Soviet Unions Involvement in Israels 1967 six day war and the gains - Research Paper Example

? Soviet Union’s Involvement in Israel’s 1967 six day war and the gains Soviet Union have from giving false information to Egypt that cause the startof the six day war Name of author Course name Professor 11 April 2011 Soviet Union played a major role in causing the 1967 six day war between Israel and Arab countries. Soviet Union was one among the strongest supporters of Israel earlier at the time of Israel’s formation. However, Soviet Union released later that because of the cultural similarities, Israel was getting more polarized towards United States. Israel’s increasing relationships with America, forced Soviet Union to look for other options in the Middle East. On the other hand, Arab countries were looking for an opportunity to establish stronger relationships with Soviet Union in order to counter the combined threats of America and Israel. Thus, Soviet Union established stronger relations with many of the Arab countries including Egypt in the 1960’s. Soviet Union was the major arm supplier for the Arab countries during this period. “The Soviet Union’s growing influence in the Middle East worried Israel as did Egypt’s ever growing hauls of Soviet weapons”1 Soviet Union had other intentions in strengthening the tension between Arab countries and Israel. In fact they were trying to catch fish from the muddy water. They calculated that the Arab countries had less powerful intelligences and it is easy to mislead these countries to with false information. In other words, Soviet Union supplied false intelligence to Arab countries in the 1960’s in order to strengthen their interests in Middle East region. One such false intelligence information supplied to Egypt by Soviet Union resulted in the six day war in 1967 between Israel and Arab countries. “On 13 May 1967, Soviet Union passed to Egypt detailed reports that Israel has massed 11-13 brigades of troops in Galilee for the invasion of Syria”2 which was the actual reasons for the six day war. Many people believe that Soviet Union was created this war in order to attack the Israel's nuclear facility in Dimona. However, Soviet Union’s efforts were not ended in victory. This paper analyses Soviet Union’s Involvement in Israel’s 1967 six day war and the gains Soviet Union have from giving false information to Egypt that cause the start of the six day war. Soviet Union and Six Day war In 1960’s, “Soviets took on the role of armorer for both Syria and Egypt, supplying them with modern tanks, aircraft and later missiles”3. Israel had certain concerns about the increasing weapon accumulation by the Arab countries. They rightly calculated that these weapons may one day use against them if a war breaks out. Soviet Union did everything possible to increase the concerns of both Israel and the Arab countries. On one side, Soviet Union gave a strong message to Israel that they are ready to attack Israel’s critical places and on the other side, Soviet cultivated a feeling of insecurity among the Arab nations because of the fabricated threats from Israel. Western diplomats also played their own role in causing the six day war. A British foreign ministry official told an Israeli diplomat during this period that “the Soviet Unions would give it backing to Egypt if and when the latter decided to launch a preemptive war”4. In short, both Soviet Union and the Western countries played their parts in causing the six day war. However, Soviet Union seems to be more interested than the westerners in conducting this war because of their strategic interests in the Middle Eastern region. “Soviet Union’s objectives in the Middle Eastern region were included the control of Suyez Canal and cutting the oil supplies to the European powers”5. Soviet Union expected two birds for one shot by conducting the six day war. They thought that with the help of a war between Israel and Arab countries, they could have destabilized Israel from one end and cut the transport of oil supplies to European countries. During this period, all the commercial goods including the oil resources were transported to European countries through Suez Canal. A war between Israel and Arab countries will always create problems in the smooth passages of goods through Suez Canal. Keeping the above objectives in mind, on 13 May 1967, Soviet Union passed a completely fabricates story to President Nasser of Egypt that Israel is making military accumulation in the border. Nasser was unaware of the Soviet intentions and he calculated that Soviet Union may support them strongly if he declares a war with Israel. Soviet Union wrongly calculated that United States may stay away from assisting Israel in case of a war between Israel and Arab countries. The above assumption was based on a calculation that America may not involve in another war during that period because of the heavy criticisms they received in the War in Vietnam. American public strongly criticized the War in Vietnam and Soviet Union thought the administration may not make an effort to intensify the public criticism though another war, at least for the coming couple of years. All these calculations and the