The 6 day war

[Pekka]

I have to admit I know way too little about this. I was listening this song where with interesting lyrics, named 'the 6 day war'.. you can find it on DJ Shadows The Private Press (Advance).. Anyway, it clearly sends subliminal messages because now I want to know everything about the 6 day war.. everything! How did it start, why, who, when, where, what happened, then what etc.

I figure some of our Israeli posters are experts on this subject.. I appreciate any info you can give me.

I'm off to bed now, so I'll be checking back tomorrow.

[orange]

you can probably find a neat, handy timeline somewhere online. I mean, it was a 6 day war for crying out loud. Israel came, saw, and conquered.

[Zkribbler]

It was back in the last 1960's. Egypt, Syria and Jordan announced they were going to drive Israel into the sea. It looked like a done deal because the Arabs vastly outnumbered the Isrealis in men, tanks and planes.

Isreal struck first, knocking out the air forces of the three nations. Then the Isreali army drove to the Suez Canal capturing huge numbers of Egyptians, raced back across the country to take the Golan Heights from Syria, and finally took the West Bank and all of Jersulem. In six days. Simply amazing.

[Lazerus]

US - size
UK - skill
Israel - experience

nothing like being surrounded by enemies to send your troops morale and training through the roof.
textbook precision, nice job done by the Isrealies

[Edan]

Read Six Days of War: The Making of the Modern Middle East, by Michael Oren. It's an excellent and very informative book about the war.

[Ned]

Originally posted by Lazerus
US - size
UK - skill
Israel - experience

nothing like being surrounded by enemies to send your troops morale and training through the roof.
textbook precision, nice job done by the Isrealies

US no skill or experience?

It is good, though, that three of the best armed forces in the world are on the same side. (I think we really have to include the Aussies here as well. They did a superb job in Iraq. I even heard good reports about the Poles.)

[Post Count Zero]

I bet you guys have never heard of 6 minute war.

[Post Count Zero]

Re: The 6 day war

Originally posted by Pekka
I have to admit I know way too little about this. I was listening this song where with interesting lyrics, named 'the 6 day war'.. you can find it on DJ Shadows The Private Press (Advance).. Anyway, it clearly sends subliminal messages because now I want to know everything about the 6 day war.. everything! How did it start, why, who, when, where, what happened, then what etc.

I figure some of our Israeli posters are experts on this subject.. I appreciate any info you can give me.

I'm off to bed now, so I'll be checking back tomorrow.

busy busy set the mice running

[Ned]

Pekka, we had a major discussion here on the 6-day war a few months back. The war was primarily about water resources in the Golan and the UAR's blockade of the Straights of Tiran. The Syrians were diverting the water in the Golan that supplied the Sea of Galilee and most of Israel. The UAR blockaded the Straights of Tiran, which in combination with the UAR's control of the Suez Canal, threatened Israel's very existence due to lack of oil.

Faced with this, Israel approached president Johnson. Johnson said he would organize an international convoy to run the blockade and asked the Israeli's to hold off. Well, Johnson failed and did nothing to break the blockade. As soon as this was communicated to Israel, they began the war by taking out Egypt's entire air force.

Early in '67, the Syrian and Israeli air force had tangled over the Golan and the UAR had mobilized and moved large forces into the Sinai towards Israel. The UAR then asked that the UN peacekeepers leave Gaza and the border between Israel and the UAR. Arafat began staging terrorist actions from Gaza.

The Syrians and Jordanians also mobilized. Ditto Iraq. Iraqi and Jordanian forces were placed under UAR command.

Nasser made it clear that he intended to destroy Israel. He actually launched an attack, IIRC, on June 3. We got wind of this, told the USSR, who persuaded the UAR to stop. They did.

But the Israeli's then attacked themselves. On day 1, they destroyed the UAR air force in Egypt, the Jordanian air force, the Iraqi air force at H3, and the Syrian air force. Sharon then took Gaza and the Sinai with armor. Airborne took Tiran. Next, the airborne and infantry took the West bank. Armor then attached the Golan beginning on June 11. They were driving hard on Damascus when the Soviets threatened to invade if the Israeli's did not stop.

We asked them to stop and they did.

The USSR treated the invasion of Syria as aggression. The UN resolutions 'til that time were more of the "please stop fighting" variety. After the June 11 attack on Syria, the USSR declared Israel to be a naked aggressor. The UN resolutions from this point on began demanding not only a cease-fire, but also an Israeli withdrawal from the occupied territories.

In the middle of all this, the Israeli's attacked one of our spy vessels off the coast of the Sinai. The Americans on board insisted that the Israeli's knew it was an American ship.

The Israeli's apparently stopped the attack only after a phone call between president Johnson and the Israeli prime minister, IIRC.

I also believe we became a little more forceful in threatening the USSR with war if they invaded after this phone call.

[Joseph]

In the 73 war, Nixon told the Soviet to stand down or face the entire US Force. He also move the defcon level up to either 4 or 3.
IN the 67 war, after the attack on our ship, a lot of Navy men at MI wanted to go kick the Israeli's ass, to teach them a lesson about attacking us.

[Case]

Isreal struck first, knocking out the air forces of the three nations. Then the Isreali army drove to the Suez Canal capturing huge numbers of Egyptians, raced back across the country to take the Golan Heights from Syria, and finally took the West Bank and all of Jersulem. In six days. Simply amazing.

...and then in the belief that they could do it again, the Israelies essentially annexed the conquered territories and ignored the inital peace feelers put forward by Sadat.

[Edan]

Originally posted by Case


...and then in the belief that they could do it again, the Israelies essentially annexed the conquered territories and ignored the inital peace feelers put forward by Sadat.

No. Israel had attempted several times to offer several proposals offering land for peace in the late 60s - they failed largely for the refusal of the Arab countries to recognize Israel. As to the attempts in the early 70s, these failed for several reasons, including Golda Meirs insistance to meet the Arab delegation face to face, while Sadat refused to do so, insisting that the US do the negotiating and deliver the lands to him. Certainly not a great prospect for peace when one side refused to meet face to face to the other. Another reason for the failure was Kissinger not taking Sadat serious - thinking he was bluffing, and the administration's general distraction of the Vietnam War.

[Andemagne]

what is this UAR?

[Insigna]

Originally posted by Andemagne
what is this UAR?

Egypt used this name for a few years in the 60's.

[Lancer]

Ever heard of the 'war of Jenkin's nose'? Brits and Spanish iirc. Brits got pissed because the Spanish cut off the nose of a British guy named, you guessed it, Jenkins.