Six - Day War - wikipedia Six - Day War This article is about the Arab -- Israeli war in 1967. For the Rwandan -- Ugandan conflict around Kisangani, see Six - Day War ( 2000 ). For the insurgency in the New Territories, Hong Kong, see Six - Day War ( 1899 ). Six - Day War Part of the Arab -- Israeli conflict Territory held by Israel before and after the Six Day War. The Straits of Tiran are circled, between the Gulf of Aqaba to the north and the Red Sea to the south. Date June 5 -- 10, 1967 ( 6 days ) Location Middle East Result Decisive Israeli victory Territorial changes Israel captures the Gaza Strip and the Sinai Peninsula from Egypt, the West Bank ( including East Jerusalem ) from Jordan, and the Golan Heights from Syria Belligerents Israel Egypt Syria Jordan Iraq Lebanon Supported by : Algeria Kuwait Libya Morocco Pakistan PLO Sudan Tunisia Commanders and leaders Levi Eshkol Moshe Dayan Yitzhak Rabin Uzi Narkiss Motta Gur Israel Tal Mordechai Hod Yeshayahu Gavish Ariel Sharon Ezer Weizman Shlomo Erell David Elazar Gamal Abdel Nasser Abdel Hakim Amer Abdul Munim Riad Hussein Zaid ibn Shaker Asad Ghanma Salah Jadid Nureddin al - Atassi Abdul Rahman Arif Mubarak Abdullah Al - Jaber Al - Sabah Saleh Mohammed Al - Sabah Fahad Al - Ahmed Al - Jaber Al - Sabah Strength 50,000 troops 214,000 reserves 300 combat aircraft 800 tanks Total troops : 264,000 100,000 deployed Egypt : 240,000 Syria, Jordan, and Iraq : 307,000 957 combat aircraft 2,504 tanks Lebanon : 2 combat aircraft Total troops : 547,000 240,000 deployed Casualties and losses 776 -- 983 killed 4,517 wounded 15 captured 400 tanks destroyed 46 aircraft destroyed Egypt : 10,000 -- 15,000 killed or missing 4,338 captured Jordan : 6,000 killed or missing 533 captured Syria : 2,500 killed 591 captured Iraq : 10 killed 30 wounded Lebanon : One aircraft lost Hundreds of tanks destroyed 452 + aircraft destroyed 20 Israeli civilians killed 34 US Navy sailors killed Six - Day War Waiting period Operation Focus Abu - Ageila Jordanian campaign Ammunition Hill Old City Augusta - Victoria USS Liberty incident Tel Faher The Six - Day War ( Hebrew : מלחמת ששת הימים, Milhemet Sheshet Ha Yamim ; Arabic : النكسة, an - Naksah, `` The Setback '' or حرب ۱۹٦۷, Ḥarb 1967, `` War of 1967 '' ), also known as the June War, 1967 Arab -- Israeli War, or Third Arab -- Israeli War, was fought between June 5 and 10, 1967 by Israel and the neighboring states of Egypt ( known at the time as the United Arab Republic ), Jordan, and Syria. Relations between Israel and its neighbours had never fully normalised following the 1948 Arab -- Israeli War. In 1956 Israel invaded the Egyptian Sinai, with one of its objectives being the reopening of the Straits of Tiran which Egypt had blocked to Israeli shipping since 1950. Israel was subsequently forced to withdraw, but won a guarantee that the Straits of Tiran would remain open. Whilst the United Nations Emergency Force was deployed along the border, there was no demilitarisation agreement. In the period leading up to June 1967, tensions became dangerously heightened. Israel reiterated its post-1956 position that the closure of the straits of Tiran to its shipping would be a casus belli and in late May Nasser announced the straits would be closed to Israeli vessels. Egypt then mobilised its forces along its border with Israel, and on 5 June Israel launched what it claimed were a series of preemptive airstrikes against Egyptian airfields. Claims and counterclaims relating to this series of events are one of a number of controversies relating to the conflict. The Egyptians were caught by surprise, and nearly the entire Egyptian air force was destroyed with few Israeli losses, giving the Israelis air supremacy. Simultaneously, the Israelis launched a ground offensive into the Gaza Strip and the Sinai, which again caught the Egyptians by surprise. After some initial resistance, Egyptian leader Gamal Abdel Nasser ordered the evacuation of the Sinai. Israeli forces rushed westward in pursuit of the Egyptians, inflicted heavy losses, and conquered the Sinai. Nasser induced Syria and Jordan to begin attacks on Israel by using the initially confused situation to claim that Egypt had defeated the Israeli air strike. Israeli counterattacks resulted in the seizure of East Jerusalem as well as the West Bank from the Jordanians, while Israel 's retaliation against Syria resulted in its occupation of the Golan Heights. On June 11, a ceasefire was signed. Arab casualties were far heavier than those of Israel : fewer than a thousand Israelis had been killed compared to over 20,000 from the Arab forces. Israel 's military success was attributed to the element of surprise, an innovative and well - executed battle plan, and the poor quality and leadership of the Arab forces. Israel seized control of the Gaza Strip and the Sinai Peninsula from Egypt, the West Bank and East Jerusalem from Jordan, and the Golan Heights from Syria. Israeli morale and international prestige were greatly increased by the outcome of the war and the area under Israeli control tripled. However, the speed and ease of Israel 's victory would lead to a dangerous overconfidence within the ranks of the Israel Defense Forces ( IDF ), contributing to initial Arab successes in the subsequent 1973 Yom Kippur War. The displacement of civilian populations resulting from the war would have long - term consequences, as 300,000 Palestinians fled the West Bank and about 100,000 Syrians left the Golan to become refugees. Across the Arab world, Jewish minority communities were expelled, with refugees going to Israel or Europe. Contents 1 Background 1.1 Military preparation 2 Armies and weapons 2.1 Armies 2.2 Weapons 3 Fighting fronts 3.1 Preemptive air attack 3.2 Gaza Strip and Sinai Peninsula 3.2. 1 Northern ( El Arish ) Israeli division 3.2. 2 Advance on Arish 3.2. 3 Mid-front ( Abu - Ageila ) Israeli division 3.2. 4 Other Israeli forces 3.2. 5 The Egyptian Army 3.2. 6 Next fighting days 3.3 West Bank 3.3. 1 Israeli cabinet meets 3.3. 2 Initial response 3.3. 3 Jordanian battalion at Government House 3.3. 4 Israeli invasion 3.3. 5 The Old City ( June 7 ) 3.4 Golan Heights 3.4. 1 Syria 's attack 3.4. 2 Israeli Air Force attacks the Syrian airfields 3.4. 3 Israelis debate whether the Golan Heights should be attacked 3.4. 4 Israeli attack : first day 3.4. 5 Israeli attack : the next day 4 Conclusion 4.1 Casualties 5 Controversies 5.1 Preemptive strike v. unjustified attack 5.2 Allegations of atrocities against Egyptian soldiers 5.3 Allegations of military support from the US, UK and Soviet Union 5.4 USS Liberty incident 6 Aftermath 6.1 Israel and Zionism 6.2 Jews in Arab countries - Pogroms and expulsion 6.3 Antisemitism against Jews in Communist countries 6.4 Peace and diplomacy 6.5 Captured territories and Arab displaced populations 6.6 Long term 7 See also 8 Notes 9 Footnotes 10 References 11 Further reading 12 External links Background Main article : Origins of the Six - Day War On 22 May 1967, President Nasser addressed his pilots at Bir Gifgafa Airfield in Sinai : `` The Jews are threatening war -- we say to them ahlan wa - sahlan ( welcome ) ! '' After the 1956 Suez Crisis, Egypt agreed to the stationing of a United Nations Emergency Force ( UNEF ) in the Sinai to ensure all parties would comply with the 1949 Armistice Agreements. In the following years there were numerous minor border clashes between Israel and its Arab neighbors, particularly Syria. In early November 1966, Syria signed a mutual defense agreement with Egypt. Soon thereafter, in response to Palestine Liberation Organisation ( PLO ) guerilla activity, including a mine attack that left three dead, the Israeli Defence Force ( IDF ) attacked the village of as - Samu in the Jordanian - occupied West Bank. Jordanian units that engaged the Israelis were quickly beaten back. King Hussein of Jordan criticized Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser for failing to come to Jordan 's aid, and `` hiding behind UNEF skirts ''. In May 1967, Nasser received false reports from the Soviet Union that Israel was massing on the Syrian border. Nasser began massing his troops in two defensive lines in the Sinai Peninsula on Israel 's border ( May 16 ), expelled the UNEF force from Gaza and Sinai ( May 19 ) and took up UNEF positions at Sharm el - Sheikh, overlooking the Straits of Tiran. Israel reiterated declarations made in 1957 that any closure of the Straits would be considered an act of war, or justification for war, and Nasser declared the Straits closed to Israeli shipping on May 22 -- 23. The U.S. President at the time, Lyndon Johnson, later had this to say about closure of these straits being a cause of the war : If a single act of folly was more responsible for this explosion than any other, it was the arbitrary and dangerous announced decision that the Straits of Tiran would be closed. The right of innocent, maritime passage must be preserved for all nations. On May 30, Jordan and Egypt signed a defense pact. The following day, at Jordan 's invitation, the Iraqi army began deploying troops and armoured units in Jordan. They were later reinforced by an Egyptian contingent. On June 1, Israel formed a National Unity Government by widening its cabinet, and on June 4 the decision was made to go to war. The next morning, Israel launched Operation Focus, a large - scale surprise air strike that was the opening of the Six - Day War. Military preparation Before the war, Israeli pilots and ground crews had trained extensively in rapid refitting of aircraft returning from sorties, enabling a single aircraft to sortie up to four times a day ( as opposed to the norm in Arab air forces of one or two sorties per day ). This enabled the Israeli Air Force ( IAF ) to send several attack waves against Egyptian airfields on the first day of the war, overwhelming the Egyptian Air Force, and allowed it to knock out other Arab air forces on the same day. This has contributed to the Arab belief that the IAF was helped by foreign air forces ( see Controversies relating to the Six - Day War ). Pilots were extensively schooled about their targets, and were forced to memorize every single detail, and rehearsed the operation multiple times on dummy runways in total secrecy. The Egyptians had constructed fortified defenses in the Sinai. These designs were based on the assumption that an attack would come along the few roads leading through the desert, rather than through the difficult desert terrain. The Israelis chose not to risk attacking the Egyptian defenses head - on, and instead surprised them from an unexpected direction. James Reston, writing in The New York Times on May 23, 1967, noted, `` In discipline, training, morale, equipment and general competence his ( Nasser 's ) army and the other Arab forces, without the direct assistance of the Soviet Union, are no match for the Israelis... Even with 50,000 troops and the best of his generals and air force in Yemen, he has not been able to work his way in that small and primitive country, and even his effort to help the Congo rebels was a flop. '' On May 26, 1967, the CIA estimated : `` The Israelis... If they attack now they... would still be able to drive the Egyptians away from the entrance to the Strait of Tiran, but it would certainly cost them heavy losses of men and materiel. '' On the eve of the war, Israel believed it could win a war in 3 -- 4 days. The United States estimated Israel would need 7 -- 10 days to win, with British estimates supporting the U.S. view. Armies and weapons Armies The Israeli army had a total strength, including reservists, of 264,000, though this number could not be sustained, as the reservists were vital to civilian life. Against Jordan 's forces on the West Bank, Israel deployed about 40,000 troops and 200 tanks ( eight brigades ). Israeli Central Command forces consisted of five brigades. The first two were permanently stationed near Jerusalem and were called the Jerusalem Brigade and the mechanized Harel Brigade. Mordechai Gur 's 55th Paratroopers Brigade was summoned from the Sinai front. The 10th Armored Brigade was stationed north of the West Bank. The Israeli Northern Command provided a division ( three brigades ) led by Major - General Elad Peled, which was stationed in the Jezreel Valley to the north of the West Bank. On the eve of the war, Egypt massed approximately 100,000 of its 160,000 troops in the Sinai, including all of its seven divisions ( four infantry, two armoured and one mechanized ), four independent infantry brigades and four independent armoured brigades. No fewer than a third of them were veterans of Egypt 's continuing intervention into the North Yemen Civil War and another third were reservists. These forces had 950 tanks, 1,100 APCs, and more than 1,000 artillery pieces. Syria 's army had a total strength of 75,000 and was deployed along the Syrian border. The Jordanian Armed Forces included 11 brigades, totalling 55,000 troops and equipped with some 300 modern Western tanks, 250 of which were U.S. M48 Pattons. Nine brigades ( 45,000 troops, 270 tanks, 200 artillery pieces ) were deployed in the West Bank, including the elite armoured 40th, and two in the Jordan Valley. They possessed sizable numbers of M113 APCs, a new battalion of mechanized infantry, and a paratrooper battalion trained in the new U.S. - built school. They also had 12 battalions of artillery and six batteries of 81 mm and 120 mm mortars. The Jordanian Army, then known as the Arab Legion, was a long - term - service, professional army, relatively well - equipped and well - trained. Furthermore, Israeli post-war briefings said that the Jordanian staff acted professionally as well, but was always left `` half a step '' behind by the Israeli moves. The small Royal Jordanian Air Force consisted of only 24 British - made Hawker Hunter fighters, six transports, and two helicopters. According to the Israelis, the Hawker Hunter was essentially on par with the French - built Dassault Mirage III -- the IAF 's best plane. 100 Iraqi tanks and an infantry division were readied near the Jordanian border. Two squadrons of fighter - aircraft, Hawker Hunters and MiG 21s, were rebased adjacent to the Jordanian border. The Arab air forces were aided by volunteer pilots from the Pakistan Air Force acting in an independent capacity, and by some aircraft from Libya, Algeria, Morocco, Kuwait, and Saudi Arabia to make up for the massive losses suffered on the first day of the war. PAF pilots shot down several Israeli planes. Weapons With the exception of Jordan, the Arabs relied principally on Soviet weaponry. Jordan 's army was equipped with American weaponry, and its air force was composed of British aircraft. Egypt had by far the largest and the most modern of all the Arab air forces, consisting of about 420 combat aircraft, all of them Soviet - built and with a heavy quota of top - of - the - line MiG - 21s. Of particular concern to the Israelis were the 30 Tu - 16 `` Badger '' medium bombers, capable of inflicting heavy damage on Israeli military and civilian centers. Israeli weapons were mainly of Western origin. Its air force was composed principally of French aircraft, while its armoured units were mostly of British and American design and manufacture. Some infantry weapons, including the ubiquitous Uzi, were of Israeli origin. Type Arab armies IDF AFVs Egypt, Syria and Iraq used T - 34 / 85, T - 54, T - 55, PT - 76, and SU - 100 / 152 World War II - vintage self - propelled guns. Jordan used M - 47, M - 48, and M - 48A1 Patton tanks. Panzer IV ( used by Syria ) M50 and M51 Shermans, M48A3 Patton, Centurion, AMX - 13. The Centurion was upgraded with the British 105 mm L7 gun prior to the war. The Sherman also underwent extensive modifications including a larger 105 mm medium velocity, French gun, redesigned turret, wider tracks, more armour, and upgraded engine and suspension. APCs / IFVs BTR - 40, BTR - 152, BTR - 50, BTR - 60 APCs M2, / M3 Half - track, Panhard AML Artillery M1937 Howitzer, BM - 21, D - 30 ( 2A18 ) Howitzer, M1954 field gun, M - 52 105 mm self - propelled howitzer ( used by Jordan ) M50 self - propelled howitzer and Makmat 160 mm self - propelled mortar, Obusier de 155 mm Modèle 50, AMX 105 mm Self - Propelled Howitzer Aircraft MiG - 21, MiG - 19, MiG - 17, Su - 7 B, Tu - 16, Il - 28, Il - 18, Il - 14, An - 12, Hawker Hunter used by Jordan and Iraq Dassault Mirage III, Dassault Super Mystère, Sud Aviation Vautour, Mystere IV, Dassault Ouragan, Fouga Magister trainer outfitted for attack missions, Nord 2501IS military cargo plane Helicopters Mi - 6, Mi - 4 Super Frelon, Sikorsky S - 58 AAW SA - 2 Guideline, ZSU - 57 - 2 mobile anti-aircraft cannon MIM - 23 Hawk, Bofors 40 mm Infantry weapons Port Said submachine gun, AK - 47, RPK, RPD, DShK HMG, B - 10 and B - 11 recoilless rifles Uzi, FN FAL, FN MAG, AK - 47, M2 Browning, Cobra, Nord SS. 10, RL - 83 Blindicide anti-tank infantry weapon, Jeep - mounted 106 mm recoilless rifle Fighting fronts Preemptive air attack Main article : Operation Focus See also : Order of battle for the Six - Day War Israeli troops examine destroyed Egyptian aircraft. Dassault Mirage at the Israeli Air Force Museum. Operation Focus was mainly conducted using French built aircraft. Israel 's first and most critical move was a surprise attack on the Egyptian Air Force. Initially, both Egypt and Israel announced that they had been attacked by the other country. On June 5 at 7 : 45 Israeli time, as civil defense sirens sounded all over Israel, the IAF launched Operation Focus ( Moked ). All but 12 of its nearly 200 operational jets launched a mass attack against Egypt 's airfields. The Egyptian defensive infrastructure was extremely poor, and no airfields were yet equipped with hardened aircraft shelters capable of protecting Egypt 's warplanes. Most of the Israeli warplanes headed out over the Mediterranean Sea, flying low to avoid radar detection, before turning toward Egypt. Others flew over the Red Sea. Meanwhile, the Egyptians hindered their own defense by effectively shutting down their entire air defense system : they were worried that rebel Egyptian forces would shoot down the plane carrying Field Marshal Abdel Hakim Amer and Lt - Gen. Sidqi Mahmoud, who were en route from al Maza to Bir Tamada in the Sinai to meet the commanders of the troops stationed there. In any event, it