international community and the United Nations.