June 6, 1967 The Six-Day War |
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Foreign Minister Abba Eban leading the UN delegation in June 1967, with Golda Meir and Israeli UN Representative Gideon Rafael.
Eban meets with President Lyndon B. Johnson during the tense weeks leading up to the Six-Day War.
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IN THE SPRING OF 1967, Israel received clear signals that its neighbors were gearing up for battle. Threats of "total annihilation" of Israel resounded not only in Cairo but also in Damascus. With much bombast, Egypt's Nasser announced his intention to "blot out Israel's presence." In May he demanded the withdrawal of the 4,500-man UN contingent, which had been acting as a buffer along the Egyptian-Israeli border since the end of the Sinai War. UN Secretary-General U Thant of Burma quickly acceded to Nasser's demand, and ordered the UN forces home immediately. Nasser then moved armored divisions into the Sinai Peninsula and once again closed the Straits of Tiran and Gulf of Aqaba to Israeli shipping.
Abba Eban, then Israel's Foreign Minister, flew to Paris, London, and Washington but received no promise of aid from any of the Western democracies. On June 4, with all diplomatic efforts exhausted, Eban joined the rest of the Israeli cabinet in voting to launch a surprise attack against Egypt. Early the following morning, Israeli bombers quickly destroyed almost the entire Egyptian Air Force on the ground. But King Hussein of Jordan, whom Eban had desperately tried to persuade to remain neutral, believed Nasser's claims that Egypt was winning the war, and sent Jordanian forces to attack West Jerusalem, beginning a fierce battle for what was then a divided city. While flying from Tel Aviv to New York on June 6, Eban received hourly reports of Israeli military advances as well as a cable alerting him that he would be expected to deliver an address at the UN as soon as he arrived. He made his notes while in flight and was met at the airport for further briefings with members of the Israeli mission. The speech was broadcast on radio and television around the world. In response to proposed cease-fire resolutions condemning Israel and calling for withdrawal, Eban articulates the circumstances that forced Israel to go to war. In the face of blatantly erroneous Arab claims of military victories, he recounts Israel's successes. He calls for a comprehensive peace plan for the Middle East and for building "a new system of relationships from the wreckage of the old." The next day's newspapers called the speech "eloquent in its phrasing," "one of television's finest moments," and "one of the great diplomatic speeches of all time." When the war was over, Israel had captured the Gaza Strip and Sinai Peninsula from Egypt; the West Bank, including East Jerusalem and the Old City, from Jordan; and the Golan Heights from Syria. It ended with a cease-fire, but an even bloodier war would erupt in 1973, and more than a decade would elapse before a peace treaty was signed by Egypt and Israel, in 1979. Another fifteen years passed before Jordan and Israel signed a peace treaty, in 1994. |