Professor Gerald M Adler

 

Professor Adler is preparing a book on the legal aspects of the Arab-Israeli conflict. This chapter is being published on the site with his kind permission. We have split the chaper into individual sections, with links below, for easier navigation Download entire chapter as a PDF file here.

 

We are now approaching the 40^th anniversary of the Six Days War. At the present time it is important to recall the causes of that war and the factors that have led us to our present situation. These are too extensive and complicated to set out here in detail, but it should be understood that the Six Day War was caused essentially by a local expression of a wider conflict.

Regionally, the Western Powers retained historical, political and economic interests in the Middle East. These blocked the Soviet intentions to penetrate the region, limiting its sphere of influence, while at the same time, seeking to destabilise Arab relationships with the West. In Egypt, Russia had already supplanted America by financing the construction of the Aswan Dam and supplying arms to Syria and other Islamic Middle-Eastern countries. 

Locally, the scarcity of water in Israel led to an escalating tense situation upon which the Soviets capitalised with their misinformation tactics. This resulted in a war which Israel unsuccessfully attempted to avert and the results reverberate to this very day.  

1. Context and Proximate Causes of the War 

2. U.N. inaction plays into hands of Soviets while Jordan is warned to avoid involvement 

3. Six Day War Aftermath  

4. Subsequent Outcomes

5. The Arab Response: Khartoum Conference 1967: The Three “Noes”  

6. United Nations Security Council Resolution 242. 

7. Conquest Arising from Defensive Action in Contrast to Conquest by Aggression