S'13
06-04-2004, 02:42 PM
June 5th, 1967 - operation "Moked"
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The mid-1960s saw a great deal of tension between Israel and its Arab neighbors, especially Syria with its attempt to divert rivers that originate locally and provide Israel with a substantial amount of its water. Israel continuesly attacked these works and the heavy machinery they employed, which often resulted in skirmishes with the Syrian military and the downing of several Syrian MiGs.
In the beginning of 1967 Syria ****ounced that Israel had amassed 16 Brigades on its northern border, poised to attack Syria. No Israeli denial, even an invitation for the Soviet ambassador to visit the border area, could expose this false allegation, probably made to instill Egypt's aid in Syria's quarrel with Israel. Packed with Syria in a mutual defence treaty, president Nazer of Egypt decided to create a show of force on Israel's southern border, by which to deter it from taking any action on its northern frontier. On May 14th, 1967, Egypt begun drafting all its reserve military forces and an order was issued for ground forces to cross the Suez Canal from mainland Egypt into the Sinai Peninsula, moving closer to the Israeli border. On May 16th, the Egyptian High Command issued a demand that all U.N. forces, in place since the 1956 ceasefire agreements, leave the Sinai peninsula. On May 19th the Secretary General of the U.N. agreed to this demand and withdrew the U.N. whose positions were taken over by Egypt. Finally, on May 23rd Egypt closed off the Tiran Straits to Israeli shipping, effectively blocking access to Israel's southern sea-port of Eilat.
The weak objections made by Israel's western allies in response to such an aggressive move, encouraged Egypt into making outragous demands of Israel in order to dissipate the tension (such as recognizing the Tiran straits and Gulf of Aqaba as Egyptian territorial waters). When these were rejected, Anti-Israeli rhetoric peaked and Egyptian troop movements into the Sinai were stepped up. Syrian also increased the readiness of its armed forces and Jordan advanced two armour brigades towards its border with Israel.
The Israeli government, headed by Levi Eskol, hoped to ease the tension using diplomatic methods instead of the military methods offered by the then chief of staff, Itzhak Rabin. On May 28th however, Nazer demanded that Israel hand over the port of Eilat to Egyptian control. On May 30th, King Hussein of Jordan signed a defence treaty with Egypt, effectively placing his army under Egyptian command, and on June 4rd another such treaty was signed with Iraq. With no chance of a diplomatic settlement of the dispute and having found itself threathened on three fronts, from Syria in the north, Egypt in the south and Jordan and Iraq in the East, the Israeli government finally voted to go to war. Pre-empting the oncoming Arab attack, Israel decided to launch the war itself.
The planning of operation "Moked" (Focus) had began in 1963 and from that moment on, up-to-date intelligence was routinely gathered on all Arab air forces, air bases and aircraft. The objective of the entire operation was achieving air superiority within 6 hours. Israel had concluded long before that dogfights were an inefficient way to achieve this and that enemy aircraft must be caught on the ground. The plan called for an attack on Arab airfields, first runways to prevent enemy aircraft from taking off and then repeated passes to destroy these aircraft. The scope of the operation went far beyond preparation for the various sorties, and the IAF actually underwent great changes in order to prepare itself for its successful implementation. Command and control structures were modernized, technical training of ground crews was stepped up to allow shorter times between sorties, new weapons were designed and much more. The plan itself had been completed long before the outbreak of the crisis, but with the increasing tension was quickly brought up to date with current intelligence.
Israel entered the war with 180 warplanes - Dassault Ouragans (upper right picture), Mysteres and Super-Mysteres (upper left), Mirages (bottom right) and Sud-Ouest Vautours (bottom left). The air forces of the states facing Israel far outnumbered the IAF : the Egyptian air force alone had 420 aircraft, comprising of MiG-15/17/19/21s, deHavilland Vampires and Hawker Hunters as well as Ilyushin Il-16 and Il-28 bombers. The EAF was based at 18 air bases, 4 of which were in the Sinai, 3 near the Suez canal, 6 in the Nile delta region and 5 in Upper Egypt. The Syrian air force, based in 6 airfields had a further 100 waprlanes, the Jordanian AF had 24 Hawker Hunters in two airfields and the Iraqi AF had 98 available warplanes.
Having voted to go to war, the Israeli government set June 5th, 1967, as the date for the implementation of operation "Moked", coinciding with an armoured push into the Sinai peninsula. The war was then still limited to Egypt, hoping that the other Arab countries would not become involved in the conflict.
11 Egyptian air bases were targeted in the operation's first attack wave. Target allocation was dependant on flight distance, target priority and each aircraft type's capability. MiG-21 and Tu-16 bases were given the highest priority and were therefore assigned to the Dassault Mirage squadrons, while the Ouragans were tasked with destroying air bases in the Sinai. The farthest air bases, those in Upper Egypt, were targeted by the Vautours, capable of carrying the most ordance over the longest distance. An elaborate and precise timetable was set for the entire operation and for each and every fighter launch, in order that all the aircraft appear over their targets at the same time, avoiding detection and surprising the Egyptian air force on the ground.
