Israeli warplanes took to the skies on June 5, 1967, quickly
destroying the Egyptian and Syrian air forces on their respec-
tive runways. Having established what military commanders
call air superiority, Israeli forces also advanced rapidly on the
ground. Within six days, Israeli troops captured huge chunks of
territory. They gained control of all the Sinai Peninsula, right
up to the Suez Canal. They also took control of the Gaza Strip,
a sliver of land that had been controlled by Egypt since 1948
and had a large Palestinian population, and the Golan Heights,
a Syrian highland region that overlooked northeastern Israel.
The West Bank, that part of Jordan that lay west of the Jor-
dan River, where the population was mostly Palestinian Arab,
also fell to Israeli forces. Israel’s capture of the West Bank also
included the prize catch of the Old City of Jerusalem, which
contains Judaism’s holiest site—the Western Wall—as well as
places sacred to Muslims and Christians. Now humiliated and
defeated, Nasser tried to step down as Egypt’s leader, but the
public rallied behind him and he remained in office until his
death in 1970.