Again, before proceeding, a couple of notes: First, Hezbollah has sent 5 drones into Israel in the past few days, only one of which was reported in the news. Second. IDF air strikes that killed a Hamas leader took place in Lebanon, not Gaza.
Losing the 1956 Sinai war to Israel did not keep Nasser from making another try. He wrote a book, “The Philosophy of The Revolution” expounding his views on uniting the Arab world, and even all Muslims (under his leaderships, of course). He took steps to carry out his (pipe) dream. Egypt and Syria joined together as the United Arab Republic (until the Syrians discovered that this was just a way impose Egyptians in control of all the important jobs in Syria). But the idea of cooperating against Israel was still there. Nasser recognized that Israel (then) based the Israeli Defense Forces on a mass of reservists. If the reserves were activated, he thought, the Israeli economy would collapse. The Egyptian Army was moved up to the Sinai border. Israel did activate reservists. Then the Egyptians ordered the UN forces to leave. The UN accepted the decision, even though the commander of the forces, Indian Major General Indar Rikhye termed it “The Sinai Blunder” (and later wrote a book using that title to explain why).
Israel could not (then) sustain a high mobilization level and came to the conclusion that action was necessary. The planned surprise attack by Israel resulted in a total defeat of three major Arab armies; those of Egypt, Syria, and Jordan. The UN imposed cease-fire left Israel in control of the entire Sinai Peninsula, the Jordanian “West Bank”, and the Syrian Golan Heights (previously part of the original mandated Jewish state, but given by England to France (without ever consulting the League of Nations under whose authority both the British and French control of the region was originally established) . What followed was a continuing war of attrition on the borders with every Arab attack resulting in an Israeli response that caused much more damage than the Arab action. But on the diplomatic front there were more important steps. The Arab League met in Khartoum and issued a declaration that there would be “No Peace with Israel, No recognition of Israel, and No negotiations with Israel” (Does that sound familiar? It has been part of the Hamas charter since the movement was founded). The Arabs also recognized that Yasser Arafat’s Palestine Liberation Organization would be the “Sole Legitimate Representative” of the Palestinians. Those decisions have affected all diplomatic attempts at solving the conflict ever since.
Wetherhorn 