Who started the six day war. Six Day War - Briefly

Having secured the support of the USSR (helped with weapons and military advisers), he takes a course with the ultimate goal of the physical destruction of Jewry. Nasser, in particular, publicly vowed that he would take revenge on the Jews for the Arab losses in the Sinai. In 1966, Syria and Egypt signed a joint defense pact. In 1967, similar agreements were signed by Egypt and with Jordan and Iraq. Egypt took specific measures, blocking Israel's access to the Red Sea (On May 22, 1967, President Nasser announced the closure of the Gulf of Aqqaba to Israeli and other ships that supplied Israel with strategic cargo). Israel was also largely to blame for the outbreak of the war, which proclaimed the goal of creating a “Greater Israel”, which was supposed to include the territories of a number of Arab countries. War was inevitable.

At the beginning of 1967, Syrian bombing of Israeli villages was intensified. When the Israeli Air Force shot down 6 Syrian MiGs in retaliation, Nasser mobilized his forces near the Sinai border (80,000 thousand people). On June 5, 1967, at about 8 a.m., all Israeli aircraft were scrambled. Military airfields in Cairo (Cairo West) and Al-Arish were bombed... Egyptian planes were destroyed right at the airfields. The Israeli command chose for the attack precisely those few minutes when there was a change of night and day duty officers sitting in the cockpits of the aircraft. Thus, in a short time, the Egyptian Air Force was destroyed and Israel established its air superiority. Then the ground attack began. The main striking force of the Israelis was armored units. Israeli troops advanced in four directions: Gaza, Abu Aguila, Al-Kantara and Sharm al-Sheikh. The further development of events was also affected by the fact that a significant part of the Egyptian army was located far from their homeland, in Yemen.

An extremely difficult situation has developed on the Jordanian front. On June 6, Israeli troops captured all of Jerusalem. On the same day, the UN Security Council demanded a cessation of hostilities, but Israeli troops continued their offensive. Due to the catastrophic situation of the Egyptian army, an order was given for the immediate withdrawal of troops to the western bank of the Suez Canal. On June 10, Israeli troops strike Syria and occupy the Dutch Heights. On the same day, Israel ceases hostilities, having captured a large area. On June 10, the USSR breaks off diplomatic relations with Israel.

The 1967 war ended in a serious defeat for the Arabs. It cost the Arabs the Old City of Jerusalem (the Arab part), Sinai, the Gaza Strip, the West Bank (Jordanian territory) and the Dutch Heights (on the Syrian-Israeli border). The number of Palestinian refugees increased by another 400,000. November 22, 1967 The UN Security Council adopts resolution 242 condemning Israeli aggression and demanding the withdrawal of Israeli troops from the territories they occupied. Israel refused to implement the resolution.

CIVIL WAR IN JORDAN.

In the summer of 1970, an armed conflict broke out in Amman (the capital of Jordan) between Palestinian guerrillas (Fedai) and the army, known as “Black September”. The streets of Amman were actually divided between Jordanian soldiers and fedai. On September 16, King Hussein and the Palestinians signed an agreement. However, a few hours later the fighting resumed again. Meanwhile, a meeting of Arab heads of state was about to begin in Cairo. While kings and presidents flocked to the UAR, Jordanian artillery continued to shell Palestinian bases and refugee camps in Amman itself. According to the Palestinians, about 20 thousand people were killed during these attacks. Finally, the meeting participants decided to send a mission to Amman in order to force the parties to stop the massacre. On September 26, a ceasefire agreement was finally reached. King Hussein and Yasser Arafat were asked to fly to Cairo. Here, on September 27, an agreement was signed. As a result of the war, about 15 thousand Palestinian partisans died, which significantly undermined the strength of the PLO, whose armed forces were forced to move to the territories of Syria and Lebanon. The war also dealt a significant blow to the idea of ​​Arab unity.

DOOM DAY WAR 1973.

IV Arab-Israeli war.
In 1973, the ever-smoldering Middle East conflict again escalated into a major military conflagration. The Egyptians, determined to take revenge for the defeat of 1967, launched a large-scale offensive against Israeli positions in the Sinai Peninsula. At the same time, Syrian troops launched a strike in the north. Numerical superiority was on the side of the Arabs. Only the total number of Arab aviation, according to various sources, was 1.5-2 times greater than the number of Israeli aviation. The Israeli Air Force, trying to stop the advance of enemy tank units with air strikes and also isolate the combat area, came across a powerful air defense wall deployed along the Suez Canal. Strikes on Egyptian and Syrian airfields, which brought victory to the Israelis in 1967, turned out to be ineffective this time.

The Arab offensive, timed to coincide with the celebration of the Day of Atonement in Israel - Yom Kippur - initially developed very successfully. On October 6, after massive artillery bombardment, Egyptian infantry, supported by attack aircraft and helicopter landings, crossed the canal, broke through the fortifications of the Barlev Line and began advancing deep into the Sinai. At the same time, Syrian troops went on the offensive on the Gollan Heights. Several successful strikes were carried out on advanced Israeli airfields by Egyptian and Syrian Luna-M tactical missiles. By the end of October 8, the Egyptians managed to capture two army bridgeheads 10-12 km deep on the eastern bank of the canal. On October 9-13, Egyptian infantry divisions were consolidated on the achieved lines, while at the same time reserves were transferred to the bridgeheads for a further offensive. Strikes on the Skyhawk and Phantom crossings did not reach their target, being repulsed by powerful air defense deployed on the western bank of the canal.

In the first three days of fighting, the Egyptians gained and maintained air superiority over the front line. However, by the end of the third day of the war, the activity of Egyptian aviation began to gradually decline. The reason for this was not only the losses suffered by the Egyptians in air battles with Mirages and Phantoms, but also the actions of their own air defense, which indiscriminately shot down both Israeli and Egyptian vehicles. In addition, obviously, insufficiently skillful management of the actions of Egyptian aviation was revealed as a result of the refusal of the help of Soviet military advisers. Israeli aviation, which managed to withstand the high tension of the first days, began to appear in the air more often than Egyptian aviation, which could not but affect the “well-being” of the Egyptian ground forces, which were already not very resilient.

On the Syrian front, the battles of the first days also did not go in favor of the Israelis. By the morning of October 7, Syrian tanks and infantry managed to advance 4-8 km deep into the enemy’s defenses. However, already on October 8, the Israelis managed to launch a counteroffensive and push the Syrians back to their original positions by October 10. On October 11, the Israeli offensive resumed and by mid-October 12, Israeli tanks and motorized infantry advanced 10-12 km in the Damascus direction and 20 km in the direction of Qamar Shah. However, here their progress was stopped. On October 16, the Syrians launched a counterattack, which, however, did not have significant success. Subsequently, battles on land, due to the mutual exhaustion of the parties, took on positional forms. However, if the ground battles on the northern front went with varying degrees of success, Syrian aviation held dominance in the air, operating more effectively than Israeli aviation. On October 8, the Israelis tried to turn the tide of the air struggle by striking Syrian airfields. However, air battles on the Syrian front continued to go against the Israelis.

