James Baquet The Jewish-Arab conflict has its legendary roots in the Bible, when Abraham’s son Isaac (one of the “Fathers of Israel”) took the place of Ishmael, who plays a similar role for the Muslims in many narratives. The current conflicts, though, date only to the post-World War II era, when the modern state of Israel was hammered out as a home for Jews fleeing war-ravaged Europe. The territory it occupies was previously part of Great Britain’s “Mandatory Palestine,” and surrounding Arab countries have contested it since its inception. The Six-Day War of 1967 takes its place among over 50 (by some counts) armed engagements, large and small, instigated by one side or the other, that have occurred under the rubric “Arab-Israeli conflicts.” This one happened from June 5-10, 1967, as Israel clashed with Arab neighbors Jordan, Syria and Egypt (this last then being known as the United Arab Republic or “UAR”). This being less than two decades after the establishment of Israel, the region was far from stable. One bone of contention had been Israel’s access to the Straits of Tiran, which connected their only eastern (non-Mediterranean) port at Eilat with the Red Sea (and thus the Indian Ocean) via the Gulf of Aqaba. Egypt had blocked the straits from 1950 to 1956, after which Israel declared that another such closure would be a casus belli. Nevertheless, in May 1967, Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser again announced that the straits would be closed. Sources disagree as to “who shot first,” but on June 5, Israel struck a number of Egyptian airfields. The Egyptians, caught by surprise, lost most of their aircraft. At the same time, Israel struck land targets in the Gaza Strip and the Sinai, causing surprised Egypt to evacuate the Sinai and give Israel control over it. Jordan had just signed a mutual defense agreement with Egypt the week before, and entered the conflict almost immediately. But a ceasefire agreement was signed June 11. The three Arab nations had lost over 20,000 troops, Israel fewer than 1,000. They had gained the Gaza Strip and the Sinai Peninsula from the Egyptians, the West Bank from Jordan, and the Golan Heights from Syria. Vocabulary: Which word above means: 1. beginning, commencement 2. point of disagreement 3. deal to stop shooting 4. caused, provoked 5. created with difficulty 6. non-historical 7. disagreed upon 8. cause for war 9. source, origins 10. set of criteria | 