After the saber-rattling Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser expelled UN peacekeepers from the Sinai Peninsula on May 18, 1967, and mobilized the Egyptian military, Israel attacked. Swiftly defeating the Egyptian, Jordanian, and Syrian militaries, it captured the Sinai Peninsula, Gaza Strip, East Jerusalem, West Bank, and Golan Heights, and tripled the territory under its control. The victory gave the small country the “strategic depth” that some of its founders believed was needed to protect it from attack; Israel is less than ten miles wide at the narrowest stretch between the Mediterranean and the Green Line, the partition that marks Israel’s internationally recognized eastern border. It also brought large Arab populations under the Israeli military’s control.More From Our Experts Elliott Abrams Time to Revoke the Licenses Permitting U.S. Oil Companies to Work in Venezuela Steven A. Cook The Israel-Hezbollah Conflict: Where It Stands Ed Husain Egypt’s Fateful Verdict The Arabs’ de...
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