Thus, in just five days of intense fighting, the Israeli Air Force lost a significant part of its aircraft fleet, without inflicting damage on enemy aircraft to justify such high losses. Under these conditions, the Israeli government made a desperate and ultimately successful attempt to maintain the combat effectiveness of its air force by replenishing it with foreign aircraft and volunteer pilots. Already on November 11, the first F-4s, transferred to Israel, apparently from the carrier-based aviation of the 6th American Fleet deployed in the Eastern Mediterranean, entered battle. The new aircraft had no identification marks, and there was no camouflage coloring.

Despite, however, the increased aggressiveness and combat effectiveness of the Arab armies, the Israelis managed to turn the tide of the fighting. Taking advantage of the information received from the Americans about the gap in the front line between the II and III Egyptian armies, Israeli troops managed to encircle the III Egyptian Army, crossing the Suez Canal on October 15 and establishing their forces on its western bank. Israeli troops have advanced deeper into Syria. October 22, 1973 The UN Security Council, concerned about the protracted war, calls on the parties to cease hostilities and begin negotiations (resolution 338).

However, military operations continued on the southern section of the Egyptian-Israeli front. On October 24, the USSR warns Israel of the possible dire consequences of aggressive actions that violate the decision of the UN Security Council. The US is also increasing pressure on Israel. On November 11, at the 101st kilometer of the Cairo-Suez road, an Egyptian-Israeli ceasefire protocol was signed, and on January 18, 1974, peace agreements were signed. They provided for the withdrawal of Israeli troops from the Sinai, west of Mitla and Gidi, while Egypt was to reduce its forces on the eastern bank of the canal. A UN peacekeeping force was to be stationed between the two hostile armies. This agreement was supplemented by another, signed on September 4, 1975. On May 31, 1974, a ceasefire agreement was signed between Israel and Syria, which also covered the division of their forces into a UN buffer zone and the exchange of prisoners of war.

The “Six Day War” (June 5–10, 1967) in the Middle East is associated in the public mind with the rapid defeat of a stronger enemy.

In April 1967, Egyptian President G.A. Nasser received a warning from representatives of the Soviet Union about a possible invasion of Israeli troops into Syrian territory. This information was repeated on May 13, 1967 during the visit of the Soviet delegation to Egypt and became a strong “trump card” in the political game of the vice-president and commander-in-chief of the Egyptian troops Abd-el Hakim Amer, who believed that the Arab world had a great opportunity to “get rid of Israel once and forever". According to some reports, Nasser himself was not confident in the ability of his army to defeat Israel, but was forced to take into account the opinion of his old comrade-in-arms and vice-president. Moreover, the promotion of the mechanism of anti-Israeli propaganda increased its status both within the country and in the Arab world as a whole. Yes, and ignore the active work of A.Kh., who enjoys authority in the country. Amer, a veteran of the revolutionary struggle and an experienced politician, he could not. Nasser feared that if A.H. Amer will be able to seize the initiative, his personal power will be under serious threat.

Fueled by his generals and information received from the Soviet Union, Nasser on May 18, 1967, demanded the withdrawal of UN troops from the armistice line with Israel and the shores of the Strait of Tiran, brought Egyptian troops to these positions and closed the exit for Israeli ships from the Gulf of Aqaba in the Red Sea. On May 30, King Hussein of Jordan joined the Egyptian-Syrian “anti-Israeli front.” A blockade of the Israeli coast was declared. The situation in the area has sharply worsened.

Despite the demands of A.Kh. Amera, G.A. Nasser apparently had no plans to attack Israel. He viewed the concentration of his troops near the Israeli border as a warning to Tel Aviv - a demonstration of force in case of aggressive attempts by the latter. However, without knowing the details of the behind-the-scenes political vicissitudes that contributed to the escalation of tensions in the region, the population of Arab countries, and, above all, Egypt, Syria and Jordan, saw in what was happening the approach of the long-awaited “jihad.” And the leaders of both Syria and Jordan were largely interested in the “holy campaign against Israel.” In Syria at this time, the ruling power enjoyed very little support from the population and was maintained mainly through harsh repressive methods. The lack of ideological support made it even more vulnerable. In Jordan, the thirty-year-old King Hussein was in an even more difficult situation. His power, in the absence of “external enemies”, a monarchy based on a Bedouin minority, surrounded by a hostile Palestinian majority, could not last long.

A sharp escalation of the Israeli-Palestinian-Jordanian confrontation occurred on November 10, 1966. On this day, three Israeli police officers were blown up by a mine planted by Fatah militants near Hebron. King Hussein of Jordan sent condolences to the Israeli government over the incident through the American ambassador in Tel Aviv. However, the letter reached him just before Saturday, and he decided to wait another day to deliver the letter. The delay turned out to be fatal, since it was on this Saturday that Israel launched an action of retaliation against the villagers of the West Bank of the Jordan River, who were allegedly harboring terrorists. Near the city of Samu, Israeli units sent for this action clashed with Jordanian soldiers. An armed clash occurred, ending with losses on both sides. The Palestinians, instead of seeking King Hussein's protection from Israeli troops, rebelled against him, which was brutally suppressed by the Jordanian Legion. This episode served as an impetus for the escalation of the conflict, as it strained relations between the Palestinian population of Jordan and King Hussein, and also turned the latter against Israel.

In such an acute political situation, the redeployment of Egyptian troops to the borders of Israel took place.

In chronological order, the events of the last pre-war days looked as follows:

May 15. Parade on the occasion of Independence Day in Israel. Movement of Egyptian troops through Cairo towards the Sinai Peninsula. Israel has put its troops on alert.

16th of May. Declaration of a state of emergency in Egypt. All troops are in a state of full combat readiness. All armed forces have been mobilized and redeployed to occupy defensive positions on the Israeli border.

May 17. Statements made in Cairo and Damascus claim that the UAR and Syria are "ready for battle." Advancement of large Egyptian forces to the east of the Sinai Peninsula. From Amman they report that mobilization is taking place in Jordan.

May 18. Cairo Radio continues to report that Syrian and Egyptian troops are on maximum alert. Iraq and Kuwait announced mobilization. Tel Aviv announced it was taking “appropriate measures.”

May 19. UN emergency troops have officially withdrawn; In Gaza, the UN flag was lowered and the dissolution of United Nations troops in the Middle East was announced.

May 21st. Ahmed Shuqeyri said that the 8,000-strong Palestine Liberation Army has been placed under the command of the UAR, Syria and Iraq. Recruitment of reservists in Egypt.

22nd of May. Mr. Eshkol reported an increase in Egypt's Sinai army from 35 to 80 thousand people in a few days. In Cairo, it was announced that Nasser accepted Iraq's proposal to provide military assistance to Egypt in the event of war.

May, 23rd. Saudi Arabia's King Faisal, who was visiting London, said he had ordered the Saudi armed forces to be ready to participate in repelling Israeli aggression.

May 24. According to reports, the US VI Fleet (about 50 warships) is concentrated in the eastern Mediterranean. In Amman, a general mobilization was officially announced and Iraqi and Saudi Arabian troops were allowed to enter Jordan. They report the concentration of a 20,000-strong Saudi Arabian army on the Saudi-Jordanian border in the Gulf of Aqaba region.