At 07:00 on the morning of June 5th, the order was finally given to the IAF to execute operation "Moked". In flights of 4, 160 aircraft,almost the entirety of Israel's fighter arsenal, took to the air, leaving but a dozen aircraft behind to protect Israeli airspace. Takeoffs were arranged according to the pre-defined plan that called for the aircraft to be over their targets at 07:45, when Egyptian pilots were at their mandatory breakfasts. To ensure the incoming aircraft were not detected before they reached their targets, the average altitude of the raiders was a mere 10m (30ft), the aircraft pulling up for the attack only when they were almost over their targets.
Arriving undetected, the planes pulled up and began their attack on their designated targets, first cratering the runways to prevent any aircraft from taking off an then destorying the grounded aircraft. Nearly half of the Egyptian air force, 187 aircraft, was destoryed in the first few minutes of operation "Moked", practicly winning the war for Israel in its first hour. All EAF bases and aircraft in the Sinai were destroyed, as well as all of Egypt's heavy bombers. The IAF lost 8 aircraft, most from ground fire, but in one base, Abu-Sweir, four Mig-21s managed to take off and shoot down one of the attacking Vautours, before 3 were downed by Israeli Mirages which had arrived to assist the heavy bombers.
at 09:34 the second attack wave began taking off, after most aircraft had returned from their first sorties. In 150 sorties the IAF destroyed another 94 Egyptian aircraft, as well as more air bases, command and control centers, radars and electronic warfare equipment. The Israeli leadership had hoped that other Arab nations such as Jordan and Syria would refrain from joining the hostilities once the extent of the damage to Egypt was known. These hopes were soon dissipated, once fighting erupted on other fronts as well. Fed by reports of glorious victories coming from Cairo Radio, Jordan entered the fighting by sending Hawker Hunters on raids against Israeli cities and by sending its forces against Israeli forces in Jerusalem. As a result, operation "Moked" was extended to include Jordan and in 51 sorties, the entire Jordanian air force was destroyed. When the third attack wave was launched, at 12:45, most sorties were directed against Jordan and Syria which had by then joined the war. 53 Syrian aircraft were destroyed by the day's end. Iraq entered the war when it sent its aircraft against Israeli targets, and had its forces attacked too. In the operation's most disastrous mission, a number of Vautours and Mirages were shot down when attacking Iraq's H3 airbase. Lebanon did not enter the war after one of its Hunters was shot down by an Israeli Mirage on the Israeli-Lebanese border.
375 enemy aircraft were destroyed on June 5th alone, assuring Israeli supremacy in the battlefield and paving the way for the Israeli victory in the Six-Days War. Once the threat posed from Arab air forces had been removed, the IAF could turn its efforts towards assisting the IDF's ground forces, its most important role for the remainder of the war.
http://www.geocities.com/CapeCanaveral/Hangar/2848/operate6.htm
The 1967 Six-Day War
by Mitchell Bard
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Israel consistently expressed a desire to negotiate with its neighbors. In an address to the UN General Assembly on October 10, 1960, Foreign Minister Golda Meir challenged Arab leaders to meet with Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion to negotiate a peace settlement. Nasser answered on October 15, saying that Israel was trying to deceive world opinion, and reiterating that his country would never recognize the Jewish State.(1)
The Arabs were equally adamant in their refusal to negotiate a separate settlement for the refugees. As Nasser told the United Arab Republic National Assembly March 26, 1964:
Israel and the imperialism around us, which confront us, are two separate things. There have been attempts to separate them, in order to break up the problems and present them in an imaginary light as if the problem of Israel is the problem of the refugees, by the solution of which the problem of Palestine will also be solved and no residue of the problem will remain. The danger of Israel lies in the very existence of Israel as it is in the present and in what she represents.(2)
Meanwhile, Syria used the Golan Heights, which tower 3,000 feet above the Galilee, to shell Israeli farms and villages. Syria's attacks grew more frequent in 1965 and 1966, while Nasser's rhetoric became increasingly bellicose: "We shall not enter Palestine with its soil covered in sand," he said on March 8, 1965. "We shall enter it with its soil saturated in blood."(3)
Again, a few months later, Nasser expressed the Arabs' aspiration: "...the full restoration of the rights of the Palestinian people. In other words, we aim at the destruction of the State of Israel. The immediate aim: perfection of Arab military might. The national aim: the eradication of Israel."(4)
Provocation
While Nasser continued to make speeches threatening war, Arab terrorist attacks grew more frequent. In 1965, 35 raids were conducted against Israel. In 1966, the number increased to 41. In just the first four months of 1967, 37 attacks were launched.(5)
Meanwhile, Syria's attacks on Israeli kibbutzim from the Golan Heights provoked a retaliatory strike on April 7, 1967, during which Israeli planes shot down six Syrian MiGs. Shortly thereafter, the Soviet Union-which had been providing military and economic aid to both Syria and Egypt-gave Damascus information alleging a massive Israeli military buildup in preparation for an attack. Despite Israeli denials, Syria decided to invoke its defense treaty with Egypt.
