Some facts about the run up to the "Six Day War" of 1967:

In an address to the UN General Assembly on the 10th October, 1960, Foreign Minister Golda Meir challenged Arab leaders to meet with Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion to negotiate a peace settlement.

Nasser answered on the 15th October, saying that Israel was trying to deceive world opinion, and reiterating that his country would never recognize the Jewish State.

Nasser, on 8th March, 1965 - "We shall not enter Palestine with its soil covered in sand. We shall enter it with its soil saturated in blood."

Nasser, again a few months later detailed the Arabs' aspiration: "...the full restoration of the rights of the Palestinian people. In other words, we aim at the destruction of the State of Israel. The immediate aim: perfection of Arab military might. The national aim: the eradication of Israel."

From 1964 Syria used positions on the Golan Heights to shell Israeli farms and villages, Syria's attacks increased in number steadily in 1965 (35), 1966 (41) and 1967 (37 in the period January to April).

On the 7th April, the Israeli's retaliated, in aerial skirmishes the Syrian Air Force lost 6 aircraft.

On the 15th May, Egyptian troops began moving into the Sinai and massing near the Israeli border.

The following day, 16th May Nasser ordered the UN Emergency Force, stationed in the Sinai since 1956, to withdraw. Without bringing the matter to the attention of the General Assembly, as he should have done, Secretary-General U Thant complied with Nasser's demand.

After the withdrawal of the UNEF, the Voice of the Arabs proclaimed (May 18, 1967):
"As of today, there no longer exists an international emergency force to protect Israel. We shall exercise patience no more. We shall not complain any more to the UN about Israel. The sole method we shall apply against Israel is total war, which will result in the extermination of Zionist existence. "

On the same day, the Syrian army was brought up and prepared for battle along the Golan Heights.

On the 20th May Syrian Defense Minister Hafez Assad came out with the following:

"Our forces are now entirely ready not only to repulse the aggression, but to initiate the act of liberation itself, and to explode the Zionist presence in the Arab homeland. The Syrian army, with its finger on the trigger, is united....I, as a military man, believe that the time has come to enter into a battle of annihilation."

At this point Nasser made the biggest mistake he could have. On the 22nd May, 1967, Egypt closed the Straits of Tiran to all Israeli shipping and all ships bound for Eilat. This blockade violated the Convention on the Territorial Sea and Contiguous Zone, which was adopted by the UN Conference on the Law of the Sea on April 27, 1958. It also cut off Israel's only supply route with Asia and stopped the flow of oil from its main supplier, Iran. It was the closure of the Strait of Tiran that provided Israel with the "casus belli" and Egypt was warned of the potential consequences.

On the 23rd May Nasser stated, "The Jews threaten to make war. I reply: Welcome! We are ready for war."

On the 27th May Nasser again, "Our basic objective will be the destruction of Israel. The Arab people want to fight,"

On the 28th May Nasser added, " We will not accept any...coexistence with Israel...Today the issue is not the establishment of peace between the Arab states and Israel....The war with Israel is in effect since 1948."

On the 30th May, Nasser then announced: "The armies of Egypt, Jordan, Syria and Lebanon are poised on the borders of Israel...to face the challenge, while standing behind us are the armies of Iraq, Algeria, Kuwait, Sudan and the whole Arab nation. This act will astound the world. Today they will know that the Arabs are arranged for battle, the critical hour has arrived. We have reached the stage of serious action and not declarations."

President Abdur Rahman Aref of Iraq joined in the war of words: "The existence of Israel is an error which must be rectified. This is our opportunity to wipe out the ignominy which has been with us since 1948. Our goal is clear -- to wipe Israel off the map."

All of this was not mere rhetoric, approximately 250,000 troops, 2000 tanks and 700 aircraft were deployed in advanced positions around Israel. Soviet Russia was, and had been for some time, supplying massive amounts of arms and supplies to the Arab nations, while Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Algeria and Iraq were supplying troops and arms to the Egyptian, Syrian and Jordanian fronts.

In the face of this the USA and France, Israel's main arms suppliers imposed an arms embargo on the region.

Faced with the situation it found itself in Israel and no choice but pre-emptive action. To wait for an Arab invasion would have put Israel at a catastrophic disadvantage. Hence the Israeli order given on the 5th June to attack Egypt. They were right.

The cause of Arab-Israeli conflict was based on the deliberate lies and fabrications of Yassir Arafat's Uncle. Arab nations and their political leaders for years used the Palestinian people and their cause as pawns, whilst playing the West against the East during the "Cold War". They have never offered those refugees one shred of comfort or hope. The Palestinian leadership in the form of Yassir Arafat is no leadership at all - but he personally has done quite well out of it financially.