About Jean Nassar Expertise I know well the history of Lebanon and the surrounding area, and can answer many questions about military history and tactics. Also, I know a lot of the space program. My information is not limited to 20th Century history, particularly in the area east of the Mediterranean.
Experience Although I am still in school , I am an avid reader, and have taken an interest in my country's history (Lebanon), especially after the catastrophes of 2005 and 2006.
Expert: Jean Nassar Date: 4/18/2006 Subject: The Six Day War
Question Just wondering if you good outline how the soviet union and the cold war influenced the six day war. any help would be greatly welcomed
thanks
rob
Answer I am sorry for the lateness of my reply, but I have been away from any internet for several days.
I am not sure, but I believe that the tension between the United States and the Soviet Union contributed to the occurence of the war in several ways.
First, it is important to remember that most Arab nations, at the time, had the backing of the Soviets, which provided weapons. On the other hand, Israel had (and still has) American and Western support.
I hope I have not caused any trouble in the tardiness of my reply, and that I have answered your question. Feel free to write back.
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Jean Nassar
Following Egypt's blockade of Israeli shipping in the Straits of Tiran and the deployment of its troops in the Sinai near the Israeli border, and after months of increasingly tense border incidents and diplomatic crises, Israel launched what it described as a pre-emptive attack against Egypt. At the war's end, Israel had gained control of the Gaza Strip, the Sinai Peninsula, the West Bank, and the Golan Heights. The results of the war affect the geopolitics of the region to this day.
At the time, no Arab state had recognized Israel. Syria began sponsoring guerilla raids into Israel in the early 1960s as part of its "people's war of liberation", designed to deflect domestic opposition to the Baath Party. Israel and Syria also had an ongoing dispute about water and territorial rights along their 1949 cease-fire line.
On 18 May, 1967, Egypt formally requested the withdrawal of UNEF from Sinai. UN Secretary-General U Thant complied, thus removing the international buffer which had existed along the Egyptian-Israeli border since 1957. Egyptian president Jamal Abdel Nasser then began the re-militarization of the Sinai, and concentrated tanks and troops on the border with Israel.
On 23 May, Egypt closed the Straits of Tiran to all Israel-bound ships, thus blockading the Israeli port of Eilat at the northern end of the Gulf of Aqaba. Israel demanded the US and UK open the straits as they guaranteed they would in 1957. Harold Wilson's proposal of an international maritime force to quell the crisis was adopted by US President Johnson, but received little international support. The Israeli cabinet met on 23 May and decided to launch a pre-emptive strike if the Straits of Tiran were not re-opened by 25 May, later agreeing to a delay of another two weeks at US request. It should be noted that blockade, even partial blockade, is generally defined as an act of war.
In his speech to Arab trade unionists on 26 May, Abdel Nasser announced: "If Israel embarks on an aggression against Syria or Egypt, the battle will be a general one... and our basic objective will be to destroy Israel."
On May 30, Jordan signed a mutual defense treaty with Egypt, thereby joining the military alliance already in place between Egypt and Syria. Jordanian forces were placed under the command of Egyptian General Abdul Munim Riad. This put Arab forces just 17 kilometres from Israel's coast, a jump-off point from which a well coordinated tank assault would likely cut Israel in two within half an hour.
At the same time, several other Arab states not bordering Israel, including Iraq, Sudan, Kuwait and Algeria, also began mobilizing their armed forces.
Chief of Staff Yitzhak Rabin had formulated a plan in which Southern Command would fight its way to the Gaza Strip and then hold the territory and its people hostage until Egypt agreed to reopen the Straits of Tiran while the GOC, Southern Command Brigadier General Yeshayahu Gavish had a more comprehensive plan that called for the destruction of Egyptian forces in the Sinai. Rabin favored Gavish's plan, which was then endorsed by Dayan with the caution that a simultaneous offensive against Syria should be avoided.
Newly declassified documents reveal that the United States of America had worked feverishly behind the scenes attempting to "hold the Israeli tiger" in the days leading up to war. The Johnson Administration received guarantees from Egypt that it would not strike first and arranged a diplomatic visit from Egyptian envoy Zakaria Mohieddin who was scheduled to depart on June 6, 1967. The diplomatic cable stated "we hope it will be possible for him to come without delay" and there were high hopes in the Johnson Administration that the visit would lead to the end of the crisis.
On June 4, Iraq joined the military alliance with Egypt, Jordan and Syria.
After the war ended on June 10, there were reports that (allow me to use this word) proved Western support for Israel and Russia's support for the Arabs.
In fact, Israel's first and most important move in the war was a pre-emptive attack on the Egyptian Air Force. It was by far the largest and the most modern of all the Arab air forces, consisting of about 450 combat aircraft, all of them Soviet-built and relatively new.
Some Arabs believe that the United States and Britain provided active support for the Israeli Air Force. Claims of American and British combat support for Israel began on the second day of the war. Radio Cairo and the government newspaper Al-Ahram made a number of claims, among them: that U.S. and British carrier-based aircraft flew sorties against the Egyptians; that U.S. aircraft based in Libya attacked Egypt; and that U.S. spy satellites provided imagery to Israel. Both Syria and Jordan broadcast similar reports on Radio Damascus and Radio Amman. These claims were also repeated by Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser in his 9 June resignation speech (his resignation was not accepted).
Both London and Washington strongly denied these claims, and no evidence has ever corroborated them.
Nonetheless, these claims, that the Arabs were fighting the Americans and British rather than Israel alone, took hold in the Arab world. A British guidance telegram to Middle East posts concluded: "The Arabs' reluctance to disbelieve all versions of the Big Lie springs in part from a need to believe that the Israelis could not have defeated them so thoroughly without outside assistance." In reaction to these claims, Arab oil-producing countries announced an oil embargo.
In a 1993 interview, U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara revealed that the U.S. 6th Fleet Carrier battle group, on a training exercise near Gibraltar was re-positioned towards the eastern Mediterranean to defend Israel if necessary, causing a crisis between the US and USSR. McNamara did not explain how the crisis was resolved.
In his book Six Days, BBC journalist Jeremy Bowen claims that during the crisis, Israeli ships and planes carried British and American military arms reserves from British soil.
There are also theories that the entire 1967 War was a botched attempt by the Soviet Union to create tensions between West Germany and Arab countries by highlighting West Germany's support for Israel.
In her September 2003 article in the Middle East Review of International Affairs, Isabella Ginor detailed Soviet GRU documents proposing such a plan and further detailing faulty intelligence fed to Egypt claiming troop buildups near the Golan Heights in Syria.