On May 15, Israel's Independence Day, Egyptian troops began moving into the Sinai and massing near the Israeli border. By May 18, Syrian troops were prepared for battle along the Golan Heights.
Nasser ordered the UN Emergency Force, stationed in the Sinai since 1956, to withdraw on May 16. Without bringing the matter to the attention of the General Assembly, as his predecessor had promised, Secretary-General U Thant complied with the demand. After the withdrawal of the UNEF, the Voice of the Arabs proclaimed (May 18, 1967):
As of today, there no longer exists an international emergency force to protect Israel. We shall exercise patience no more. We shall not complain any more to the UN about Israel. The sole method we shall apply against Israel is total war, which will result in the extermination of Zionist existence.(6)
An enthusiastic echo was heard May 20 from Syrian Defense Minister Hafez Assad:
Our forces are now entirely ready not only to repulse the aggression, but to initiate the act of liberation itself, and to explode the Zionist presence in the Arab homeland. The Syrian army, with its finger on the trigger, is united....I, as a military man, believe that the time has come to enter into a battle of annihilation.(7)
The Blockade
On May 22, Egypt closed the Straits of Tiran to all Israeli shipping and all ships bound for Eilat. This blockade cut off Israel's only supply route with Asia and stopped the flow of oil from its main supplier, Iran.
In 1956, the United States gave Israel assurances that it recognized the Jewish State's right of access to the Straits of Tiran. In 1957, at the UN, 17 maritime powers declared that Israel had a right to transit the Strait. Moreover, the blockade violated the Convention on the Territorial Sea and Contiguous Zone, which was adopted by the UN Conference on the Law of the Sea on April 27, 1958.(8)
President Johnson expressed the belief that the blockade was illegal and unsuccessfully tried to organize an international flotilla to test it. After the war, he acknowledged the closure of the Strait of Tiran was the casus belli (June 19, 1967):
If a single act of folly was more responsible for this explosion than any other it was the arbitrary and dangerous announced decision that the Strait of Tiran would be closed. The right of innocent maritime passage must be preserved for all nations.(9)
Escalation
Nasser was fully aware of the pressure he was exerting to force Israel's hand. The day after the blockade was set up, he said defiantly: "The Jews threaten to make war. I reply: Welcome! We are ready for war."(10)
Nasser challenged Israel to fight almost daily. "Our basic objective will be the destruction of Israel. The Arab people want to fight," he said on May 27.(11) The following day, he added: "We will not accept any...coexistence with Israel...Today the issue is not the establishment of peace between the Arab states and Israel....The war with Israel is in effect since 1948."(12)
King Hussein of Jordan signed a defense pact with Egypt on May 30. Nasser then announced:
The armies of Egypt, Jordan, Syria and Lebanon are poised on the borders of Israel...to face the challenge, while standing behind us are the armies of Iraq, Algeria, Kuwait, Sudan and the whole Arab nation. This act will astound the world. Today they will know that the Arabs are arranged for battle, the critical hour has arrived. We have reached the stage of serious action and not declarations.(13)
President Abdur Rahman Aref of Iraq joined in the war of words: "The existence of Israel is an error which must be rectified. This is our opportunity to wipe out the ignominy which has been with us since 1948. Our goal is clear -- to wipe Israel off the map."(14) On June 4, Iraq joined the military alliance with Egypt, Jordan and Syria.
The Arab rhetoric was matched by the mobilization of Arab forces. Approximately 250,000 troops (nearly half in Sinai), more than 2,000 tanks and 700 aircraft ringed Israel.(15)
By this time, Israeli forces had been on alert for three weeks. The country could not remain fully mobilized indefinitely, nor could it allow its sea lane through the Gulf of Aqaba to be interdicted. Israel had no choice but preemptive action. To do this successfully, Israel needed the element of surprise. Had it waited for an Arab invasion, Israel would have been at a potentially catastrophic disadvantage. On June 5, the order was given to attack Egypt.
The U.S. Position
The United States tried to prevent the war through negotiations, but it was not able to persuade Nasser or the other Arab states to cease their belligerent statements and actions. Still, right before the war, Johnson warned: "Israel will not be alone unless it decides to go alone."(16) Then, when the war began, the State Department announced: "Our position is neutral in thought, word and deed."(17)
Moreover, while the Arabs were falsely accusing the United States of airlifting supplies to Israel, Johnson imposed an arms embargo on the region (France, Israel's other main arms supplier also embargoed arms to Israel).
