ABSTRACT
The 1967 June War, referred to by Israelis as the Six Day War and by Palestinians as al-Naksa – the setback – was the third Arab-Israeli war in less than two decades. It was triggered by a growing intensity in attacks on Israel as well as increasing Israeli retaliation against its Arab neighbours in late 1966 and early 1967. It was a war that took many in the international community by surprise, a confrontation that neither Israel, Egypt, Syria and Jordan nor the United States and the Soviet Union claim to have wanted. Yet the decline into confrontation seemed almost inevitable from 1966 onwards. Israel’s perception of vulnerability; hostile Israeli, Egyptian and Syrian rhetoric; continuing border tensions; and finally Egyptian troop movements to the Sinai, the withdrawal of UNEF, and the closing of the Straits of Tiran left little room for diplomatic manoeuvring. It has, however, left room for quite an amount of speculation in the search for an explanation.
