The Suez Crisis and the Six-Day War IAFS/JWST 3650

Announcements Jewish Studies Mix-and-Mingle: April 10 at 6PM at Illegal Pete's (CU students and graduate students only) RSVP to

Announcements See revised syllabus (in ) for reading assignments Thursday: come prepared to discuss Dayan reading Chester office hours this week: Fri 2-3 Thu, April 11: In-class paper workshop

Paper Workshop draft to group by Tues 5pm

Outline Post-independence Israeli security concerns Palestinian refugees 1956 Suez Crisis 1950s-1960s Palestinian politics 1967 War/Six-Day War

Israeli Security Concerns Fear of “encirclement” Egyptian restrictions on shipping in Suez Canal, Straits of Tiran

Israeli Security Concerns Activist stance (PM David Ben-Gurion): establish that Israel could not be defeated Moderate stance (FM Moshe Sharett): force one of several options Ben-Gurion Sharett

Palestinian Refugees Arab insistence on “right of return” Israeli passage of “law of return,” increasing Jewish population Arabs in Israel (~170,000 in 1950) subject to land confiscation and banishment

Palestinian Refugees Many Arab refugees outside Israel remained in refugee camps long-term Lebanese, Syria, Egyptian refusal to grant citizenship (vs Jordan) Concerns about resettlement

Suez Crisis 1955: Egyptian leader Col. Gamal Abdul Nasser accepts Soviet military aid British fears of shift in Middle East power dynamics July 1956: Nasser’s nationalization of Suez canal

Suez Crisis British threats re canal Late Oct/early Nov 1956: Disastrous military operation to regain canal carried out by Britain, France, and Israel

Suez Crisis Israeli goals: Sinai and Sharm al- Sheikh US reaction: economic measures to force British withdrawal

Suez Crisis Repercussions Egypt: Nasser remained in power, retained canal Britain: no longer a world power Britain: no longer a world power Israel: military victory, UN warning re interference with Straits of Tiran

Palestinian Politics 1964: Arab League est. Palestinian Liberation Organization (led by Ahmad Shukeiri) Haj Amin: PLO “colonialist, Zionist conspiracy” Syrian desire for more militant action Shukeiri Haj Amin in 1948

Fatah Established 1958 Gaza-based Military action, before Israel gained upper hand via nukes, as necessary precursor for political action

The 1967 War/Six-Day War Early 1967: increase in Fatah attacks on Israel 7 Apr: Syria-Israel clash in Golan Heights 21 May: Egyptian closure of Straits of Tiran

The 1967 War/Six-Day War Defense Minister Moshe Dayan push for military response 5 Jun: Israeli airstrikes destroy Egyptian air force Dayan

The 1967 War/Six-Day War Israeli occupation of Jerusalem’s Old City, West Bank, Sinai Peninsula up to canal, Golan Heights Additional 100,000 Palestinian refugees to Jordan

Significance Continuing negotiations and conflict over 1967 lines Arab governments primarily interested in Palestinians as means to demonstrate anti- Israeli militancy Palestinian militants increasingly independent of Arab states

Significance Clear Israeli military superiority Israeli feeling of having broken “encirclement”