BATTLEFIELD DETECTIVES: ISRAEL'S SIX DAY WAR PART 2 OF 3
The Six-Day War, also known as the 1967 Arab-Israeli War, the Third Arab-Israeli War, Six Days' War, or the June War, was fought between Israel and Arab neighbors Egypt, Jordan, and Syria. The nations of Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and Algeria also contributed troops and arms to the Arab forces.
In May 1967, Egypt expelled the United Nations Emergency Force (UNEF) from the Sinai Peninsula, which had been stationed there since 1957 (following the 1956 Sinai invasion by Israel), to provide a peace-keeping buffer zone. Egypt amassed 1000 tanks and 100,000 soldiers on the border, blockaded the Straits of Tiran (the entrance to the Gulf of Aqaba, a.k.a. the Gulf of Eilat) to Israeli ships, and called for unified Arab action against Israel.
On June 5, 1967, Israel launched a pre-emptive attack against Egypt's airforce fearing an imminent invasion by Egypt. Jordan then attacked western Jerusalem and Netanya. At the war's end, Israel had gained control of eastern Jerusalem, the Gaza Strip, the Sinai Peninsula, the West Bank, and the Golan Heights. The results of the war affect the geopolitics of the region to this day.
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