Six Days to Today

The history of Israel since its founding has been marked by recurring cycles of attack, provocation, and external pressure—often including proposals from U.S. administrations urging restraint or territorial concession. We recall, for example, the pressure applied by both the Obama and Bush administrations to halt Israeli settlement construction in the West Bank and the Golan Heights, on the grounds that such activity was seen by the United States and the European Union as provocative toward the Palestinians.

To understand how we arrived at this point, it’s useful to briefly revisit the history.

In 1948, David Ben-Gurion, Israel’s first prime minister, declared the establishment of the State of Israel in accordance with the United Nations’ 1947 partition plan, which proposed dividing the British Mandate of Palestine into separate Jewish and Arab states.

Almost immediately, neighboring Arab states—Egypt, Transjordan, Syria, Lebanon, and Iraq—invaded. Israel repelled the attacks and, in the process, established borders that would largely hold for the next eight years.

By 1956, tensions remained high, complicated further by European strategic interests in the region. Britain, seeking to maintain access to the Suez Canal and its global routes, clashed with Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser, who moved to nationalize the canal. Israel, for its part, had long-standing grievances over Egyptian interference with its shipping through the Canal.

That summer, Israel, France, and Britain devised a plan: Israel would invade the Sinai Peninsula, prompting Britain and France to intervene under the pretext of separating the combatants. Israel rapidly took control of Sinai. However, strong opposition from the United States, along with a United Nations resolution, forced a withdrawal—accompanied by American assurances regarding Israel’s access to international waterways. The United Nations then deployed the United Nations Emergency Force (UNEF) in Sinai.

Tensions continued to mount through the 1960s. By mid-1967, Nasser expelled UNEF forces and massed Egyptian troops in the Sinai. In a widely broadcast speech, he declared: “The existence of Israel has continued too long… The battle has come in which we shall destroy Israel.”

Jordan soon entered into a defense pact with Egypt, and Iraq joined the alliance shortly thereafter. With hostile forces mobilizing on multiple fronts and Egypt closing key waterways, Israel launched a preemptive strike on June 5, 1967, beginning the Six-Day War.

Israel achieved rapid and decisive victories. It seized the Sinai Peninsula from Egypt in the first four hours of the war. Then, Jordan launched artillery fire at Jerusalem until Israel warned it to stop. Israel then moved into and seized the Jordanian-held West Bank (including East Jerusalem). Meanwhile, the Syrians fired artillery into northern Israel from the Golan Heights, so after it finished dealing with Egypt and Jordan, Israel seized the Golan Heights from the Syrians. A ceasefire was reached on June 10 but by then, Israel had dramatically expanded its territorial control and brought a large Arab population under its authority.

A subsequent UN resolution called for negotiations and Israeli withdrawal from territories captured in the war. Under U.S. pressure, Israel signaled a willingness to return Sinai and the Golan Heights in exchange for peace. Egypt and Syria, however, refused negotiations and continued to reject Israel’s legitimacy.

In October 1973, Egypt and Syria launched a coordinated surprise attack on Yom Kippur, the holiest day in the Jewish calendar. Egyptian forces crossed the Suez Canal while Syrian troops advanced into the Golan Heights. Israel, initially caught off guard, suffered significant losses but ultimately repelled both fronts, retaking lost ground and advancing beyond previous lines before a ceasefire was reached.

By the war’s end, approximately 2,700 Israeli and 8,500 Arab soldiers had been killed. Israel retained control of the Sinai, the Golan Heights, and the West Bank—territories captured in 1967—and began establishing settlements in some of these areas.

To be sure, Israel has not always been without fault. There have been moments when its actions have strained relations even with close allies. Yet, as Israel has been urged—often by the United States—to negotiate and relinquish territory, those concessions have not always yielded peace. In several instances, withdrawals have been followed by renewed attacks, sometimes launched from the very areas vacated, often targeting civilian populations.

This history raises a difficult question: if the United States had faced a similar pattern of invasion, territorial conflict, and recurring attacks following concessions, would it respond with the same willingness to negotiate and return contested land? It’s a question worth considering—and one that may not have an easy or comfortable answer.





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