The six-day war: much of the Arab-Israeli conflict is linked to a brief but critical war that took place 45 years ago this June.

• Author: Roberts, Sam
• Position: TIMES PAST

The war lasted less than a week. But the six days of fighting that began on June 5, 1967, between Israel and the Arab nations of Egypt, Syria, Jordan, and Iraq had dramatic consequences for the Middle East and the rest of the world. Israel more than tripled the territories under its control, igniting a bloody dispute over some of that land that continues today.

"This war changed everything," says Anthony Wanis-St. John of American University in Washington, D.C. "Every peace effort since that time had as its central purpose the reversal of [Israel's] main gains" of that war.

Prelude to the War

Israeli-Palestinian tensions can be traced back to the end of World War II (1939-'45) and the Holocaust, in which 6 million Jews were killed in Europe. After the war, many nations embraced the idea of creating a Jewish state in British-ruled Palestine, the historical homeland of the Jewish people.

In 1947, a year before British rule over Palestine was set to end, the United Nations voted to divide the area into an Arab state and a Jewish state (see timeline, p. 18). The Jews accepted the partition plan; but the Arabs, who outnumbered Jews in much of Palestine, rejected it. When the British left and Israel declared independence in 1948, the Arab states attacked. Israel survived, but the fighting displaced 700,000 Palestinians, whose fate is still an issue today.

In the spring of 1967, hostilities reached a new boiling point, with Israel periodically under attack by Palestinian guerrillas in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank--ruled by Egypt and Jordan, respectively--and Syrian troops lobbing artillery fire down from the Golan Heights.

In April, Israel downed six of Syria's Soviet-made fighter planes. After the Soviet Union spread rumors that Israel was planning to attack Syria, the Egyptian army mobilized 100,000 troops and 1,000 tanks in the Sinai Peninsula. The following month, Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser, whose stated goal was the destruction of Israel, ordered U.N. observers to leave the area and blockaded the Strait of Tiran, cutting off Israel's access to the Red Sea, a vital shipping route.

With war appearing inevitable, Israel struck first. On the morning of June 5--while most Egyptian pilots were eating breakfast and their commanders were stuck in Cairo's rush-hour traffic--the Israeli Air Force destroyed more than 300 of Egypt's 340 combat planes, most before they had a chance to leave the ground. Israeli troops then swept into Gaza and Sinai.

Jordan and Iraq soon began shelling the Israeli sector of Jerusalem, and Syria attacked from the Golan Heights.

By June 7, Israel had captured the West Bank and East Jerusalem, including the Old City, home to many sites sacred to Jews, Christians, and Muslims. By the fourth day, June 8, with the Egyptians in retreat, Israeli forces had reached the Suez Canal. Two days later, after Israel captured the Golan Heights, Israel and Syria declared a cease-fire.

In six days--actually, a little less-Israel had redrawn the map of the Middle East, demonstrating its military superiority but settling little: In the face of a humiliating defeat, Arab leaders remained committed to Israel's destruction. And Israel's...