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My grandmother, Carmen Chavez, was born in Guadalajara Jalisco on a ranch on a hill in 1936. She is the second oldest, but oldest daughter in her family, so she took on the responsibility of raising her younger siblings while her parents worked. They were a family of 7 that lived in a brick house. They grew up very poor. My grandma explained to me that they were so hungry and wanting meat, that her and her siblings would beg their parents to eat the rats that were walking around. Once she became of age, she wanted to continue working to earn money and become independent. She wanted more for herself. She heard around her ranch that people were moving to the border to work and earn USD. She felt that it was a good idea to move to Tijuana and work, so she took the chance and went, and found a job at a restaurant and worked as a waitress. She earned 1 USD a day and felt she was compensated for her work. Here, she met my grandfather, Jose de Jesus Miranda. He worked delivering water, and they met while he was delivering water at her restaurant. They would often cross the border illegally and visit the US. My grandfather wanted more, but my grandma was very fulfilled with her life in Tijuana. My grandfather wanted to earn more money, and acquire "finer things" that he felt could only be acquired in the US. My grandmother loved living in Mexico, with no restrictions, no stresses. She loved her easy going life there and felt that creating a family in the US would be too stressful. She cried and begged my grandfather to reconsider, but he ultimately decided to go there, and she followed her husband. They crossed over undocumented and had a daughter, my oldest aunt. Shortly after, they were affected by the immigration laws and acts that were being emplaced. In 1967, they were working at the same factory when agents came and did a sweep at their job. They got my grandfather and deported him back to Mexico. My grandmother took my aunt and went back to Mexico to accompany him. Since they had a child in the US, they were allowed permission back to the US and got the opportunity to get papers.

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My brother, my two cousins, and me in Mexico

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Because my family came from Mexico, and my grandmother especially loved where she came from, I grew up being in touch and connected with my roots. Since I have been born, I have had the luxury to visit my family in Mexico mostly every year. Visiting my family out there and adjusting to the different way of life is a core memory for me. My entire family is very accustomed to visiting Mexico and giving back to our family. Being proud of our roots and indulging in our culture is something we genuinely enjoy. One year, we all made the effort to visit at the same time, because usually we visit at different times. We all vividly remember making the elders in our family happy by being so close and wanting to spend time with one another.

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The Six Day War was a Arab-Israeli war that took place June 5-10 of 1967. During this time, Israel captured Gaza, Sinai Peninsula, West Bank, Jerusalem, and Golan Heights. Israel sent an airstrike that destroyed more than 90% of Egypt's air force leaving them vulnerable. Within 3 days, the Israelis had basically claimed the victory. The UN called for a seize fire and they both agreed.

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What was the Six-Day War about?

Where was the Six-Day War fought?

What was the significance of the Six-Day War?

How did the Six-Day War start?

Why was the Six-Day War a turning point?

This article was most recently revised and updated by

Six-Day War, also called June War or Third Arab-Israeli War or Naksah, brief war that took place June 5-10, 1967, and was the third of the Arab-Israeli wars. Israel's decisive victory included the capture of the Sinai Peninsula, Gaza Strip, West Bank, Old City of Jerusalem, and Golan Heights; the status of these territories subsequently became a major point of contention in the Arab-Israeli conflict.

Background and escalation

Prior to the start of the war, attacks conducted against Israel by fledgling Palestinian guerrilla groups based in Syria, Lebanon, and Jordan had increased, leading to costly Israeli reprisals. In November 1966 an Israeli strike on the village of Al-Samūʿ in the Jordanian West Bank left 18 dead and 54 wounded, and, during an air battle with Syria in April 1967, the Israeli Air Force shot down six Syrian MiG fighter jets. In addition, Soviet intelligence reports in May indicated that Israel was planning a campaign against Syria, and, although inaccurate, the information further heightened tensions between Israel and its Arab neighbours.

Egyptian Pres. Gamal Abdel Nasser had previously come under sharp criticism for his failure to aid Syria and Jordan against Israel; he had also been accused of hiding behind the United Nations Emergency Force (UNEF) stationed at Egypt's border with Israel in the Sinai. Now, however, he moved to unambiguously demonstrate support for Syria: on May 14, 1967, Nasser mobilized Egyptian forces in the Sinai; on May 18 he formally requested the removal of the UNEF stationed there; and on May 22 he closed the Gulf of Aqaba to Israeli shipping, thus instituting an effective blockade of the port city of Elat in southern Israel. On May 30, King Hussein of Jordan arrived in Cairo to sign a mutual defense pact with Egypt, placing Jordanian forces under Egyptian command; shortly thereafter, Iraq too joined the alliance.

