Okla-homey
6/5/2007, 06:16 AM
June 5, 1967 : Six-Day War begins
http://aycu27.webshots.com/image/19186/2004396522885891553_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2004396522885891553)
40 years ago today, Israel responds to an ominous build-up of Arab forces along its borders by launching simultaneous attacks against Egypt and Syria. Jordan subsequently entered the fray, but the Arab coalition was no match for Israel's superbly trained armed forces who fought with grim determination to ensure the survival of the young nation.
The war began because Egyptian President Gamal Nasser had become an international pan-Arab leader who pressed hard for the destruction of Israel.
http://aycu29.webshots.com/image/19028/2004303379922589253_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2004303379922589253)
Nasser's goal of destroying Israel was a unifying notion around which international Arab support coalesced and made him the equivalent of an international rock star. To this end, Arab forces were deployed to the Israeli frontier and were poised to begin their assault. Tiny Israel was confronted by an international Arab force of some 465,000 troops, over 2,880 tanks and 810 aircraft.
Instead of waiting for the Egyptians and her allies to pull the trigger, Israel decided to sieze the intitiative and strike first. Within the war's first two hours, the IDAF completely destroyed the combined air forces of Egypt, Syria and Jordan by striking every Arab air force base in the region and leaving every Soviet supplied Arab aircraft a smoking hulk. This was done to immediately achieve air supremacy, thus insuring Israeli armor would not have to sweat air attack as it barrelled into enemy forces and to ensure Isreali cities would not be bombed.
In six days of fighting, Israel enjoyed phenomenal success as it conquered and occupied the Gaza Strip and the Sinai Peninsula of Egypt, the Golan Heights of Syria, and the West Bank and Arab sector of East Jerusalem, both previously under Jordanian rule. The Arab coventional forces arrayed against Israel almost literally melted away when exposed to Israeli fire and steel.
http://aycu01.webshots.com/image/19160/2004338373169936953_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2004338373169936953)
The Egyptian Front
http://aycu34.webshots.com/image/15233/2004353813500400343_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2004353813500400343)
The Jordanian Front
By the time the United Nations cease-fire took effect on June 11, Israel had more than doubled its size. The true fruits of victory came in claiming the Old City of Jerusalem from Jordan. Many wept while bent in prayer at the Western Wall of the Second Temple.
http://aycu38.webshots.com/image/19397/2004371835448690986_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2004371835448690986)
Israeli paratroopers at the wall of the Second Temple
http://aycu01.webshots.com/image/19160/2004326666070164804_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2004326666070164804)
No one, not even the Israeli command, expected the IDF to be capable of swiftly moving through a quarter million Egyptian troops and Egypt's thousands of tanks to cross the Sinai peninsula and achieve positions as far west as the Suez Canal
The U.N. Security Council called for a withdrawal from all the occupied regions, but Israel declined, permanently annexing East Jerusalem and setting up military administrations in the occupied territories. Israel let it be known that Gaza, the West Bank, the Golan Heights, and the Sinai would be returned in exchange for Arab recognition of the right of Israel to exist and guarantees against future attack.
http://aycu01.webshots.com/image/18440/2004334686388655440_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2004334686388655440)
Arab leaders, stinging from their defeat, met in August in Khartoum in Sudan to discuss the future of the Middle East. They decided upon a policy of no peace, no negotiations, and no recognition of Israel, and made plans to defend zealously the rights of Palestinian Arabs in the occupied territories.
Egypt, however, would eventually negotiate and make peace with Israel, and in 1982 the Sinai Peninsula was returned to Egypt in exchange for full diplomatic recognition of Israel.
Egypt and Jordan later gave up their respective claims to the Gaza Strip and the West Bank to the Palestinians, who opened "land for peace" talks with Israel beginning in the 1990s. A permanent Israeli-Palestinian peace agreement remains elusive, as does an agreement with Syria to return the Golan Heights.
http://aycu34.webshots.com/image/15233/2004383332584530366_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2004383332584530366)
Too good not to include
http://aycu31.webshots.com/image/17430/2001957139894021592_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2001957139894021592)
http://aycu27.webshots.com/image/19186/2004396522885891553_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2004396522885891553)
40 years ago today, Israel responds to an ominous build-up of Arab forces along its borders by launching simultaneous attacks against Egypt and Syria. Jordan subsequently entered the fray, but the Arab coalition was no match for Israel's superbly trained armed forces who fought with grim determination to ensure the survival of the young nation.
