“Jerusalem of Gold”
The next morning June 6, several Israeli units in the Sinai got orders to head north to Jerusalem. Leading the way would be paratroopers. In five hours of close in fighting they seized a key ridge overlooking the Old City of Jerusalem. Over hundred Jordanians and thirty-five Israelis were killed.
On the Egyptian side, Field Marshal Abdel Hakim Amer, second only to Nasser panicked. Despite the fact that 9 of 14 Egyptian divisions still sat in reserve, he ordered all forces in the Sinai out within 24 hours. It had taken them thirty days to go in. This order was intercepted by Israeli intelligence and reached the commanding Israeli officers. The orders were badly written and set off chaos in the Egyptian army as no one knew were to go. Israeli tanks quickly cut the roads around the Egyptian army and planes began strafing them and dropping napalm. Soon the retreat became a route. Several hours later tens of thousands of Egyptian soldiers had surrendered and wrecked vehicles littered the landscape.
As dawn broke the next day, Jun 7 Israeli forces began entering the Jewish Quarter where synagogues had been destroyed after the first war in 1948. As solders ran through the Temple Mount they came to a small alley way. Here stood the Western Wall the remains of King Solomon’s Second Temple. Men stopped and began praying. Even otherwise non-religious Jews joined in. When Dayan heard the Wall had been taken he walked into the city with great fanfare followed by his generals. Eshkol also wanted to come as well but Dayan said it was “too dangerous”. Other men stopped and took pictures and shot movies and over the radio came “Jerusalem of Gold”.
Over the next two days Israeli forces secured the entire Sinai Peninsula going as far as the Suez Canal. They also took the West Bank, and Gaza Strip which had not even been planned. Army general Moshe Yadvat explained “I was just taking advantage of opportunities as they came and this is how it happened in every place we took in the West Bank. We just rolled from one phase to the next. There was no plan, yes, there were operation plans from before, but, there was no overall plan to occupy the West Bank period.” Many of the commanders in the field made these decisions to advance because nothing was stopping them. The Egyptian and Jordanian armies lay in ruins, still Syria shelled Israel. Dayan had not planned on a war with Syria, but like in Jerusalem and West Bank he allowed the opportunity to be seized. Early on the morning of June, 10 Israeli forces stormed over the boarder within hours the Syrian army was destroyed and Israel controlled the Golan Heights. This decision almost led to a world war as Soviets threatened to intervene, and the US sent a fleet toward Israel to guard against such an action. Some US advisers to President Lydon Johnson later admitted this was most dangerous time for US-Soviet relations since the Cuban Missile Crisis.
Ultimately, the US and Soviet Union which had been in intense negations over what to do since the war had started; realized the extent of the Arab defeat. The Soviets not wanting the Arab armies to be completely destroyed, agreed to allow Israel to keep the land it had taken. The US also favored this, believing it would lead to a more ever lasting peace. At 6pm on June 10, Israel agreed to a cease-fire. Setting off wild celebrations in Israel. Immediately afterward, bulldozers entered Jerusalem and knocked down the alley entrance to the Western Wall and surrounding building to create the main plaza that exists today.
Almost immediately, Nasser and King Hussein publicly refused to recognize that they had been defeated and said that the Israelis and won because of US help. In the years that followed the defeat remained a bitter pill for the Arab world. One month later at a major conference of Arab leaders in Khartoum Sudan, they issued what became known as the "Three no's" no recognition, no peace, and no negotiations with Israel. In effect they were declaring a continued state of war. in Adding to this was the fact that Israel now held the Dome of the Rock a short distance from the Western Wall, where Muslims believed Muhammad had ascended to Heaven, its fourth most holy site. This would guarantee future conflict. In 1973, Egypt and Syria, Jordan, and Iraq launched a surprise attack that initially had much success. However, in a week, Israel had rallied and drove them back. Still the war did much to break Israel’s sense of invincibility and heartened Arabs. Then in 1978, Egypt under the leadership of Anwar Sadat signed a peace treaty with Israel. In return Israel gave back the Sinai. Jordan also signed a peace treaty in 1994. Today, much tension still remains and Israel and the Palestinians remain far apart. President Barrack Obama recently said that Israel should return to pre 1967 boarders. However, Israel has shown no signs that it will do so and still controls the Golan Heights which Syria has repeatedly asked to be returned. In many ways the issues we have today with Israel and the Middle East can be traced back to six days in June that shook the world.
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