26 of May. President Nasser said in Cairo that if war breaks out, Israel will be completely destroyed: the Arabs are ready for war and will win.

May 29. In Algeria, it was reported that Algerian military units were being sent to the Middle East to help Egypt.

June 1st. Transfer of Iraqi aircraft from Habaniya (Baghdad area) to G-3, the westernmost base near the Israeli border.

On this day, the new Minister of Defense, General Moshe Dayan, took office in Israel.

The new minister's first priority was to try to dissuade the world that war was inevitable. He made his first public statement on Saturday June 3 at a press conference in Tel Aviv. A report published the next morning in the Jerusalem Post stated:

“Defense Minister Dayan, speaking at a press conference yesterday, said that it was too late to expect a spontaneous military response to the Egyptian blockade of the Straits of Tiran and too early to draw any conclusions about the possible outcome of the diplomatic campaign: “The government before I joined it... turned to diplomacy; we have to give her a chance.”

The next day - the day before the start of the war - newspapers in Israel and around the world received photographs of vacationing Israeli soldiers sunbathing on beaches. As part of Israel's disinformation plan, several thousand Israeli soldiers were granted leave on the Sabbath. An Egyptian intelligence officer in Tel Aviv could justifiably send a report that the country was in a holiday mood.

Thanks to the steps taken to misinform the enemy and the world community, the Israelis gained an important trump card - the moment of surprise.

The combat plan developed at the headquarters of the Israeli army provided for the introduction into battle of four tank brigades and the motorized infantry and self-propelled artillery formations assigned to them after a surprise air strike on Egyptian airfields. The goal of the maneuver groups was to defeat the enemy’s Sinai group and reach the eastern bank of the Suez Canal. After this, it was planned to transfer efforts to the Syrian front.

By the beginning of hostilities, the strongest group of Egyptian troops was deployed in the Sinai and Suez Canal zone. It included 4 motorized infantry and 2 tank divisions, as well as 5 separate infantry and motorized infantry brigades of the 1st Field Army, and several support brigades. The number of personnel reached 90 thousand people. They were armed with 900 tanks and self-propelled guns, up to 1 thousand artillery guns, and 284 aircraft.

Syrian military units in the Golan Heights region consisted of 6 infantry, 1 motorized infantry and 2 tank brigades, with a total number of 53 thousand people. These units were armed with 340 tanks and self-propelled guns, up to 360 artillery pieces, and 106 Soviet-made combat aircraft.

Jordan allocated 12 brigades (55 thousand people), 290 tanks and self-propelled guns, up to 450 pieces of artillery and 30 combat aircraft (mainly British and French production) to the anti-Israeli coalition (Egypt, Syria and Jordan).

In turn, Israel created the following strike force groups: Sinai direction (Southern Front) - 8 brigades, 600 tanks and 220 combat aircraft. Number of personnel – 70 thousand people; Damascus direction (Northern Front) - 5 brigades, about 100 tanks, 330 artillery units, up to 70 combat aircraft. The number of personnel is about 50 thousand people; Amman direction (Central Front) - 7 brigades, 220 tanks and self-propelled guns, up to 400 artillery pieces, 25 combat aircraft, 35 thousand personnel.

The war began on June 5 (at 8.45 Cairo time) with a series of massive Israeli air strikes on Egypt's main air bases and airfields, air defense radio stations, air defense missile systems and bridges across the Suez Canal. The time – 8.45 was not chosen by chance. The working day in Egypt began at 9.00. Therefore, at 8.45, most of the people authorized to make any decision were on their way to work.

80 Israeli planes took part in the first strike, 120 in the second. For 80 minutes, Israeli planes continuously bombed Egyptian airfields. Then, after a ten-minute respite, another 80 minutes of bombing followed. During these 2 hours and 50 minutes, the Israelis managed to destroy the offensive potential of Egyptian aviation and put an end to it as a combat-ready force. In total, nineteen Egyptian airfields were bombed on the first day of the war. The Israelis believe that during these 170 minutes, over 300 of all 340 Egyptian combat aircraft were destroyed (according to other sources - about 270, 286), including all 30 long-range TU-16 bombers. 9 airfields were put out of action.

One of the direct eyewitnesses of the war, the then attaché of the USSR Embassy in Egypt, S. Tarasenko, recalls these events this way: “An hour later, we practically knew what was happening. A group of Soviet specialists working at the largest Egyptian base, Cairo West, arrived at the embassy. Their appearance - torn, dirty clothes, haggard faces - spoke for itself. When asked what happened, the senior officer said briefly: “Egypt no longer has an air force, and the Cairo West base does not exist either.” Our guys were lucky; they were just approaching the base when the first wave of Israeli Mirages rolled in. People managed to jump out of the bus and lie down in ditches adjacent to the road... After the first raid, about a dozen aircraft survived at the base, and they could have been lifted into the air from the taxiways, but this was not done. The second raid ended the matter.”

The only airfield whose runways were not damaged was the main Sinai airfield at El Arish. The Israelis intended to use it as a forward base to supply troops and evacuate the wounded. Already on Tuesday, the airfield began to perform these functions. At many Egyptian bases, Israeli aircraft destroyed all aircraft, leaving all mock-ups under camouflage cover untouched. Asked whether they did so because the Egyptians had such poor layouts or because the Israelis had such good intelligence, one Israeli officer replied that for both reasons, adding that at Abu Suair, near Ismailia, there was several mock-ups were blown up and all the planes were destroyed at the same time. He said that if we were talking about airfields in the Sinai Peninsula, about which the Israelis had more complete information than about the main Egyptian bases, then no mistakes were made.

It should be said that the start of the war caused a sharp reaction from a number of countries, including France. The latter's president, De Gaulle, declared Israel an "aggressor", applied sanctions to it in the form of an "embargo" and "frozen" the Israeli order for 50 Mirage aircraft.

Immediately after the first Israeli air raid, armored forces went into battle. The main strike of the Northern Group of Israeli Forces under the command of General Tal in the coastal direction was delivered at the junction between the 2nd and 7th Egyptian motorized infantry divisions, and the auxiliary strike at the junction of the 20th Infantry and 7th Motorized Infantry. By the end of June 5, the 20th Division was surrounded. Having outflanked the 7th Division, the Israeli brigades launched an offensive, and on June 6 encircled another Egyptian brigade.

By this time, the Central Group of Israeli troops, having overcome the stubborn resistance of the enemy’s 2nd Tank Division, advanced 25 km into Egyptian territory, taking the 2nd Division into the bag.

On June 6, the commander of the Egyptian army, General Amer, ordered the withdrawal of his troops from the Sinai Peninsula. Two days later, three Israeli divisions reached the Suez Canal in the areas of Port Fuad, El Qantara, Ismailia and Suez.

