50Minutes.com - The Six Day War

When the Six-Day War took place, tensions between the Jews and the Arabs had already existed for many years.

From the late 19 th century, the Zionist movement began gradually restoring the Jewish state in Palestine, in response to various anti-Semitic waves of violence raging in Europe. Small Jewish farming communities were formed here and there until 1901, the year in which the Zionist movement created the Jewish National Fund for the purchase of land in Palestine, which then belonged to the Ottoman Empire. Seeing no advantage in this, the Ottoman Empire decided to severely restrict the development of Jewish villages in its territory. It was not until after the First World War (1914-1918) that the situation turned around for the Zionists. With the defeat of the Ottoman Empire that had fought alongside Germany, all Arab territories i.e. Saudi, Iraq, Lebanon, Palestine and Syria fell under British and French mandates. The British, with the Balfour Declaration of 2 November 1917, were in favor of the establishment of a national home for the Jewish people in Palestine and committed themselves to contributing to the realization of this project. Jewish immigration to Palestine became increasingly significant and continued to accelerate with the rise to power of Adolf Hitler (1889-1945) and the birth of Nazism in the early 1930s.

From 1920-1967, there were three major crises of the Arab-Israeli conflict:

• the Arab revolt in Palestine (1936-1938)
• the War of Independence (1948)
• the crisis of the Suez Canal (1956).

The Arab revolt that took place in 1936 aimed to create an independent state in mandatory Palestine (i.e. under British mandate).

Arab revolt against British occupation.

After murders on both sides, a worrying sign of violence between Arabs and Jews, Britain decreed a state of emergency and imposed a curfew. Tensions continued to intensify and a general strike was organized throughout the country. The revolt gradually spread outside the borders and Syrian fighters came to stand alongside the Palestinians. Given this situation and the urgency to find a solution, the British proposed the formation of two states: the first, the Jewish state, would include Galilee (northern Israel) and the entire coastline; the second, the Palestinian state, would consist of the remaining territories annexed by Transjordan (now the West Bank). With the proposal rejected by the Arabs and by some Zionists, British policy hardened by repressing and imprisoning the principal leaders of the revolt. This first crisis still had a positive result as it allowed for the drafting of a series of laws in 1939, united under the name of the White Paper, to regulate Jewish immigration to Palestine and the purchase of Arab land by Jews.

The second crisis is what the Israelis called the War of Independence, or the Palestine War. It took place in 1948, when the British mandate came to an end following the adoption by the UN of the partition plan of Palestine a year earlier. The plan was rejected by the Palestinians, while the Jews wanted to secure land assigned to them, according to what was decided, by expelling the Arabs from it. This prompted a series of struggles, but the Jews, who were better prepared from a military point of view since their participation in the Second World War (1939-1945) alongside the British, prevailed. This was followed by an exodus of the Palestinian people, while Israel was proclaimed on 14 May 1948. The next day, in order to support the Palestinians, the Egyptian, Syrian, Iraqi, Jordanian and Lebanese armies declared war on Israel. After intense fighting and territorial conquests which, initially, benefitted the Arabs, the situation reversed and finally armistices were signed between the countries in February 1949. They drew new borders for Israel, which, emerging victorious, now held 78% of Palestine, including:

• Galilee
• the coastal territories of Palestine, with the exception of the Gaza Strip
• West Jerusalem
• the Negev desert.

A few years later, in the context of the Cold War (1945-1990), a new crisis arose in the relationship between the Jews and the Arabs: the Suez Canal that pitted Egypt to Israel, Great Britain and France. That year, Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser led a major campaign to improve the economic situation of his country. With the desire to build a dam on the Nile in order to regulate the river, he requested financial assistance from the United States, which was refused due to the fact that he maintained friendly relations with the Soviets. Therefore, the Egyptian President decided to nationalize the Suez Canal in order to reap the benefits it would provide for the construction of the dam.

Did you know?

The Suez Canal was opened in 1869 thanks to French and Egyptian financing. Almost 200 kilometers in length, it served as a passage between the Red Sea and the Mediterranean Sea. A true shortcut, it prevented ships from having to circumvent Africa through the Cape of Good Hope in order to reach Asia.

Britain, France and Israel reacted immediately to this nationalization by launching a military attack on 29 October 1956. Israel thus conquered the Gaza Strip, then under Egyptian administration, and the Sinai. The UN condemned this attack in turn on 1 November and demanded a cease-fire. Although Israel submitted to this decision, the other two countries did not, and would ultimately be summed by the United States and the Soviet Union to abandon their military maneuvers. The truce was then accepted by Britain and France on 6 November 1956. Israel was therefore obliged to give up the conquered territories, but still obtained from the UN the presence of peacekeepers (members of the military forces of the UN) along the Israeli-Egyptian border.