The 1967 War and the Occupation

The Six-Day War (June 1967)

In June 1967, amid rising tensions — including Egyptian President Nasser's closure of the Straits of Tiran and mobilization of troops in Sinai — Israel launched a preemptive strike. In six days, Israel captured:

• The Sinai Peninsula and Gaza Strip from Egypt
• The West Bank and East Jerusalem from Jordan
• The Golan Heights from Syria

The war tripled the territory under Israeli control and placed over one million Palestinians under military occupation. It also brought Judaism's holiest site — the Western Wall in Jerusalem's Old City — under Israeli sovereignty for the first time in modern history.

The war produced UN Security Council Resolution 242 (November 1967), which established the framework for all subsequent peace efforts: it called for 'withdrawal of Israeli armed forces from territories occupied in the recent conflict' and the right of every state in the area 'to live in peace within secure and recognized boundaries.' The deliberate ambiguity of the language — 'from territories' rather than 'from the territories' — has been debated ever since.

The Legal Framework of Occupation

The occupation of the West Bank and Gaza (and the Golan Heights) has persisted for over five decades, making it one of the longest military occupations in modern history.

Under the Fourth Geneva Convention (1949), an occupying power is prohibited from transferring its civilian population into occupied territory (Article 49). The International Court of Justice ruled in its 2004 advisory opinion that Israel's construction of the separation barrier in the West Bank was illegal and that Israeli settlements violate international law.

Israel's position: Israel disputes that the Fourth Geneva Convention applies, arguing the West Bank was not sovereign territory of any state (Jordan's annexation was recognized by only two countries). Israel also distinguishes between East Jerusalem (which it annexed and considers part of its sovereign territory) and the rest of the West Bank.

The international consensus: The vast majority of states, the ICJ, the UN, and the International Committee of the Red Cross consider the West Bank, East Jerusalem, and Gaza to be occupied territory, and Israeli settlements to be illegal under international law. This consensus is reflected in numerous UN Security Council resolutions, including Resolution 2334 (2016).