On June 5, the offensive began on the Jordanian front. To stop the Israeli units, the Jordanians tried to organize a counterattack along the Ramallah-Jerusalem highway with the forces of the 60th Tank Brigade, armed with American M48 Patton tanks and supported by motorized infantry on the M113 armored personnel carrier. However, it was unsuccessful. A massive air strike was carried out on the Jordanian units, as a result of which only six Pattons remained in the 60th brigade. By the end of June 8, after two days of heavy fighting, the Israelis reached the Jordan River, thereby completing their assigned tasks.

The last battles of this war took place on the Syrian front. They began on June 9 with six Israeli tank brigades. They were opposed by the 14th and 44th tank brigades of the Syrian army. The offensive unfolded in mountainous terrain, and bulldozers had to be deployed in front of the Israeli tanks to create passages in the mountains. However, by the end of the first day, the Syrian defenses on the Golan Heights were broken through.

During the war, the Soviet Union sent an operational naval squadron from the Black Sea Fleet to the shores of Egypt: 1 cruiser, up to 9 destroyers, and up to 3 submarines. Soon it was joined by a group of ships and submarines from the Northern Fleet. The squadron increased to 40 combat units, including 10 submarines. The ships were in combat readiness from June 1 to June 31, 1967 and were based in the Egyptian port of Port Said. They were opposed by the ships of the US 6th Fleet - 2 aircraft carriers (America and Saratoga), 2 cruisers, 4 frigates, 10 destroyers, several submarines. These forces, in the event of aggravation of the situation, could be strengthened by Great Britain.

On June 10, the USSR broke off diplomatic relations with Israel and announced that if Israel did not stop hostilities, the Soviet Union “would not hesitate to take military measures.”

On the same day, the war, which had lasted six days, was ended. As a result, Israeli troops inflicted serious defeats on Egypt, Syria, Jordan and Palestinian armed forces. They occupied the Sinai Peninsula, the Gaza Strip, the Golan Heights and the West Bank, with a total area of ​​68.5 thousand square meters. km.

Arab losses, according to the British Institute for Strategic Studies, amounted to: 40 thousand people killed, wounded and captured, about 900 tanks (including 251 T-34-85 in Sinai and 73 tanks T-34-85, T-54 and PzKpfw.lV on the Syrian front), more than 1 thousand artillery barrels, more than 400 combat aircraft. Egypt suffered the greatest losses - 80% of all available military equipment and military equipment. Moreover, of the 709 tanks of the Egyptian army lost only on the Sinai Peninsula, 100 were captured in full service and with unspent ammunition, and about 200 with insignificant ammunition. Israeli losses during the war were: about 800 people killed, 700 people wounded, 48 combat aircraft, 122 tanks (AMX-13, Sherman and Centurion) in the Sinai and 160 vehicles on the Syrian front.

Soviet losses in the war amounted to 35 people. Most of the military personnel died during Israeli air raids on military targets in Egypt and Syria.

Israel's undoubted success in the Six-Day War also had a downside. As Mossad chief Meir Amit later recalled, “After the 1967 war, we all fell ill with arrogance. We know everything better than anyone, we are the best, we are above everyone else.”

The war, as planned, ended in six days, but even today there is no convincing answer to the mysterious incident that occurred in the Mediterranean Sea on June 8 and cost the lives of 34 American sailors. On this day, the American reconnaissance ship Liberty conducted radio surveillance of both warring parties. One of the ship’s tasks was to “monitor” and prevent the use of nuclear and chemical components of armed warfare. The Liberty was in international waters, thirty miles off the coast of the disputed territory of Gaza. Suddenly, in clear weather, the ship was attacked by a group of Israeli aircraft. Then three Israeli torpedo boats arrived and fired a salvo at the burning ship. The Liberty had no armor and was armed with only four machine guns. As a result of the attack, 34 officers and crew members of the Liberty were killed and 76 were wounded. The ship was riddled with 821 hits, and fires broke out in the bow and amidships. However, the surviving crew members, despite the difficult conditions, still managed to keep the ship afloat until the rescuers arrived.

Subsequently, many unsuccessful attempts were made to explain this event. In particular, it was argued that, considering eavesdropping in this part of the world their monopoly, the Israelis were outraged by the American invasion; Another view is that the Israelis carried out the attack at the request of the CIA, which sought to prove that Egyptian reports of collusion between Israel and the United States were unfounded. The Israeli air force placed all the blame on the navy, which it claimed was responsible for the failure to identify the vessel. Naval intelligence first reported that it was an Egyptian vessel, then recognized the vessel as Soviet, then again Egyptian, and finally reported that it was “undoubtedly a military vessel, which is damn close.”

According to one Israeli naval officer, the Liberty allegedly did not have its flag raised at the time of the attack. “Not a soul was visible on its deck, like a ghost ship, it seemed deserted.” But, according to a US Navy commission statement following a week-long investigation, “the USS Liberty was in international waters and was wearing accepted markings,” including a 5-by-8-foot Stars and Stripes flag flying from her gaff.

One way or another, Israel issued an official apology and called the attack an “accident.” The US government accepted the apology, although many of President Johnson's advisers, including Secretary of State Dean Rusk, were convinced that the attack was deliberate. However, the US Congress did not investigate the incident. This was the only time in American history that an attack on a warship in peacetime was not followed by an investigation. Instead, a naval court was convened, accusing the crew of the Liberty of concealing the truth. And the “concealment of the truth” was that radio reconnaissance officers from Liberty (as well as American radio interception stations in Germany) heard negotiations between Israeli pilots and their command. The pilots reported that they saw an American, not an Egyptian, ship and requested permission to return to base. But instead they received orders to attack. According to former US Navy officer Richard Thompson, this “accident” was a planned action of two intelligence agencies - American and Israeli. According to him, if the Liberty had been able to sink to the bottom (provided that all American sailors had died), then the attack could have been attributed to the Egyptians and thereby drag the United States into the war, turning it from local to large-scale.

Alexander OKOROKOV, Doctor of Historical Sciences

This war got its name because it lasted only six days: from Monday June 5 to Saturday June 10, 1967.

Six Day War in Sinai (Egyptian Front)

Among the Arab countries, Egypt had the most powerful air force - all of the latest Soviet aircraft. It possessed 45 Tu-16 medium bombers capable of attacking Israeli military and civilian targets. However, the Egyptians' defense infrastructure was relatively weak, and they did not have bunkers to protect their air force in the event of an attack.

On Monday, June 5, 1967, the Jews launched Operation Moked (Focus). At 7:45 am, flying over the Mediterranean at a very low altitude to avoid radar, Israeli aircraft attacked Egypt. The timing of the attack was specially calculated: most of the Egyptian fighters and their pilots were already on the ground at that time after the first morning patrol. The Israelis appeared over enemy territory not from the east, where it was natural to expect them, but from the north and west - having made a preliminary “detour” over the Mediterranean Sea.

Six Day War. Battle for the Sinai Peninsula. Video

All Israeli combat aircraft were involved in Operation Focus, with the exception of only 12 interceptors left to protect their own airspace. In 500 sorties, the Israelis destroyed 309 of 340 Egyptian warplanes. The success exceeded all the expectations of Israeli strategists who had long ago developed this plan. Jewish losses amounted to only 19 aircraft - and mainly due to technical reasons. This gave the Israeli Air Force complete dominance of the skies for the entire duration of the Six-Day War. It predetermined the complete victory of the Jews in it.