encouragement of Soviet Union motivated Nasser. Nassar abandoned his former cautious policy and took the lead for new aggression against Israel. Syria and Iraq eagerly joined Egypt’s preparations, increasing the momentum toward war. On May 15, Israel’s 19th Independence Day, Egyptian troops began moving into the Sinai and massing near the Israeli border. By May 18, Syrian troops were prepared for battle along the Golan Heights6 Nasser considered himself as the leader of Arab world after watching the support he was getting from other Arab countries and Soviet Union. Iraq, Jordan, Syria etc alike Arab countries assembled behind Nasser. Soviet Union deliberately tried to exploit the feeling of Nasser as the sole Arab leader. On the other hand, Israel was not actually ready for this war. However, they forced to conduct this war because of circumstantial reasons. After watching all the military preparations of Arab world, Israel thought attack as the best of defense. Without giving an opportunity to Arab world, Israel started the attack which was quite unexpected for the Arab world. “Israel attacked the Egyptians beginning on June 5, 1967 at about 07:45 hours. Israeli radio announced that Egyptians had opened fire and Israeli forces were returning fire”7. Even though the war lasted only for six days, this war ended in the defeat of Arab countries because of the superior abilities of Israeli forces and the miscalculations made by the Arab countries and Soviet Union about America’s involvement in this war. America quite unexpectedly came to the rescue of Israel. President Nasser’s worries intensified because of America’s intervention and the concerns about Soviet Union’s response to America’s intervention8. Nasser initially calculated that the Arab countries can easily defeat Israel with the help of Soviet Union. However, the interference of America changed the whole scenario and the threat of a possible third world war was on card at that time. However, the war was ended on June 10, 1967 giving Israel decisive victory. All the Arab participants in this war lost some of their territories; Egypt lost Gaza Strip and the Sinai Peninsula, Jordan lost West Bank and East Jerusalem and Syria lost Golan Heights. Soviet Union’s intentions and gains in six day war Soviet Union was actually afraid of Israel getting the nuclear power or armory. Unlike many other countries, Israel never disclosed any details about their nuclear experiment to the external world. However, it was evident to other countries that Israel is secretly preparing nuclear armory. Soviet Union has realized that a nuclear Israel would be more dangerous to their interests in Middle East region. Soviet Union’s effort to attack Israel’s nuclear reactor at Dimona has not gained success. "The Soviets planned a landing operation in the eastern Mediterranean, involving 30 warships and at least one battalion of Soviet Marines," It was widely known among Israeli Air Force (IAF) personnel that Soviet pilots flew reconnaissance flights over the Sinai (1968-1970) and that IAF pilots successfully downed at least 36 Soviet pilots in dogfights with no Israeli losses. Moreover, Israeli pilots reported picking up and translating conversations in Russian between Russian pilots over the Sinai Peninsula."The Soviets, painted their aircraft with Egyptian markings," and Israel deliberately "covered up" the capture of Soviet "advisors" in the Golan Heights9 Both Israel and Soviet Union engaged in a shadow war during the six day war period. Soviet Union never admitted their presence in this war. They used war aircrafts with Egyptian markings in order to mislead Israel. However, Israel was smarter than Soviet Union and they never accused the Soviet involvement even though they captured many of the Soviet pilots who took part in this war. Soviet Union calculated that they have nothing to lose and everything to gain from the six day war. ‘If the Arab states won, it would enhance Soviet power. And if they lost, they would become more dependent, which would also increase Soviet power”10. The above calculation was absolutely right. It was difficult for Arab world to increase their ties with America at that time because of America’s anti-Arab foreign policies. The general perception among the Arab world at that time was that America will always support Israel even if Israel commits serious mistakes. Because of the above awareness, it was difficult for Arab world to decrease their dependence to Soviet Union at that time. At the same time Israel got many benefits out of this war. As mentioned earlier, Israel took control of many of the territories of the Arab world. Soviet Union neither succeeded in attacking Israel’s nuclear reactors nor did they succeed in preventing Israel from achieving nuclear arsenal. Israel remains as the superior force in the Middle East even after 44 years from this war. On the other hand, Soviet Union did not last long. Perestroika and Glasnost like revolutionary policies implemented by former Soviet leader Michael Gorbachev resulted in the destruction of communism and the splitting of Soviet Union into different independent states. Most popular accounts tend to depict the Soviet Union as