By contrast, the Soviets were supplying massive amounts of arms to the Arabs. Simultaneously, the armies of Kuwait, Algeria, Saudi Arabia and Iraq were contributing troops and arms to the Egyptian, Syrian and Jordanian fronts.(18)
Jerusalem Is Attacked
Prime Minister Levi Eshkol sent a message to King Hussein saying Israel would not attack Jordan unless he initiated hostilities. When Jordanian radar picked up a cluster of planes flying from Egypt to Israel, and the Egyptians convinced Hussein the planes were theirs, he then ordered the shelling of West Jerusalem. It turned out the planes were Israel's, and were returning from destroying the Egyptian air force on the ground.
After Jordan launched its attack on June 5, approximately 325,000 Palestinians living in the West Bank fled.(19) These were Jordanian citizens who moved from one part of what they considered their country to another, primarily to avoid being caught in the cross fire of a war.
A Palestinian refugee who was an administrator in a UNRWA camp in Jericho said Arab politicians had spread rumors in the camp. "They said all the young people would be killed. People heard on the radio that this is not the end, only the beginning, so they think maybe it will be a long war and they want to be in Jordan."(20)
Some Palestinians who left preferred to live in an Arab state rather than under Israeli military rule. Members of various PLO factions fled to avoid capture by the Israelis. Nils-Gצran Gussing, the person appointed by the UN Secretary-General to investigate the situation, found that many Arabs also feared they would no longer be able to receive money from family members working abroad.(21)
Israeli forces ordered a handful of Palestinians to move for "strategic and security reasons." In some cases, they were allowed to return in a few days, in others; Israel offered to help them resettle elsewhere.(22)
The Stunning Victory
After just six days of fighting, Israeli forces broke through the enemy lines and were in a position to march on Cairo, Damascus and Amman. A cease*fire was invoked on June 10.
The victory came at a very high cost. In storming the Golan Heights, Israel suffered 115 dead-roughly the number of Americans killed during Operation Desert Storm. Altogether, Israel lost twice as many men — 777 dead and 2,586 wounded-in proportion to her total population as the U.S. lost in eight years of fighting in Vietnam.(23) Also, despite the incredible success of the air campaign, the Israeli Air Force lost 46 of its 200 fighters.(24)
By the end of the war, Israel had conquered enough territory to more than triple the size of the area it controlled, from 8,000 to 26,000 square miles. The victory enabled Israel to unify Jerusalem. Israeli forces had also captured the Sinai, Golan Heights, Gaza Strip and West Bank.
Israel now ruled more than three-quarters of a million Palestinians — most of whom were hostile to the government. Nevertheless, more than 9,000 Palestinian families were reunited in 1967. Ultimately, more than 60,000 Palestinians were allowed to return.(25)
In November 1967, the United Nations Security Council adopted Resolution 242, which established a formula for Arab-Israeli peace whereby Israel would withdraw from territories occupied in the war in exchange for peace with its neighbors. This resolution has served as the basis for peace negotiations from that time on.
Israel's leaders fully expected to negotiate a peace agreement with their neighbors that would involve some territorial compromise. Therefore, instead of annexing the West Bank, a military administration was created. No occupation is pleasant for the inhabitants, but the Israeli authorities did try to minimize the impact on the population. Don Peretz, a frequent writer on the situation of Arabs in Israel and a sharp critic of the Israeli government, visited the West Bank shortly after the Israeli troops had taken over. He found they were trying to restore normal life and prevent any incidents that might encourage the Arabs to leave their homes.(26)
Except for the requirement that school texts in the territories be purged of anti-Israel and anti-Semitic language, the authorities tried not to interfere with the inhabitants. They did provide economic assistance; for example, Palestinians in the Gaza Strip were moved from camps to new homes. This stimulated protests from Egypt, which had done nothing for the refugees when it controlled the area.
Arabs were given freedom of movement. They were allowed to travel to and from Jordan. In 1972, elections were held in the West Bank. Women and non-landowners, unable to participate under Jordanian rule, were now permitted to vote.
East Jerusalem Arabs were given the option of retaining Jordanian citizenship or acquiring Israeli citizenship. They were recognized as residents of united Jerusalem and given the right to vote and run for the city council. Also, Islamic holy places were put in the care of a Muslim Council. Despite the Temple Mount's significance in Jewish history, Jews were barred from conducting prayers there.
http://www.us-israel.org/jsource/History/67_War.html
http://www.mirage4fs.com/images/foes.jpg
Israeli Mirage with former Syrian MiG-17
http://www.moneypit.net/~bhinton/AK/AK_Life_Magazine_Cover_June67_A.jpg
http://www.us-israel.org/jsource/images/maps/67linesnick.gif
Cease-Fire lines after the Six-Day War
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The mid-1960s saw a great deal of tension between Israel and its Arab neighbors, especially Syria with its attempt to divert rivers that originate locally and provide Israel with a substantial amount of its water. Israel continuesly attacked these works and the heavy machinery they employed, which often resulted in skirmishes with the Syrian military and the downing of several Syrian MiGs.