Egypt has long lived under conditions of censorship and propaganda. By the evening of the first day of the Six-Day War, the situation of the Egyptian troops had become catastrophic, but local radio announced major victories and assured that the attacking Israeli planes had been shot down. The people were triumphant. In Cairo, crowds took to the streets to “celebrate the victory,” which was considered already assured. The Israeli army advanced, and the Egyptian generals preferred to hide its defeat from President Nasser himself. In Israel, the radio broadcast only the announcement of the beginning of the war, without naming the winner. The only TV channel in Israel was Egyptian, and the Jewish population believed that their country was close to disaster.

Taking advantage of air superiority, the Israeli army attacked Egyptian troops in the Sinai. Without air support, they were unable to resist. Senior officers could not even organize an orderly retreat.

On June 8, the Israeli army completed the conquest of the entire Sinai. That evening, Egypt accepted a ceasefire agreement.

Six-Day War in the West Bank (Jordanian Front).

Israel cut off the Jordanian King Hussein from sources of truthful information. Listening to the boastful statements of the Egyptian media, Hussein believed in Nasser's victory. The Jordanian army began shelling Israel from the east and occupied the UN headquarters in Jerusalem on June 5.

Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Dayan, given the ease with which his troops advanced in Sinai, recalled part of them to Jerusalem. Israeli aircraft destroyed the Jordanian Air Force. Until now, only the western part of Jerusalem was in Jewish hands, but on Wednesday, June 7, Israeli paratroopers surrounded and took control of this entire city and the entire West Bank. According to the Jewish calendar, this date was designated as the 28th day of the month of Iyar, 5727. Since then, it has been celebrated annually as “Jerusalem Day.”

Generals Yitzhak Rabin, Moshe Dayan and Uzi Narkis in Jerusalem, 1967

Six-Day War on the Golan Heights (Syrian Front)

Until Friday, June 9, 1967, fighting on the border between Israel and Syria was limited to bombing. But on June 9, after intercepting a telegram that convinced him that the Soviet Union did not intend to intervene in the war, Moshe Dayan decided to send the Israeli army to conquer the Golan Heights, a very important strategic position for Israel. Syria was an ally of the Soviet Union, and the Israeli army had only a few hours of time - after which the USSR and the USA would inevitably force it to a ceasefire.

On June 9, the fighting proceeded with varying success: the Syrians lost their forward positions by the evening, but the Israeli advance remained shallow. However, on June 10, the Syrian headquarters, fearing an Israeli outflank through the Lebanese Bekaa Valley, ordered its troops to withdraw from the Golan Heights and build a defense line around Damascus. The Israeli army rushed into the vacated space. There was such a commotion among the Syrians that their radio announced the fall of Quneitra at 8:45 am, although the first Israeli troops approached this city only after noon.

In the face of this development, Brezhnev began to threaten the United States with direct military intervention. The two superpowers imposed a ceasefire on Syria and Israel, which came into force on the evening of June 10, ending the Six Day War.

Six Day War at Sea

8 June 1967 Israeli Navy attacked the American ship Liberty, who was collecting intelligence off the coast of the country. 34 crew members of this ship were killed. The Israeli government later stated that this very serious incident happened “by mistake.” But, according to another version, the Liberty was attacked by the Israelis deliberately - to prevent the United States from detecting the transfer of Israeli troops to the Galilee in anticipation of the capture of the Golan Heights.

Israeli saboteur divers sent to the harbors of Port Said and Alexandria were unable to damage a single ship there. In Alexandria, six of them were captured.

Israel before and after the Six Day War. Map. The Sinai Peninsula, Gaza Strip, West Bank and Golan Heights are captured

UN Security Council Resolution 242

Soon after the end of the Six Day War UN Security Council adopted resolution No. 242 (dated November 22, 1967). She called for "the establishment of a just and lasting peace in the Middle East." The first of its principles was the “withdrawal of Israeli armed forces from territories occupied during the recent conflict.” However, they immediately mentioned “recognition of the sovereignty, territorial integrity and political independence of each state in the area,” which contradicted the views of the Arabs, who did not consider the very existence of Israel legitimate. In the further development of the Middle East conflict, each side sought to see in the contradictory Resolution No. 242 a meaning beneficial only to itself.

Why the Israeli army managed to win the Six Day War

The “Six Day War” (June 5–10, 1967) in the Middle East has largely become a household name. This term in a broad sense began to mean a crushing, quick defeat of a formally more powerful enemy. In a narrow sense, the successful implementation of the tactics of the first disarming strike on enemy airfields, providing the attacking side with air superiority leading to victory on the ground.

Egypt, Syria, Iraq and Jordan at the beginning of the war had a total of up to 700 combat aircraft, Israel - about 300. On the first day of the war, the Arabs lost at airfields and in air battles, according to various sources, from 360 to 420 aircraft, Israel (in air battles and from ground air defense) - from 18 to 44 aircraft. The difference, of course, is colossal, but still the Arab Air Forces did not cease to exist (at least the Egyptian, Syrian, and Jordanian ones were completely destroyed). Even if we take the worst loss values ​​for them, by the morning of the second day of the war, the sides had approximately quantitative equality in aviation. However, although isolated air battles took place before 9 June, the Israelis gained complete air supremacy. This was explained by the much better flight and combat training of Israeli pilots, a more advanced aviation control system, as well as the severe psychological shock of the Arabs from the defeat of June 5.

Air superiority, of course, greatly contributed to the Israeli victory on the ground, although it was not an easy ride. During the first two days of the war, the Egyptian 6th Motorized Infantry Division even managed to penetrate 10 km into Israeli territory. Nevertheless, air supremacy, a higher level of combat training and initiative of the Israeli armed forces compared to the Arab ones did their job. In addition, the Egyptian leadership fell into panic. On the morning of June 6, the commander-in-chief, General Amer, gave his troops in Sinai the order to retreat. Naturally, this retreat, in the face of continuous Israeli attacks from land and air, very quickly turned into a flight and a complete disaster. The fighting in Sinai ended on the morning of June 9, the Egyptians lost from 10 to 15 thousand people. killed and up to 5 thousand prisoners, up to 800 tanks (291 T-54, 82 T-55, 251 T-34/85, 72 IS-3M, 29 PT-76, up to 50 Shermans), a huge number of other armored vehicles. Moreover, the Israelis captured a significant part of the Egyptian tanks and armored personnel carriers in perfect working order. There were so many trophies that, despite the lack of Soviet spare parts, the practical Israelis accepted them into service (including 81 T-54 and 49 T-55), replacing the weapons and engines with Western ones. Some examples of that equipment still serve Israel today. In particular, the very successful Akhzarit armored personnel carrier was created on the T-54/T-55 chassis, which was actively used in the 2006 Lebanese war. Israel itself lost 120 tanks in Sinai - less than it captured.

