The Middle East and Jordan's West Bank -- to July 1968

The 1967 war between Egypt and Israel left the Suez Canal closed to all shipping, including oil. The demand for oil from Libya, conveniently located on the Mediterranean Sea, rose. Libya increased its price for oil, and other members of the Organization of Petroleum Producers (OPEC) raised their prices. An era had begun in which OPEC would be in the news. Egypt continued its hostilities, Nasser hoping that Israel would be unable to withstand the economic burden of defending against periodic attacks. On July 1, Egypt began shelling Israeli positions near the Suez Canal. On October 21, 1967, Egypt sank the Israeli destroyer Eilat, killing 47. The Israeli death toll between June 15, 1967, and August 8, 1970, was 1,424 soldiers and more than 100 civilians. Meanwhile, the Suez Canal was damaged, and it would remained closed until 1975.

Defeat in the War of 1967 left many Muslims across the Middle East humiliated. Arab nationalism and socialism had been popular in Muslim societies, represented by Nasser in Egypt and secular regimes in Sudan Libya, Syria and Iraq -- a view that included criticism of Saudi Arabia and other gulf state monarchies as feudal. Defeat of Muslim armies in the Six-Day War of 1967 rocked the Middle East. The popularity of secular socialist regimes faded, and more hope focused on Islam.

In Egypt the Muslim Brotherhood became more influential and replaced Leftists as leaders on university campuses. In the wake of the War of 1967, more than 300,000 Palestinians fled to Jordan. Palestinians were disappointed by the performance of the Egyptians, Jordanians and Syrians during the war.

The Arab defeat in the Six-Day War left some members of the PLO organization, al-Fatah, discouraged, but not Yasser Arafat. At a meeting of about twenty in Damascus, Arafat listened to what he considered defeatist talk, including the complaint by one with fundamentalist leanings that resuming guerrilla activity would merely provoke Israel and destroy their movement. Arafat said that the performance of the Arab armies vindicated what he had said about the need of Palestinians to help themselves. The defeat of 1967, he said, was "prelude to a great victory." Arafat was ready with a plan to organize million of Palestinians now living under Israeli occupation. In August 1967 Arafat was describing the West Bank as a tinder-box awaiting al-Fatah's spark.

Arafat had no success inspiring revolt in the West Bank (still officially Jordanian territory). Palestinians outside of the occupied territories emerged from the War of June 1967 eager for confrontation with Israel. In the summer of 1967, four hundred Palestinians, students and workers, left their job or studies in Germany for training in Algeria. Soon they were in Syria and were sent on raids into the West Bank, under Israeli occupation. Some of them were arrested and some of them died.

Palestinian guerrillas crossed from Jordan and attacked Israeli kibbutzim. In March 1968, the Israelis retaliated, at Karameh, said to be a guerrilla capital. In a camp there were several hundred civilians along with about 900 Palestinian guerrillas, mostly from Fatah, and the PLO leader Yasser Arafat had his headquarters there. Arafat abandoned Karameh the night before the Israelis arrived. In what is called the Battle of Karameh, the Israelis were driven back and suffered substantial losses. It was Israel's first battle engagement with the PLO. The PLO acquired a new prestige within the Arab community, and Palestinians gave Arafat a new prestige -- despite his having fled before the battle.

In July, Jordan's King Hussein decided to end his rule over the West Bank. About 40 percent of his subject in Jordan were Palestinian, and while some were loyal to him, many were a source of trouble and a source of insecurity. Jordan would no longer represent the Palestinians in the West Bank in talks involving Israelis. Hussein declared the PLO the sole legitimate representative of the people in the West Bank. West Bank Palestinians would now be considered foreigners in Jordan and allowed to stay for only limited periods. Ties were cut between West Bank Palestinians and more than 200 charitable societies and civic organizations, like chapters of the Red Crescent and professional organizations. Educational opportunities for Palestinians from the West Bank residents were curtailed at Jordan's universities.

Israel was not about to join Jordan in disengaging in the West Bank. Israelis viewed the West Bank as homeland. Jews had been murdered there and driven out as recently as two decades before, and now some were returning as settlers. Israel believed that it should continue to police the West bank. They had been negotiating with local Palestinian leaders who were asking for self-rule without a withdrawal of Israel's military. But there were many Palestinians who already wanted an end to what they saw as Israel's occupation, and there were young men among them ready to become a force that was not yet the arm of a recognized state.

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