(contents)
Chapter 2 Global wave – The end of
colonial era and the emerging two super powers (20)
058 Six Day War and the death of
Nasser (2/3)
The sneak attack of Israel began on June 5, 1967 at 8 AM.
Their target was neighboring three countries: Egypt, Jordan and Syria. First,
Israeli air force attacked the Egyptian Air Force Base on the Sinai Peninsula. Israel
made it impossible to use the runway and destroyed all of the Egyptian jet
fighters made in USSR. The Egyptian pilots in bed could not fight back at all.
The Israeli army crossed the Sinai Peninsula at a burst, and reached to the
Suez Canal.
After the battle of the Sinai
Peninsula, Israel army turned to the west and occupied the Jordanian territory
of the Jordan River so called West Bank. Furthermore, Israel invaded into the
Golan Heights of Syria. Israel got a victory overwhelmingly. The Arab coalition
including Egypt was defeated devastatingly. The war ended in only 6 days. The
war, therefore, was named as "Six Day War". In this war Israel got
the Sinai Peninsula, the Gaza Strip, the West Bank and the Golan Heights.
Israel widened its territory in double. The Sinai Peninsula was returned to
Egypt in 1973. The Gaza Strip, West Bank of Jordan River and the Golan Heights,
however, have been occuping by Israel until now.
The Suez Canal has been closed
for a while and influenced widely on the international economy. Tragedy fell on
the Palestinians who lived in the West Bank. Many of them became refugees and
flew into Jordan. The number of refugees reached one million.
(To be continued ----)
(From an ordinary citizen in the cloud)