did not make a great deal of difference as the Israeli pilots came in below Egyptian radar cover and well below the lowest point at which its SA - 2 surface - to - air missile batteries could bring down an aircraft. Although the powerful Jordanian radar facility at Ajloun detected waves of aircraft approaching Egypt and reported the code word for `` war '' up the Egyptian command chain, Egyptian command and communications problems prevented the warning from reaching the targeted airfields. The Israelis employed a mixed - attack strategy : bombing and strafing runs against planes parked on the ground, and bombing to disable runways with special tarmac - shredding penetration bombs developed jointly with France, leaving surviving aircraft unable to take off. The runway at the Arish airfield was spared, as the Israelis expected to turn it into a military airport for their transports after the war. Surviving aircraft were taken out by later attack waves. The operation was more successful than expected, catching the Egyptians by surprise and destroying virtually all of the Egyptian Air Force on the ground, with few Israeli losses. Only four unarmed Egyptian training flights were in the air when the strike began. A total of 338 Egyptian aircraft were destroyed and 100 pilots were killed, although the number of aircraft lost by the Egyptians is disputed. Among the Egyptian planes lost were all 30 Tu - 16 bombers, 27 out of 40 Il - 28 bombers, 12 Su - 7 fighter - bombers, over 90 MiG - 21s, 20 MiG - 19s, 25 MiG - 17 fighters, and around 32 assorted transport planes and helicopters. In addition, Egyptian radars and SAM missiles were also attacked and destroyed. The Israelis lost 19 planes, including two destroyed in air - to - air combat and 13 downed by anti-aircraft artillery. One Israeli plane, which was damaged and unable to break radio silence, was shot down by Israeli Hawk missiles after it strayed over the Negev Nuclear Research Center. Another was destroyed by an exploding Egyptian bomber. The attack guaranteed Israeli air supremacy for the rest of the war. Attacks on other Arab air forces by Israel took place later in the day as hostilities broke out on other fronts. The large numbers of Arab aircraft claimed destroyed by Israel on that day were at first regarded as `` greatly exaggerated '' by the Western press. However, the fact that the Egyptian Air Force, along with other Arab air forces attacked by Israel, made practically no appearance for the remaining days of the conflict proved that the numbers were most likely authentic. Throughout the war, Israeli aircraft continued strafing Arab airfield runways to prevent their return to usability. Meanwhile, Egyptian state - run radio had reported an Egyptian victory, falsely claiming that 70 Israeli planes had been downed on the first day of fighting. Gaza Strip and Sinai Peninsula Conquest of Sinai. June 5 -- 6, 1967 People in a bomb shelter at Kfar Maimon The Egyptian forces consisted of seven divisions : four armoured, two infantry, and one mechanized infantry. Overall, Egypt had around 100,000 troops and 900 -- 950 tanks in the Sinai, backed by 1,100 APCs and 1,000 artillery pieces. This arrangement was thought to be based on the Soviet doctrine, where mobile armour units at strategic depth provide a dynamic defense while infantry units engage in defensive battles. Israeli forces concentrated on the border with Egypt included six armoured brigades, one infantry brigade, one mechanized infantry brigade, three paratrooper brigades, giving a total of around 70,000 men and 700 tanks, who were organized in three armoured divisions. They had massed on the border the night before the war, camouflaging themselves and observing radio silence before being ordered to advance. The Israeli plan was to surprise the Egyptian forces in both timing ( the attack exactly coinciding with the IAF strike on Egyptian airfields ), location ( attacking via northern and central Sinai routes, as opposed to the Egyptian expectations of a repeat of the 1956 war, when the IDF attacked via the central and southern routes ) and method ( using a combined - force flanking approach, rather than direct tank assaults ). Northern ( el Arish ) Israeli division On June 5, at 7 : 50 a.m., the northernmost Israeli division, consisting of three brigades and commanded by Major General Israel Tal, one of Israel 's most prominent armour commanders, crossed the border at two points, opposite Nahal Oz and south of Khan Yunis. They advanced swiftly, holding fire to prolong the element of surprise. Tal 's forces assaulted the `` Rafah Gap '', a seven - mile stretch containing the shortest of three main routes through the Sinai towards El - Qantarah el - Sharqiyya and the Suez Canal. The Egyptians had four divisions in the area, backed by minefields, pillboxes, underground bunkers, hidden gun emplacements and trenches. The terrain on either side of the route was impassable. The Israeli plan was to hit the Egyptians at selected key points with concentrated armour. Tal 's advance was led by the 7th Armored Brigade under Colonel Shmuel Gonen. The Israeli plan called for the 7th Brigade to outflank Khan Yunis from the north and the 60th Armored Brigade under Colonel Menachem Aviram would advance from the south. The two brigades would link up and surround Khan Yunis, while the paratroopers would take Rafah. Gonen entrusted the breakthrough to a single battalion of his brigade. Initially, the advance was met with light resistance, as Egyptian intelligence had concluded that it was a diversion for the main attack. However, as Gonen 's lead battalion advanced, it suddenly came under intense fire and took heavy losses. A second battalion was brought up, but was also pinned down. Meanwhile, the 60th Brigade became bogged down in the sand, while the paratroopers had trouble navigating through the dunes. The Israelis continued to press their attack, and despite heavy losses, cleared the Egyptian positions and reached the Khan Yunis railway junction in little over four hours. Gonen 's brigade then advanced nine miles to Rafah in twin columns. Rafah itself was circumvented, and the Israelis attacked Sheikh Zuweid, eight miles to the southwest, which was defended by two brigades. Though inferior in numbers and equipment, the Egyptians were deeply entrenched and camouflaged. The Israelis were pinned down by fierce Egyptian resistance, and called in air and artillery support to enable their lead elements to advance. Many Egyptians abandoned their positions after their commander and several of his staff were killed. The Israelis broke through with tank - led assaults. However, Aviram 's forces misjudged the Egyptians ' flank, and were pinned between strongholds before they were extracted after several hours. By nightfall, the Israelis had finished mopping up resistance. Israeli forces had taken significant losses, with Colonel Gonen later telling reporters that `` we left many of our dead soldiers in Rafah, and many burnt - out tanks. '' The Egyptians suffered some 2,000 casualties and lost 40 tanks. Advance on Arish Israeli reconnaissance forces from the `` Shaked '' unit in Sinai during the war. On June 5, with the road open, Israeli forces continued advancing towards Arish. Already by late afternoon, elements of the 79th Armored Battalion had charged through the seven - mile long Jiradi defile, a narrow pass defended by well - emplaced troops of the Egyptian 112th Infantry Brigade. In fierce fighting, which saw the pass change hands several times, the Israelis charged through the position. The Egyptians suffered heavy casualties and tank losses, while Israeli losses stood at 66 dead, 93 wounded and 28 tanks. Emerging at the western end, Israeli forces advanced to the outskirts of Arish. As it reached the outskirts of Arish, Tal 's division also consolidated its hold on Rafah and Khan Yunis. The following day, June 6, the Israeli forces on the outskirts of Arish were reinforced by the 7th Brigade, which fought its way through the Jiradi pass. After receiving supplies via an airdrop, the Israelis entered the city and captured the airport at 7 : 50 am. The Israelis entered the city at 8 : 00 am. Company commander Yossi Peled recounted that `` Al - Arish was totally quiet, desolate. Suddenly, the city turned into a madhouse. Shots came at us from every alley, every corner, every window and house. '' An IDF record stated that `` clearing the city was hard fighting. The Egyptians fired from the rooftops, from balconies and windows. They dropped grenades into our half - tracks and blocked the streets with trucks. Our men threw the grenades back and crushed the trucks with their tanks. '' Gonen sent additional units to Arish, and the city was eventually taken. Brigadier - General Avraham Yoffe 's assignment was to penetrate Sinai south of Tal 's forces and north or Sharon 's. Yoffe 's attack allowed Tal to complete the capture of the Jiradi defile, Khan Yunis. All of them were taken after fierce fighting. Gonen subsequently dispatched a force of tanks, infantry and engineers under Colonel Yisrael Granit to continue down the Mediterranean coast towards the Suez Canal, while a second force led by Gonen himself turned south and captured Bir Lahfan and Jabal Libni. Mid-front ( Abu - Ageila ) Israeli division Major - General Ariel Sharon during the Battle of Abu - Ageila Further south, on June 6, the Israeli 38th Armored Division under Major - General Ariel Sharon assaulted Um - Katef, a heavily fortified area defended by the Egyptian 2nd Infantry Division under Major - General Sa'adi Nagib, and consisting of some 16,000 troops. The Egyptians also had a battalion of tank destroyers and a tank regiment, formed of Soviet World War II armour, which included 90 T - 34 - 85 tanks, 22 SU - 100 tank destroyers, and about 16,000 men. The Israelis had about 14,000 men and 150 post-World War II tanks including the AMX - 13, Centurions, and M50 Super Shermans ( modified M - 4 Sherman tanks ). Two armoured brigades in the meantime, under Avraham Yoffe, slipped across the border through sandy wastes that Egypt had left undefended because they were considered impassable. Simultaneously, Sharon 's tanks from the west were to engage Egyptian forces on Um - Katef ridge and block any reinforcements. Israeli infantry would clear the three trenches, while heliborne paratroopers would land behind Egyptian lines and silence their artillery. An armoured thrust would be made at al - Qusmaya to unnerve and isolate its garrison. Israeli Armor of the Six Day War : pictured here the AMX 13 As Sharon 's division advanced into the Sinai, Egyptian forces staged successful delaying actions at Tarat Umm, Umm Tarfa, and Hill 181. An Israeli jet was downed by anti-aircraft fire, and Sharon 's forces came under heavy shelling as they advanced from the north and west. The Israeli advance, which had to cope with extensive minefields, took a large number of casualties. A column of Israeli tanks managed to penetrate the northern flank of Abu Ageila, and by dusk, all units were in position. The Israelis then brought up ninety 105 mm and 155 mm artillery guns for a preparatory barrage, while civilian buses brought reserve infantrymen under Colonel Yekutiel Adam and helicopters arrived to ferry the paratroopers. These movements were unobserved by the Egyptians, who were preoccupied with Israeli probes against their perimeter. As night fell, the Israeli assault troops lit flashlights, each battalion a different color, to prevent friendly fire incidents. At 10 : 00 pm, Israeli artillery began a barrage on Um - Katef, firing some 6,000 shells in less than twenty minutes, the most concentrated artillery barrage in Israel 's history. Israeli tanks assaulted the northernmost Egyptian defenses and were largely successful, though an entire armoured brigade was stalled by mines, and had only one mine - clearance tank. Israeli infantrymen assaulted the triple line of trenches in the east. To the west, paratroopers commanded by Colonel Danny Matt landed behind Egyptian lines, though half the helicopters got lost and never found the battlefield, while others were unable to land due to mortar fire. Those that successfully landed on target destroyed Egyptian artillery and ammunition dumps and separated gun crews from their batteries, sowing enough confusion to significantly reduce Egyptian artillery fire. Egyptian reinforcements from Jabal Libni advanced towards Um - Katef to counterattack, but failed to reach their objective, being subjected to heavy air attacks and encountering Israeli lodgements on the roads. Egyptian commanders then called in artillery attacks on their own positions. The Israelis accomplished and sometimes exceeded their overall plan, and had largely succeeded by the following day. The Egyptians took heavy casualties, while the Israelis lost 40 dead and 140 wounded. Yoffe 's attack allowed Sharon to complete the capture of the Um - Katef, after fierce fighting. The main thrust at Um - Katef was stalled due to mines and craters. After IDF engineers had cleared a path by 4 : 00 pm, Israeli and Egyptian tanks engaged in fierce combat, often at ranges as close as ten yards. The battle ended in an Israeli victory, with 40 Egyptian and 19 Israeli tanks destroyed. Meanwhile, Israeli infantry finished clearing out the Egyptian trenches, with Israeli casualties standing at 14 dead and 41 wounded and Egyptian casualties at 300 dead and 100 taken prisoner. Other Israeli forces Further south, on June 5, the 8th Armored Brigade under Colonel Albert Mandler, initially positioned as a ruse to draw off Egyptian forces from the real invasion routes, attacked the fortified bunkers at Kuntilla, a strategically valuable position whose capture would enable Mandler to block reinforcements from reaching Um - Katef and to join Sharon 's upcoming attack on Nakhl. The defending Egyptian battalion, outnumbered and outgunned, fiercely resisted the attack, hitting a number of Israeli tanks. However, most of the defenders were killed, and only three Egyptian tanks, one of them damaged, survived. By nightfall, Mendler 's forces had taken Kuntilla. With the exceptions of Rafah and Khan Yunis, Israeli forces had initially avoided entering the Gaza Strip. Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Dayan had expressly forbidden entry into the area. After Palestinian positions in Gaza opened fire on the Negev settlements of Nirim and Kissufim, IDF Chief of Staff Yitzhak Rabin overrode Dayan 's instructions and ordered the 11th Mechanized Brigade under Colonel Yehuda Reshef to enter the Strip. The force was immediately met with heavy artillery fire and fierce resistance from Palestinian forces and remnants of the Egyptian forces from Rafah. By sunset, the Israelis had taken the strategically vital Ali Muntar ridge, overlooking Gaza City, but were beaten back from the city itself. Some 70 Israelis were killed, along with Israeli journalist Ben Oyserman and American journalist Paul Schutzer. Twelve members of UNEF were also killed. On the war 's second day, June 6, the Israelis were bolstered by the 35th Paratroopers Brigade under Colonel Rafael Eitan, and took Gaza City along with the entire Strip. The fighting was fierce, and accounted for nearly half of all Israeli casualties on the southern front. However, Gaza rapidly fell to the Israelis. Meanwhile, on June 6, two Israeli reserve brigades under Yoffe, each equipped with 100 tanks, penetrated the Sinai south of Tal 's division and north of Sharon 's, capturing the road junctions of Abu Ageila, Bir Lahfan, and Arish, taking all of them before midnight. Two Egyptian armoured brigades counterattacked, and a fierce battle took place until the following morning. The Egyptians were beaten back by fierce resistance coupled with airstrikes, sustaining heavy tank losses. They fled west towards Jabal Libni. The Egyptian army During the ground fighting, remnants of the Egyptian Air Force attacked Israeli ground forces, but took losses from the Israeli Air Force and from Israeli anti-aircraft units. Throughout the last four days, Egyptian aircraft flew 150 sorties against Israeli units in the Sinai. Many of the Egyptian units remained intact and could have tried to prevent the Israelis from reaching the Suez Canal or engaged in combat in the attempt to reach the canal. However, when the Egyptian Field Marshal Abdel Hakim Amer heard about the fall of Abu - Ageila, he panicked and ordered all units in the Sinai to retreat. This order effectively meant the defeat of Egypt. Meanwhile, President Nasser, having learned of the results of the Israeli air strikes, decided together with Field Marshal Amer to order a general retreat from the Sinai within 24 hours. No detailed instructions were given concerning the manner and sequence of withdrawal. Next fighting days This section needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. ( June 2017 ) Conquest of Sinai. June 7 -- 8, 1967 Play media Newsreel from June 6 about the first Israeli - Egyptian fighting. An Israeli gunboat passes through the Straits of Tiran near Sharm El Sheikh. As Egyptian columns retreated, Israeli aircraft and artillery attacked them. Israeli jets used napalm bombs during their sorties. The attacks destroyed hundreds of vehicles and caused heavy casualties. At Jabal Libni, retreating Egyptian soldiers were fired upon by their own artillery. At Bir Gafgafa, the Egyptians fiercely resisted advancing Israeli forces, knocking out three tanks and eight half - tracks, and killing 20 soldiers. Due to the Egyptians ' retreat, the Israeli High Command decided not to pursue the Egyptian units but rather to bypass and destroy them in the mountainous passes of West Sinai. Therefore, in the following two days ( June 6 and 7 ), all three Israeli divisions ( Sharon and Tal were reinforced by an armoured brigade each ) rushed westwards and reached the passes. Sharon 's division first went southward then westward, via An - Nakhl, to Mitla Pass with air support. It was joined there by parts of Yoffe 's division, while its other units blocked the Gidi Pass. These passes became killing grounds for the Egyptians, who ran right into waiting Israeli positions and suffered heavy losses. According to Egyptian diplomat Mahmoud Riad, 10,000 men were killed in one day alone, and many others died from hunger and thirst. Tal 's units stopped