a cautious actor that wanted only to exploit regional tensions and secure political ties with Arab allies, rather than to encourage a hot war. But instead of viewing the Soviet Union as an unsuccessful moderating influence, many people believe that the Soviet Union would have successfully destroyed Israel’s nuclear reactor in Dimona and staged a naval desant (landing) in the city of Haifa were it not for the success of the initial Israeli strikes in response to a Soviet-Arab provocation. The Jerusalem Post recently reported that a senior official in the Russian air force confirmed that Soviet pilots flew secret aircraft over Israel’s nuclear reactor before the War11 In short, the reason why Soviet Union did not attack the nuclear power station at Dimona is still unknown to the public even though the Soviet aircraft bombers successfully flew over this nuclear power station. Both Israel and Soviet Union so far kept silence over this issue. The objectives of Six day war were not only to attack Israel, but also to cause problems to America. This war was another shadow war Soviet Union engaged with America during the cold war period. However, destruction of Soviet Union resulted in the emergence of America as the sole superpower in the world. Moreover, America’s ties with Israel strengthened a lot as a result of six day war. At the same time, Arab world realized that Soviet Union was actually victimizing them for executing their plans in Middle East. Soviet Union’s credentials, reputations and good names in the Middle Eastern world suffered lot of setbacks as a result of this war. Conclusions › Visit Amazon's Moshe Gat Page Find all the books, read about the author, and more. See search results for this author Are you an author? Learn about Author Central Six day war in 1967was actually a Soviet sponsored war in the Middle East. Soviet Union did everything possible to lead the Arab leaders in to this war. They spread fabricated stories about Israel’s intentions about attacking Syria and gave wrong or exaggerated intelligence to the Arab leaders. Soviet Union was actually afraid of Israel becoming a nuclear power. In order to attack Israel’s nuclear power stations, Soviet Union generated this war; however, Soviet calculations went wrong somewhere and they failed to destroy Israel’s nuclear power stations even though they succeeded in conducting raids over these nuclear stations. Six day war resulted in exhausting the military power of the Arab world and it increased the dependency of Arab world towards Soviet Union. In short, Soviet Union failed to achieve their major objectives in this war. Bibliography 1. Brenchley Frank Brenchley (Author) › Visit Amazon's Frank Brenchley Page Find all the books, read about the author, and more. See search results for this author Are you an author? Learn about Author Central Frank (2005). Britain, the Six-Day War and its Aftermath (International Library of Twentieth Centruy History Publisher: I. B. Tauris; First Edition (April 28, 2005) 2. Gat Moshe (2003). Britain and the Conflict in the Middle East, 1964-1967: The Coming of the Six-Day War Publisher: Praeger (February 28, 2003)See search results Are you an author? Learn about Author Central 3. Ginor Isabella &Isabella Ginor (Author) › Visit Amazon's Isabella Ginor Page Find all the books, read about the author, and more. See search results for this author Are you an author? Learn about Author Central 4. Remez Gideon(2008). Foxbats Over Dimona: The Soviets' Nuclear Gamble in the Six-Day War Publisher: Yale University Press (September 4, 2008) 4. Klayman Matthew D. (2008). FOXBATS OVER DIMONA: THE LIMITS AND BENEFITS OF CIRCUMSTANTIAL ARGUMENT. New Society Harvard College Student Middle East Journal http://newsociety07.wordpress.com/2008/01/29/foxbats-over-dimona-the-limits-and-benefits-of-circumstantial-argument/[Accessed on 11 April 2011] 5. McNamara Robert (2003) Robert McNamara (Author) Britain, Nasser and the Balance of Power in the Middle East, 1952-1977: From The Eygptian Revolution to the Six Day War › Visit Amazon's Robert McNamara Page Find all the books, read about the author, and more. See search results for this author Are you an author? Learn about Author Central Publisher: Routledge; 1 edition (June 30, 2003) 6. Oren Michael B. (2003). Michael B. Oren (Author)› Visit Amazon's Michael B. Oren PageFind all the books, read about the author, and more. Six Days of War: June 1967 and the Making of the Modern Middle East. Publisher: Presidio Press (June 3, 2003) 7. The Six Day War and Nasser’s Pan-Arab Dream (n. d). http://www.jewishhistory.org/the-six-day-war-and-nasser/ [Accessed on 11 April 2011] 8. The Six Day War. (n. d). http://www.sixdaywar.org/content/soviets.asp [Accessed on 11 April 2011] 9. The Soviets' Nuclear Gamble in the Six-Day War (n. d). Middle East forum. http://www.meforum.org/1705/the-soviets-nuclear-gamble-in-the-six-day-war [Accessed on 11 April 2011] 10. The Six Day War and Nasser’s Pan-Arab Dream (n. d). http://www.jewishhistory.org/the-six-day-war-and-nasser/ [Accessed on 11 April 2011] 11. What Led To The Six Day War?(2011) http://www.palestinefacts.org/pf_1948to1967_sixday_backgd.php [Accessed on 11 April 2011] Read More