Palestinians and under Egyptian sovereignty.
Jordan joined in the war despite Israeli pleas to
stay out. Israeli troops then fought house-to-
house battles against Jordanian forces, suffering
heavy casualties before capturing East Jerusalem
and the West Bank. In the north, the Israelis
broke through the Syrian defences and occupied
the Golan Heights, from which Syrian artillery
had shelled Israeli settlements. Israel’s victories
against Egypt, Syria and Jordan were complete
and overwhelming. Everything had gone accord-
ing to the Israeli military plan. A major portion
of the highly professional and efficient Israeli
force was composed of part-time soldiers who
spent eleven out of twelve months as civilians.
It was an astonishing achievement that left the
Israelis elated and, with hindsight, over-confident.
The 1967 victory changed Israel for a generation,
creating opportunities and problems not solved to
the present day.
King Hussein’s decision to join Egypt cost him
the territory of the West Bank, which Jordan had
captured in 1948–9; before then it had formed a
part of the British Palestine Mandate. Israel was
now faced with deciding what to do with the
845,000 hostile Palestinian Arabs living there.
When they had been Jordanian citizens they had
been Jordan’s problem. Under Israeli occupation
they demanded separate nationhood. The possi-
bility of a ‘Jordanian solution’ for the time
receded as Israel’s capture of the Old City of
Jerusalem and its determination to retain an undi-
vided Jerusalem as its capital blocked any peace-
ful arrangement with Jordan despite the large
Palestinian population in post-war Jordan.
Adding the Palestinians living in the Gaza Strip,
the Israelis had now assumed responsibility for
more than 1 million Arab Palestinians. Unlike
their predecessors in 1948–9, the Arabs had not
fled, but neither could they be reconciled to living
under foreign occupation. The Israelis at first
regarded the occupied territories as bargaining
counters to attain peace; security required that
they retain a relatively small part; the rest would
be returned in exchange for peace treaties. Then
Israel would enjoy secure borders and peace. It
did not work out that way, though. Years later, it
is true, peace was secured on this basis with
Egypt. But the longer Israel occupied Gaza, East
Jerusalem and the West Bank, the stronger grew
the voices of those who claimed the territories as
Israel’s historic land and the more Jewish settle-
ments expanded.
The famous UN Resolution 242 passed by the
Security Council on 22 November 1967, despite
its ambiguities and the different Arab and Israeli
interpretations, provided a framework for peace
negotiations. It promised Israel secure frontiers, it
required it to withdraw from the conquered terri-
tories and stated the need for a just solution for
the Palestinian refugees. But it was only a frame-
work. There was no timetable for implementation;
and no enforcement provision. Nasser had already
in September 1967, at a conference of the Arab
heads of state in Khartoum, made an uncompro-
mising demand for complete withdrawal of the
Israelis and insisted that there could be no peace
with Israel or negotiations without recognition of
‘the rights of the Palestinian People in their own
country’. The Arab nations did not move from
this stand until Egypt broke ranks in 1977. The
Israelis in turn were not prepared to give up what
they had gained without something in return.
Their interpretation of Resolution 242 is that it
assures Israel safe and secure frontiers and that
consequently the extent of its withdrawal has first
to be negotiated between Israel and the Arab
nations involved: such negotiations must precede
any withdrawal. The Israelis rejected withdrawal
prior to possible negotiations.
It would take another war before Egypt was
ready to negotiate and conclude a separate peace
with Israel. But in the intervening years the influ-
ence of the right in Israel grew, the influence of
politicians like Begin who passionately argued
against giving up the territories of the West Bank,
biblical Israel (‘Judaea’ and ‘Samaria’). Nasser pro-
claimed a war of attrition against Israel in 1968;
Palestinian guerrilla raids and sporadic Egyptian
attacks forced Israel to remain on constant alert;
the two sides also shelled each other across the
Suez Canal until a ceasefire was agreed in August
- This provided only a breathing space.
In September 1970, Nasser died. His death
was mourned by millions of Egyptians and Arabs
throughout the Middle East. He was not a
1
THE STRUGGLE FOR PREDOMINANCE IN THE MIDDLE EAST 459