at various points to the length of the Suez Canal. Israel 's blocking action was partially successful. Only the Gidi pass was captured before the Egyptians approached it, but at other places, Egyptian units managed to pass through and cross the canal to safety. Due to the haste of the Egyptian retreat, soldiers often abandoned weapons, military equipment, and hundreds of vehicles. Many Egyptian soldiers were cut off from their units had to walk about 200 kilometers on foot before reaching the Suez Canal with limited supplies of food and water and were exposed to intense heat. Thousands of soldiers died as a result. Many Egyptian soldiers chose instead to surrender to the Israelis. However, the Israelis eventually exceeded their capabilities to provide for prisoners. As a result, they began directing soldiers towards the Suez Canal and only taking prisoner high - ranking officers, who were expected to be exchanged for captured Israeli pilots. During the offensive, the Israeli Navy landed six combat divers from the Shayetet 13 naval commando unit to infiltrate Alexandria harbour. The divers sank an Egyptian minesweeper before being taken prisoner. Shayetet 13 commandos also infiltrated into Port Said harbour, but found no ships there. A planned commando raid against the Syrian Navy never materialized. Both Egyptian and Israeli warships made movements at sea to intimidate the other side throughout the war, but did not engage each other. However, Israeli warships and aircraft did hunt for Egyptian submarines throughout the war. On June 7, Israel began the conquest of Sharm el - Sheikh. The Israeli Navy started the operation with a probe of Egyptian naval defenses. An aerial reconnaissance flight found that the area was less defended than originally thought. At about 4 : 30 am, three Israeli missile boats opened fire on Egyptian shore batteries, while paratroopers and commandos boarded helicopters and Nord Noratlas transport planes for an assault on Al - Tur, as Chief of Staff Rabin was convinced it was too risky to land them directly in Sharm el - Sheikh. However, the city had been largely abandoned the day before, and reports from air and naval forces finally convinced Rabin to divert the aircraft to Sharm el - Sheikh. There, the Israelis engaged in a pitched battle with the Egyptians and took the city, killing 20 Egyptian soldiers and taking 8 prisoner. At 12 : 15 pm, Defense Minister Dayan announced that the Straits of Tiran constituted an international waterway open to all ships without restriction. On June 8, Israel completed the capture of the Sinai by sending infantry units to Ras Sudar on the western coast of the peninsula. Several tactical elements made the swift Israeli advance possible : first, the surprise attack that quickly gave the Israeli Air Force complete air superiority over the Egyptian Air Force ; second, the determined implementation of an innovative battle plan ; third, the lack of coordination among Egyptian troops. These factors would prove to be decisive elements on Israel 's other fronts as well. West Bank See also : Jordanian campaign ( 1967 ) The Jordan salient, June 5 -- 7. Jordan was reluctant to enter the war. Nasser used the confusion of the first hours of the conflict to convince King Hussein that he was victorious ; he claimed as evidence a radar sighting of a squadron of Israeli aircraft returning from bombing raids in Egypt, which he said was an Egyptian aircraft en route to attack Israel. One of the Jordanian brigades stationed in the West Bank was sent to the Hebron area in order to link with the Egyptians. Hussein decided to attack. The IDF 's strategic plan was to remain on the defensive along the Jordanian front, to enable focus in the expected campaign against Egypt. Intermittent machine - gun exchanges began taking place in Jerusalem at 9 : 30 am, and the fighting gradually escalated as the Jordanians introduced mortar and recoilless rifle fire. Under the orders from General Narkis, the Israelis responded only with small - arms fire, firing in a flat trajectory to avoid hitting civilians, holy sites or the Old City. At 10 : 00 am on June 5, the Jordanian Army began shelling Israel. Two batteries of 155 mm Long Tom cannons opened fire on the suburbs of Tel Aviv and Ramat David Airbase. The commanders of these batteries were instructed to lay a two - hour barrage against military and civilian settlements in central Israel. Some shells hit the outskirts of Tel Aviv. By 10 : 30 am, Eshkol had sent a message via Odd Bull to King Hussein promising not to initiate any action against Jordan if it stayed out of the war. King Hussein replied that it was too late, `` the die was cast ''. At 11 : 15 am, Jordanian howitzers began a 6,000 - shell barrage at Israeli Jerusalem. The Jordanians initially targeted kibbutz Ramat Rachel in the south and Mount Scopus in the north, then ranged into the city center and outlying neighborhoods. Military installations, the Prime Minister 's Residence, and the Knesset compound were also targeted. Israeli civilian casualties totalled 20 dead and about 1,000 wounded. Some 900 buildings were damaged, including Hadassah Ein Kerem Hospital. At 11 : 50 am, sixteen Jordanian Hawker Hunters attacked Netanya, Kfar Sirkin and Kfar Saba, killing one civilian, wounding seven and destroying a transport plane. Three Iraqi Hawker Hunters strafed civilian settlements in the Jezreel Valley, and an Iraqi Tupolev Tu - 16 attacked Afula, and was shot down near the Megiddo airfield. The attack caused minimal material damage, hitting only a senior citizens ' home and several chicken coops, but sixteen Israeli soldiers were killed, most of them when the Tupolev crashed. Israeli cabinet meets When the Israeli cabinet convened to decide what to do, Yigal Allon and Menahem Begin argued that this was an opportunity to take the Old City of Jerusalem, but Eshkol decided to defer any decision until Moshe Dayan and Yitzhak Rabin could be consulted. Uzi Narkiss made a number of proposals for military action, including the capture of Latrun, but the cabinet turned him down. Dayan rejected multiple requests from Narkiss for permission to mount an infantry assault towards Mount Scopus. However, Dayan sanctioned a number of more limited retaliatory actions. Initial response Shortly before 12 : 30 pm, the Israeli Air Force attacked Jordan 's two airbases. The Hawker Hunters were refueling at the time of the attack. The Israeli aircraft attacked in two waves, the first of which cratered the runways and knocked out the control towers, and the second wave destroyed all 21 of Jordan 's Hawker Hunter fighters, along with six transport aircraft and two helicopters. One Israeli jet was shot down by ground fire. Israeli aircraft also attacked H - 3, an Iraqi Air Force base in western Iraq. During the attack, 12 MiG - 21s, 2 MiG - 17s, 5 Hunter F6s, and 3 Il - 28 bombers were destroyed or shot down. A Pakistani pilot stationed at the base shot down an Israeli fighter and a bomber during the raid. The Jordanian radar facility at Ajloun was destroyed in an Israeli airstrike. Israeli Fouga Magister jets attacked the Jordanian 40th Brigade with rockets as it moved south from the Damiya Bridge. Dozens of tanks were knocked out, and a convoy of 26 trucks carrying ammunition was destroyed. In Jerusalem, Israel responded to Jordanian shelling with a missile strike that devastated Jordanian positions. The Israelis used the L missile, a surface - to - surface missile developed jointly with France in secret. Jordanian battalion at government House Further information : Battle of Ammunition Hill A Jordanian battalion advanced up Government House ridge and dug in at the perimeter of Government House, the headquarters of the United Nations observers, and opened fire on Ramat Rachel, the Allenby Barracks and the Jewish section of Abu Tor with mortars and recoilless rifles. UN observers fiercely protested the incursion into the neutral zone, and several manhandled a Jordanian machine gun out of Government House after the crew had set it up in a second - floor window. After the Jordanians occupied Jabel Mukaber, an advance patrol was sent out and approached Ramat Rachel, where they came under fire from four civilians, including the wife of the director, who were armed with old Czech - made weapons. Israeli paratroopers flush out Jordanian soldiers from trenches during the Battle of Ammunition Hill. Silhouette of Israeli paratroops advancing on Ammunition Hill. The immediate Israeli response was an offensive to retake Government House and its ridge. The Jerusalem Brigade 's Reserve Battalion 161, under Lieutenant - Colonel Asher Dreizin, was given the task. Dreizin had two infantry companies and eight tanks under his command, several of which broke down or became stuck in the mud at Ramat Rachel, leaving three for the assault. The Jordanians mounted fierce resistance, knocking out two tanks. The Israelis broke through the compound 's western gate and began clearing the building with grenades, before General Odd Bull, commander of the UN observers, compelled the Israelis to hold their fire, telling them that the Jordanians had already fled. The Israelis proceeded to take the Antenna Hill, directly behind Government House, and clear out a series of bunkers to the west and south. The fighting, often conducted hand - to - hand, continued for nearly four hours before the surviving Jordanians fell back to trenches held by the Hittin Brigade, which were steadily overwhelmed. By 6 : 30 pm, the Jordanians had retreated to Bethlehem, having suffered about 100 casualties. All but ten of Dreizin 's soldiers were casualties, and Dreizin himself was wounded three times. Israeli invasion During the late afternoon of June 5, the Israelis launched an offensive to encircle Jerusalem, which lasted into the following day. During the night, they were supported by intense tank, artillery and mortar fire to soften up Jordanian positions. Searchlights placed atop the Labor Federation building, then the tallest in Israeli Jerusalem, exposed and blinded the Jordanians. The Jerusalem Brigade moved south of Jerusalem, while the mechanized Harel Brigade and 55th Paratroopers Brigade under Mordechai Gur encircled it from the north. A combined force of tanks and paratroopers crossed no - man 's land near the Mandelbaum Gate. One of Gur 's paratroop battalions approached the fortified Police Academy. The Israelis used bangalore torpedoes to blast their way through barbed wire leading up to the position while exposed and under heavy fire. With the aid of two tanks borrowed from the Jerusalem Brigade, they captured the Police Academy. After receiving reinforcements, they moved up to attack Ammunition Hill. The Jordanian defenders, who were heavily dug - in, fiercely resisted the attack. All of the Israeli officers except for two company commanders were killed, and the fighting was mostly led by individual soldiers. The fighting was conducted at close quarters in trenches and bunkers, and was often hand - to - hand. The Israelis captured the position after four hours of heavy fighting. During the battle, 36 Israeli and 71 Jordanian soldiers were killed. The battalion subsequently drove east, and linked up with the Israeli enclave on Mount Scopus and its Hebrew University campus. Gur 's other battalions captured the other Jordanian positions around the American Colony, despite being short on men and equipment and having come under a Jordanian mortar bombardment while waiting for the signal to advance. At the same time, the mechanized Harel Brigade attacked the fortress at Latrun, which the Jordanians had abandoned due to heavy Israeli tank fire. The brigade attacked Har Adar, but seven tanks were knocked out by mines, forcing the infantry to mount an assault without armoured cover. The Israeli soldiers advanced under heavy fire, jumping between stones to avoid mines. The fighting was conducted at close - quarters, often with knives and bayonets. The Jordanians fell back after a battle that left two Israeli and eight Jordanian soldiers dead, and Israeli forces advanced through Beit Horon towards Ramallah, taking four fortified villages along the way. By the evening, the brigade arrived in Ramallah. Meanwhile, the 163rd Infantry Battalion secured Abu Tor following a fierce battle, severing the Old City from Bethlehem and Hebron. Meanwhile, 600 Egyptian commandos stationed in the West Bank moved to attack Israeli airfields. Led by Jordanian intelligence scouts, they crossed the border and began infiltrating through Israeli settlements towards Ramla and Hatzor. They were soon detected and sought shelter in nearby fields, which the Israelis set on fire. Some 450 commandos were killed, and the remainder escaped to Jordan. From the American Colony, the paratroopers moved towards the Old City. Their plan was to approach it via the lightly defended Salah al - Din Street. However, they made a wrong turn onto the heavily defended Nablus Road. The Israelis ran into fierce resistance. Their tanks fired at point - blank range down the street, while the paratroopers mounted repeated charges. Despite repelling repeated Israeli charges, the Jordanians gradually gave way to Israeli firepower and momentum. The Israelis suffered some 30 casualties -- half the original force -- while the Jordanians lost 45 dead and 142 wounded. Meanwhile, the Israeli 71st Battalion breached barbed wire and minefields and emerged near Wadi Joz, near the base of Mount Scopus, from where the Old City could be cut off from Jericho and East Jerusalem from Ramallah. Israeli artillery targeted the one remaining route from Jerusalem to the West Bank, and shellfire deterred the Jordanians from counterattacking from their positions at Augusta - Victoria. An Israeli detachment then captured the Rockefeller Museum after a brief skirmish. Afterwards, the Israelis broke through to the Jerusalem - Ramallah road. At Tel al - Ful, the Israelis fought a running battle with up to thirty Jordanian tanks. The Jordanians stalled the advance and destroyed a number of half - tracks, but the Israelis launched air attacks and exploited the vulnerability of the external fuel tanks mounted on the Jordanian tanks. The Jordanians lost half their tanks, and retreated towards Jericho. Joining up with the 4th Brigade, the Israelis then descended through Shuafat and the site of what is now French Hill, through Jordanian defenses at Mivtar, emerging at Ammunition Hill. An Israeli airstrike near the Augusta - Victoria Hospital With Jordanian defenses in Jerusalem crumbling, elements of the Jordanian 60th Brigade and an infantry battalion were sent from Jericho to reinforce Jerusalem. Its original orders were to repel the Israelis from the Latrun corridor, but due to the worsening situation in Jerusalem, the brigade was ordered to proceed to Jerusalem 's Arab suburbs and attack Mount Scopus. Parallel to the brigade were infantrymen from the Imam Ali Brigade, who were approaching Issawiya. The brigades were spotted by Israeli aircraft and decimated by rocket and cannon fire. Other Jordanian attempts to reinforce Jerusalem were beaten back, either by armoured ambushes or airstrikes. Fearing damage to holy sites and the prospect of having to fight in built - up areas, Dayan ordered his troops not to enter the Old City. He also feared that Israel would be subjected to a fierce international backlash and the outrage of Christians worldwide if it forced its way into the Old City. Privately, he told David Ben - Gurion that he was also concerned over the prospect of Israel capturing Jerusalem 's holy sites, only to be forced to give them up under the threat of international sanctions. The Old City ( June 7 ) On June 7, heavy fighting ensued. Dayan had ordered his troops not to enter the Old City ; however, upon hearing that the UN was about to declare a ceasefire, he changed his mind, and without cabinet clearance, decided to capture it. Two paratroop battalions attacked Augusta - Victoria Hill, high ground overlooking the Old City from the east. One battalion attacked from Mount Scopus, and another attacked from the valley between it and the Old City. Another paratroop battalion, personally led by Gur, broke into the Old City, and was joined by the other two battalions after their missions were complete. The paratroopers met little resistance. The fighting was conducted solely by the paratroopers ; the Israelis did not use armour during the battle out of fear of severe damage to the Old City. In the north, one battalion from Peled 's division was sent to check Jordanian defenses in the Jordan Valley. A brigade belonging to Peled 's division captured the western part of the West Bank. One brigade attacked Jordanian artillery positions around Jenin, which were shelling Ramat David Airbase. The Jordanian 12th Armored Battalion, which outnumbered the Israelis, held off repeated attempts to capture Jenin. However, Israeli air attacks took their toll, and the Jordanian M48 Pattons, with their external fuel tanks, proved vulnerable at short distances, even to the Israeli - modified Shermans. Twelve Jordanian tanks were destroyed, and only six remained operational. David Rubinger 's famed photograph of IDF paratroopers at Jerusalem 's Western Wall shortly after its capture. From left to right : Zion Karasenti, Yitzhak Yifat, and Haim Oshri. Just after dusk, Israeli reinforcements arrived. The Jordanians continued to fiercely resist, and the Israelis were unable to advance without artillery and air support. One Israeli jet attacked the Jordanian commander 's tank, wounding him and killing his radio operator and intelligence officer. The surviving Jordanian forces then withdrew to Jenin, where they were reinforced by the 25th Infantry Brigade. The Jordanians were effectively surrounded in Jenin. Jordanian infantry and their three remaining tanks managed to hold off the Israelis until 4 : 00 am, when three battalions arrived to reinforce them in the afternoon. The Jordanian tanks charged, and knocked out multiple Israeli vehicles, and the tide began to shift. After sunrise, Israeli jets and artillery conducted a two - hour bombardment against the Jordanians. The Jordanians lost 10 dead and 250 wounded, and had only seven tanks left, including two without gas, and sixteen APCs. The Israelis then fought their way into Jenin, and captured the city after fierce fighting. After