Simon Dunstan - The Six Day War 1967: Sinai

The Middle East in 1967

The Third Arab-Israeli War of June 1967 was caused by a variety of geopolitical factors. Taken in isolation, none was sufficiently serious to justify armed conflict between countries that were all signatories to the United Nations Charter of 1945. The state of Israel was created on 14 May 1948 following the end of the British Mandate for Palestine that had been created after World War I. In the following days, the armies of five Arab countries, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon and Syria, invaded the territory of the newly founded nation. To the Israelis the First Arab-Israeli War of 194849 was known as the War of Independence. In a desperate war for survival, the 15-month conflict claimed the lives of over 6,000 Israelis or almost one per cent of the total population. Following UN Resolution 181, the remainder of the Palestine Mandate was divided between the Jews and the Arabs with Israel receiving just 13 per cent of the original area of the British Mandate with 60 per cent of that land comprising the arid Negev Desert. Following the conflict, Egypt occupied the Gaza Strip and Transjordan annexed a sizeable area to the west of the Jordan River that became known as the West Bank within the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan. Fundamental to three of the worlds great religions, Jerusalem remained a divided city. Meanwhile, Israel unilaterally occupied the port of Eilat on the Gulf of Aqaba to give her access to the Red Sea thus splitting the two Arab countries of Egypt and Jordan. All these areas were to become points of serious friction in the years to come. No Arab nation recognized the state of Israel or even its right to exist.

The camouflage nets are unveiled from the M48A2C Pattons of the 79th Tank Battalion of 7th Armored Brigade in their forming-up positions in the Negev Desert just prior to the Six Day War.