In parallel, there were battles between Israel and Jordan for Jerusalem and the West Bank, and these battles were distinguished by exceptional tenacity. So, on June 6, the Jordanians even surrounded an Israeli tank battalion, but failed to destroy it. Once again the superior level of Israeli training and initiative and air supremacy prevailed. In addition, the Jordanian Armed Forces were the smallest of all the Arab armies involved in this war, making them the most difficult to resist the Jews. The sides' losses in armored vehicles turned out to be quite close (about 200 tanks for Jordan, a little over 100 for Israel). Here the fighting ended on June 7, the Arabs were driven back beyond the Jordan. The Jews took revenge for the defeats of 1948 by recapturing Latrun and the Old City of Jerusalem.

Syria “philosophically,” that is, without doing anything, watched as Israel crushed its allies, and, of course, waited for its time, which came on June 9. At noon, Israeli troops began their assault on the Golan Heights. For them, this part of the war was the most difficult, since the terrain was on the side of the Arabs. Even according to their own data, the Israelis lost twice as many tanks here as the Syrians - 160 versus 80 (interestingly, the Syrian army had both T-34/85 and German StuG III). However, the Jews stormed the heights, already knowing that they would win; the Syrians defended themselves, already knowing that they would lose. At 18.30 on June 10, an official ceasefire took place.

The Arabs lost at least 1,100 tanks, from 380 to 450 combat aircraft (including up to 60 in air battles), and up to 40 thousand people killed and captured. Israeli losses amounted to about 400 tanks (Centurion, Sherman and M48), 45 aircraft (12 of them in air battles), up to 1 thousand people killed.

Sherman tank on the road between Jerusalem and Bethlehem, 1967. Photo: AFP/East News

In 6 days, Israel managed to radically change the balance of power in the Middle East. He defeated the armies of all three Arab countries bordering him (the fourth, Lebanon, was not taken into account due to its weakness); his main enemy, Egypt, suffered especially heavy losses. Even more important was the fact that Israel's geographical position was now very favorable. As of the morning of June 5, the Arabs had the theoretical ability to cut it in half in less than an hour (at its narrowest point, from the border with Jordan to the Mediterranean coast there was only 15 km of Israeli territory). On the evening of June 10, the Jewish state was reliably protected from the north by the Golan Heights, from the east by the Jordan River, from the southwest by the Suez Canal, as well as by the Sinai Peninsula and the Negev Desert. The Israeli leadership was confident that it had ensured the security of its country for at least 20–25 years. In 1970, the geopolitical situation became even more favorable for him after Jordan de facto withdrew from the anti-Israeli front due to the conflict with the Palestinians and Syria behind them.

The Six-Day War was a triumph for the Israel Defense Forces (IDF in its Hebrew acronym). To this day, the IDF remains the best living refutation of the Anglo-Saxon thesis (which was very fond of many Russians) about the advantages of a “professional”, that is, a mercenary army. The Israeli army is, one might say, the most conscript army in the world; even women are drafted into it; no alternative service is provided for (it is “carried out” in prison). At the same time, it is distinguished by the highest level of combat training, excellent living conditions for military personnel, and the absence of hazing. The well-known explanation for this phenomenon, which is that “Israel is surrounded by enemies,” is completely meaningless. The fact of being surrounded by enemies, of course, requires the presence of a conscript army (in general, the principle of manning the armed forces of any country is determined by what tasks they face, and nothing more), but it has nothing to do with the internal structure of the army and the quality of training of personnel.

From a political point of view, Israel's behavior in June '67 was certainly aggression. At the same time, it should be noted that before the start of the war, anti-Israeli rhetoric in Arab countries entered the stage of outright hysteria and Tel Aviv could interpret it as preparation for aggression against it. Given the Arabs' significant military and geographic advantage, it would put Israel in an extremely difficult situation, so he decided to launch a preemptive strike and remind that winners are not judged. Of course, hysterical rhetoric is very often intended only for internal consumption. However, the external objects of hysterical rhetoric are not at all obliged to understand that this is all “make-believe.” The Arabs simply “responsible for the bazaar,” which was fair. If you can’t fight, sit and be silent.

As the past four decades have shown, the Six-Day War was the high point of Israeli success. After that, the retreats began. Moreover, their inevitability was laid down by this war itself. The Arabs, having lost territory, received a legal justification for their anti-Semitism. The Israelis, having captured the West Bank of Jordan and the Gaza Strip, received an absolutely hostile Palestinian population inside the country, which, as it now turns out, thanks to the incomparably higher birth rate, can very soon surpass the Jewish population in numbers. As a result, the immediate improvement in the strategic position became a powerful time bomb under the Jewish state.

The Arab armies have long ceased to risk getting involved in battle with the IDF. But with the “basic instinct” the Arabs are fine. Demographics today turn out to be much stronger than traditional ones. Militarily null Palestine is gradually achieving what heavily armed Egypt and Syria failed to do.

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The Six Day War was a war in the Middle East between Israel, on the one hand, and Egypt, Syria, Jordan, Iraq and Algeria, on the other, lasting from June 5 to June 10, 1967.

Previous Events

The July Revolution of 1952 in Egypt overthrew the monarchy. A Revolutionary Command Council was formed, consisting of officers who carried out the coup. Soon one of them, Gamal Abdel Nasser, became the president of Egypt. A republic was proclaimed. Nasser wanted to consolidate the nation and “export” the revolution to other Arab countries.

Reinforcements sent by Brigadier General Uzi Narkis to the commander of the central forces allowed him to launch an offensive with three brigades. The main ones in the operation were the paratroopers of the units of Colonel Mordechai (Mota) Gur. That same day they approached the walls of the Old City, where the garrison was commanded by Jordanian Brigadier General Ata Ali.

June 6. Second day. The Israeli advance was stopped by strong and stubborn resistance. However, the encirclement of the city was completed - parts of a tank brigade were captured in the north, another brigade occupied Latrun in the southwest. For the first time since 1947, the Tel Aviv-Jerusalem road was open to Israeli traffic.

June 7. The third day. Colonel Gur took the Old City by storm. Around noon it was captured, a little later -. Both sides accept the UN Security Council proposal for a ceasefire from 20:00.

Jenin-Nablus Battle

June 5. First day. The Israeli Northern Forces, led by Major General David Elazar, numbered approximately two and a half brigades. By midnight, one division and a reinforced tank brigade were approaching Jenin.

June 7. The third day. The Israelis, continuing their onslaught, took possession of it after a bloody battle. The greatly depleted Jordanian forces crossed the Jordan River, where they remained until the ceasefire.

Operations on the Syrian front

June 5 - 8. First - fourth day. held six Syrian brigades (with six in reserve) in the east of Quneitra. On the evening of June 5, Israeli air strikes destroyed approximately two-thirds of all Syrian air forces. Artillery duels took place for four days; the parties made no attempts to seize the initiative.

the 9th of June. Fifth day. Elazar received orders to urgently launch an offensive early in the morning. He concentrated troops for an initial push through the Dan Banias area north of the Golan Plateau, along the foot of the mountain. By nightfall, these forces had broken through the Syrian defenses, and three brigades reached the plateau early the next morning. At the same time, other units were fighting their way through the hills north of Lake Kinneret, and Elazar ordered units recently fighting in the Jenin-Nablus region to move north and strike the Golan Heights south of the lake.

