Israel declared its independence on May 14, 1948. That same night, the combined armies of Egypt, Jordan, Iraq, Syria, and Lebanon, along with troops from Saudi Arabia and Yemen, invaded Israel. The stated aim of this Middle East war was to create a “United States of Palestine” in place of the Jewish nation established by the UN vote. The invasion was condemned by the United States and other nations as illegal, but it proceeded as thousands of soldiers streamed across the borders.
Arabs living in the new Jewish state were told by Arab leaders in other nations to leave their homes until the Jews could be driven out. They were told it would only be a matter of days or weeks until they could return to their homes.
Though outnumbered and outgunned, the Jews fought ferociously for their new homeland. Often a few hundred Israeli soldiers faced thousands of Arabs. Armistice agreements were finally signed in the spring of 1949, bringing the Middle East war, Israel’s first war as a new nation, to a close.
Though open fighting ended, terrorist attacks continued and targeted Israeli civilians – including women and children. Over the years there remained a constant threat of war from Israel’s larger neighbors. In the mid 1960s the threat of war increased. In early June 1967, Israel discovered plans for a pending coordinated attack from Egypt, Jordan, and Syria. Israeli leaders made the decision to launch a massive preemptive aerial assault. On June 5, nearly 200 Israeli jets attacked the Egyptian Air Force, virtually wiping it out. By June 7, Israeli paratroopers controlled of the entire old city of Jerusalem. Nearly 2,000 years after the Romans captured the Holy City, Jerusalem was once again in Jewish hands.
In the north, Israeli forces succeeded in capturing the strategic Golan Heights region from which Syrian forces had repeatedly shelled Jewish communities in the valley below. By the time the ceasefire was signed on June 11, ending six days of fighting, the size of Israel had tripled. Despite the fact that this entire territory is part of the original land given to Abraham and his descendants by God, Israel’s right to hold these “captured” areas of the West Bank, Gaza, and the Golan Heights has never been officially recognized by the world community. It is this territory that remains at the core of the current dispute between Israel and the Syrians and Palestinians.
In 1973 the tables were turned as Egypt and Syria launched a surprise attack on Israel, sparking another Middle East war, during Yom Kippur—the Day of Atonement. On the holiest day of the year for the Jewish People, virtually the entire nation was at a standstill when Egypt and Syria, with help from Jordan and at least nine other Arab states, coordinated a massive surprise attack on Israel from Sinai in the south and the Golan Heights in the north. After several days of desperate fighting, Israeli forces brought the invading armies to a halt and began driving them back.
Tensions between the Soviet Union, which supplied and backed the Arab armies, and the United States, which did the same for Israel, escalated. Soviet Premier Leonid Brezhnev threatened to join the war on behalf of Egypt if the Americans did not pressure Israel to accept a ceasefire. As part of the October 25, 1973 ceasefire agreement, Israel agreed to return the Suez Canal to Egyptian control. Israel had narrowly survived the gravest threat she had faced since declaring statehood in 1948.