In the beginning of 1967 Syria ****ounced that Israel had amassed 16 Brigades on its northern border, poised to attack Syria. No Israeli denial, even an invitation for the Soviet ambassador to visit the border area, could expose this false allegation, probably made to instill Egypt's aid in Syria's quarrel with Israel. Packed with Syria in a mutual defence treaty, president Nazer of Egypt decided to create a show of force on Israel's southern border, by which to deter it from taking any action on its northern frontier. On May 14th, 1967, Egypt begun drafting all its reserve military forces and an order was issued for ground forces to cross the Suez Canal from mainland Egypt into the Sinai Peninsula, moving closer to the Israeli border. On May 16th, the Egyptian High Command issued a demand that all U.N. forces, in place since the 1956 ceasefire agreements, leave the Sinai peninsula. On May 19th the Secretary General of the U.N. agreed to this demand and withdrew the U.N. whose positions were taken over by Egypt. Finally, on May 23rd Egypt closed off the Tiran Straits to Israeli shipping, effectively blocking access to Israel's southern sea-port of Eilat.
The weak objections made by Israel's western allies in response to such an aggressive move, encouraged Egypt into making outragous demands of Israel in order to dissipate the tension (such as recognizing the Tiran straits and Gulf of Aqaba as Egyptian territorial waters). When these were rejected, Anti-Israeli rhetoric peaked and Egyptian troop movements into the Sinai were stepped up. Syrian also increased the readiness of its armed forces and Jordan advanced two armour brigades towards its border with Israel.
The Israeli government, headed by Levi Eskol, hoped to ease the tension using diplomatic methods instead of the military methods offered by the then chief of staff, Itzhak Rabin. On May 28th however, Nazer demanded that Israel hand over the port of Eilat to Egyptian control. On May 30th, King Hussein of Jordan signed a defence treaty with Egypt, effectively placing his army under Egyptian command, and on June 4rd another such treaty was signed with Iraq. With no chance of a diplomatic settlement of the dispute and having found itself threathened on three fronts, from Syria in the north, Egypt in the south and Jordan and Iraq in the East, the Israeli government finally voted to go to war. Pre-empting the oncoming Arab attack, Israel decided to launch the war itself.
The planning of operation "Moked" (Focus) had began in 1963 and from that moment on, up-to-date intelligence was routinely gathered on all Arab air forces, air bases and aircraft. The objective of the entire operation was achieving air superiority within 6 hours. Israel had concluded long before that dogfights were an inefficient way to achieve this and that enemy aircraft must be caught on the ground. The plan called for an attack on Arab airfields, first runways to prevent enemy aircraft from taking off and then repeated passes to destroy these aircraft. The scope of the operation went far beyond preparation for the various sorties, and the IAF actually underwent great changes in order to prepare itself for its successful implementation. Command and control structures were modernized, technical training of ground crews was stepped up to allow shorter times between sorties, new weapons were designed and much more. The plan itself had been completed long before the outbreak of the crisis, but with the increasing tension was quickly brought up to date with current intelligence.
Israel entered the war with 180 warplanes - Dassault Ouragans (upper right picture), Mysteres and Super-Mysteres (upper left), Mirages (bottom right) and Sud-Ouest Vautours (bottom left). The air forces of the states facing Israel far outnumbered the IAF : the Egyptian air force alone had 420 aircraft, comprising of MiG-15/17/19/21s, deHavilland Vampires and Hawker Hunters as well as Ilyushin Il-16 and Il-28 bombers. The EAF was based at 18 air bases, 4 of which were in the Sinai, 3 near the Suez canal, 6 in the Nile delta region and 5 in Upper Egypt. The Syrian air force, based in 6 airfields had a further 100 waprlanes, the Jordanian AF had 24 Hawker Hunters in two airfields and the Iraqi AF had 98 available warplanes.
Having voted to go to war, the Israeli government set June 5th, 1967, as the date for the implementation of operation "Moked", coinciding with an armoured push into the Sinai peninsula. The war was then still limited to Egypt, hoping that the other Arab countries would not become involved in the conflict.