June 10th. Sixth day. The Israelis broke through Syrian defenses in the northern Golan Heights, then intensified their frontal attack across the plateau to approach Quneitra from the north, west and southwest. At the same time, a group of troops redeployed from the Jordanian front threatened Quneitra from the south. By evening, Quneitra was surrounded and an armored unit entered the city.

The ceasefire took effect at 7:30 p.m.

War at sea

There were no major naval battles during the war.

On June 8, 1967, the US Navy vessel "", engaged in electronic reconnaissance off the coast of the Sinai Peninsula (as stated - "without identification marks") and entered the war zone, was attacked in the afternoon by Israeli aircraft and torpedo boats. The attack killed 34 American sailors and wounded 173.

According to the Israeli side, the ship was “misidentified.” According to other assumptions, the ship was attacked by the Israelis deliberately in order to prevent the United States from collecting information about military operations in the region, in particular to prevent them from detecting the movements of Israeli troops in the Galilee in anticipation of the capture of the Golan Heights.

Israeli saboteur divers were sent to the harbors of Port Said and Alexandria, but were unable to damage a single ship. 6 Israeli divers were captured in Alexandria and taken prisoner.

Losses of the warring parties

From the Israeli side. According to various sources, Israel lost 779 people killed in this war (according to the Israeli Foreign Ministry - 776 people). Of these, 338 died on the Sinai front, 300 on the Jordanian front (including 183 in the Battle of Jerusalem) and 141 on the Syrian front, according to other sources, the total irretrievable losses amounted to 983 people.

From the Arab countries that took part in the hostilities

• Egypt - 11,500 dead (according to some estimates - up to 15 thousand), 20,000 wounded, 5,500 prisoners.
• Jordan - 696 dead, 421 injured, 2,000 missing.
• Syria - from 1000 to 2500 dead, 5000 wounded.
• Iraq - 10 dead, 30 wounded.

Results of the war

In this war, Israel achieved a landslide victory in a matter of days, capturing the Sinai Peninsula, Gaza Strip, West Bank, East Jerusalem and the Golan Heights. 1949 became the administrative border between Israel and the new territories.

On June 28, 1967, by decree of the Israeli government, Israeli jurisdiction and municipal boundaries of Jerusalem were extended to the Jordanian (eastern) sector of Jerusalem and adjacent parts of the West Bank. Sources and politicians at the time disagreed on whether this action constituted an official annexation or not. The unambiguous official annexation of East Jerusalem by Israel occurred on November 30, 1980, when it was adopted declaring East Jerusalem the sovereign territory of Israel, and the entire city its “single and indivisible capital.”

In total, Israel gained control of an area 3.5 times larger than its pre-war area.

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Helpful information

Six Day War
Hebrew מלחמת ששת הימים‎
translit. "Milchemet Sheshet HaYamim"
Arab. حرب الأيام الستة‎‎
translit. "Harb al-ayam al-sitta"
or Arab. 1967‎‎
translit. "Harb 1967"

Accusation by Egypt and Jordan of the United States and Great Britain of fighting on the side of Israel and its exposure

On June 6, in telephone conversations between King Hussein of Jordan and Nasser, intercepted by Israel, Hussein agrees to support Egypt and accuse the United States and Great Britain of fighting on the side of Israel. However, he quickly retracts this accusation when the recording of their conversation becomes public on June 8.

Nevertheless, Nasser managed to present this accusation in a letter on June 6 to A.N. Kosygin. The media in Egypt and Jordan picked up this accusation, Syria also accused Australia of the same thing, and crowds of Muslims attacked the US and British embassies in the Middle East and North Africa. Despite its exposure, this accusation is still alive in the Muslim world, including scientific historical publications.

Mutual accusations in the execution of prisoners of war

During the disorderly retreat of the Egyptians from the Sinai, Israel captured a huge number of prisoners (estimated to be more than 20,000 people). For the most part, these prisoners, with the exception of officers, were transported through the Suez Canal and dispersed to their homes. Many Egyptians died from thirst, wounds, or went missing. About 5 thousand captured Egyptian officers, including generals, were exchanged for 10 Israeli prisoners.

In the mid-1990s, reports emerged in the Israeli and international press that Israeli soldiers had killed hundreds of unarmed Egyptians during the war.

According to the Associated Press, military historian A. Yitzhaki said in an interview with the AP that during several mass executions (during the war), the Israeli army killed about 1,000 prisoners of war in the Sinai Peninsula. According to him, on June 9-10, 1967, about 400 Egyptian and Palestinian prisoners were killed in the dunes near El-Arish after two Israeli soldiers were mortally wounded by fire from their side: “The enraged Israeli soldiers got out of the control of the officers and They shot all the prisoners." In total, he spoke of 6-7 such cases, “usually provoked.”

According to historian M. Pail, some of the participants in the executions were convicted by an Israeli military court, but information about the trials was hidden by military censorship. According to historian W. Milstein, during the war there were many cases when Israeli soldiers killed prisoners of war after they had raised their hands and surrendered.

A. Yitzhaki believed that cases of mass executions were well known to the then Minister of Defense M. Dayan and the Chief of the General Staff I. Rabin.

In addition, he said that some of the soldiers who participated in the executions were under the command of B. Ben-Eliezer (minister in 1995). Ben-Eliezer's spokeswoman said he was "not aware of any such killings." Prime Minister Rabin's secretariat later issued a statement condemning the killings and calling them isolated incidents.

G. Bron (Yediot Ahronot) personally observed how, by order of the Israeli “martial court,” at least 10 prisoners were shot, who had previously been ordered to dig their own graves. Israeli soldiers (including Bron), who watched the executions from afar, were ordered by officers at gunpoint to leave.

M. Bar-Zohar wrote that he personally observed the murder of 3 prisoners of war.

According to the New York Times, the Egyptian government reported in 1995 that it had discovered two graves in El Arish containing the remains of 30 to 60 prisoners believed to have been killed by Israeli soldiers. Deputy Foreign Ministry E. Dayan, who arrived in Cairo, offered compensation to the families of the victims, stating that “in accordance with the law on the 20-year statute of limitations, Israel will not prosecute those who could be responsible for these cases.” The Israeli Ambassador to Egypt, D. Sultan, was personally accused by the Egyptian newspaper Al Shaab of responsibility for the murder of 100 prisoners. The Israeli Foreign Ministry denied these accusations, and the ambassador was recalled from Egypt at his own request.

In 2007, after the screening of the documentary film “Ruach Shaked” by R. Edelist on Channel 1 of Israeli TV (about the Shaked battalion, then under the command of B. Ben-Eliezer), this topic was raised again. In particular, the film said that the Israelis shot 250 Egyptians in the Sinai Peninsula after the end of the Six-Day War, rather than transferring them to a prison camp. At the same time, most of the Egyptians were shot while chasing the retreating units of the Egyptian commandos. The screening of the film caused diplomatic complications between Israel and Egypt, and the Egyptian side demanded that those responsible be punished.