the Old City fell, the Jerusalem Brigade reinforced the paratroopers, and continued to the south, capturing Judea and Gush Etzion. Hebron was taken without any resistance. Fearful that Israeli soldiers would exact retribution for the 1929 massacre of the city 's Jewish community, Hebron 's residents flew white sheets from their windows and rooftops, and voluntarily gave up their weapons. The Harel Brigade proceeded eastward, descending to the Jordan River. On June 7, Israeli forces seized Bethlehem, taking the city after a brief battle that left some 40 Jordanian soldiers dead, with the remainder fleeing. On the same day, one of Peled 's brigades seized Nablus ; then it joined one of Central Command 's armoured brigades to fight the Jordanian forces ; as the Jordanians held the advantage of superior equipment and were equal in numbers to the Israelis. Again, the air superiority of the IAF proved paramount as it immobilized the Jordanians, leading to their defeat. One of Peled 's brigades joined with its Central Command counterparts coming from Ramallah, and the remaining two blocked the Jordan river crossings together with the Central Command 's 10th. Engineering Corps sappers blew up the Abdullah and Hussein bridges with captured Jordanian mortar shells, while elements of the Harel Brigade crossed the river and occupied positions along the east bank to cover them, but quickly pulled back due to American pressure. The Jordanians, anticipating an Israeli offensive deep into Jordan, assembled the remnants of their army and Iraqi units in Jordan to protect the western approaches to Amman and the southern slopes of the Golan Heights. No specific decision had been made to capture any other territories controlled by Jordan. After the Old City was captured, Dayan told his troops to dig in to hold it. When an armoured brigade commander entered the West Bank on his own initiative, and stated that he could see Jericho, Dayan ordered him back. It was only after intelligence reports indicated that Hussein had withdrawn his forces across the Jordan River that Dayan ordered his troops to capture the West Bank. According to Narkis : First, the Israeli government had no intention of capturing the West Bank. On the contrary, it was opposed to it. Second, there was not any provocation on the part of the IDF. Third, the rein was only loosened when a real threat to Jerusalem 's security emerged. This is truly how things happened on June 5, although it is difficult to believe. The end result was something that no one had planned. Golan Heights The Battle of Golan Heights, June 9 -- 10. In May -- June 1967, the Israeli government did everything in its power to confine the confrontation to the Egyptian front. Eshkol and his colleagues took into account the possibility of some fighting on the Syrian front. Syria 's attack False Egyptian reports of a crushing victory against the Israeli army and forecasts that Egyptian forces would soon be attacking Tel Aviv influenced Syria 's decision to enter the war. Syrian artillery began shelling northern Israel, and twelve Syrian jets attacked Israeli settlements in the Galilee. Israeli fighter jets intercepted the Syrian aircraft, shooting down three and driving off the rest. In addition, two Lebanese Hawker Hunter jets, two of the twelve Lebanon had, crossed into Israeli airspace and began strafing Israeli positions in the Galilee. They were intercepted by Israeli fighter jets, and one was shot down. People in a bomb shelter at Kibbutz Dan A minor Syrian force tried to capture the water plants at Tel Dan ( the subject of a fierce escalation two years earlier ), Dan, and She'ar Yashuv. These attacks were repulsed with the loss of twenty soldiers and seven tanks. An Israeli officer was also killed. But a broader Syrian offensive quickly failed. Syrian reserve units were broken up by Israeli air attacks, and several tanks were reported to have sunk in the Jordan River. Other problems included tanks being too wide for bridges, lack of radio communications between tanks and infantry, and units ignoring orders to advance. A post-war Syrian army report concluded : Our forces did not go on the offensive either because they did not arrive or were not wholly prepared or because they could not find shelter from the enemy 's planes. The reserves could not withstand the air attacks ; they dispersed after their morale plummeted. The Syrians abandoned hopes of a ground attack and began a massive bombardment of Israeli communities in the Hula Valley instead. Israeli air Force attacks the Syrian airfields On the evening of June 5, the Israeli Air Force attacked Syrian airfields. The Syrian Air Force lost some 32 MiG 21s, 23 MiG - 15 and MiG - 17 fighters, and two Ilyushin Il - 28 bombers, two - thirds of its fighting strength. The Syrian aircraft that survived the attack retreated to distant bases and played no further role in the war. Following the attack, Syria realised that the news it had received from Egypt of the near - total destruction of the Israeli military could not have been true. Israelis debate whether the Golan Heights should be attacked On June 7 and 8, the Israeli leadership debated about whether to attack the Golan Heights as well. Syria had supported pre-war raids that had helped raise tensions and had routinely shelled Israel from the Heights, so some Israeli leaders wanted to see Syria punished. Military opinion was that the attack would be extremely costly, since it would entail an uphill battle against a strongly fortified enemy. The western side of the Golan Heights consists of a rock escarpment that rises 500 meters ( 1,700 ft ) from the Sea of Galilee and the Jordan River, and then flattens to a gently sloping plateau. Dayan opposed the operation bitterly at first, believing such an undertaking would result in losses of 30,000 and might trigger Soviet intervention. Prime Minister Eshkol, on the other hand, was more open to the possibility, as was the head of the Northern Command, David Elazar, whose unbridled enthusiasm for and confidence in the operation may have eroded Dayan 's reluctance. Eventually, the situation on the Southern and Central fronts cleared up, intelligence estimated that the likelihood of Soviet intervention had been reduced, reconnaissance showed some Syrian defenses in the Golan region collapsing, and an intercepted cable revealed that Nasser was urging the President of Syria to immediately accept a cease - fire. At 3 am on June 9, Syria announced its acceptance of the cease - fire. Despite this announcement, Dayan became more enthusiastic about the idea and four hours later at 7 am, `` gave the order to go into action against Syria '' without consultation or government authorisation. The Syrian army consisted of about 75,000 men grouped in nine brigades, supported by an adequate amount of artillery and armour. Israeli forces used in combat consisted of two brigades ( the 8th Armored Brigade and the Golani Brigade ) in the northern part of the front at Givat HaEm, and another two ( infantry and one of Peled 's brigades summoned from Jenin ) in the center. The Golan Heights ' unique terrain ( mountainous slopes crossed by parallel streams every several kilometers running east to west ), and the general lack of roads in the area channeled both forces along east - west axes of movement and restricted the ability of units to support those on either flank. Thus the Syrians could move north - south on the plateau itself, and the Israelis could move north - south at the base of the Golan escarpment. An advantage Israel possessed was the excellent intelligence collected by Mossad operative Eli Cohen ( who was captured and executed in Syria in 1965 ) regarding the Syrian battle positions. Syria had built extensive defensive fortifications in depths up to 15 kilometers, comparable to the Maginot Line. As opposed to all the other campaigns, IAF was only partially effective in the Golan because the fixed fortifications were so effective. However, the Syrian forces proved unable to put up effective defense largely because the officers were poor leaders and treated their soldiers badly ; often officers would retreat from danger, leaving their men confused and ineffective. The Israelis also had the upper hand during close combat that took place in the numerous Syrian bunkers along the Golan Heights, as they were armed with the Uzi, a submachine gun designed for close combat, while Syrian soldiers were armed with the heavier AK - 47 assault rifle, designed for combat in more open areas. Israeli attack : first Day Israeli tanks advancing on the Golan Heights. June 1967 On the morning of June 9, Israeli jets began carrying out dozens of sorties against Syrian positions from Mount Hermon to Tawfiq, using rockets salvaged from captured Egyptian stocks. The airstrikes knocked out artillery batteries and storehouses and forced transport columns off the roads. The Syrians suffered heavy casualties and a drop in morale, with a number of senior officers and troops deserting. The attacks also provided time as Israeli forces cleared paths through Syrian minefields. However, the airstrikes did not seriously damage the Syrians ' bunkers and trench systems, and the bulk of Syrian forces on the Golan remained in their positions. About two hours after the airstrikes began, the 8th Armored Brigade, led by Colonel Albert Mandler, advanced into the Golan Heights from Givat HaEm. Its advance was spearheaded by Engineering Corps sappers and eight bulldozers, which cleared away barbed wire and mines. As they advanced, the force came under fire, and five bulldozers were immediately hit. The Israeli tanks, with their maneuverability sharply reduced by the terrain, advanced slowly under fire toward the fortified village of Sir al - Dib, with their ultimate objective being the fortress at Qala. Israeli casualties steadily mounted. Part of the attacking force lost its way and emerged opposite Za'ura, a redoubt manned by Syrian reservists. With the situation critical, Colonel Mandler ordered simultaneous assaults on Za'ura and Qala. Heavy and confused fighting followed, with Israeli and Syrian tanks struggling around obstacles and firing at extremely short ranges. Mandler recalled that `` the Syrians fought well and bloodied us. We beat them only by crushing them under our treads and by blasting them with our cannons at very short range, from 100 to 500 meters. '' The first three Israeli tanks to enter Qala were stopped by a Syrian bazooka team, and a relief column of seven Syrian tanks arrived to repel the attackers. The Israelis took heavy fire from the houses, but could not turn back, as other forces were advancing behind them, and they were on a narrow path with mines on either side. The Israelis continued pressing forward, and called for air support. A pair of Israeli jets destroyed two of the Syrian tanks, and the remainder withdrew. The surviving defenders of Qala retreated after their commander was killed. Meanwhile, Za'ura fell in an Israeli assault, and the Israelis also captured the ' Ein Fit fortress. In the central sector, the Israeli 181st Battalion captured the strongholds of Dardara and Tel Hillal after fierce fighting. Desperate fighting also broke out along the operation 's northern axis, where Golani Brigade attacked thirteen Syrian positions, including the formidable Tel Fakhr position. Navigational errors placed the Israelis directly under the Syrians ' guns. In the fighting that followed, both sides took heavy casualties, with the Israelis losing all nineteen of their tanks and half - tracks. The Israeli battalion commander then ordered his twenty - five remaining men to dismount, divide into two groups, and charge the northern and southern flanks of Tel Fakhr. The first Israelis to reach the perimeter of the southern approach laid bodily down on the barbed wire, allowing their comrades to vault over them. From there, they assaulted the fortified Syrian positions. The fighting was waged at extremely close quarters, often hand - to - hand. On the northern flank, the Israelis broke through within minutes and cleared out the trenches and bunkers. During the seven - hour battle, the Israelis lost 31 dead and 82 wounded, while the Syrians lost 62 dead and 20 captured. Among the dead was the Israeli battalion commander. The Golani Brigade 's 51st Battalion took Tel ' Azzaziat, and Darbashiya also fell to Israeli forces. Play media Universal Newsreel from June 9 about the war and UN reactions. By the evening of June 9, the four Israeli brigades had all broken through to the plateau, where they could be reinforced and replaced. Thousands of reinforcements began reaching the front, those tanks and half - tracks that had survived the previous day 's fighting were refueled and replenished with ammunition, and the wounded were evacuated. By dawn, the Israelis had eight brigades in the sector. Syria 's first line of defense had been shattered, but the defenses beyond that remained largely intact. Mount Hermon and the Banias in the north, and the entire sector between Tawfiq and Customs House Road in the south remained in Syrian hands. In a meeting early on the night of June 9, Syrian leaders decided to reinforce those positions as quickly as possible, and to maintain a steady barrage on Israeli civilian settlements. Israeli attack : the next Day Throughout the night, the Israelis continued their advance. Though it was slowed by fierce resistance, an anticipated Syrian counterattack never materialized. At the fortified village of Jalabina, a garrison of Syrian reservists, leveling their anti-aircraft guns, held off the Israeli 65th Paratroop Battalion for four hours before a small detachment managed to penetrate the village and knock out the heavy guns. Meanwhile, the 8th Brigade 's tanks moved south from Qala, advancing six miles to Wasit under heavy artillery and tank bombardment. At the Banias in the north, Syrian mortar batteries opened fire on advancing Israeli forces only after Golani Brigade sappers cleared a path through a minefield, killing sixteen Israeli soldiers and wounding four. On the next day, June 10, the central and northern groups joined in a pincer movement on the plateau, but that fell mainly on empty territory as the Syrian forces retreated. At 8 : 30 am, the Syrians began blowing up their own bunkers, burning documents and retreating. Several units joined by Elad Peled 's troops climbed to the Golan from the south, only to find the positions mostly empty. When the 8th Brigade reached Mansura, five miles from Wasit, the Israelis met no opposition and found abandoned equipment, including tanks, in perfect working condition. In the fortified Banias village, Golani Brigade troops found only several Syrian soldiers chained to their positions. During the day, the Israeli units stopped after obtaining manoeuvre room between their positions and a line of volcanic hills to the west. In some locations, Israeli troops advanced after an agreed - upon cease - fire to occupy strategically strong positions. To the east, the ground terrain is an open gently sloping plain. This position later became the cease - fire line known as the `` Purple Line ''. Time magazine reported : `` In an effort to pressure the United Nations into enforcing a ceasefire, Damascus Radio undercut its own army by broadcasting the fall of the city of Quneitra three hours before it actually capitulated. That premature report of the surrender of their headquarters destroyed the morale of the Syrian troops left in the Golan area. '' Conclusion Main article : Israeli Military Governorate Play media Universal Newsreel from June 13 about the war By June 10, Israel had completed its final offensive in the Golan Heights, and a ceasefire was signed the day after. Israel had seized the Gaza Strip, the Sinai Peninsula, the West Bank of the Jordan River ( including East Jerusalem ), and the Golan Heights. About one million Arabs were placed under Israel 's direct control in the newly captured territories. Israel 's strategic depth grew to at least 300 kilometers in the south, 60 kilometers in the east, and 20 kilometers of extremely rugged terrain in the north, a security asset that would prove useful in the Yom Kippur War six years later. Speaking three weeks after the war ended, as he accepted an honorary degree from Hebrew University, Yitzhak Rabin gave his reasoning behind the success of Israel : Our airmen, who struck the enemies ' planes so accurately that no one in the world understands how it was done and people seek technological explanations or secret weapons ; our armoured troops who beat the enemy even when their equipment was inferior to his ; our soldiers in all other branches... who overcame our enemies everywhere, despite the latter 's superior numbers and fortifications -- all these revealed not only coolness and courage in the battle but... an understanding that only their personal stand against the greatest dangers would achieve victory for their country and for their families, and that if victory was not theirs the alternative was annihilation. In recognition of contributions, Rabin was given the honour of naming the war for the Israelis. From the suggestions proposed, including the `` War of Daring '', `` War of Salvation '', and `` War of the Sons of Light '', he `` chose the least ostentatious, the Six - Day War, evoking the days of creation ''. Dayan 's final report on the war to the Israeli general staff listed several shortcomings in Israel 's actions, including misinterpretation of Nasser 's intentions, overdependence on the United States, and reluctance to act when Egypt closed the Straits. He also credited several factors for Israel 's success : Egypt did not appreciate the advantage of striking first and their adversaries did not accurately gauge Israel 's strength and its willingness to use it. In Egypt, according to Heikal, Nasser had admitted his responsibility for the military defeat in June 1967. According to historian Abd al - Azim Ramadan, Nasser 's mistaken decisions to expel the international peacekeeping force from the Sinai Peninsula and close the Straits of Tiran in 1967 led to a state of war with Israel, despite Egypt 's lack of military preparedness. After the 1973 Yom Kippur War, Egypt reviewed the causes of its loss of the 1967 war. Issues that were identified included `` the individualistic bureaucratic leadership '' ; `` promotions on the basis of loyalty, not expertise, and the army 's fear of telling Nasser the truth '' ; lack of intelligence ; and better Israeli weapons, command, organization, and will to fight. Casualties Main article : Israeli casualties of war Between 776 and 983 Israelis were killed and 4,517 were wounded. 