Israeli-Palestinian Conflict 10. The 1967 War

Send us Fan Mail"On the seventh day of the six-day war, Israel became a different country." This was the amazing victory of the Israelis over the combined armies of their immediate antagonists:  Egypt, Syria, Jordan, Iraq.  How did they do that?  It was remarkable. But there were consequences for as God says, "Take what you want.  And pay for it. " In spite of the astonishing military victory,  this set up a strategic situation that was not entirely good for the Israeli future.  Israel had reunited historic Palestine, the Mandate, but from that point on,  Israel controlled the Palestinian territories and created a demographic situation that cannot possibly work out well.   That will have to wait for a subsequent lecture. It also made the 1973 war more-or-less inevitable.  As soon as the war ended, President Nasser announced he was stepping down.  But there were crowds in the streets calling for him to remain in office, so he did. This was a lecture I delivered to my students. For the rest of you, welcome to class. (And I should note that while the Israelis gleefully call this the Six-Day War,  the Arabs call it the June War).