The State of the Middle East of Today is the Result of Past Treaties and Actions

While the world may be looking at the Iranian predicament with great attention, a great number of political leaders are still shaking their heads at the Israeli-Palestinian crisis. A number of leaders are at a loss of the level of violence that has taken place over the years; several seem to be more concerned about the potential need for intervention if a war breaks out between Israel and its neighbors. Others are just worried about the gas prices that are already rising exponentially in the world. This crisis, however, is not news to the world because it has been going on for more than fifty years and has touched our lives in many ways throughout the years, from the terrorist attacks against Americans abroad to the rise of gas prices. Indeed most of today's problem in the Middle East is the result of a war that occurred on June of 1967, also known as the Six Days War.

The Six days war, which was fought between Israel and mainly Egypt, Jordan And Syria resulted in major lands loss in Egypt but also in Jordan and Syria. Many questions arise as to what started the Six Days War in June of 1967. Some say it was a lie told by the Russians to get Egypt to help the Syrians against a probable Israeli punitive attack. Others argue that it was probably General Nasser trying to protect his image as the Arab leader. The reasons are numerous but one reason that stands out is the blocking of the Israeli ships from going through the Suez Canal which proved to be a very serious threat to the economy of Israel. Israel, with threats of war from every corner around it and with four out of every five men in her army a civilian, could not afford to maintain her forces mobilized indefinitely nor could it afford economic instability. Therefore, at 0745 on the morning of Monday, June 5 the first wave of the Israeli air strike went in. It was directed against ten airfields in Egypt of which nine were hit at precisely the same moment. The surprise air strike was very well planned. The strike destroyed 300 out of the 340 Egyptian combat aircraft. For the Egyptians, the war was over before they even knew it started. For days Egypt and Israel confronted each other by land and even by sea. After just four days the Israelis had broken Egypt's proud army of 100,000 soldiers. Thousands of vehicles had been taken or destroyed and five thousand Egyptian prisoners were taken.

At the same point in time, The United States was fighting a major war in Vietnam. President Johnson under pressure from the Israelis and the Jewish community in the United States agreed to help the Israelis thinking that it might win him Jewish American support for the disastrous war in Vietnam. It might also be used as a strategic ally in the fight against the constant strategic presence of the Soviet Union in the Middle East during the time especially since geographically speaking; Israel is the heart of the Middle East. Some argue that Johnson's policy was simply a continuation of Kennedy's sympathy toward Israel since Kennedy was the first president to shift the policy from a balance of power between the Arabs and the Israelis to a more strategic relationship with the Israelis. However, US interest in Israel goes further than that. "Israel has helped suppress victories by radical nationalist movements in Lebanon, Jordan, and Yemen, as well as in Palestine. The Israeli military has kept Syria, for many years an ally of the Soviet Union, in check, and its air force is predominant throughout the region. Israel's frequent wars have provided battlefield testing for American arms. Israel has also served as a conduit for U.S. arms to regimes and movements--such as apartheid-era South Africa, Iran, Guatemala, and the Nicaraguan contras--too unpopular in the United States for overt and direct military assistance" ( D'Amato). Thus, Israel is simply the hired policeman of the United States to the Middle East and many other territories in Africa and Asia and it can not afford to loose such a valuable strategic ally in such a volatile area.

Consequently, in the days before the war, President Johnson moved the Sixth Fleet to the eastern Mediterranean. While declaring an embargo to arms in the area, he secretly authorized air shipments to Israel of important spare parts, ammunition, bomb fuses, and armored personnel carriers. After the war started, the United States vetoed a Security Council resolution calling for Israel to return to its prewar boundaries, and Johnson refused to criticize Israel for starting the war.

Author Stephen Green has written that the United States participated in the conflict even more directly. Green contends that "pilots of the U.S. Air Force's 38th Tactical Reconnaissance Squadron of the 26th Tactical Reconnaissance Wing flew RF-4Cs--with white Stars of David and Israeli Air Force tail numbers painted on them--over bombed air bases in Egypt, Syria, and Jordan to take pictures for the Israelis" (148). Green also asserts that the American Air Force "flew eight to ten raids a day throughout the war, and the pilots carried civilian passports so they would appear to be contract employees if caught" (149).

The results of the Six Days war are to be debated. Some argue that it caused Egypt to veer even strongly toward the Soviet Union. Some argued that it caused greater alienation to the Arabs since President Johnson promised the Arabs that Israel would never attack and that if it did, it would oppose that aggression. Thus, within three years, the Soviet Union had sent thousands of troops, advisors, missiles, planes, etc. Moreover, The Soviet Union moved closer to Syria, Lebanon, Palestine and Iraq. The Six Days war did not end there. Within six years; Egypt launched a massive surprising attack against Israel. The attack proved successful and allowed Egypt to gain its lost territory and pride. Most of these wars however proved to be disastrous for the Arab states. Not only from an economic point of view but also from a social point of view. Many rivalries between Arab countries still exist to this day. These wars also proved disastrous to the Palestinians who felt that they were lost in the middle while no one really cared about their interest. Thus, what we see today in the Middle East is a direct result of problems, treaties, and wars that occurred tens of years ago.