In May 1967 Arab armies
began assembling long the frontiers with Israel. At the same time
General Gamal
Abdel Nasser
of Egypt
ordered a blockade of the Gulf of Aqaba.
General Moshe
Dayan, Israel's Minister of Defence, decided on a pre-emptive
strike. On 5th June, 1967, the Israeli airforce bombed the airfields
in Egypt, Syria, Iraq and Jordan. Egyptian tanks were also destroyed
in Sinai and the Israeli army reached the Suez
Canal and the west bank of the Jordan river on 7th June. Over
the next three days the Israelis captured the Golan Heights and territory
in Syria.
The Six-Day War reopened
the Gulf of Aqaba. It also gave them control over the West Bank of
Jordan and the 600,000 Arabs living in that area.
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