15 Israeli soldiers were captured. Arab casualties were far greater. Between 9,800 and 15,000 Egyptian soldiers were listed as killed or missing in action. An additional 4,338 Egyptian soldiers were captured. Jordanian losses are estimated to be 6,000 killed or missing and 533 captured, though Gawrych cites a number of some 700 killed in action with another 2,500 wounded. The Syrians were estimated to have sustained between 1,000 and 2,500 killed in action. Between 367 and 591 Syrians were captured. Controversies Main article : Controversies relating to the Six - Day War Preemptive strike v. unjustified attack Further information : Preemptive war At the commencement of hostilities, both Egypt and Israel announced that they had been attacked by the other country. The Israeli government later abandoned its initial position, acknowledging Israel had struck first, claiming that it was a preemptive strike in the face of a planned invasion by Egypt. On the other hand, the Arab view was that it was unjustified to attack Egypt. Many commentators consider the war as the classic case of anticipatory attack in self - defense. Allegations of atrocities against Egyptian soldiers It has been alleged that Nasser did not want Egypt to learn of the true extent of his defeat and so ordered the killing of Egyptian army stragglers making their way back to the Suez canal zone. There have also been allegations from both Israeli and Egyptian sources that Israeli troops killed unarmed Egyptian prisoners. Allegations of military support from the U.S., UK and Soviet Union There have been a number of allegations of direct military support of Israel during the war by the US and the UK, including the supply of equipment ( despite an embargo ) and the participation of US forces in the conflict. Many of these allegations and conspiracy theories have been disputed and it has been claimed that some were given currency in the Arab world to explain the Arab defeat. It has also been claimed that the Soviet Union, in support of its Arab allies, used its naval strength in the Mediterranean to act as a major restraint on the US Navy. America features prominently in Arab conspiracy theories purporting to explain the June 1967 defeat. Mohamed Hassanein Heikal, a confidant of Nasser, claims that President Lyndon B. Johnson was obsessed with Nasser and that Johnson conspired with Israel to bring him down. The reported Israeli troop movements seemed all the more threatening because they were perceived in the context of a US conspiracy against Egypt. Salah Bassiouny of the Foreign ministry, claims that Foreign Ministry saw the reported Israeli troop movements as credible because Israel had reached the level at which it could find strategic alliance with the United States. During the war, Cairo announced that American and British planes were participating in the Israeli attack. Nasser broke off diplomatic relations following this allegation. Nasser 's image of the United States was such that he might well have believed the worst. However Anwar Sadat implied that Nasser used this deliberate conspiracy in order to accuse the United States as a political cover - up for domestic consumption. Lutfi Abd al - Qadir, the director of Radio Cairo during the late 1960s, who accompanied Nasser to his visits in Moscow, had his conspiracy theory that both the Soviets and the Western powers wanted to topple Nasser or to reduce his influence. USS Liberty incident Main article : USS Liberty incident On June 8, 1967, USS Liberty, a United States Navy electronic intelligence vessel sailing 13 nautical miles ( 24 km ) off Arish ( just outside Egypt 's territorial waters ), was attacked by Israeli jets and torpedo boats, nearly sinking the ship, killing 34 sailors and wounding 171. Israel said the attack was a case of mistaken identity, and that the ship had been misidentified as the Egyptian vessel El Quseir. Israel apologized for the mistake, and paid compensation to the victims or their families, and to the United States for damage to the ship. After an investigation, the U.S. accepted the explanation that the incident was friendly fire and the issue was closed by the exchange of diplomatic notes in 1987. Others however, including the then United States Secretary of State Dean Rusk, Chief of Naval Operations at the time, Admiral Thomas Moorer, some survivors of the attack and intelligence officials familiar with transcripts of intercepted signals on the day, have rejected these conclusions as unsatisfactory and maintain that the attack was made in the knowledge that the ship was American. Aftermath The political importance of the 1967 War was immense ; Israel demonstrated that it was able and willing to initiate strategic strikes that could change the regional balance. Egypt and Syria learned tactical lessons and would launch an attack in 1973 in an attempt to reclaim their lost territory. After following other Arab nations in declaring war, Mauritania remained in a declared state of war with Israel until about 1999. The United States imposed an embargo on new arms agreements to all Middle East countries, including Israel. The embargo remained in force until the end of the year, despite urgent Israeli requests to lift it. Israel and Zionism Following the war, Israel experienced a wave of national euphoria, and the press praised the military 's performance for weeks afterward. New `` victory coins '' were minted to celebrate. In addition, the world 's interest in Israel grew, and the country 's economy, which had been in crisis before the war, flourished due to an influx of tourists and donations, as well as the extraction of oil from the Sinai 's wells. The aftermath of the war is also of religious significance. Under Jordanian rule, Jews were expelled from Jerusalem and were effectively barred from visiting the Western Wall ( even though Article VIII of the 1949 Armistice Agreement demanded Israeli Jewish access to the Western Wall ). Jewish holy sites were not maintained, and Jewish cemeteries had been desecrated. After the annexation to Israel, each religious group was granted administration over its holy sites. For the first time since 1948, Jews could visit the Old City of Jerusalem and pray at the Western Wall, the holiest site where Jews are permitted to pray. Despite the Temple Mount being the most important holy site in Jewish tradition, the al - Aqsa Mosque has been under sole administration of the Jordanian Muslim Waqf, and Jews are barred from praying on the Temple Mount, although they are allowed to visit it. In Hebron, Jews gained access to the Cave of the Patriarchs ( the second most holy site in Judaism, after the Temple Mount ) for the first time since the 14th century ( previously Jews were allowed to pray only at the entrance ). Other Jewish holy sites, such as Rachel 's Tomb in Bethlehem and Joseph 's Tomb in Nablus, also became accessible. The war inspired the Jewish diaspora, which was swept up in overwhelming support for Israel. According to Michael Oren, the war enabled American Jews to `` walk with their backs straight and flex their political muscle as never before. American Jewish organizations which had previously kept Israel at arms length suddenly proclaimed their Zionism. '' Record numbers of Jewish immigrants arrived from Western countries after the war, although many of them would later return to their countries of origin. Most notably, the war stirred Zionist passions among Jews in the Soviet Union, who had by that time been forcibly assimilated. Many Soviet Jews subsequently applied for exit visas and began protesting for their right to immigrate to Israel. Following diplomatic pressure from the West, the Soviet government began granting exit visas to Jews in growing numbers. From 1970 to 1988, some 291,000 Soviet Jews were granted exit visas, of whom 165,000 immigrated to Israel and 126,000 immigrated to the United States. Jews in Arab countries - pogroms and expulsion Main article : Jewish exodus from Arab and Muslim countries In the Arab nations, populations of minority Jews faced persecution and expulsion following the Israeli victory. According to historian and ambassador Michael B. Oren : Mobs attacked Jewish neighborhoods in Egypt, Yemen, Lebanon, Tunisia, and Morocco, burning synagogues and assaulting residents. A pogrom in Tripoli, Libya, left 18 Jews dead and 25 injured ; the survivors were herded into detention centers. Of Egypt 's 4,000 Jews, 800 were arrested, including the chief rabbis of both Cairo and Alexandria, and their property sequestered by the government. The ancient communities of Damascus and Baghdad were placed under house arrest, their leaders imprisoned and fined. A total of 7,000 Jews were expelled, many with merely a satchel. Antisemitism against Jews in communist countries Following the war, a series of antisemitic purges began in Communist countries. Some 11,200 Jews from Poland immigrated to Israel during the 1968 Polish political crisis and the following year. Peace and Diplomacy Following the war, Israel made an offer for peace that included the return of most of the recently captured territories. According to Chaim Herzog : On June 19, 1967, the National Unity Government ( of Israel ) voted unanimously to return the Sinai to Egypt and the Golan Heights to Syria in return for peace agreements. The Golans would have to be demilitarized and special arrangement would be negotiated for the Straits of Tiran. The government also resolved to open negotiations with King Hussein of Jordan regarding the Eastern border. The June 19 Israeli cabinet decision did not include the Gaza Strip, and left open the possibility of Israel permanently acquiring parts of the West Bank. On June 25 -- 27, Israel incorporated East Jerusalem together with areas of the West Bank to the north and south into Jerusalem 's new municipal boundaries. The Israeli decision was to be conveyed to the Arab nations by the United States. The U.S. was informed of the decision, but not that it was to transmit it. There is no evidence of receipt from Egypt or Syria, and some historians claim that they may never have received the offer. In September, the Khartoum Arab Summit resolved that there would be `` no peace, no recognition and no negotiation with Israel ''. However, as Avraham Sela notes, the Khartoum conference effectively marked a shift in the perception of the conflict by the Arab states away from one centered on the question of Israel 's legitimacy, toward one focusing on territories and boundaries. This was shown on November 22 when Egypt and Jordan accepted United Nations Security Council Resolution 242. Nasser forestalled any movement toward direct negotiations with Israel. In dozens of speeches and statements, Nasser posited the equation that any direct peace talks with Israel were tantamount to surrender. After the war, the entire Soviet bloc of Eastern Europe ( with the exception of Romania ) broke off diplomatic relations with Israel. The 1967 War laid the foundation for future discord in the region, as the Arab states resented Israel 's victory and did not want to give up territory. On November 22, 1967, the United Nations Security Council adopted Resolution 242, the `` land for peace '' formula, which called for Israeli withdrawal `` from territories occupied '' in 1967 and `` the termination of all claims or states of belligerency ''. Resolution 242 recognized the right of `` every state in the area to live in peace within secure and recognized boundaries free from threats or acts of force. '' Israel returned the Sinai to Egypt in 1978, after the Camp David Accords, and disengaged from the Gaza Strip in the summer of 2005. Its army frequently re-enters Gaza for military operations and still retains control of the seaports, airports and most of the border crossings. Captured territories and Arab displaced populations Main article : 1967 Palestinian exodus There was extensive displacement of populations in the captured territories : of about one million Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza, 300,000 ( according to the United States Department of State ) either fled, or were displaced from their homes, to Jordan, where they contributed to the growing unrest. The other 700,000 remained. In the Golan Heights, an estimated 80,000 Syrians fled. Israel allowed only the inhabitants of East Jerusalem and the Golan Heights to receive full Israeli citizenship, applying its law, administration and jurisdiction to these territories in 1967 and 1981, respectively. The vast majority of the populations in both territories declined to take citizenship. See also Israeli -- Palestinian conflict and Golan Heights. In his book Righteous Victims ( 1999 ), Israeli `` New Historian '' Benny Morris writes : In three villages southwest of Jerusalem and at Qalqilya, houses were destroyed `` not in battle, but as punishment... and in order to chase away the inhabitants... contrary to government... policy, '' Dayan wrote in his memoirs. In Qalqilya, about a third of the homes were razed and about 12,000 inhabitants were evicted, though many then camped out in the environs. The evictees in both areas were allowed to stay and later were given cement and tools by the Israeli authorities to rebuild at least some of their dwellings. But many thousands of other Palestinians now took to the roads. Perhaps as many as seventy thousand, mostly from the Jericho area, fled during the fighting ; tens of thousands more left over the following months. Altogether, about one - quarter of the population of the West Bank, about 200 -- 250,000 people, went into exile... They simply walked to the Jordan River crossings and made their way on foot to the East Bank. It is unclear how many were intimidated or forced out by the Israeli troops and how many left voluntarily, in panic and fear. There is some evidence of IDF soldiers going around with loudspeakers ordering West Bankers to leave their homes and cross the Jordan. Some left because they had relatives or sources of livelihood on the East Bank and feared being permanently cut off. Thousands of Arabs were taken by bus from East Jerusalem to the Allenby Bridge, though there is no evidence of coercion. The free Israeli - organized transportation, which began on June 11, 1967, went on for about a month. At the bridge they had to sign a document stating that they were leaving of their own free will. Perhaps as many as 70,000 people emigrated from the Gaza Strip to Egypt and elsewhere in the Arab world. On July 2, the Israeli government announced that it would allow the return of those 1967 refugees who desired to do so, but no later than August 10, later extended to September 13. The Jordanian authorities probably pressured many of the refugees, who constituted an enormous burden, to sign up to return. In practice only 14,000 of the 120,000 who applied were allowed by Israel back into the West Bank by the beginning of September. After that, only a trickle of `` special cases '' were allowed back, perhaps 3,000 in all. ( 328 -- 29 ) In addition, between 80,000 and 110,000 Syrians fled the Golan Heights, of which about 20,000 were from the city of Quneitra. According to more recent research by the Israeli daily Haaretz, a total of 130,000 Syrian inhabitants fled or were expelled from the territory, most of them pushed out by the Israeli army. Long term Israel made peace with Egypt following the Camp David Accords of 1978 and completed a staged withdrawal from the Sinai in 1982. However, the position of the other occupied territories has been a long - standing and bitter cause of conflict for decades between Israel and the Palestinians, and the Arab world in general. Jordan and Egypt eventually withdrew their claims to sovereignty over the West Bank and Gaza, respectively. ( The Sinai was returned to Egypt on the basis of the Camp David Accords of 1978. ) Israel and Jordan signed a peace treaty in 1994. After the Israeli conquest of these newly acquired ' territories ', it launched a large settlement effort in these areas to secure a permanent foothold. There are now hundreds of thousands of Israeli settlers in the West Bank. They are a matter of controversy within Israel, both among the general population and within different political administrations, supporting them to varying degrees. Palestinians consider them a provocation. The Israeli settlements in Gaza were evacuated and destroyed in August 2005 as a part of Israeli disengagement from Gaza. See also Abba Eban, Israeli Foreign Minister Hafez al - Assad, Syrian Defense Minister Catch 67, a 2017 Israeli philosophy book on the West Bank occupation that launched a public dialogue on the war 's 50th anniversary Israeli MIAs Leonid Brezhnev, Soviet leader List of modern conflicts in the Middle East Robert McNamara, U.S. Defense Secretary Syrian towns and villages depopulated in the Arab -- Israeli conflict U Thant, Secretary General of the United Nations Notes 1. Photograph : It was twenty minutes after the capture of the Western Wall that David Rubinger shot his `` signature '' photograph of three Israeli paratroopers gazing in wonder up at the wall ( Kaniuk, Yoram. `` June 10, 1967 -- Israeli paratroopers reach the Western Wall ''. The Digital Journalist. Retrieved December 2, 2008. ). As part of the terms for his access to the front lines, Rubinger handed the negatives to the Israeli government, who then distributed this image widely. Although he was displeased with the violation of his copyright, the widespread use of his photo made it famous ( Silver, Eric ( February 16, 2006 ). `` David Rubinger in the picture ''. The Jewish Chronicle. Retrieved July 17, 2010. ), and it is now considered a defining image of the conflict and one of the best - known in the history of Israel ( Urquhart, Conal ( May 6, 2007 ). `` Six days in June ''. The Observer. Retrieved December 2, 2008. ) 3. Both Egypt and Israel announced that they had been attacked by the other country. Gideon Rafael ( Israeli Ambassador to the UN ) received a message from the Israeli foreign office : `` Inform immediately the President of the Sec. Co. that Israel is now engaged in repelling Egyptian land and air forces. '' At 3 : 10 am, Rafael woke ambassador Hans Tabor, the Danish President of the Security Council for June, with the news that Egyptian forces had `` moved against Israel ''. Bailey 1990, p. 225. ( At Security Council meeting of June 5 ), both Israel and Egypt claimed to be repelling an invasion by the other. Bailey 1990, p. 225. `` Egyptian sources claimed that Israel had initiated hostilities (... ) but Israeli officials -- Eban and Evron -- swore that Egypt had fired first '' Oren 2002, p. 196. `` Gideon Rafael phoned Danish ambassador Hans Tabor, Security Council president for the month of June, and informed him that Israel was responding to a ' cowardly and treacherous ' attack from Egypt... '' Oren, p. 198. 