This audiobook is narrated by a digital voice.
In the years leading up to the Six-Day War of 1967, the Middle East simmered with tension and unresolved hostility. The roots of the conflict were planted in the aftermath of the 1948 Arab-Israeli War and deepened following the 1956 Suez Crisis. Despite ceasefires and temporary peace agreements, there was no formal resolution to the broader Arab-Israeli conflict. The armistice lines drawn in 1949 remained points of friction, and Israel's neighbors—particularly Egypt, Syria, and Jordan—maintained a posture of open hostility, refusing to recognize Israel's right to exist. This created an environment in which any incident had the potential to ignite full-scale war.
Egypt, under the leadership of President Gamal Abdel Nasser, emerged as a central figure in Arab nationalism and anti-Israel sentiment. Nasser's calls for Arab unity and the destruction of Israel were backed by increasing military cooperation with other Arab states and by Soviet support, as part of the broader Cold War dynamic. The Soviet Union, keen on expanding its influence in the Middle East, supplied arms and military training to Egypt and Syria, while the United States became a key supporter of Israel. The region thus became another theater for the Cold War rivalry between the superpowers, further escalating tensions.
The demilitarized zones between Israel and Syria, particularly along the Golan Heights, were frequently the scene of armed skirmishes and artillery exchanges. Syria also supported Palestinian guerrilla attacks into Israeli territory, further stoking unrest. Meanwhile, in the south, Egypt's actions in the Sinai Peninsula, including the remilitarization of the area and the expulsion of the United Nations Emergency Force (UNEF) in May 1967, signaled a major escalation. The final provocation came with Egypt's closure of the Straits of Tiran to Israeli shipping—an act Israel considered a casus belli, or justification for war.