11 Egyptian air bases were targeted in the operation's first attack wave. Target allocation was dependant on flight distance, target priority and each aircraft type's capability. MiG-21 and Tu-16 bases were given the highest priority and were therefore assigned to the Dassault Mirage squadrons, while the Ouragans were tasked with destroying air bases in the Sinai. The farthest air bases, those in Upper Egypt, were targeted by the Vautours, capable of carrying the most ordance over the longest distance. An elaborate and precise timetable was set for the entire operation and for each and every fighter launch, in order that all the aircraft appear over their targets at the same time, avoiding detection and surprising the Egyptian air force on the ground.
At 07:00 on the morning of June 5th, the order was finally given to the IAF to execute operation "Moked". In flights of 4, 160 aircraft,almost the entirety of Israel's fighter arsenal, took to the air, leaving but a dozen aircraft behind to protect Israeli airspace. Takeoffs were arranged according to the pre-defined plan that called for the aircraft to be over their targets at 07:45, when Egyptian pilots were at their mandatory breakfasts. To ensure the incoming aircraft were not detected before they reached their targets, the average altitude of the raiders was a mere 10m (30ft), the aircraft pulling up for the attack only when they were almost over their targets.
Arriving undetected, the planes pulled up and began their attack on their designated targets, first cratering the runways to prevent any aircraft from taking off an then destorying the grounded aircraft. Nearly half of the Egyptian air force, 187 aircraft, was destoryed in the first few minutes of operation "Moked", practicly winning the war for Israel in its first hour. All EAF bases and aircraft in the Sinai were destroyed, as well as all of Egypt's heavy bombers. The IAF lost 8 aircraft, most from ground fire, but in one base, Abu-Sweir, four Mig-21s managed to take off and shoot down one of the attacking Vautours, before 3 were downed by Israeli Mirages which had arrived to assist the heavy bombers.
at 09:34 the second attack wave began taking off, after most aircraft had returned from their first sorties. In 150 sorties the IAF destroyed another 94 Egyptian aircraft, as well as more air bases, command and control centers, radars and electronic warfare equipment. The Israeli leadership had hoped that other Arab nations such as Jordan and Syria would refrain from joining the hostilities once the extent of the damage to Egypt was known. These hopes were soon dissipated, once fighting erupted on other fronts as well. Fed by reports of glorious victories coming from Cairo Radio, Jordan entered the fighting by sending Hawker Hunters on raids against Israeli cities and by sending its forces against Israeli forces in Jerusalem. As a result, operation "Moked" was extended to include Jordan and in 51 sorties, the entire Jordanian air force was destroyed. When the third attack wave was launched, at 12:45, most sorties were directed against Jordan and Syria which had by then joined the war. 53 Syrian aircraft were destroyed by the day's end. Iraq entered the war when it sent its aircraft against Israeli targets, and had its forces attacked too. In the operation's most disastrous mission, a number of Vautours and Mirages were shot down when attacking Iraq's H3 airbase. Lebanon did not enter the war after one of its Hunters was shot down by an Israeli Mirage on the Israeli-Lebanese border.
375 enemy aircraft were destroyed on June 5th alone, assuring Israeli supremacy in the battlefield and paving the way for the Israeli victory in the Six-Days War. Once the threat posed from Arab air forces had been removed, the IAF could turn its efforts towards assisting the IDF's ground forces, its most important role for the remainder of the war.
http://www.geocities.com/CapeCanaveral/Hangar/2848/operate6.htm
The 1967 Six-Day War
by Mitchell Bard
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Israel consistently expressed a desire to negotiate with its neighbors. In an address to the UN General Assembly on October 10, 1960, Foreign Minister Golda Meir challenged Arab leaders to meet with Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion to negotiate a peace settlement. Nasser answered on October 15, saying that Israel was trying to deceive world opinion, and reiterating that his country would never recognize the Jewish State.(1)
The Arabs were equally adamant in their refusal to negotiate a separate settlement for the refugees. As Nasser told the United Arab Republic National Assembly March 26, 1964:
Israel and the imperialism around us, which confront us, are two separate things. There have been attempts to separate them, in order to break up the problems and present them in an imaginary light as if the problem of Israel is the problem of the refugees, by the solution of which the problem of Palestine will also be solved and no residue of the problem will remain. The danger of Israel lies in the very existence of Israel as it is in the present and in what she represents.(2)
Meanwhile, Syria used the Golan Heights, which tower 3,000 feet above the Galilee, to shell Israeli farms and villages. Syria's attacks grew more frequent in 1965 and 1966, while Nasser's rhetoric became increasingly bellicose: "We shall not enter Palestine with its soil covered in sand," he said on March 8, 1965. "We shall enter it with its soil saturated in blood."(3)
Again, a few months later, Nasser expressed the Arabs' aspiration: "...the full restoration of the rights of the Palestinian people. In other words, we aim at the destruction of the State of Israel. The immediate aim: perfection of Arab military might. The national aim: the eradication of Israel."(4)
Provocation
While Nasser continued to make speeches threatening war, Arab terrorist attacks grew more frequent. In 1965, 35 raids were conducted against Israel. In 1966, the number increased to 41. In just the first four months of 1967, 37 attacks were launched.(5)
Meanwhile, Syria's attacks on Israeli kibbutzim from the Golan Heights provoked a retaliatory strike on April 7, 1967, during which Israeli planes shot down six Syrian MiGs. Shortly thereafter, the Soviet Union-which had been providing military and economic aid to both Syria and Egypt-gave Damascus information alleging a massive Israeli military buildup in preparation for an attack. Despite Israeli denials, Syria decided to invoke its defense treaty with Egypt.