4. Lenczowski 1990, pp. 105 -- 15, Citing Moshe Dayan, Story of My Life, and Nadav Safran, From War to War : The Arab -- Israeli Confrontation, 1948 -- 1967, p. 375 Israel clearly did not want the US government to know too much about its dispositions for attacking Syria, initially planned for June 8, but postponed for 24 hours. It should be pointed out that the attack on the Liberty occurred on June 8, whereas on June 9 at 3 am, Syria announced its acceptance of the cease - fire. Despite this, at 7 am, that is, four hours later, Israel 's minister of defense, Moshe Dayan, `` gave the order to go into action against Syria. '' Footnotes Jump up ^ Krauthammer 2007. ^ Jump up to : Oren, p. 237 Jump up ^ `` Pakistani Pilots in Arab Israel War ''. Opinion Maker. 10 August 2012. Archived from the original on 2013 - 05 - 12. Retrieved 2013 - 05 - 13. ^ Jump up to : Tucker 2004, p. 176. ^ Jump up to : Griffin 2006, p. 336. ^ Jump up to : Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs 2008. ^ Jump up to : Gawrych 2000, p. 3 Jump up ^ Zaloga, Steven ( 1981 ). Armour of the Middle East Wars 1948 -- 78 ( Vanguard ). Osprey Publishing. ^ Jump up to : El Gamasy 1993 p. 79. ^ Jump up to : Herzog 1982, p. 165. ^ Jump up to : Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 2004 ^ Jump up to : Herzog 1982, p. 183. ^ Jump up to : Warfare since the Second World War, By Klaus Jürgen Gantzel, Torsten Schwinghammer, p. 253 ^ Jump up to : Wars in the Third World since 1945, ( NY 1991 ) Guy Arnold ^ Jump up to : Tucker, Spencer C. ( 2010 ). The Encyclopedia of Middle East Wars. The United States in the Persian Gulf, Afghanistan, and Iraq Conflicts. ABC - CLIO. p. 1198. ISBN 978 - 1 - 85109 - 947 - 4. ^ Jump up to : Woolf, Alex ( 2012 ). Arab -- Israeli War Since 1948. Heinemann - Raintree. p. 27. ISBN 978 - 1 - 4329 - 6004 - 9. ^ Jump up to : Sachar, Howard M. ( 2013 ). A History of Israel : From the Rise of Zionism to Our Time. Random House. ISBN 978 - 0 - 8041 - 5049 - 1. ^ Jump up to : Oren, pp. 185 -- 87 Jump up ^ Gerhard, William D. ; Millington, Henry W. ( 1981 ). `` Attack on a SIGINT Collector, the USS Liberty '' ( PDF ). NSA History Report, U.S. Cryptologic History series. National Security Agency. partially declassified 1999, 2003. Jump up ^ Both USA and Israel officially attributed the USS Liberty incident as being due to mistaken identification. Jump up ^ Major General Indar Jit Rikhye ( 28 October 2013 ). The Sinai Blunder : Withdrawal of the United Nations Emergency Force Leading... Taylor & Francis. pp. 8 --. ISBN 978 - 1 - 136 - 27985 - 0. Jump up ^ Ami Gluska ( 12 February 2007 ). The Israeli Military and the Origins of the 1967 War : Government, Armed Forces and Defence Policy 1963 -- 67. Routledge. p. 152. ISBN 978 - 1 - 134 - 16377 - 9. On the evening of 22 May, President Gamal Abdul Nasser, accompanied by... Egyptian air force base at Bir Gafgafa in Sinai and addressed the pilots and officers... ' The Jews are threatening war -- we say to them ahlan wa - sahlan ( welcome ) ! Jump up ^ `` First United Nations Emergency Force ( UNEF I ) -- Background ( Full text ) ''. Rauschning, Wiesbrock & Lailach 1997, p. 30 ; Sachar 2007, pp. 504, 507 -- 08. Jump up ^ Some sources date the agreement to November 4, others to November 7. Most sources simply say `` November ''. Gawrych ( 2000 ) p. 5 Jump up ^ Schiff, Zeev, History of the Israeli Army, Straight Arrow Books ( 1974 ) p. 145 Jump up ^ Churchill & Churchill, The Six Day War, Houghton Mifflin Company ( 1967 ) p. 21 Jump up ^ Pollack, Kenneth, Arabs at War : Military Effectiveness 1948 -- 1991, University of Nebraska Press ( 2002 ), p. 290 Jump up ^ Segev, 2007, pp. 149 -- 52. Jump up ^ Hart, 1989 p. 226 Jump up ^ Oren 2002 / 2003, p. 312 ; Burrowes & Douglas 1972, pp. 224 -- 25 Jump up ^ Shemesh, Moshe ( 2007 ). Arab Politics, Palestinian Nationalism and the Six Day War : The Crystallization of Arab Strategy and Nasir 's Descent to War, 1957 -- 1967. Sussex Academic Press. p. 118. ISBN 1 - 84519 - 188 - 9. The Jordanian leadership 's appraisal of the repercussions of the Samu ' raid was a major factor in King Husayn 's decision to join Nasir 's war chariot by signing a joint defense pact with Egypt on May 30, 1967. This was the determining factor for Jordan 's participation in the war that would soon break out... Convinced after the Samu ' raid that Israel 's strategic goal was the West Bank, Husayn allied himself to Nasir out of a genuine fear that, in a comprehensive war, Israel would invade the West Bank whether or not Jordan was an active participant. Jump up ^ Tessler, Mark ( 1994 ). A History of the Israeli - Palestinian Conflict. John Wiley & Sons. p. 378. ISBN 0 - 253 - 20873 - 4. Towards the War of June 1967 : Growing tensions in the region were clearly visible long before Israel 's November attack on Samu and two other West Bank towns. An escalating spiral of raid and retaliation had already been set in motion... Jump up ^ Herzog 1982, p. 148 Jump up ^ John Quigley, The Six - Day War and Israeli Self - Defense : Questioning the Legal Basis for Preventive War, Cambridge University Press, 2013, p. 32. Jump up ^ Shlaim ( 2007 ) p. 238 Jump up ^ Samir A. Mutawi ( 18 July 2002 ). Jordan in the 1967 War. Cambridge University Press. p. 93. ISBN 978 - 0 - 521 - 52858 - 0. Although Eshkol denounced the Egyptians, his response to this development was a model of moderation. His speech on 21 May demanded that Nasser withdraw his forces from Sinai but made no mention of the removal of UNEF from the Straits nor of what Israel would do if they were closed to Israeli shipping. The next day Nasser announced to an astonished world that henceforth the Straits were, indeed, closed to all Israeli ships Jump up ^ Cohen, Raymond. ( 1988 ), p. 12 Jump up ^ `` Interference, by armed force, with ships of Israeli flag exercising free and innocent passage in the Gulf of Aqaba and through the Straits of Tiran will be regarded by Israel as an attack entitling it to exercise its inherent right of self - defence under Article 51 of the Charter and to take all such measures as are necessary to ensure the free and innocent passage of its ships in the Gulf and in the Straits. '' `` Statement to the General Assembly by Foreign Minister Meir, 1 March 1957 ''. Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs -- The State of Israel. Jump up ^ Morris, Benny ( 1999 ). Righteous Victims : A History of the Zionist -- Arab Conflict, 1881 -- 1998. Random House. p. 306. ISBN 0 - 679 - 42120 - 3. Jump up ^ Gat, Moshe ( 2003 ). Britain and the Conflict in the Middle East, 1964 -- 1967 : The Coming of the Six - Day War. Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 202. ISBN 0 - 275 - 97514 - 2. Jump up ^ Colonomos, Ariel ( 2013 ). The Gamble of War : Is it Possible to Justify Preventive War ?. Palgrave Macmillan. p. 25. ISBN 978 - 1 - 137 - 01894 - 6. Jump up ^ `` LBJ Pledges U.S. to Peace Effort '', Eugene Register - Guard ( June 19, 1967 ). See also Johnson, Lyndon. `` Address at the State Department 's Foreign Policy Conference for Educators '' ( June 19, 1967 ). Jump up ^ Churchill po. 52 and 77 Jump up ^ Reston, James ( May 24, 1967 ). `` Washington : Nasser 's Reckless Maneuvers ; Cairo and Moscow The U.S. Commitment The Staggering Economy Moscow 's Role ''. The New York Times. p. 46. Jump up ^ Sherman Kent for the Central Intelligence Agency 's Board of National Estimates ( May 26, 1967 ). `` Foreign Relations of the United States, 1964 -- 1968 Volume XIX, Arab - Israeli Crisis and War, 1967, Document 79 79. Memorandum From the Central Intelligence Agency 's Board of National Estimates to Director of Central Intelligence Helms ''. Washington. The most likely course seems to be for Nasser to hold to his present winnings as long as he can, and in as full measure as he can. As of the moment he has vastly enhanced his own prestige in Egypt and throughout the Arab world, diminished the standing of Israel and, at least for the moment, administered a serious setback to the US. Moreover, by simply standing where he is he places the Israelis in an extremely difficult position. He keeps the crisis at high pitch, and as long as this continues the Israelis must remain mobilized. This they can not do for long without adverse effects upon their economy. 5. The Israelis face dismaying choices. Surprised and shaken by Nasser 's action, they failed to take the instant military counteraction which might have been most effective. If they attack now they will face far more formidable opposition than in the rapid campaign of 1956. We believe that they would still be able to drive the Egyptians away from the entrance to the Strait of Tiran, but it would certainly cost them heavy losses of men and materiel. We are not sure that they have sufficient stockpiles of ammunition and equipment for a war lasting more than three or four weeks, and it is possible that they would not embark upon a major campaign without prior assurances from the US of adequate resupply. Jump up ^ Quigley, The Six - Day War and Israeli Self - Defence, p. 60. ( Cambridge University Press ) Jump up ^ Stone 2004, p. 217. Jump up ^ Pollack 2004, p. 294 Jump up ^ Pollack 2004, p. 59 Jump up ^ Ehteshami and Hinnebusch 1997, p. 76. Jump up ^ Mutawi 2002, p. 42. ^ Jump up to : Segev 1967, pp. 82, 175 -- 91. Jump up ^ Pollack 2004, pp. 293 -- 94 Jump up ^ `` Air Warriors ''. Pakistan Air Force. Retrieved 15 July 2017. Jump up ^ `` Eagle Biography - Saiful Azam ''. Air University. Retrieved 15 July 2017. Jump up ^ Oren, 176 ; Benny Morris, Righteous Victims, 318. Jump up ^ Pollack 2004, p. 58. Jump up ^ de Mazarrasa, Javier ( 1994 ) ( in Spanish ). Blindados en España 2a Parte : La Dificil Postguerra 1939 -- 1960. Valladolid, Spain : Quiron Ediciones. p. 50. ISBN 84 - 87314 - 10 - 4 Jump up ^ Perrett, Bryan ( 1999 ). Panzerkampfwagen IV medium tank : 1936 -- 1945. Oxford, United Kingdom : Osprey. p. 44. ISBN 978 - 1 - 85532 - 843 - 3 Jump up ^ Oren 2002, p. 172 Jump up ^ Bowen 2003, p. 99 ( author interview with Moredechai Hod, May 7, 2002 ). ^ Jump up to : Oren 2002, electronic edition, Section `` The War : Day One, June 5 ''. Jump up ^ Bowen 2003, pp. 114 -- 15 ( author interview with General Salahadeen Hadidi who presided over the first court martial of the heads of the air force and the air defense system after the war ). Jump up ^ Oren 2002 p. 171 Jump up ^ Pollack 2005, p. 474. Jump up ^ Oren, 176, says 282 out of 420. Morris, 318, says 304 out of 419. Mark Tessler, A History of the Israeli -- Palestinian Conflict ( Indiana, 1994 ), p. 396, says over 350 planes were destroyed. Jump up ^ Long 1984, p. 19, Table 1. ^ Jump up to : Oren, p. 178 Jump up ^ Oren, p. 175 ^ Jump up to : `` Part 4 : The 1967 Six Day War ''. Retrieved April 20, 2011. Jump up ^ Pollack 2004, p. 59. ^ Jump up to : Oren, p. 180 Jump up ^ Oren, p. 181 ^ Jump up to : Oren, p. 202 Jump up ^ `` Six Day War ''. Israeli - weapons. Retrieved February 1, 2012. Jump up ^ Oren, p. 182 Jump up ^ Simon Dunstan, The Six Day War 1967 : Sinai, Osprey Publishing, 2012, p. 125 Jump up ^ Leslie Stein, The Making of Modern Israel : 1948 -- 1967, Polity Press, 2013 p. 181. ^ Jump up to : Oren, p. 201 ^ Jump up to : Hammel 1992, p. 239 Jump up ^ Oren, p. 212 Jump up ^ Oren, p. 211 Jump up ^ Mubasher, Abdou ( 7 -- 13 June 2007 ). `` The road to Naksa ''. Al - Ahram. Retrieved 24 May 2017. ^ Jump up to : Oren, p. 248 Jump up ^ Oren 2002, pp. 184 -- 185. Jump up ^ `` On June 5, Israel sent a message to Hussein urging him not to open fire. Despite shelling into West Jerusalem, Netanya, and the outskirts of Tel Aviv, Israel did nothing. '' The Six Day War and Its Enduring Legacy. Summary of remarks by Michael Oren at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, May 29, 2002. Jump up ^ Donald Neff ( 1984 ). Warriors for Jerusalem : the six days that changed the Middle East. Linden Press / Simon & Schuster. p. 205. ISBN 978 - 0 - 671 - 45485 - 2. Odd Bull : `` ( the message ) was a threat, pure and simple and it is not the normal practice of the U.N. to pass on threats from one government to another. '' However, as ``... this message seemed so important... we quickly sent it... and King Hussein received the message before 10 : 30 the same morning. '' ^ Jump up to : Shlaim ( 2000 ). The Iron Wall : Israel and the Arab World. pp. 243 -- 244. In May -- June 1967 Eshkol 's government did everything in its power to confine the confrontation to the Egyptian front. Eshkol and his colleagues took into account the possibility of some fighting on the Syrian front. But they wanted to avoid having a clash with Jordan and the inevitable complications of having to deal with the predominantly Palestinian population of the West Bank. The fighting on the eastern front was initiated by Jordan, not by Israel. King Hussein got carried along by a powerful current of Arab nationalism. On May 30 he flew to Cairo and signed a defense pact with Nasser. On June 5, Jordan started shelling the Israeli side in Jerusalem. This could have been interpreted either as a salvo to uphold Jordanian honour or as a declaration of war. Eshkol decided to give King Hussein the benefit of the doubt. Through General Odd Bull, the Norwegian commander of UNTSO, he sent the following message the morning of June 5 : `` We shall not initiate any action whatsoever against Jordan. However, should Jordan open hostilities, we shall react with all our might, and the king will have to bear the full responsibility of the consequences. '' King Hussein told General Bull that it was too late ; the die was cast. ^ Jump up to : Shlaim, 2001, p. 244. ^ Jump up to : Oren, pp. 187 -- 88 Jump up ^ `` United Nations June 5, 1967 ''. United Nations. Archived from the original on December 26, 2011. Retrieved February 1, 2012. Jump up ^ Oren, p. 187 ^ Jump up to : Shlaim 2001, p. 245. Jump up ^ Oren, p. 188 -- 89 Jump up ^ `` Pacifica Military History -- Free Samples ''. Pacificamilitary.com. June 5, 1967. Retrieved February 1, 2012. ^ Jump up to : Oren, pp. 191 -- 92 ^ Jump up to : Oren, p. 222 ^ Jump up to : http://www.sixdaywar.org/contest/easternfront.asp ^ Jump up to : Oren, p. 203 ^ Jump up to : Oren, pp. 222 -- 23 Jump up ^ Oren, p. 224 Jump up ^ Oren, p. 219 Jump up ^ Shlaim 2001, p. 246. ^ Jump up to : Sachar 1976. p. 642. Jump up ^ Oren 2002, electronic edition, Section `` Damascus and Jerusalem ''. ^ Jump up to : Oren 2002, electronic edition, Section `` The War : Day Five, June 9 ''. Jump up ^ Morris, 2001, p. 325 Jump up ^ Hammel 1992, p. 387 Jump up ^ Oren, p. 280 Jump up ^ Oren, pp. 281 -- 82 ^ Jump up to : Oren, p. 283 Jump up ^ Oren, p. 295 Jump up ^ Video : Cease - Fire. Uneasy Truce In Mid-East, 1967 / 06 / 13 ( 1967 ). Universal Newsreel. 1960. Retrieved February 22, 2012. Jump up ^ Oren 2002, electronic edition, Section `` Playing for the Brink ''. Jump up ^ `` A Campaign for the Books ''. Time. September 1, 1967. Jump up ^ `` Six - Day War -- Middle East ( 1967 ) ''. Jump up ^ Sachar 1976. p. 660. ^ Jump up to : Oren 2002, electronic edition, Section `` Aftershocks ''. Jump up ^ Elie Podeh ; Onn Winckler ( 1 December 2004 ). Rethinking Nasserism : Revolution and Historical Memory in Modern Egypt. University Press of Florida. pp. 110, 111. ISBN 978 - 0 - 8130 - 3137 - 8. The most outstanding exponent of the Nasserist narrative was Muhammad Hasanayn Haykal, who also embodied the revolutionary heritage personally as Nasser 's closest aid and the editor in chief of the state - sponsored dailies Al - Akhbar and Al - Ahram... Haykal acknowledged that Nasser had erred in various fields, noting that he had admitted, for example, his responsibility for the military defeat in the June 1967 War Jump up ^ Elie Podeh ; Onn Winckler ( 1 December 2004 ). Rethinking Nasserism : Revolution and Historical Memory in Modern Egypt. University Press of Florida. pp. 105, 106. ISBN 978 - 0 - 8130 - 3137 - 8. the prominent historian and commentator Abd al - Azim Ramadan, In a series of articles published in AlWafd, subsequently compiled in a hook published in 2000, Ramadan criticized the Nasser cult,... The events leading up to the nationalization of the Suez Canal Company, as other events during Nasser 's rule, Ramadan wrote, showed Nasser to be far from a rational, responsible leader... His decision to nationalize the Suez Canal was his alone, made without political or military consultation... The source of all this evil. Ramadan noted, was Nasser 's inclination to solitary decision making... the revolutionary regime led by the same individual -- Nasser -- repeated its mistakes when it decided to expel the international peacekeeping force from the Sinai Peninsula and close the Straits of Tiran in 1967. Both decisions led to a state of war with Israel, despite the lack of military preparedness Jump up ^ Churchill & Churchill 1967, p. 189 ^ Jump up to : Quigley, John ( 2005 ). The Case for Palestine : An International Law Perspective. London : Duke University Press. p. 163. ISBN 0 - 8223 - 3539 - 5. Jump up ^ `` BBC Panorama ''. BBC News. February 6, 2009. Retrieved February 1, 2012. Jump up ^ `` Egypt State Information Service ''. Sis.gov.eg. Retrieved February 1, 2012. Jump up ^ UN Security Council meeting 1347 Archived March 19, 2011, at the Wayback Machine. ( June 5, 1967 ) Jump up ^ Kinga Tibori Szabó ( 22 August 2011 ). Anticipatory Action in Self - Defence : Essence and Limits under International Law. Springer Science & Business Media. pp. 147, 148. ISBN 978 - 90 - 6704 - 796 - 8. ( p. 147 ) The sequence of events that led to the Israeli pre-emptive strike did indeed create a situation where an armed attack seemed unavoidable. ( p. 148 ) Many commentators treat it ( the six day war ) as the locus classicus of anticipatory action in self defence Jump up ^ John Quigley ( 17 December 2012 ). The Six - Day War and Israeli Self - Defense : Questioning the Legal Basis for Preventive War. Cambridge University Press. pp. 135 --. ISBN 978 - 1 - 139 - 62049 - 9. Terence Taylor... wrote in 2004... that `` many scholars '' considered Israel to have `` conducted the ( 1967 ) action in anticipatory of self - defense Jump up ^ Churchill & Churchill 1967, p. 179. Jump up ^ Bron, Gabby ' Egyptian POWs Ordered to Dig Graves, Then Shot By Israeli Army ', Yedioth Ahronoth, August 17, 1995. Jump up ^ Bar - Zohar, Michael ' The Reactions of Journalists to the Army 's Murders of POWs ', Maariv, August 17, 1995. Jump up ^ Prior 1999, pp. 209 -- 10 ; Bar - On, Morris and Golani 2002 ; Fisher, Ronal ' Mass Murder in the 1956 War ', Ma'ariv, August 8, 1995. Jump up ^ Laub, Karin `` Archived copy ''. Archived from the original on December 11, 2003. Retrieved December 11, 2003. CS1 maint : Unfit url ( link ), Associated Press, August 16, 1995. Retrieved from the Wayback Machine. October 14, 2005. Jump up ^ `` Israel Reportedly Killed POWs '', August 17, 1995 Jump up ^ Segev, T., 2007, p. 374 Jump up ^ Ibrahim, Youssef ( September 21, 1995 ). `` Egypt Says Israelis Killed P.O.W. 