Ben-Eliezer accused the filmmakers of numerous inaccuracies, claiming that those killed were not Egyptian soldiers, but Palestinian militants trained by Egyptian intelligence, and who died not after surrender, but during military operations. Later, R. Edelist himself said that he confused Egyptian prisoners of war with Palestinian fedayeen militants, and they were killed during the battle “during their retreat”, and were not executed, but at the same time the Israelis used “force beyond what is permissible.”

UN observers in Egypt during the Six-Day War also questioned Egypt's claim that Israeli troops allegedly killed 250 Egyptian prisoners of war. Captain M. Zorch and Private M. Stosic (both from the former Yugoslavia) said that if a large number of prisoners of war had been killed in the area, they would almost certainly have known about it. In addition, Zorch stated that he knew many local Egyptians, none of whom ever mentioned any massacres in the area.

A number of sources link Egypt's reaction to the fact that Ben-Eliezer, as Minister of Infrastructure, tried to end Egypt's monopoly on natural gas supplies to Israel. Lawyer E. Gerwitz wrote:

• Accusations of Israel executing Egyptian prisoners of war during the Sinai Campaign (1956), the Six-Day War (1967) and the Yom Kippur War (1973) were first voiced by Israeli historians seeking to attract media attention. In 1994, a book by historian Uri Milstein was published in which accusations of this kind were first made. In 1995, another study by historian Aryeh Yitzhaki was published...
• As a result of such publications, a government commission was created to verify allegations of mass executions of Egyptian prisoners of war. She completed the work in early 1998. The commission's report noted that both sides, the Israelis and the Egyptians, were guilty of killing prisoners of war.
• ... the families of Egyptian soldiers killed during the Six-Day War filed a lawsuit in the Egyptian El-Arish court against the State of Israel and then head of government Ariel Sharon. They accused Israeli forces of torturing and executing 16,000 Egyptian prisoners of war, demanding compensation of $12 million. In January 2005, the court found the claim unproven.

In turn, the same historian A. Yitzhaki and Israeli soldiers who were in Egyptian captivity accused Egypt of mass executions of Israeli prisoners of war. Yitzhaki estimates the number of executed people at 100-120 people. According to Yitzhaki, “Israel is passive in everything that concerns propaganda and counter-propaganda” and “should attack, not defend.”

Egypt's Foreign Minister said Israeli accusations of executions of prisoners were "complete nonsense" and "an attempt to cover up the crimes committed against Egyptian prisoners of war."

Population movement

Arabs

According to one of the new Israeli historians, Benny Morris, during and immediately after the war, the West Bank. About a quarter of its Arab population (200,000 to 250,000 people) left Jordan. About 70,000 people fled the Gaza Strip, and between 80,000 and 100,000 people fled the Golan Heights.

According to Morris, in the city of Qalqilya and villages southeast of Jerusalem, houses were destroyed by the Israelis “not as part of battle, but as a form of punishment and for the purpose of expelling the inhabitants, ... contrary to government policy.” In Qalqilya, about a third of the houses were destroyed. However, residents of both areas were then allowed to return. There are reports of Israeli troops ordering the population to leave their homes and cross the Jordan River. From East Jerusalem, people were transported by Israeli buses to the Jordanian border, but according to Morris, there is no evidence that this was done under duress. When crossing the border, those leaving had to sign a document stating that they were doing this of their own free will.

After the war, the Israeli government said it would allow all refugees who wished to return. However, in practice, only 17,000 people out of 120,000 who expressed a desire were allowed to return.

According to Morris, taking advantage of the shock caused by the war, in Jerusalem, on June 10, the Israeli authorities began to destroy the so-called Muslim quarter of Mughrabi in the immediate vicinity of the Western Wall. In its place, a large square was created in front of this Jewish shrine.

At the same time, in a letter from the Israeli representative to the UN addressed to its Secretary General in March 1968, it was indicated that during Jordan’s control over this quarter, it turned into slums, 2/3 of its area either belonged to Jews or was in public use. In April 1968, the Israeli government officially transferred the area in front of the Western Wall for public use, and compensation was offered to private landowners (200 Jordanian dinars per family for Arabs).

In the Old City of Jerusalem, about 300 Arab families who moved in after the expulsion of 1,500 Jews from the Old City by Transjordan during the 1948 war were evicted from houses in the Jewish Quarter.

Jews in Islamic countries

Due to the Israeli victory and the defeat of the Arabs, the Jewish minority still living in Arab countries was immediately persecuted and expelled. As historian Michael Oren writes:

• “Mobs attacked Jewish neighborhoods in Egypt, Yemen, Lebanon, Tunisia, Morocco, burning synagogues and attacking Jews. As a result of the pogrom in Tripoli (Libya), 18 Jews were killed and 25 were wounded; the survivors were herded into detention centers.”
• “Of the 4 thousand Jews of Egypt, 800 were arrested, including the chief rabbis of both Cairo and Alexandria, and their property was requisitioned by the state.”
• “The ancient Jewish communities of Damascus and Baghdad were placed under house arrest, their leaders were arrested and fined.”
• “In all, 7,000 Jews were expelled, many with only what they could carry in their hands.”

Diplomatic implications

June 9 - a meeting of the leaders of the ruling parties and governments of Bulgaria, Hungary, the GDR, Poland, Romania, the USSR, Czechoslovakia and Yugoslavia is held in Moscow.

On June 9, in his address to the nation, UAR President Nasser announced his resignation and accused Western countries of secretly fighting on the side of Israel with their air forces. After mass demonstrations in his support, Nasser remained in office.

June 10 - Bulgaria, Hungary, Poland, the USSR, Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia break off diplomatic relations with Israel (Romania refrained from such a step, and the GDR did not have diplomatic relations with Israel).

June 17 - July 21 - the 5th emergency special session of the UN General Assembly, convened at the proposal of the USSR, was held in New York. None of the three draft resolutions on the Arab-Israeli conflict have been adopted. According to A.A. Gromyko, the main reason for this was:

1) The categorical refusal of all Arab delegations to accept any formulation calling for an end to the state of war between the Arabs and Israel.
2) The categorical refusal of the United States and the countries that support them to make a decision on the withdrawal of troops without a simultaneous call by the Assembly to end the state of war.

Telegram from the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the USSR A.A. Gromyko to the CPSU Central Committee

On July 4 and 14, three resolutions were adopted on the protection of civilians and the status of Jerusalem. Formally, on July 21, the session was only interrupted, and officially closed on September 18.

November 22 - The UN Security Council unanimously adopted Resolution 242, demanding "the establishment of a just and lasting peace in the Middle East, which must include the application of both of the following principles: 1. withdrawal of Israeli military forces from territories occupied during the recent conflict 2. cessation of all claims or states of war and respect and recognition of the sovereignty, territorial integrity and political independence of each State in the area and their right to live in peace within secure and recognized borders, without threat or use of force.”

In various countries of the Arab world, mass demonstrations took place in support of Syria, Jordan and Egypt, in a number of cases there were riots and attacks on the offices of European and American companies.