Some Six-day War Bs.

[SirXVII]

After having a discussion inside of my political science class I decided that people will create whatever history they will want to just as long as it conforms to their bias.

That is just stupid.

For those who don't know I'll give a brief nutshell of the six-day war. Egypt was poised and ready with many other arab countries to put some hurt on Israel. With Nasser saying: "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 of more declarations." and "Our goal is the destruction of Israel. The Arabs will fight."

There were so many things happening especiall UNEF withdrawing from that region.

So I'm in the middle of class and there is a person who has the gaul to say, "Well actually Israel is the agressor. There were real reports that said that Egypt wasn't really going to attack and that Nasser has no intention of going to war..."

WHAT!? I'm not stupid. I know bold face propaganda when I see it. Sure Israel did a pre-emptive strike, but when it looked like you are ten hairs away for being attacked then wouldn't you want to make the first move? It seems a bit retarded just to wait for the enemy to attack just so you can find an excuse.

[Mr-Pope]

General Ezer Weitzman, commander of the Israel Air Force, said, talking about the war, there was "no threat of destruction"". Although of course he did support the war as it gained land.

Menahem Begin said "In June 1967, we again had a choice. The Egyptian Army concentrations in the Sinai approaches do not prove that Nasser was really about to attack us. We must be honest with ourselves. We decided to attack him."

Yitzhak Rabin, the Israel Chief of Staff at the time of the war, said "I do not think Nasser wanted war. The two divisions he sent to The Sinai would not have been sufficient to launch an offensive war. He knew it and we knew it."

And it was admitted that IDF forces deliberately and aggressively provoked Syrians in the Golan Heights so as to capture fertile farm land, not for security reasons.

Expansion and destroying Arab Nationalism (perceived as a "threat" to Western control of middle east resources because it was an idealism that could've spread) were the 2 main goals of the war. Very successful they were too.

Meh, even 4 years later in 71 the then President of Egypt Sadat offered peace, in exchange for withdrawal from all Egyptian land, as according to Security Council Resolution 242. This offer was, of course, turned down in favour of further expansion. Probably best highlighted by General Haim Bar-Lev, a prominent member of the Labour party, saying "we can have peace, but I think if we continue to hold out we can obtain more".

[HighlyIllogical]

Since when is a pre-emptive strike not warranted when you've got thousands upon thousands of troops milling at your borders? Is it not warranted when you have intel saying that they'll pounce on you!?

The six day war was undeniably just.

[SyntheticTacos]

"In 1964, Israel began withdrawing water from the Jordan River for its National Water Carrier. The following year, the Arab states began construction of the Headwater Diversion Plan, which, once completed, would divert the waters of the Banias Stream so that the water would not enter Israel, and the Sea of Galilee, but rather flow into a dam at Mukhaiba for Jordan and Syria, and divert the waters of the Hasbani into the Litani, in Lebanon. The diversion works would have reduced the installed capacity of Israel's carrier by about 35%, and Israel's overall water supply by about 11%.[4] The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) attacked the diversion works in Syria in March, May, and August of 1965, perpetuating a prolonged chain of border violence that linked directly to the events leading to war.[6]" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Six-Day_War)

Sounds like they had a reason to fight.

"Chaim Herzog,

On June 19, 1967, the National Unity Government [of Israel] voted unanimously to return the Sinai to Egypt and the Golan Heights to Syria in return for peace agreements. The Golans would have to be demilitarized and special arrangement would be negotiated for the Straits of Tiran. The government also resolved to open negotiations with King Hussein of Jordan regarding the Eastern border.[92]

The Israeli decision was to be conveyed to the Arab nations by the United States. The US was informed of the decision, but not that it was to transmit it. There is no evidence of receipt from Egypt or Syria, and some historians claim that they may have never received the offer.[93]

Later, the Khartoum Arab Summit resolved that there would be "no peace, no recognition and no negotiation with Israel." However, as Avraham Sela notes, the Khartoum conference effectively marked a shift in the perception of the conflict by the Arab states away from one centered on the question of Israel's legitimacy toward one focusing on territories and boundaries and this was underpinned on November 22 when Egypt and Jordan accepted United Nations Security Council Resolution 242.[94]"

And they offered to give the land back, but nooooo, they wouldn't negotiate. Sounds to me like these countries discarded these lands when they refused to negotiate at first. Plus, they agreed to the ceasefire, which did not include Israel giving the land back, so it also sounds like they conceded the land.

Honestly, Israel is a tiny peace of land, and whenever it actually wins territory in a war of THEIR aggression they even complain about that. Just makes the extremism and anti-semitism more evident.

Another piece of evidence: " Syria, aligned with the Soviet bloc, began sponsoring guerrilla raids on Israel in the early 60s as part of its "people's war of liberation", designed to deflect domestic opposition to the Ba'ath Party.[5]" (wikipedia) (Yes, I know I'm citing wikipedia as a source, if you can disprove the sources it cites that works)

I think we're all pretty sure that these nations were already aggressive towards Israel...

[SirXVII]

Michael Walzer argues that the six day war was just.

[uhnoesanoob]

At 5/1/07 01:22 PM, Mr-Pope wrote:

Um... source please, I kinda think you left a ton out, And by a ton I mean 100 percent. I think your bull shitting here, and all ya really did was copy paste.

[Korriken]

the way I see it, a preemptive strike is a great move, if soldiers are massing on your border, then something is going to go down.

I say they did the right thing, and any land gained is rightfully theirs. That is how war has been waged for over 5,000 years.