Six Days of Fire: Israel and the June 1967 War, Fifty Years On

Between June 5 and June 10, 1967, Israels lightningstrike military victory reshaped the modern Middle Eastits geography and the political map. In its war against four Arab armies, supported by other Muslim majority countries, the tiny Jewish state wrested the Sinai Peninsula from Egypt, the Golan Heights from Syria, and reunified Jerusalem. With its success, Israel established itself as a strong power capable of taking on more established regional actors. Furthermore, it was at this point the United States began to recognize Israels value as a Cold War ally, balancing against the Soviet Unions Arab partners. Half a century later, the ground under the Middle East has shifted and the ArabIsraeli crisis is no longer the regions defining issue. Many of the Arab states that fought Israel in 1967, or backed the war, now have shared interests with Jerusalem, not least of which is recognizing Iran as a common threat. None of this would have been possible had Israel not proven itself a strategic power f