The Never-ending War

Forty-eight years ago this week, Israel fought the shortest and most decisive conflict in its history to date - The Six Day War.

In May of 1967, Syria deployed almost its entire active and reserve armor and infantry combat force - some 70,000 strong in aggressive attack formations on the Golan Heights.

At the same time Egypt blockaded the exit from the Red Sea to Israeli shipping, while massing 100,000 of its troops in the Sinai, including seven armor and infantry divisions, four independent infantry brigades and four independent armored brigades. The Egyptians had 950 tanks and more than 1,000 artillery pieces.

Egyptian president Gamal Abdul Nasser became increasingly belligerent. A year earlier, he had announced, "We shall not enter Palestine with its soil covered in sand; we shall enter it with its soil saturated in blood."

A few months later, he expressed the Arabs' ultimate goal: "...we aim at the destruction of the state of Israel...the national aim is the eradication of Israel."

Taking these threats literally, the Israelis were very concerned. Recruiting most of its reserve combat units, Israel deployed a total strength of around 264,000 troops, divided between the three fronts (Egypt, Syria and Jordan). Since the bulk of this fighting force was, as mentioned, reservists, the call-up could not be sustained long since these reservists were vital to the economy, transportation and civilian life.

Against Jordan's forces on the West Bank, Israel deployed about 40,000 troops and 200 tanks (8 brigades). Mordechai Gur's 55th paratrooper brigade was summoned from the Sinai front (and subsequently captured the Old City and Temple Mount).

The balance was divided between the Northern and Southern fronts.

On May 14, Nasser ordered the UN Emergency Force, which was stationed in the Sinai since 1956 as a buffer between Israel and Egypt, to withdraw. Secretary-General U Thant complied with the demand.

Everything went downhill from there:

On May 18, after the UN withdrawal, the "Voice of the Arabs" radio station proclaimed: "As of today, there no longer exists an international emergency force to protect Israel. We shall exercise patience no more. We shall not complain any more to the UN about Israel. The sole method we shall apply against Israel is total war, which will result in the extermination of Zionist existence."

On May 20, Syrian Defense Minister (later president) Hafez Assad announced: "Our forces are now entirely ready...to initiate the act of liberation itself, and to explode the Zionist presence in the Arab homeland. The Syrian army, with its finger on the trigger, is united...the time has come to enter into a battle of annihilation."

On May 30, King Hussein of Jordan signed a defense pact with Egypt. Nasser then announced: "The armies of Egypt, Jordan, Syria and Lebanon are poised on the borders of Israel...while standing behind us are the armies of Iraq, Algeria, Kuwait, Sudan and the whole Arab nation. This act will astound the world. Today they will know that the Arabs are arranged for battle, the critical hour has arrived. We have reached the stage of serious action and not declarations."

The same day President Abdur Rahman Aref of Iraq declared: "The existence of Israel is an error which must be rectified. This is our opportunity to wipe out the ignominy which has been with us since 1948. Our goal is clear -- to wipe Israel off the map." On June 4, Iraq joined the military alliance with Egypt, Jordan and Syria.

The Arabs mobilized over 465,000 troops, more than 2,800 tanks, and 800 aircraft, exclusively to destroy Israel.

By this time, Israeli forces had been on alert for three weeks. The country could not remain fully mobilized indefinitely. It also could not let its sea lane from the Southern port of Elat through the Gulf of Aqaba to be blocked by Egyptian guns in the Straits of Tiran at Sharm-e-Sheik.

Israel decided to preempt the expected Arab attack, and to do so by surprise. The IDF commanders knew that if Israel waited for the massed Arab armies to attack first the country could have faced a catastrophic, existential outcome.

On June 5^th, Because of the imminent threat, Prime Minister Eshkol gave the order to attack Egypt. The rest is history.

Within six days, Israel defeated the combined Arab armies and legitimately took possession of the Golan Heights, the West Bank, East Jerusalem (including Temple Mount), the Sinai Peninsula and the Gaza Strip.

Three weeks later the Israeli government officially offered to give up almost every inch (with security necessitated adjustments) to Egypt, Syria and Jordan in exchange for peace treaties that included the phrase "end of conflict". There were no takers.

Eventually Jordan established a secret peace treaty with Israel in 1970, but refused to take back the West Bank.

The war that was fought 67 years ago this week was a war that every Israeli and many Palestinians truly believed would be the last one, and that it would lead to regional peace and prosperity - and a Palestinian State alongside Israel...if only Egypt had accepted Israel's offer and King Hussein had agreed to take back the West Bank.

Unfortunately the Six Day War turned out to be just another violent and bloody chapter of the "Never-ending War" for Israel's very survival- the war that started in 1947, and continued through 1956, 1973, 1981, 2006, etc., to this day, as Israel completes preparations for upcoming rounds in the North and South.