's in ' 67 War ''. The New York Times. Jump up ^ Mansour 1994, p. 89 Jump up ^ Green 1984 Jump up ^ Smith, September 15, 1967 Jump up ^ Bowen 2003, p. 89. Jump up ^ Phythian 2001, pp. 193 -- 94. Jump up ^ Shlaim ; Louis ( 2012 ) pp. 8, 53, 60, 75, 193, 199, 297 Jump up ^ Podeh, Middle East Quarterly, Winter 2004, pp. 51 - 62 Jump up ^ Hattendorf 2000 Jump up ^ `` McNamara : US Near War in ' 67 ''. The Boston Globe. September 16, 1983. p. 1. Jump up ^ Shlaim ; Louis ( 2012 ) p. 8 Jump up ^ Shlaim ; Louis ( 2012 ) p. 60 Jump up ^ Shlaim ; Louis ( 2012 ) p. 75 Jump up ^ Shlaim ; Louis ( 2012 ) p. 199 Jump up ^ John Crewdson ( 2 October 2007 ). `` New revelations in attack on American spy ship ''. Chicago Tribune. Jump up ^ Tim Fischer, ' Six days of war, 40 years of secrecy, ' The Age May 27, 2007. Jump up ^ John Quigley, The Six - Day War and Israeli Self - Defense : Questioning the Legal Basis for Preventive War, Cambridge University Press 2013 p. 93. Cf Dean Rusk, As I Saw it : A Secretary of State 's Memoirs, W.W. Norton, 1990 pp. 386 -- 88. Jump up ^ Brams & Togman 1998, p. 243 ; Youngs 2001, p. 12 Jump up ^ Amos Oz interview with Phillip Adams, 10 September 1991, re-broadcast on ABC Radio National 23 December 2011 Jump up ^ William B. Quandt ( 2001 ). Peace Process : American Diplomacy and the Arab -- Israeli Conflict Since 1967. University of California Press. p. 42. ISBN 978 - 0 - 520 - 22374 - 5. once hostilities were under way, the United states imposed an embargo on new arms agreements to all countries of the Middle East, including Israel. The embargo remained in force through the end of the year, despite urgent Israeli requests to lift it. Jump up ^ Oren, p. 309 Jump up ^ `` Fact Sheet No. 52, Remembering the Six Day War ''. May 7, 2007. Archived from the original on May 14, 2008. Retrieved March 28, 2008. Jump up ^ Tessler, Mark A. ( 1994 ). A History of the Israeli - Palestinian Conflict. Indiana University Press. p. 326. ISBN 0 - 253 - 35848 - 5. Jump up ^ Aikman, David ( 1998 ). Great Souls : Six Who Changed a Century. Lexington Books. p. 349. ISBN 0 - 7391 - 0438 - 1. Jump up ^ The `` Status Quo '' on the Temple Mount November -- December 2014 Jump up ^ Jerusalem in the unholy grip of religious fervor, Times of Israel. November 6, 2014 Jump up ^ Cave of the Patriarchs Archived March 18, 2015, at the Wayback Machine. Chabad.org Jump up ^ Tom Selwyn. Contested Mediterranean Spaces : The Case of Rachel 's Tomb, Bethlehem, Palestine. Berghahn Books. pp. 276 -- 278. Jump up ^ `` Archaeology in Israel : Joseph 's Tomb ''. Jump up ^ Oren, p. 332 Jump up ^ `` The 40th anniversary of the Six - Day War / Rate of return ''. Haaretz. June 1, 2007. Retrieved October 10, 2014. Jump up ^ Tolts, Mark. Post-Soviet Aliyah and Jewish Demographic Transformation Jump up ^ Oren 2002, pp. 306 -- 07 Jump up ^ Ringer, Ronald ( 2006 ). Excel HSC Modern History. Pascal Press. p. 390. Retrieved 2013 - 09 - 10. Jump up ^ Włodzimierz Rozenbaum, CIAO : Intermarium, National Convention of the American Association for the Advancement of Slavic Studies, Atlanta, Ga., 8 -- 11 October 1975. Jump up ^ Communiqué : Investigation regarding communist state officers who publicly incited hatred towards people of different nationality. Institute of National Remembrance, Warsaw. Publication on Polish site of IPN : July 25, 2007. Jump up ^ Herzog 1989, p. 253. Jump up ^ Shlaim 2001, p. 254. Jump up ^ Sela 1997, p. 108. Jump up ^ Itamar Rabinovich ; Haim Shaked. From June to October : The Middle East Between 1967 And 1973. Transaction Publishers. p. 192. ISBN 978 - 1 - 4128 - 2418 - 7. In dozens of speeches and statements, Nasser posited the equation that any direct peace talks with Israel were tantamount to surrender. His efforts to forestall any movement toward direct negotiations... Jump up ^ Webman, Esther ( 2011 ). The Global Impact of the Protocols of the Elders of Zion : A Century - Old Myth. Routledge. p. 133. ISBN 978 - 0 - 415 - 59892 - 7. Jump up ^ `` US State Department ''. Jump up ^ `` Right of return : Palestinian dream ''. UK : BBC News. April 15, 2004... Jump up ^ `` Distribution of the Palestinian Population And Jewish Settlers In the West Bank and Gaza Since 1967 ''. Archived from the original on May 14, 2010. Retrieved July 17, 2010. Jump up ^ `` Golan Heights ''. Retrieved October 8, 2005. Jump up ^ Morris ( 2001 ) p. 327 Jump up ^ `` Al - Qunayṭirah ''. Encyclopædia Britannica Online. 2010. Retrieved July 18, 2010. Jump up ^ Shay Fogelman, `` The disinherited '', Haaretz, July 30, 2010 References al - Qusi, Abdallah Ahmad Hamid. ( 1999 ). Al - Wisam fi at - Ta'rikh. Cairo : Al - Mu'asasa al - ' Arabiya al - Haditha. No ISBN available. Aloni, Shlomo ( 2001 ). Arab -- Israeli Air Wars 1947 -- 1982. Osprey Aviation. ISBN 1 - 84176 - 294 - 6 Alteras, Isaac. ( 1993 ). Eisenhower and Israel : U.S. -- Israeli Relations, 1953 -- 1960, University Press of Florida. ISBN 0 - 8130 - 1205 - 8. Bailey, Sydney ( 1990 ). Four Arab -- Israeli Wars and the Peace Process. London : The MacMillan Press. ISBN 0 - 312 - 04649 - 9. Bar - On, Mordechai ; Morris, Benny & Golani, Motti ( 2002 ). Reassessing Israel 's Road to Sinai / Suez, 1956 : A `` Trialogue ''. In Gary A. Olson ( Ed. ). Traditions and Transitions in Israel Studies : Books on Israel, Volume VI ( pp. 3 -- 42 ). SUNY Press. 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Greenwood Publishing Group. ISBN 0 - 275 - 96136 - 2. Bowen, Jeremy ( 2003 ). Six Days : How the 1967 War Shaped the Middle East. London : Simon & Schuster. ISBN 0 - 7432 - 3095 - 7 Brams, Steven J. & Jeffrey M. Togman. ( 1998 ). Camp David : Was the agreement fair ? In Paul F. Diehl ( Ed. ), A Road Map to War : Territorial Dimensions of International Conflict. Nashville : Vanderbilt University Press. ISBN 0 - 8265 - 1329 - 8. Brecher, Michael. ( 1996 ). Eban and Israeli foreign policy : Diplomacy, war and disengagement. In A Restless Mind : Essays in Honor of Amos Perlmutter, Benjamin Frankel ( ed. ), pp. 104 -- 117. Routledge. ISBN 0 - 7146 - 4607 - 5 Bregman, Ahron. ( 2000 ). Israel 's Wars, 1947 -- 1993. Routledge. ISBN 0 - 415 - 21468 - 8. Bregman, Ahron ( 2002 ). Israel 's Wars : A History Since 1947. London : Routledge. ISBN 0 - 415 - 28716 - 2 Burrowes, Robert & Muzzio, Douglas. ( 1972 ). The Road to the Six Day War : Towards an Enumerative History of Four Arab States and Israel, 1965 -- 67. The Journal of Conflict Resolution, Vol. 16, No. 2, Research Perspectives on the Arab -- Israeli Conflict : A Symposium, pp. 211 -- 26. Cohen, Raymond. ( 1988 ) Intercultural Communication between Israel and Egypt : Deterrence Failure before the Six - Day war. Review of International Studies, Vol. 14, No. 1, pp. 1 -- 16 Christie, Hazel ( 1999 ). Law of the Sea. Manchester : Manchester University Press. ISBN 0 - 7190 - 4382 - 4 Churchill, Randolph & Churchill, Winston. ( 1967 ). The Six Day War. Houghton Mifflin Company. ISBN 0 - 395 - 07532 - 7 Colaresi, Michael P. ( 2005 ). Scare Tactics : The politics of international rivalry. Syracuse University Press. ISBN 978 - 0 - 8156 - 3066 - 1 Eban, Abba ( 1977 ). Abba Eban : An Autobiography. Random House. ISBN 0 - 394 - 49302 - 8 Ehteshami, Anoushiravan and Hinnebusch, Raymond A. ( 1997 ). Syria & Iran : Middle Powers in a Penetrated Regional System. London : Routledge. ISBN 0 - 415 - 15675 - 0 Feron, James ( May 13, 1967 ). `` Israelis Ponder Blow at Syrians ; Some Leaders Decide That Force is the Only Way to Curtail Terrorism Some Israeli Leaders See Need for Force to Curb Syrians ''. The New York Times. El - Gamasy, Mohamed Abdel Ghani. ( 1993 ). The October War. The American University in Cairo Press. ISBN 977 - 424 - 316 - 1. Gawrych, George W. ( 2000 ). The Albatross of Decisive Victory : War and Policy Between Egypt and Israel in the 1967 and 1973 Arab - Israeli Wars. Greenwood Press. ISBN 0 - 313 - 31302 - 4. Available in multiple PDF files from the Combat Studies Institute and the Combined Arms Research Library, CSI Publications in parts. Gelpi, Christopher ( 2002 ). Power of Legitimacy : Assessing the Role of Norms in Crisis Bargaining. Princeton University Press. ISBN 0 - 691 - 09248 - 6 Gerner, Deborah J. ( 1994 ). One Land, Two Peoples. Westview Press. 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Retrieved September 30, 2006. Hammel, Eric ( 1992 ). Six Days in June : How Israel Won the 1967 Arab -- Israeli War. Simon & Schuster. ISBN 0 - 7434 - 7535 - 6 Hattendorf, John B. ( 2000 ). Naval Strategy and Power in the Mediterranean : Past, Present and Future. Taylor & Francis. ISBN 0 - 7146 - 8054 - 0. Handel, Michael I. ( 1973 ). Israel 's political - military doctrine. Center for International Affairs, Harvard University. ISBN 0 - 87674 - 025 - 5 Hart, Alan ( 1989 ) Arafat, A political biography. Indiana University Press ISBN 0 - 253 - 32711 - 3. Herzog, Chaim ( 1982 ). The Arab - Israeli Wars. Arms & Armour Press. ISBN 0 - 85368 - 367 - 0 Herbert, Nicholas ( May 17, 1967 ). Egyptian Forces On Full Alert : Ready to fight for Syria. The Times, p. 1 ; Issue 56943 ; col E. Herzog, Chaim ( 1989 ). Heroes of Israel : Profiles of Jewish Courage. Little Brown and Company. ISBN 0 - 316 - 35901 - 7. Higham, Robin. ( 2003 ). 100 Years of Air Power and Aviation. TAMU Press. ISBN 1 - 58544 - 241 - 0. Hinnebusch, Raymond A. ( 2003 ). The international politics of the Middle East. Manchester University Press. ISBN 978 - 0 - 7190 - 5346 - 7 Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs ( 2004 ). Background on Israeli POWs and MIAs. Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs ( 2008 ). The Six - Day War ( June 1967 ). `` Israel Reportedly Killed POWs in ' 67 War ; Historians Say Deaths of Hundreds of Egyptians Was Covered Up Israel Reportedly Killed POWs in ' 67 War ; Historians Say Deaths of Hundreds of Egyptians Was Covered Up '', The Washington Post, August 17, 1995, p. A. 30 ( Fee required ). James, Laura ( 2005 ). The Nassar And His Enemies : Foreign Policy Decision Making In Egypt On The Eve Of The Six Day War. The Middle East Review of International Affairs. Volume 9, No. 2, Article 2. `` Israelis Say Tape Shows Nasser Fabricated ' Plot ' ; Recording Said to Be of Phone Call to Hussein Gives Plan to Accuse U.S. and Britain ''. The New York Times. June 9, 1967. p. 17. Retrieved June 28, 2007. Jia, Bing Bing. ( 1998 ). The Regime of Straits in International Law ( Oxford Monographs in International Law ). Oxford University Press, USA. ISBN 0 - 19 - 826556 - 5. Koboril, Iwao and Glantz, Michael H. ( 1998 ). Central Eurasian Water Crisis. United Nations University Press. ISBN 92 - 808 - 0925 - 3 Krauthammer, Charles ( May 18, 2007 ). `` Prelude to the Six Days ''. The Washington Post. pp. A23. ISSN 0740 - 5421. Retrieved June 20, 2008. Lavoy, Peter R. ; Sagan, Scott Douglas & Wirtz, James J. ( Eds. ) ( 2000 ). Planning the Unthinkable : How New Powers Will Use Nuclear, Biological, and Chemical Weapons. Cornell University Press. ISBN 0 - 8014 - 8704 - 8. Leibler, Isi ( 1972 ). The Case For Israel. Australia : The Executive Council of Australian Jewry. ISBN 0 - 9598984 - 0 - 9. Lenczowski, George. ( 1990 ). American Presidents and the Middle East. Duke University Press. ISBN 0 - 8223 - 0972 - 6. Lyndon Baines Johnson Library. ( 1994 ). Transcript, Robert S. McNamara Oral History, Special Interview I, March 26, 1993, by Robert Dallek, Internet Copy, LBJ Library. Retrieved July 20, 2010. `` McNamara : US Near War in ' 67 ''. The Boston Globe. September 16, 1983. p. 1. Mansour, Camille. ( 1994 ). Beyond Alliance : Israel and US Foreign Policy. Columbia University Press. ISBN 0 - 231 - 08492 - 7. Maoz, Zeev ( 2009 ). Defending the Holy Land : A Critical Analysis of Israel 's Security & Foreign Policy. The University of Michigan Press. ISBN 978 - 0 - 472 - 03341 - 6 Morris, Benny ( 2001 ) Righteous Victims New York, Vintage Books. ISBN 978 - 0 - 679 - 74475 - 7 Miller, Benjamin. ( 2007 ). States, Nations, and the Great Powers : The Sources of Regional War and Peace. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0 - 521 - 69161 - 3 Murakami, Masahiro. ( 1995 ). Managing Water for Peace in the Middle East : Alternative Strategies. United Nations University Press. ISBN 92 - 808 - 0858 - 3. Mutawi, Samir A. ( 18 July 2002 ). Jordan in the 1967 War. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978 - 0 - 521 - 52858 - 0. Nordeen, Lon & Nicole, David. ( 1996 ). Phoenix over the Nile : A history of Egyptian Air Power 1932 -- 1994. Washington DC : Smithsonian Institution. ISBN 1 - 56098 - 626 - 3. `` Mediterranean Eskadra ''. ( 2000 ). Federation of American Scientists. Oren, Michael ( 2002 ). Six Days of War. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0 - 19 - 515174 - 7 Oren, Michael. ( 2005 ). The Revelations of 1967 : New Research on the Six Day War and Its Lessons for the Contemporary Middle East, Israel Studies, volume 10, number 2. ( Subscription required ). Oren, Michael. ( 2006 ). `` The Six - Day War '', in Bar - On, Mordechai ( ed. ), Never - Ending Conflict : Israeli Military History. Greenwood Publishing Group. ISBN 0 - 275 - 98158 - 4. Parker, Richard B. ( 1996 ). The Six - day War : A Retrospective. University Press of Florida. ISBN 0 - 8130 - 1383 - 6. Parker, Richard B. ( August 1997 ). `` USAF in the Sinai in the 1967 War : Fact or Fiction '' ( PDF ). Journal of Palestine Studies. XXVII ( 1 ) : 67 -- 75. doi : 10.1525 / jps. 1997.27. 1.00 p0164l. Phythian, Mark ( 2001 ). The Politics of British Arms Sales Since 1964. Manchester : Manchester University Press. ISBN 0 - 7190 - 5907 - 0 Podeh, Elie ( Winter 2004 ). `` The Lie That Wo n't Die : Collusion, 1967 ''. Middle East Quarterly. 11 ( 1 ). Pimlott, John. ( 1983 ). Middle East Conflicts : From 1945 to the Present. Orbis. ISBN 0 - 85613 - 547 - X. Pollack, Kenneth ( 2004 ). Arabs at War : Military Effectiveness, 1948 -- 1991. University of Nebraska Press. ISBN 0 - 8032 - 8783 - 6 Pollack, Kenneth ( 2005 ). Air Power in the Six - Day War. The Journal of Strategic Studies. 28 ( 3 ), 471 -- 503. Prior, Michael ( 1999 ). Zionism and the State of Israel : A Moral Inquiry. London : Routledge. ISBN 0 - 415 - 20462 - 3 Quandt, William B. ( 2005 ). Peace Process : American Diplomacy and the Arab -- Israeli Conflict Since 1967. Brookings Institution Press and the University of California Press ; 3 edition. ISBN 0 - 520 - 24631 - 4 Quigley, John B. ( 2005 ). Case for Palestine : An International Law Perspective. Duke University Press. ISBN 0 - 8223 - 3539 - 5 Quigley, John B. ( 1990 ). Palestine and Israel : A Challenge to Justice. Duke University Press. ISBN 0 - 8223 - 1023 - 6 Rabil, Robert G. ( 2003 ). Embattled Neighbors : Syria, Israel, and Lebanon. Lynne Rienner Publishers. ISBN 1 - 58826 - 149 - 2 Rabin, Yitzhak ( 1996 ). The Rabin Memoirs. University of California Press. ISBN 0 - 520 - 20766 - 1. Rauschning, Dietrich ; Wiesbrock, Katja & Lailach, Martin ( eds. ) ( 1997 ). Key Resolutions of the United Nations General Assembly 1946 -- 1996. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0 - 521 - 59704 - 8. Rikhye, Indar Jit ( 1980 ). The Sinai Blunder. London : Routledge. ISBN 0 - 7146 - 3136 - 1 Robarge, David S. ( 2007 ). Getting It Right : CIA Analysis of the 1967 Arab - Israeli War, Center for the Study of Intelligence, Vol. 49 No. 1 Rubenberg, Cheryl A. ( 1989 ). Israel and the American National Interest. University of Illinois Press. ISBN 0 - 252 - 06074 - 1 Sachar, Howard M. ( 1976, 2007 ) A History of Israel from the Rise of Zionism to Our Time. New York : Alfred A. Knopf. ISBN 0 - 394 - 48564 - 5 ; ISBN 0 - 375 - 71132 - 5. Sadeh, Eligar ( 1997 ). Militarization and State Power in the Arab -- Israeli Conflict : Case Study of Israel, 1948 -- 1982. Universal Publishers. ISBN 0 - 9658564 - 6 - 1 Sandler, Deborah ; Aldy, Emad & Al - Khoshman Mahmoud A. ( 1993 ). Protecting the Gulf of Aqaba. -- A regional environmental challenge. Environmental Law Institute. 0911937463. Seale, Patrick ( 1988 ). Asad : The Struggle for Peace in the Middle East. University of California Press. ISBN 0 - 520 - 06976 - 5 Segev, Samuel ( 1967 ). A Red Sheet : the Six Day War. Segev, Tom ( 2005 ). Israel in 1967. Keter. ISBN 965 - 07 - 1370 - 0. Segev, Tom ( 2007 ). 