Page 54 - Bible Geography and Near East Studies - Textbook w videos short

began when Egypt blocked Israel from receiving shipping trade through the Straits of Tiran. Gamal
Nassar, the president of Egypt, also mobilized a massive force in the Sinai Peninsula, threatening to
invade Israel from the south. Jordan and Syria mobilized forces to the east, in Jerusalem, and in the
Golan Heights on the northern border.

Israel decided to make a preemptive strike, attacking Egypt’s air bases in a perfectly coordinated
surprise attack. When it was obvious that war had begun, Nassar falsely assured his counterparts in
Jordan and Syria that his forces had repelled the Israeli air strike. In reality, Israel had destroyed Egypt’s
air force in the first few hours of the war. Thinking they would have the support of the Egyptian Air
Force, Jordan and Syria attacked. With complete dominance of the skies, Israel counterattacked swiftly,
taking Jerusalem and the West Bank from Jordan, and the Golan Heights in the north from Syria.

By the time the fighting stopped just six days after it had begun, Israel had tripled its land area. It later
turned the Sinai Peninsula over to the United Nations and voluntarily asked the Jordanians to police the
Temple Mount. Israel did not return any of the land it took in the Golan Heights, though it has been
pressured to do so for decades.

In 2005, Israel withdrew its forces from the Gaza Strip, though much conflict continues between Israeli
forces and Palestinians living inside the narrow strip of land. Most notably, Israel forces invaded the
Gaza Strip in December-January of 2008-2009 in an effort to stop terrorist attacks. Another 50-day effort
to stop terroristic activity against Israel came in 2015. Despite the wide-scale destruction inside Gaza,
violent protests and terroristic activity continues against Israel from the Gaza Strip.

There have been other wars or large-scale military operations since 1967, most notably the Yom Kippur
War, October 9-25, 1973. Israel was caught by surprise by this two-sided attack. Egypt came from the
southwest and Syria attacked from the north. Though initially caught off-guard by the attack on the
holiest day on the Jewish calendar, Israeli forces rallied to take control of the fighting. At one point,
Israel was within 60 miles of Cairo and 20 miles of Damascus.

Israel has not had a major conflict with Egypt, Syrian or Jordan since 1973, though the current Syrian
Civil War has led to some military action on Israel’s part.

Israel has also had to endure terrorist attacks from the West Bank in recent decades. Beginning in 2000,
Israel built a 440-mile security fence along the border of the West Bank and Israel. Some of the fence
(less than 10 percent) is a solid wall, 26 feet high. The concrete security walls stands only in high-
population areas or where there had been problems with snipers.

Though random acts of violence continue, suicide bombings in Israel decreased from 73 from 2000-2003
to 12 over the next three years. Today Israel remains one of the most stable countries in the Middle
East. Part of the reason for this success can be credited to its deep-rooted commitment to the rules of
the parliamentary democracy. Israel ranks among the top 20 nations in the world economically. Tourism
is one of Israel’s major sources of income in the country, attracting 3.6 million foreign tourists in 2017,
yielding a 25 percent growth since 2016 and contributing NIS 20 billion to the Israeli economy.

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