The war began because Egyptian President Gamal Nasser had become an international pan-Arab leader who pressed hard for the destruction of Israel.
http://aycu29.webshots.com/image/19028/2004303379922589253_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2004303379922589253)
Nasser's goal of destroying Israel was a unifying notion around which international Arab support coalesced and made him the equivalent of an international rock star. To this end, Arab forces were deployed to the Israeli frontier and were poised to begin their assault. Tiny Israel was confronted by an international Arab force of some 465,000 troops, over 2,880 tanks and 810 aircraft.
Instead of waiting for the Egyptians and her allies to pull the trigger, Israel decided to sieze the intitiative and strike first. Within the war's first two hours, the IDAF completely destroyed the combined air forces of Egypt, Syria and Jordan by striking every Arab air force base in the region and leaving every Soviet supplied Arab aircraft a smoking hulk. This was done to immediately achieve air supremacy, thus insuring Israeli armor would not have to sweat air attack as it barrelled into enemy forces and to ensure Isreali cities would not be bombed.
In six days of fighting, Israel enjoyed phenomenal success as it conquered and occupied the Gaza Strip and the Sinai Peninsula of Egypt, the Golan Heights of Syria, and the West Bank and Arab sector of East Jerusalem, both previously under Jordanian rule. The Arab coventional forces arrayed against Israel almost literally melted away when exposed to Israeli fire and steel.
http://aycu01.webshots.com/image/19160/2004338373169936953_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2004338373169936953)
The Egyptian Front
http://aycu34.webshots.com/image/15233/2004353813500400343_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2004353813500400343)
The Jordanian Front
By the time the United Nations cease-fire took effect on June 11, Israel had more than doubled its size. The true fruits of victory came in claiming the Old City of Jerusalem from Jordan. Many wept while bent in prayer at the Western Wall of the Second Temple.
http://aycu38.webshots.com/image/19397/2004371835448690986_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2004371835448690986)
Israeli paratroopers at the wall of the Second Temple
http://aycu01.webshots.com/image/19160/2004326666070164804_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2004326666070164804)
No one, not even the Israeli command, expected the IDF to be capable of swiftly moving through a quarter million Egyptian troops and Egypt's thousands of tanks to cross the Sinai peninsula and achieve positions as far west as the Suez Canal
The U.N. Security Council called for a withdrawal from all the occupied regions, but Israel declined, permanently annexing East Jerusalem and setting up military administrations in the occupied territories. Israel let it be known that Gaza, the West Bank, the Golan Heights, and the Sinai would be returned in exchange for Arab recognition of the right of Israel to exist and guarantees against future attack.
http://aycu01.webshots.com/image/18440/2004334686388655440_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2004334686388655440)
Arab leaders, stinging from their defeat, met in August in Khartoum in Sudan to discuss the future of the Middle East. They decided upon a policy of no peace, no negotiations, and no recognition of Israel, and made plans to defend zealously the rights of Palestinian Arabs in the occupied territories.
Egypt, however, would eventually negotiate and make peace with Israel, and in 1982 the Sinai Peninsula was returned to Egypt in exchange for full diplomatic recognition of Israel.
Egypt and Jordan later gave up their respective claims to the Gaza Strip and the West Bank to the Palestinians, who opened "land for peace" talks with Israel beginning in the 1990s. A permanent Israeli-Palestinian peace agreement remains elusive, as does an agreement with Syria to return the Golan Heights.
http://aycu34.webshots.com/image/15233/2004383332584530366_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2004383332584530366)
Too good not to include
http://aycu31.webshots.com/image/17430/2001957139894021592_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2001957139894021592)