Six-Day War Timeline

The Palestine Liberation Organization, established in 1964, became more active after the Six-Day War. Its actions gave credibility to those who claimed that only terror could end Israel's existence, leading to a series of hijackings, bombings, and kidnappings culminating in the massacre of Israeli athletes at the 1972 Munich Olympics.

Image source: Palestine Liberation Organization

In the Arab nations, populations of minority Jews faced persecution and expulsion following the Israeli victory, contributing to the Jewish exodus from Arab lands, which had been ongoing since 1948.

Image source: Jewish exodus from the Muslim world

These forces remained in Jordan until the end of 1977, when they were recalled for re-equipment and retraining in the Karak region near the Dead Sea, reflecting the long-term military posture adopted after the war.

In the immediate aftermath of the conflict, Egypt closed the Suez Canal, keeping it shut from 1967 to 1975, disrupting global shipping and becoming one of the most significant economic consequences of the war.

Image source: 2021 Suez Canal obstruction

Israel applied its law, administration and jurisdiction to East Jerusalem in 1967, allowing only the inhabitants of East Jerusalem and the Golan Heights to receive full Israeli citizenship among the territories captured in the war.

Image source: Jerusalem Law

Some 11,200 Jews from Poland immigrated to Israel during the 1968 Polish political crisis and in 1969, part of the wider movement of Jewish populations reshaped by the aftermath of the Six-Day War.

Image source: 1968 Polish political crisis

From 1970 to 1988, some 291,000 Soviet Jews were granted exit visas, of whom 165,000 immigrated to Israel and 126,000 to the United States, part of the broader wave of immigration influenced by events in the Middle East.

Image source: Refusenik

Having learned tactical lessons from their 1967 defeat, Egypt and Syria launched a coordinated surprise attack in October 1973 in an attempt to reclaim their lost territories, beginning the Yom Kippur War.

Image source: Yom Kippur War

Israel returned the Sinai to Egypt after the Camp David Accords of 1978, making peace with its former adversary and completing a staged withdrawal from the Sinai Peninsula by 1982.

Image source: Camp David Accords

In 1981, Israel extended its law, administration and jurisdiction to the Golan Heights, captured from Syria in 1967, granting its inhabitants the opportunity to receive full Israeli citizenship.

As part of the 1979 Egypt–Israel Peace Treaty stemming from the Camp David Accords, Israel completed its staged withdrawal from the entire Sinai Peninsula in April 1982, returning the territory captured in 1967 to Egypt.

Image source: Egypt–Israel peace treaty

Nearly three decades after losing the West Bank and East Jerusalem in the Six-Day War, Jordan signed a comprehensive peace treaty with Israel in 1994, formally ending the state of belligerency dating back to 1948 and 1967.

Image source: Israel–Jordan peace treaty

After following other Arab nations in declaring war on Israel in 1967, Mauritania remained in a declared state of war with Israel until about 1999, when it moved toward normalized relations.

Image source: Israel–Mauritania relations

Following the war, the United States imposed an embargo on new arms agreements to all Middle East countries, including Israel, that remained in force until the end of 1967, despite urgent Israeli requests to lift it.

Image source: United States foreign policy in the Middle East

Following the capture of the West Bank, Proclamation No. 2 (1967) established the military government in the territory and granted the commander of the area full legislative, executive, and judicial power.

Image source: Israeli occupation of the West Bank

Free Israeli-organized transportation of refugees wishing to leave or return began on June 11, 1967, and continued for about a month, facilitating movement across the new ceasefire lines.

Image source: Expulsion of Palestinians from Kuwait (1990–91)

On June 19, 1967, Israel's National Unity Government voted unanimously to return the Sinai to Egypt and the Golan Heights to Syria in return for peace agreements, an offer that went unanswered by the Arab states.

Image source: Land for peace

On July 2, the Israeli government announced it would allow the return of those 1967 refugees who desired to do so, no later than August 10; the deadline was later extended to September 13, 1967.

On November 22, 1967, the United Nations Security Council adopted Resolution 242, the 'land for peace' formula, which called for Israeli withdrawal 'from territories occupied' in 1967 and 'the termination of all claims or states of belligerency'.

After an investigation into the June 1967 attack on the USS Liberty, the United States accepted Israel's explanation that it was a tragic mistake, and the issue was formally closed by the exchange of diplomatic notes in 1987.

Image source: USS Liberty incident

Following the capture of Hebron, Jews gained access to the Cave of the Patriarchs, the second-holiest site in Judaism, for the first time since the 14th century. Previously Jews had been allowed to pray only at the entrance.

Image source: Cave of the Patriarchs

The Israeli plan surprised Egyptian forces in timing (coinciding exactly with the IAF strike), location (attacking via northern and central Sinai routes rather than repeating the central and southern routes of 1956), and method (using combined-force flanking approaches rather than direct tank assaults).

Image source: Suez Crisis

The Six-Day War began on June 5, 1967, with Operation Focus, a surprise Israeli attack consisting of a series of airstrikes against Egyptian airfields and other facilities as the UNEF was leaving the zone. The strikes destroyed much of the Egyptian air force on the ground.

Image source: Operation Focus

Under Jordanian rule since 1948, Jews had been expelled from Jerusalem's Old City and barred from the Western Wall. For the first time since 1948, Jews could visit the Old City and pray at the Western Wall, an event now celebrated annually on Yom Yerushalayim.

Image source: Western Wall

As Israeli forces captured Hebron during the war, fearful that Israeli soldiers would exact retribution for the 1929 massacre of the city's Jewish community, Hebron's residents flew white sheets from their windows and rooftops as a sign of surrender.

On June 8, 1967, Israeli jets and torpedo boats attacked the USS Liberty, a United States Navy electronic intelligence vessel sailing 13 nautical miles off Arish, nearly sinking the ship, killing 34 sailors and wounding 171. Israel later apologized, calling it a case of mistaken identity.