ABSTRACT
On more than one level the June 1967 Arab-Israeli war (also known as the Six-Day War) was a watershed in the recent history of the Middle East. In particular, the confrontation radically transformed the nature of regional politics and the relationship between local states and the superpowers. This chapter examines the impact of the 1967 Arab-Israeli war on Arab nationalist perceptions regarding the input that the United States had in the crisis, in order to examine how these perceptions influenced Arab attitudes toward the US and Soviet roles in the peace process. It argues that the Six-Day War had a devastating negative impact on Arab views regarding the US role, as well as on Arab beliefs about the efficacy of the Soviet Union and its reliability as a superpower ally. Although Arab nationalists, particularly in Egypt, were highly critical and suspicious of President Lyndon B. Johnson, they recognized the indispensable and preponderant role of Washington in the post-1967 peace process.