Main events of the war

In response to the apparent mobilization of its Arab neighbours, early on the morning of June 5, Israel staged a sudden preemptive air assault that destroyed more than 90 percent Egypt's air force on the tarmac. A similar air assault incapacitated the Syrian air force. Without cover from the air, the Egyptian army was left vulnerable to attack. Within three days the Israelis had achieved an overwhelming victory on the ground, capturing the Gaza Strip and all of the Sinai Peninsula up to the east bank of the Suez Canal.

An eastern front was also opened on June 5 when Jordanian forces began shelling West Jerusalem-disregarding Israel's warning to King Hussein to keep Jordan out of the fight-only to face a crushing Israeli counterattack. On June 7 Israeli forces drove Jordanian forces out of East Jerusalem and most of the West Bank. Photos and films of Israeli troops taking control of the Old City of Jerusalem have proved to be some of the war's iconic images.

The UN Security Council called for a cease-fire on June 7 that was immediately accepted by Israel and Jordan. Egypt accepted the following day. Syria held out, however, and continued to shell villages in northern Israel. On June 9 Israel launched an assault on the fortified Golan Heights, capturing it from Syrian forces after a day of heavy fighting. Syria accepted the cease-fire on June 10.

Aftermath and legacy

The Arab countries' losses in the conflict were disastrous. Egypt's casualties numbered more than 11,000, with 6,000 for Jordan and 1,000 for Syria, compared with only 700 for Israel. The Arab armies also suffered crippling losses of weaponry and equipment. The lopsidedness of the defeat demoralized both the Arab public and the political elite. Nasser announced his resignation on June 9 but quickly yielded to mass demonstrations calling for him to remain in office. In Israel, which had proved beyond question that it was the region's preeminent military power, there was euphoria.

The Six-Day War also marked the start of a new phase in the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians, since the conflict created hundreds of thousands of refugees and brought more than one million Palestinians in the occupied territories under Israeli rule. Months after the war, in November, the United Nations passed UN Resolution 242, which called for Israel's withdrawal from the territories it had captured in the war in exchange for lasting peace. That resolution became the basis for diplomatic efforts between Israel and its neighbours, including the Camp David Accords with Egypt and the push for a two-state solution with the Palestinians.
The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica
Adam Augustyn.

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Six-Day War | Definition, Causes, History, Summary, Outcomes, & Facts

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Six-Day War, brief Arab-Israeli war that took place June 5-10, 1967. After months of escalation, Israel conducted a preemptive air assault demobilizing its neighbors' air force capabilities, allowing it a quick and decisive victory. The war had lasting impact on diplomatic engagement between Israel and its neighbors.

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The Six-Day War was a brief but bloody conflict fought in June 1967 between Israel and the Arab states of Egypt, Syria and Jordan. This article contains video footage and many different pictures from the war, as shown in the thumb nail.

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Arab-Israeli Conflict

The Six-Day War came on the heels of several decades of political tension and military conflict between Israel and the Arab states.

In 1948, following disputes surrounding the founding of Israel, a coalition of Arab nations had launched a failed invasion of the nascent Jewish state as part of the First Arab-Israeli War.

A second major conflict known as the Suez Crisis erupted in 1956, when Israel, the United Kingdom and France staged a controversial attack on Egypt in response to Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser's nationalization of the Suez Canal.

An era of relative calm prevailed in the Middle East during the late 1950s and early 1960s, but the political situation continued to rest on a knife edge. Arab leaders were aggrieved by their military losses and the hundreds of thousands of Palestinian refugees created by Israel's victory in the 1948 war.

Many Israelis, meanwhile, continued to believe they faced an existential threat from Egypt and other Arab nations.

Origins of the Six-Day War

A series of border disputes were the major spark for the Six-Day War. By the mid-1960s, Syrian-backed Palestinian guerillas had begun staging attacks across the Israeli border, provoking reprisal raids from the Israel Defense Forces.

In April 1967, the skirmishes worsened after Israel and Syria fought a ferocious air and artillery engagement in which six Syrian fighter jets were destroyed.

In the wake of the April air battle, the Soviet Union provided Egypt with intelligence that Israel was moving troops to its northern border with Syria in preparation for a full-scale invasion. The information was inaccurate, but it nevertheless stirred Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser into action.

In a show of support for his Syrian allies, he ordered Egyptian forces to advance into the Sinai Peninsula, where they expelled a United Nations peacekeeping force that had been guarding the border with Israel for over a decade.

Mideast Tensions Escalate

In the days that followed, Nasser continued to rattle the saber: On May 22, he banned Israeli shipping from the Straits of Tiran, the sea passage connecting the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aqaba. A week later, he sealed a defense pact with King Hussein of Jordan.

