tinian guerrillas, usually from the West Bank, which at the time was held by Jordan.
Also, Syrian shelling of farms in northern Israel had led on April 7, 1967, to an air
battle in which Israel destroyed six of Syria’s Soviet-supplied warplanes.
Responding in part to criticism by Arab leaders for failing to counter Israeli
“aggression,” Nasser on May 16–17, 1967, demanded that the United Nations Emer-
gency Force (UNEF), a peacekeeping outfit, withdraw from its positions in Egypt
along the armistice lines created after the 1948 war. When the UN forces withdrew,
Nasser heightened the sense of crisis by moving some 100,000 troops into position at
Egypt’s border with Israel. Nasser then announced on May 22 that the Strait of Tiran
would be closed to Israeli shipping, reversing one of Israel’s chief gains from the Suez
conflict eleven years earlier. With escalating rhetoric, the Egyptian leader on May 26
said, “If Israel wants war—well, then, Israel will be destroyed.” In a speech to the
Egyptian National Assembly three days later, Nasser signaled that war was at hand:
ARABS AND ISRAELIS 95Port
SaidSuezGazaJerusalemTel AvivHaifaAqabaEilatSharm
el-SheikhCairoEGYPT
JORDAN
LEBANON
SYRIA
SAUDI
ARABIA
Dead SeaNile RiverGulf of
SuezSuez
CanalMediterranean SeaStrait
of
TiranRed SeaGulf of Aqaba100 KM100 Miles00Occupied
by IsraelISRAEL
Afterma h of he 1967 War.