Introduction
The Arab-Israeli conflict started in the middle of the 20th century with the establishment of Israel as a separate state in May 1948. The roots of this issue go back to the end of the 19th century, while its consequences are observed even today. Initially, nationalist ideas and the desire to support and develop Arab and Jewish cultures triggered the sectarian intercommunal conflict that led to the civil war in 1947, which soon turned into the Arab-Israeli War.
The nature of the conflict altered with the course of time so that the focus was made not on all Arab countries but on Palestine, in particular, in the 1980s. All in all, those events that happened in the framework of the Arab-Israeli conflict in the second half of the 20th century had an enormous influence not only on these two parties but on the whole world. The June War of 1967, for example, affected the situation greatly, influencing superpower relations. The consequences of this Six-Day War not only affected the regional issues but even changed the international energy and economic orders.
Analysis
The June War that took place in the territory of the Middle East started on June 5th under the initiative of Israel’s Defence Minister. General Moshe Dayan considered it to be a preventive military effort that was expected to cope with the impending attack by Arab nations.
Actually, this war did not affect Israel from the very beginning and was targeted at Syria, Jordan, and Egypt. However, the Israelis believed that they also were a target and that it was a matter of time when they would be attacked. However, the thing was that the United Nations at that time entered the Middle East, and Egypt wanted to protect its vulnerable area. As it was preparing its forces and closed off the gulf to Israeli shipping so that they decided to be proactive and launched a military campaign and destroyed the air forces of the involved parties.
As a result of those dramatic events that happened in 1967, the Arab world suffered a great disaster. The leader of the Arabs was weakened, and the crucial military situation was also accelerated by the blow of the Arabs morale. Those nations that considered themselves to be the stoniest parties in the world were defeated at the same timeless than in a week. In addition to that, their territories were captured by Israel, and more than 500,000 Arabs came under Israeli administration, which became a significant issue for the government. As a result, a lot of these people joined the Palestinian Liberation Organization. The Israelis believed that it was a terrorist organization that is why they had to alter their domestic policies greatly, which also affected the relations with other regions.
After these events, Syria, Jordan, and Egypt had to improve Arab unity, so they developed new regimes. However, people tend to see the corrupt and dysfunctional due to the mess of government and political instability. They questioned the effectiveness of the military system that became psychologically separated from the rest of the population.
Under the influence of the social and political alterations, the Syrian regime survived for a while but yielded to a new leader with his innovative views in 1970. Hafiz al-Asad started to rule this region. The president of Egypt retained his authority, but this regime failed as the officer corps on which he relayed greatly abandoned their solidarity. The commander of the armed forces was arrested and soon committed suicide. In addition to that, the assistance provided by the Soviet Union to improve the condition of Egypt’s air force made the country completely dependent.
In this way, the June War did not end in peace and the war of attrition began. Egypt wanted to prove that it was still able to fight and that its pride was not destroyed. It wanted to shell Israeli positions, but its response leads to the destruction of the Suez Canal. The Egyptian leader, Gamal Abdel Nasser, inspired the Arab world. He initiated Syria and Jordan’s attacks on Israel and tried to break away from Western influence.
His reforms were accepted and distributed to different territories, strengthening Arab unity. However, he also was often more involved in the other state’s affairs than was initially expected to. He led the Pan-Arab movement and destroyed the regimes of other parties, exhausting Egypt’s resources. Eventually, he accepted United Nations Resolution 242 and the Rogers Plan, which proved that he was ready to find a compromise.
Conclusion
In this way, those events that followed the Arab-Israeli conflict, such as the June War, affected regional affairs greatly. Israel tried to prove that it could influence the regional balance, while Egypt and Syria focused on the attempt to return those territories they had lost. A declared state of war with Israel lasted for a long time, which made other countries involve in the situation. All in all, these events changed the geopolitics of the region, as Israel has taken Arab territories.