As the situation in the Middle East deteriorated, American President Lyndon B. Johnson cautioned both sides against firing the first shot and attempted to garner support for an international maritime operation to reopen the Straits of Tiran.

The plan never materialized, however, and by early June 1967, Israeli leaders had voted to counter the Arab military buildup by launching a preemptive strike.

Six-Day War Erupts

On June 5, 1967, the Israel Defense Forces initiated Operation Focus, a coordinated aerial attack on Egypt. That morning, some 200 aircraft took off from Israel and swooped west over the Mediterranean before converging on Egypt from the north.

After catching the Egyptians by surprise, they assaulted 18 different airfields and eliminated roughly 90 percent of the Egyptian air force as it sat on the ground. Israel then expanded the range of its attack and decimated the air forces of Jordan, Syria and Iraq.

By the end of the day on June 5, Israeli pilots had won full control of the skies over the Middle East.

Israel all but secured victory by establishing air superiority, but fierce fighting continued for several more days. The ground war in Egypt began on June 5. In concert with the air strikes, Israeli tanks and infantry stormed across the border and into the Sinai Peninsula and the Gaza Strip.

Egyptian forces put up a spirited resistance, but later fell into disarray after Field Marshal Abdel Hakim Amer ordered a general retreat. Over the next several days, Israeli forces pursued the routed Egyptians across the Sinai, inflicting severe casualties.

A second front in the Six-Day War opened on June 5, when Jordan - reacting to false reports of an Egyptian victory - began shelling Israeli positions in Jerusalem. Israel responded with a devastating counterattack on East Jerusalem and the West Bank.

On June 7, Israeli troops captured the Old City of Jerusalem and celebrated by praying at the Western Wall.

Israel Celebrates Victory

The last phase of the fighting took place along Israel's northeastern border with Syria. On June 9, following an intense aerial bombardment, Israeli tanks and infantry advanced on a heavily fortified region of Syria called the Golan Heights. They successfully captured the Golan the next day.

On June 10, 1967, a United Nations-brokered ceasefire took effect and the Six-Day War came to an abrupt end. It was later estimated that some 20,000 Arabs and 800 Israelis had died in just 132 hours of fighting.

The leaders of the Arab states were left shocked by the severity of their defeat. Egyptian President Nasser even resigned in disgrace, only to promptly return to office after Egyptian citizens showed their support with massive street demonstrations.

In Israel, the national mood was jubilant. In less than a week, the young nation had captured the Sinai Peninsula and the Gaza Strip from Egypt, the West Bank and East Jerusalem from Jordan, and the Golan Heights from Syria.

Legacy of the Six-Day War

The Six-Day War had momentous geopolitical consequences in the Middle East. Victory in the war led to a surge of national pride in Israel, which had tripled in size, but it also fanned the flames of the Arab-Israeli conflict.

Still wounded by their defeat in the Six-Day War, Arab leaders met in Khartoum, Sudan, in August 1967, and signed a resolution that promised "no peace, no recognition and no negotiation" with Israel.

Led by Egypt and Syria, the Arab states later launched a fourth major conflict with Israel during 1973's Yom Kippur War.

By claiming the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, the state of Israel also absorbed over one million Palestinian Arabs. Several hundred thousand Palestinians later fled Israeli rule, worsening a refugee crisis that had begun during the First Arab-Israeli War in 1948 and laying the groundwork for ongoing political turmoil and violence.

Since 1967, the lands Israel seized in the Six-Day War have been at the center of efforts to end the Arab-Israeli conflict.

Israel returned the Sinai Peninsula to Egypt in 1982 as part of a peace treaty and then withdrew from the Gaza Strip in 2005, but it has continued to occupy and settle other territory claimed in the Six-Day War, most notably the Golan Heights and the West Bank. The status of these territories continues to be a stumbling block in Arab-Israeli peace negotiations.

Sources

The 1967 War: Six Days that Changed the Middle East. BBC.
The 1967 Arab-Israeli War. U.S. Department of State Office of the Historian.
The Encyclopedia of the Arab-Israeli Conflict. Edited by Spencer C. Tucker and Priscilla Mary Roberts.
Six Days of War: June 1967 and the Making of the Modern Middle East. By Michael B. Oren.

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The Six-Day War was a brief but bloody conflict fought in June 1967 between Israel and the Arab states of Egypt, Syria and Jordan. The brief war ended with a U.N.-brokered ceasefire, but it significantly altered the map of the Mideast and gave rise to lingering geopolitical friction.

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This is a documentary about the six day war that is told from an Arabian point of view.

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Six days that changed the Middle East: The '67 Arab-Israeli War | Featured Documentary