On May 15, Israel's Independence Day, Egyptian troops began moving into the Sinai and massing near the Israeli border. By May 18, Syrian troops were prepared for battle along the Golan Heights.
Nasser ordered the UN Emergency Force, stationed in the Sinai since 1956, to withdraw on May 16. Without bringing the matter to the attention of the General Assembly, as his predecessor had promised, Secretary-General U Thant complied with the demand. After the withdrawal of the UNEF, the Voice of the Arabs proclaimed (May 18, 1967):
As of today, there no longer exists an international emergency force to protect Israel. We shall exercise patience no more. We shall not complain any more to the UN about Israel. The sole method we shall apply against Israel is total war, which will result in the extermination of Zionist existence.(6)
An enthusiastic echo was heard May 20 from Syrian Defense Minister Hafez Assad:
Our forces are now entirely ready not only to repulse the aggression, but to initiate the act of liberation itself, and to explode the Zionist presence in the Arab homeland. The Syrian army, with its finger on the trigger, is united....I, as a military man, believe that the time has come to enter into a battle of annihilation.(7)
The Blockade
On May 22, Egypt closed the Straits of Tiran to all Israeli shipping and all ships bound for Eilat. This blockade cut off Israel's only supply route with Asia and stopped the flow of oil from its main supplier, Iran.
In 1956, the United States gave Israel assurances that it recognized the Jewish State's right of access to the Straits of Tiran. In 1957, at the UN, 17 maritime powers declared that Israel had a right to transit the Strait. Moreover, the blockade violated the Convention on the Territorial Sea and Contiguous Zone, which was adopted by the UN Conference on the Law of the Sea on April 27, 1958.(8)
President Johnson expressed the belief that the blockade was illegal and unsuccessfully tried to organize an international flotilla to test it. After the war, he acknowledged the closure of the Strait of Tiran was the casus belli (June 19, 1967):
If a single act of folly was more responsible for this explosion than any other it was the arbitrary and dangerous announced decision that the Strait of Tiran would be closed. The right of innocent maritime passage must be preserved for all nations.(9)
Escalation
Nasser was fully aware of the pressure he was exerting to force Israel's hand. The day after the blockade was set up, he said defiantly: "The Jews threaten to make war. I reply: Welcome! We are ready for war."(10)
Nasser challenged Israel to fight almost daily. "Our basic objective will be the destruction of Israel. The Arab people want to fight," he said on May 27.(11) The following day, he added: "We will not accept any...coexistence with Israel...Today the issue is not the establishment of peace between the Arab states and Israel....The war with Israel is in effect since 1948."(12)
King Hussein of Jordan signed a defense pact with Egypt on May 30. Nasser then announced:
The armies of Egypt, Jordan, Syria and Lebanon are poised on the borders of Israel...to face the challenge, while standing behind us are the armies of Iraq, Algeria, Kuwait, Sudan and the whole Arab nation. This act will astound the world. Today they will know that the Arabs are arranged for battle, the critical hour has arrived. We have reached the stage of serious action and not declarations.(13)
President Abdur Rahman Aref of Iraq joined in the war of words: "The existence of Israel is an error which must be rectified. This is our opportunity to wipe out the ignominy which has been with us since 1948. Our goal is clear -- to wipe Israel off the map."(14) On June 4, Iraq joined the military alliance with Egypt, Jordan and Syria.
The Arab rhetoric was matched by the mobilization of Arab forces. Approximately 250,000 troops (nearly half in Sinai), more than 2,000 tanks and 700 aircraft ringed Israel.(15)
By this time, Israeli forces had been on alert for three weeks. The country could not remain fully mobilized indefinitely, nor could it allow its sea lane through the Gulf of Aqaba to be interdicted. Israel had no choice but preemptive action. To do this successfully, Israel needed the element of surprise. Had it waited for an Arab invasion, Israel would have been at a potentially catastrophic disadvantage. On June 5, the order was given to attack Egypt.
