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On June the 5th, 1967, Israeli forces launched an all out attack on Arab forces in the Sinai
Desert, and so began the Six Day War. Tension between Israel and her Arab neighbours
had been growing for months. This was a pre-emptive strike, not just in Sinai, but in the Gaza
strip, Jordan, Syria and in Jerusalem itself. The superiority of Israeli equipment, the
high morale of her troops and the brilliant Generalship of Moshe Dayan, provided one of
the most was spectacular military victories since the second world war.
As Israeli troops advanced towards the Suez Canal, the much larger Egyptian Army was completely
overrun. Further north in Jordan it was the same story, with Israeli paratroops capturing
the centre of Jerusalem after fierce hand-to-hand fighting with Jordanian troops. In Syria,
Israeli forces advanced to the Golan Heights after a fierce artillery exchange. Meanwhile
the United Nations called for a ceasefire. But Israel turned it down. Despite the huge
number of casualties the advance had caused, at least a hundred thousand in the first three
days, she wanted to press on. Four days from the start of the offensive,
after a desperate counter attack that left the remnants of the Egyptian Army trapped
behind Israeli lines, Egypt admitted defeat and accepted the United Nations ceasefire
resolution. President Nasser resigned. Only mass rallies
of support in Cairo persuaded him to change his mind. The battle in the Sinai Desert was
over. Israel now turned her attention to Syria, bombing Damascus and advancing into the Golan
Heights. After six days, to the delight of her victorious
army, Israel had gained all her objectives and announced that she, too, was accepting
the United Nations ceasefire resolution. As the last Arab generals surrendered, Israel
held territory many times her own size. She now faced the dilemma of how to control their
hostile populations. It was a problem that was to last through the generations to the
present day. But at the time, the Six Day War was a text book exercise on how, if you
have to go to war, to win it.