The Six-Day War (1967) and the Territories It Reshaped
The Six-Day War of June 1967 was a brief conflict in which Israel defeated Egypt, Jordan, and Syria and captured the West Bank and East Jerusalem from Jordan, the Gaza Strip and Sinai Peninsula from Egypt, and the Golan Heights from Syria. The war set the territorial framework for the modern Israeli-Palestinian conflict, including the question of settlements.
The Six-Day War was a short conflict fought between June 5 and June 10, 1967, in which Israel fought Egypt, Jordan, and Syria. In six days Israel captured a set of territories that have defined the regional conflict ever since. Territories captured From Jordan, Israel took the West Bank and East Jerusalem — Jordan had controlled these since the 1948 war. From Egypt, Israel took the Gaza Strip and the Sinai Peninsula. From Syria, it took the Golan Heights. The Green Line, Israel's de facto boundary since the 1949 armistice, ceased to be the limit of Israeli control. Lasting consequences The war created the category of territory that international law refers to as occupied, and with it the modern dispute over Israeli settlements, which are by definition communities built in land captured in 1967. The disposition of these territories has shaped diplomacy ever since: Israel returned the Sinai to Egypt under their 1979 peace treaty (completed by 1982) and withdrew from Gaza in 2005, while the West Bank, East Jerusalem, and Golan Heights remain contested. The phrase "land for peace" and references to the "pre-1967 borders" both trace directly to this war. See West Bank: Geography, Population, and Disputed Status and Israeli Settler: Definition, Geography, and Legal Status.