The U.S. Position
The United States tried to prevent the war through negotiations, but it was not able to persuade Nasser or the other Arab states to cease their belligerent statements and actions. Still, right before the war, Johnson warned: "Israel will not be alone unless it decides to go alone."(16) Then, when the war began, the State Department announced: "Our position is neutral in thought, word and deed."(17)
Moreover, while the Arabs were falsely accusing the United States of airlifting supplies to Israel, Johnson imposed an arms embargo on the region (France, Israel's other main arms supplier also embargoed arms to Israel).
By contrast, the Soviets were supplying massive amounts of arms to the Arabs. Simultaneously, the armies of Kuwait, Algeria, Saudi Arabia and Iraq were contributing troops and arms to the Egyptian, Syrian and Jordanian fronts.(18)
Jerusalem Is Attacked
Prime Minister Levi Eshkol sent a message to King Hussein saying Israel would not attack Jordan unless he initiated hostilities. When Jordanian radar picked up a cluster of planes flying from Egypt to Israel, and the Egyptians convinced Hussein the planes were theirs, he then ordered the shelling of West Jerusalem. It turned out the planes were Israel's, and were returning from destroying the Egyptian air force on the ground.
After Jordan launched its attack on June 5, approximately 325,000 Palestinians living in the West Bank fled.(19) These were Jordanian citizens who moved from one part of what they considered their country to another, primarily to avoid being caught in the cross fire of a war.
A Palestinian refugee who was an administrator in a UNRWA camp in Jericho said Arab politicians had spread rumors in the camp. "They said all the young people would be killed. People heard on the radio that this is not the end, only the beginning, so they think maybe it will be a long war and they want to be in Jordan."(20)
Some Palestinians who left preferred to live in an Arab state rather than under Israeli military rule. Members of various PLO factions fled to avoid capture by the Israelis. Nils-Gצran Gussing, the person appointed by the UN Secretary-General to investigate the situation, found that many Arabs also feared they would no longer be able to receive money from family members working abroad.(21)
Israeli forces ordered a handful of Palestinians to move for "strategic and security reasons." In some cases, they were allowed to return in a few days, in others; Israel offered to help them resettle elsewhere.(22)
The Stunning Victory
After just six days of fighting, Israeli forces broke through the enemy lines and were in a position to march on Cairo, Damascus and Amman. A cease*fire was invoked on June 10.
The victory came at a very high cost. In storming the Golan Heights, Israel suffered 115 dead-roughly the number of Americans killed during Operation Desert Storm. Altogether, Israel lost twice as many men — 777 dead and 2,586 wounded-in proportion to her total population as the U.S. lost in eight years of fighting in Vietnam.(23) Also, despite the incredible success of the air campaign, the Israeli Air Force lost 46 of its 200 fighters.(24)
By the end of the war, Israel had conquered enough territory to more than triple the size of the area it controlled, from 8,000 to 26,000 square miles. The victory enabled Israel to unify Jerusalem. Israeli forces had also captured the Sinai, Golan Heights, Gaza Strip and West Bank.
Israel now ruled more than three-quarters of a million Palestinians — most of whom were hostile to the government. Nevertheless, more than 9,000 Palestinian families were reunited in 1967. Ultimately, more than 60,000 Palestinians were allowed to return.(25)
In November 1967, the United Nations Security Council adopted Resolution 242, which established a formula for Arab-Israeli peace whereby Israel would withdraw from territories occupied in the war in exchange for peace with its neighbors. This resolution has served as the basis for peace negotiations from that time on.
Israel's leaders fully expected to negotiate a peace agreement with their neighbors that would involve some territorial compromise. Therefore, instead of annexing the West Bank, a military administration was created. No occupation is pleasant for the inhabitants, but the Israeli authorities did try to minimize the impact on the population. Don Peretz, a frequent writer on the situation of Arabs in Israel and a sharp critic of the Israeli government, visited the West Bank shortly after the Israeli troops had taken over. He found they were trying to restore normal life and prevent any incidents that might encourage the Arabs to leave their homes.(26)
Except for the requirement that school texts in the territories be purged of anti-Israel and anti-Semitic language, the authorities tried not to interfere with the inhabitants. They did provide economic assistance; for example, Palestinians in the Gaza Strip were moved from camps to new homes. This stimulated protests from Egypt, which had done nothing for the refugees when it controlled the area.
Arabs were given freedom of movement. They were allowed to travel to and from Jordan. In 1972, elections were held in the West Bank. Women and non-landowners, unable to participate under Jordanian rule, were now permitted to vote.
East Jerusalem Arabs were given the option of retaining Jordanian citizenship or acquiring Israeli citizenship. They were recognized as residents of united Jerusalem and given the right to vote and run for the city council. Also, Islamic holy places were put in the care of a Muslim Council. Despite the Temple Mount's significance in Jewish history, Jews were barred from conducting prayers there.
http://www.us-israel.org/jsource/History/67_War.html
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Israeli Mirage with former Syrian MiG-17
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Cease-Fire lines after the Six-Day War