1967 : Israel, the War, and the Year that Transformed the Middle East Metropolitan Books. ISBN 978 - 0 - 8050 - 7057 - 6 Sela, Avraham ( 1997 ). The Decline of the Arab - Israeli Conflict : Middle East Politics and the Quest for Regional Order. SUNY Press. ISBN 0 - 7914 - 3537 - 7 Shafqat, Saeed ( 2004 ). Islamic world and South Asia : Rise of Islamism and Terror, Causes and Consequences ?. In Kaniz F. Yusuf ( Ed. ) Unipolar World & The Muslim States. Islamabad : Pakistan Forum, pp 217 -- 246. Shemesh, Moshe ( 2008 ). Arab Politics, Palestinian Nationalism and the Six Day War. Sussex Academic Press. ISBN 1 - 84519 - 188 - 9. Shlaim, Avi ( 2000 ). The Iron Wall : Israel and the Arab World. W.W. Norton & Company. ISBN 0 - 393 - 32112 - 6. ISBN 0 - 393 - 04816 - 0 Shlaim, Avi ( 2007 ) Lion of Jordan : The Life of King Hussein in War and Peace Vintage Books ISBN 978 - 1 - 4000 - 7828 - 8 Shlaim, Avi ; Louis, William Roger ( 13 February 2012 ), The 1967 Arab -- Israeli War : Origins and Consequences, Cambridge University Press ISBN 978 - 1 - 107 - 00236 - 4 Smith, Hedrick ( June 15, 1967 ). `` As the Shock Wears Off ; Arab World, Appraising Its Defeat, Is Split as It Gropes for Strategy ''. The New York Times. p. 16. Retrieved June 28, 2006. Smith, Hedrick ( September 15, 1967 ). `` Envoys Say Nasser Now Concedes U.S. Did n't Help Israel ''. The New York Times. pp. Page 1, Col. 5, Page 3, Col. 1. Stein, Janice Gross. ( 1991 ). The Arab - Israeli War of 1967 : Inadvertent War Through Miscalculated Escalation, in Avoiding War : Problems of Crisis Management, Alexander L. George, ed. Boulder : Westview Press. Stephens, Robert H. ( 1971 ). Nasser : A Political Biography. London : Allen Lane / The Penguin Press. ISBN 0 - 7139 - 0181 - 0 Stone, David ( 2004 ). Wars of the Cold War. Brassey 's. ISBN 1 - 85753 - 342 - 9 Tolan, Sandy ( June 4, 2007 ). `` Rethinking Israel 's David - and - Goliath past ''. Salon.com. Retrieved April 29, 2010. Tucker, Spencer ( 2004 ). Tanks : An Illustrated History of Their Impact. ABC - CLIO. ISBN 1 - 57607 - 995 - 3 United Nations ( 967, June 5 ). 1347 Security Council MEETING : June 5, 1967. Provisional agenda ( S / PV. 1347 / Rev. 1 ). On a subpage of the website of The United Nations Information System on the Question of Palestine ( UNISPAL ). van Creveld, Martin ( 2004 ). Defending Israel : A Controversial Plan Toward Peace. Thomas Dunne Books. ISBN 0 - 312 - 32866 - 4 Youngs, Tim. ( 2001 ). Developments in the Middle East Peace Process 1991 -- 2000 London : International Affairs and Defence Section, House of Commons Library. ISSN 1368 - 8456. Finkelstein, Norman ( 2003 ). Image and Reality of the Israel -- Palestine Conflict. Verso. ISBN 1 - 85984 - 442 - 1. Further reading Barzilai, Gad ( 1996 ). Wars, Internal Conflicts, and Political Order : A Jewish Democracy in the Middle East. New York University Press. ISBN 978 - 0 - 7914 - 2944 - 0 Cristol, A Jay ( 2002 ). Liberty Incident : The 1967 Israeli Attack on the U.S. Navy Spy Ship. Brassey 's. ISBN 1 - 57488 - 536 - 7 Finkelstein, Norman ( June 2017 ). Analysis of the war and its aftermath, on the 50th anniversary of the June 1967 war ( 3 parts, each about 30 min ) Gat, Moshe ( 2003 ). Britain and the Conflict in the Middle East, 1964 -- 1967 : The Coming of the Six - Day War. Praeger / Greenwood. ISBN 0 - 275 - 97514 - 2 Hammel, Eric ( October 2002 ). `` Sinai air strike : June 5, 1967 ''. Military Heritage. 4 ( 2 ) : 68 -- 73. Hopwood, Derek ( 1991 ). Egypt : Politics and Society. London : Routledge. ISBN 0 - 415 - 09432 - 1 Hussein of Jordan ( 1969 ). My `` War '' with Israel. London : Peter Owen. ISBN 0 - 7206 - 0310 - 2 Katz, Samuel M. ( 1991 ) Israel 's Air Force ; The Power Series. Motorbooks International Publishers & Wholesalers, Osceola, WI. Makiya, Kanan ( 1998 ). Republic of Fear : The Politics of Modern Iraq. University of California Press. ISBN 0 - 520 - 21439 - 0 Morris, Benny ( 1997 ). Israel 's Border Wars, 1949 -- 1956. Oxford : Oxford University Press. ISBN 0 - 19 - 829262 - 7 Pressfield, Steven ( 2014 ). The Lion 's Gate : On the Front Lines of the Six Day War. Sentinel HC, 2014. ISBN 1 - 59523 - 091 - 2 Rezun, Miron ( 1990 ). `` Iran and Afghanistan. '' In A. Kapur ( Ed. ). Diplomatic Ideas and Practices of Asian States ( pp. 9 -- 25 ). Brill Academic Publishers. ISBN 90 - 04 - 09289 - 7 Smith, Grant ( 2006 ). Deadly Dogma. Institute for Research : Middle Eastern Policy. ISBN 0 - 9764437 - 4 - 0 Oren, Michael ( April 2002 ). Six Days of War : June 1967 and the Making of the Modern Middle East. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978 - 0 - 19 - 515174 - 9 External links Wikimedia Commons has media related to 1967 Arab - Israeli War. The Photograph : A Search for June 1967. Retrieved July 17, 2010. The three soldiers -- background to that photograph Six Day War Personal recollections & Timeline Video Clip : Sandhurst military historian analysing how King Hussein became involved in the Six Day War. on YouTube Video Clip : Analysis of Israel 's Sinai Campaign in 1967 by Sandhurst military historian. on YouTube Video Clip : Military analysis of the attack on Jerusalem and the Jordanian defence. on YouTube Six - Day War Encyclopaedia of the Orient All State Department documents related to the crisis Letters from David Ben - Gurion on the Six - Day War Shapell Manuscript Foundation UN Resolution 242. Retrieved July 17, 2010. The status of Jerusalem, United Nations, New York, 1997 ( Prepared for, and under the guidance of, the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People ) Status of Jerusalem : Legal Aspects. Retrieved July 22, 2014. Legal Aspects The Six Day War -- June 1967 and Its Aftermath -- Professor Gerald Adler General Uzi Narkiss -- A historic radio interview with General Uzi Narkiss taken on June 7 -- one day after the Six - Day War, describing the battle for Jerusalem Liberation of the Temple Mount and Western Wall by Israel Defense Forces -- Historic Live Broadcast on Voice of Israel Radio, June 7, 1967 How The USSR Planned To Destroy Israel in 1967 by Isabella Ginor. Published by Middle East Review of International Affairs ( MERIA ) Journal Volume 7, Number 3 ( September 2003 ) Position of Arab forces May 1967. Retrieved July 22, 2014. Israeli wars and conflicts Arab -- Israeli War ( 1948 -- 49 ) Reprisal operations ( 1951 -- 56 ) Suez Crisis ( 1956 ) Six - Day War ( 1967 ) War of Attrition ( 1967 -- 70 ) Yom Kippur War ( 1973 ) Operation Litani ( 1978 ) First Lebanon War ( 1982 -- 85 ) South Lebanon conflict ( 1985 -- 2000 ) First Intifada ( 1987 -- 93 ) Second Intifada ( 2000 -- 05 ) Second Lebanon War ( 2006 ) Gaza War ( 2008 -- 09 ) Operation Pillar of Defense ( 2012 ) Israel -- Gaza conflict ( 2014 ) Arab -- Israeli conflict Countries Authorities Organizations Primary countries and authorities All - Palestine Egypt Hamas Gaza Iraq Kuwait Israel Jordan Lebanon Palestinian National Authority Saudi Arabia Syria Organizations Active Abu Nidal Organization Amal al - Aqsa Martyrs ' Brigades Syrian Social Nationalist Party Arab League Arab Liberation Front Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine Fatah Guardians of the Cedars Hamas Hezbollah Jaish al - Islam Kataeb Lebanese Forces al - Mourabitoun Muslim Brotherhood Palestinian Islamic Jihad Palestine Liberation Front Palestine Liberation Organization Palestinian Popular Struggle Front Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine -- General Command Popular Resistance Committees as - Sa'iqa Inactive or former Arab Higher Committee Arab Liberation Army Black Hand Black September Haganah Holy War Army Irgun ( Etzel ) Japanese Red Army Lehi Palmach Revolutionary Cells South Lebanon Army Other countries Algeria China Cuba France Iran Kuwait Libya Morocco North Korea Norway Pakistan Russia Sudan Tunisia Turkey Uganda United Arab Emirates United Kingdom United States Venezuela Yemen Transnational European Union United Nations Former states Mandatory Palestine Soviet Union United Arab Republic People Lester B. Pearson Abd al - Hakim Amer Hosni Mubarak Gamal Abdel Nasser Anwar Sadat Mahmoud Ahmadinejad Ali Khamenei Ruhollah Khomeini Faisal I Saddam Hussein Ehud Barak Menachem Begin David Ben - Gurion Moshe Dayan Levi Eshkol Golda Meir Benjamin Netanyahu Ehud Olmert Shimon Peres Yitzhak Rabin Yitzhak Shamir Ariel Sharon Chaim Weizmann King Abdullah I of Jordan King Abdullah II of Jordan King Hussein of Jordan Émile Lahoud Hassan Nasrallah Fouad Siniora Recep Tayyip Erdoğan Mona Juul Johan Jørgen Holst Terje Rød - Larsen Mahmoud Abbas Yasser Arafat Marwan Barghouti George Habash Ismail Haniyeh Haj Amin al - Husseini Khaled Mashal Abdel Aziz al - Rantisi Ahmad Shukeiri Ahmed Yassin King Ibn Saud of Saudi Arabia King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia King Fahd of Saudi Arabia King Faisal of Saudi Arabia Folke Bernadotte Hafez al - Assad Bashar al - Assad Shukri al - Quwatli Salah Jadid Ernest Bevin Arthur Balfour Tony Blair Richard Crossman Madeleine Albright Ralph Bunche George H.W. Bush George W. Bush Jimmy Carter Bill Clinton Henry Kissinger Ronald Reagan Condoleezza Rice Dennis Ross Ramadan Shalah Harry S. Truman Cyrus Vance Armed engagements Background 1920 Battle of Tel Hai 1936 -- 39 Arab revolt 1944 Operation ATLAS 1947 -- 1950s 1947 -- 48 Civil War in Mandatory Palestine 1948 -- 49 Arab -- Israeli War 1950s Palestinian Fedayeen attacks ( Reprisal operations ) 1956 Suez Crisis 1960s 1966 Operation Shredder 1967 Six - Day War 1967 -- 70 War of Attrition 1968 Battle of Karameh Palestinian insurgency in South Lebanon 1968 Operation Gift 1970s -- 1980 1973 Yom Kippur War Palestinian insurgency in South Lebanon 1972 Operation Isotope / Lod Airport massacre / Munich Olympics massacre 1972 -- 79 Operation Wrath of God ( Airstrike, Spring of Youth ) 1973 Libyan Arab Airlines Flight 114 1974 Ma'alot massacre 1975 Savoy Operation 1976 Operation Entebbe 1978 Coastal Road massacre / Operation Litani 1980 Misgav Am hostage crisis 1980s 1981 Operation Opera 1982 Lebanon War 1982 -- 2000 South Lebanon conflict 1984 Bus 300 affair 1985 Operation Wooden Leg 1987 -- 93 First Intifada 1988 Mothers ' Bus rescue / Tunis raid 1990s 1992 Operation Bramble Bush 1993 -- 2008 Palestinian suicide attacks 1993 Operation Accountability 1996 Operation Grapes of Wrath 2000s 2000 -- 05 Al - Aqsa Intifada ( Second Intifada ) 2000 -- 06 Shebaa Farms conflict 2001 -- present Rocket and mortar attacks on southern Israel 2003 Ain es Saheb airstrike 2006 Operation Bringing Home the Goods / Operation Summer Rains / Operation Autumn Clouds / Lebanon War 2006 -- present Gaza -- Israel conflict 2007 -- 08 Operation Hot Winter 2008 -- 09 Gaza War 2007 Operation Orchard 2007 -- present Lebanese rocket attacks 2010s 2010 Adaisseh skirmish / Palestinian militancy campaign Gaza -- Israel conflict 2011 Southern Israel cross-border attacks 2012 Operation Returning Echo / Operation Pillar of Defense 2014 2014 Israel -- Gaza conflict 2015 Israeli -- Palestinian conflict ( 2015 -- 2016 ) Diplomacy and peace proposals To 1948 1914 Damascus Protocol 1915 McMahon -- Hussein Correspondence 1916 Sykes -- Picot Agreement 1917 Balfour Declaration 1918 Declaration to the Seven / Anglo - French Declaration 1919 Faisal -- Weizmann Agreement 1920 San Remo conference 1922 Churchill White Paper 1937 Peel Commission 1939 White Paper 1947 UN Partition Plan 1948 American trusteeship proposal 1948 -- 91 1948 UN General Assembly ( UNGA ) Resolution 194 1949 Armistice agreements / Lausanne Conference 1950 Tripartite Declaration 1964 Palestinian National Covenant 1967 Khartoum Resolution / UN Security Council ( UNSC ) Resolution 242 1973 UNSC Resolution 338 / UNSC Resolution 339 1974 Israel -- Syria disengagement agreement / UNSC Resolution 350 1978 UNSC Resolution 425 / Camp David Accords 1979 UNSC Resolution 446 / Egypt -- Israel Peace Treaty / UNSC Resolution 452 1980 UNSC Resolution 478 1981 UNSC Resolution 497 1983 Israel -- Lebanon agreement 1991 -- present 1991 Madrid Conference 1993 Oslo Accords 1994 Gaza -- Jericho Agreement / Israel -- Jordan peace treaty 1995 Beilin - Abu Mazen agreement 1998 Wye River Memorandum 1999 Sharm el - Sheikh Memorandum 2000 Camp David Summit / Clinton Parameters 2001 Taba Summit 2002 Beirut Summit and peace initiative / Road map 2003 Geneva Initiative 2004 UNSC Resolution 1559 / UNSC Resolution 1566 2005 UNSC Resolution 1583 / Sharm el - Sheikh Summit / Israeli disengagement from Gaza / Agreement on Movement and Access 2006 UNSC Resolution 1701 2007 Annapolis Conference 2010 Israeli -- Palestinian peace talks 2013 Israeli -- Palestinian peace talks Cold War USA USSR ANZUS NATO Non-Aligned Movement SEATO Warsaw Pact 1940s Hukbalahap Rebellion Dekemvriana Yalta Conference Guerrilla war in the Baltic states Forest Brothers Operation Priboi Operation Jungle Occupation of the Baltic states Cursed soldiers Operation Unthinkable Potsdam Conference Gouzenko Affair Operation Masterdom Operation Beleaguer Operation Blacklist Forty Iran crisis of 1946 Greek Civil War Corfu Channel incident Turkish Straits crisis Restatement of Policy on Germany First Indochina War Truman Doctrine Asian Relations Conference Marshall Plan 1948 Czechoslovak coup d'état Tito -- Stalin Split Berlin Blockade Western betrayal Iron Curtain Eastern Bloc Western Bloc Chinese Civil War ( Second round ) Malayan Emergency Albanian Subversion 1950s Bamboo Curtain Korean War 1953 Iranian coup d'état Uprising of 1953 in East Germany 1954 Guatemalan coup d'état Partition of Vietnam First Taiwan Strait Crisis Geneva Summit ( 1955 ) Poznań 1956 protests Hungarian Revolution of 1956 Suez Crisis Syrian Crisis of 1957 Sputnik crisis Second Taiwan Strait Crisis Cuban Revolution Kitchen Debate Bandung Conference Bricker Amendment McCarthyism Operation Gladio Iraqi 14 July Revolution `` We will bury you '' 1960s Congo Crisis Sino - Soviet split 1960 U-2 incident Bay of Pigs Invasion 1960 Turkish coup d'état Soviet -- Albanian split Berlin Wall Portuguese Colonial War Angolan War of Independence Guinea - Bissau War of Independence Mozambican War of Independence Cuban Missile Crisis Sino - Indian War Communist insurgency in Sarawak Iraqi Ramadan Revolution 1963 Syrian coup d'état Vietnam War 1964 Brazilian coup d'état United States occupation of the Dominican Republic ( 1965 -- 66 ) South African Border War Transition to the New Order Domino theory ASEAN Declaration Laotian Civil War 1966 Syrian coup d'état Argentine Revolution Korean DMZ Conflict Greek military junta of 1967 -- 74 USS Pueblo incident Six - Day War War of Attrition Dhofar Rebellion Protests of 1968 French May Cultural Revolution Prague Spring Communist insurgency in Malaysia Invasion of Czechoslovakia Iraqi Ba'athist Revolution Goulash Communism Sino - Soviet border conflict CPP -- NPA -- NDF rebellion Corrective Move 1970s Détente Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty Black September in Jordan Corrective Movement ( Syria ) Cambodian Civil War Realpolitik Ping - pong diplomacy 1971 Turkish military memorandum Corrective Revolution ( Egypt ) Four Power Agreement on Berlin Bangladesh Liberation War 1972 Nixon visit to China North Yemen - South Yemen Border Conflict 1973 Chilean coup d'état Yom Kippur War Carnation Revolution Strategic Arms Limitation Talks Rhodesian Bush War Angolan Civil War Mozambican Civil War Ogaden War Ethiopian Civil War Lebanese Civil War Sino - Albanian split Cambodian -- Vietnamese War Sino - Vietnamese War Iranian Revolution Operation Condor Dirty War Korean Air Lines Flight 902 Saur Revolution New Jewel Movement 1979 Herat uprising Seven Days to the River Rhine Struggle against political abuse of psychiatry in the Soviet Union 1980s Soviet -- Afghan War 1980 and 1984 Summer Olympics boycotts 1980 Turkish coup d'état Invasion of Grenada 1986 Black Sea incident 1988 Black Sea bumping incident Solidarity Soviet reaction Contras Central American crisis RYAN Korean Air Lines Flight 007 Able Archer 83 Star Wars People Power Revolution Nagorno - Karabakh War Tiananmen Square protests of 1989 Fall of the Berlin Wall Revolutions of 1989 Glasnost Perestroika 1990s Mongolian Revolution of 1990 German reunification Yemeni unification Fall of communism in Albania Breakup of Yugoslavia Dissolution of the Soviet Union Dissolution of Czechoslovakia Frozen conflicts Abkhazia China Korea Nagorno - Karabakh South Ossetia Transnistria Sino - Indian border dispute North Borneo dispute Foreign policy Truman Doctrine Containment Eisenhower Doctrine Domino theory Hallstein Doctrine Kennedy Doctrine Peaceful coexistence Ostpolitik Johnson Doctrine Brezhnev Doctrine Nixon Doctrine Ulbricht Doctrine Carter Doctrine Reagan Doctrine Rollback Sovereignty of Puerto Rico during the Cold War Ideologies Capitalism Chicago school Keynesianism Monetarism Neoclassical economics Reaganomics Supply - side economics Thatcherism Communism Marxism -- Leninism Castroism Eurocommunism Guevarism Hoxhaism Juche Maoism Naxalism Stalinism Titoism Other Liberal democracy Social democracy White supremacy Organizations ASEAN CIA Comecon EEC KGB MI6 Non-Aligned Movement SAARC Safari Club Stasi Propaganda Active measures Crusade for Freedom Izvestia Pravda Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty Red Scare TASS Voice of America Voice of Russia Races Arms race Nuclear arms race Space Race See also Soviet espionage in the United States Soviet Union -- United States relations Soviet -- US summits Russian espionage in the United States American espionage in the Soviet Union and Russian Federation NATO -- Russia relations Brinkmanship CIA and the Cultural Cold War Cold War II Commons Portal Timeline List of conflicts GND : 4180597 - 5 NKC : ph278606 Retrieved from `` https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Six-Day_War&oldid=802367828 '' Categories : Six - Day War 1967 in Egypt 1967 in Israel 1967 in Jordan 1967 in Syria 1967 in the Israeli Military Governorate Arab -- Israeli conflict Cold War conflicts Conflicts in 1967 Invasions by Israel Invasions of Syria Invasions of Egypt June 1967 events Six - day events Wars involving Egypt Wars involving Israel Wars involving Jordan Wars involving Syria Hidden categories : Webarchive template wayback links CS1 maint : Unfit url Wikipedia pages under 30 - 500 editing restriction Use mdy dates from May 2012 Articles containing Hebrew - language text Articles containing Arabic - language text Articles needing additional references from June 2017 All articles needing additional references All articles with unsourced statements Articles with unsourced statements from December 2015 Wikipedia articles with GND identifiers Articles containing video clips Talk View source Contents About Wikipedia Alemannisch Azərbaycanca বাংলা Беларуская Български Brezhoneg Català Čeština Cymraeg Dansk Deutsch ދިވެހިބަސް Eesti Ελληνικά Español Esperanto Euskara فارسی Français Gaeilge Galego 한국어 Հայերեն हिन्दी Hrvatski Bahasa Indonesia Íslenska Italiano עברית Basa Jawa Къарачай - 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Question: who did israel defeat in the six days war
Answer: Egypt (known at the time as the United Arab Republic), Jordan, and Syria