Page 43 - Why Israel?
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Israeli soldiers in Nirim during 1948 War of Independence.
Israel lost 6,373 people in the war, nearly one percent of its entire population.
When the war ended in 1949, Israel’s borders were redrawn along the armistice lines where Egypt, Jordan, and Syria ended their military campaign to wipe out the new Jewish state. These borders became known as the Green Line, but were never for- malized into permanent borders and were never recognized by the United Nations as binding international law. The Green Line simply represented the facts on the ground between 1949 and 1967.
1967 Six Day War
In 1967, Israel faced an invasion of nearly half a million Arab troops positioned along every border. Increasing ter- rorism and attacks along the borders had plagued Israelis for years. Arab leaders spoke openly of their desire to wipe Israel off the map, and to massacre every Jewish man, woman, and
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(Photo credit: Wikimedia Commons)
