1968_4_arabisraelwar

ISRAEL / 121
Israeli paratroopers broke into the Old City of Jerusalem through St.
Stephen's Gate in the eastern wall and took it in hand-to-hand combat, at
the cost of heavy casualties to avoid damage to the Holy Places. Israeli forces
occupied the rest of the West Bank. The Israeli air force and artillery struck
at Jordanian forces and guns in the north.
At a press conference on the same day, General Dayan stated that Israel
had achieved her main aims in the campaign. General Rabin emphasized
that "all these operations were carried out by the Israel defense forces alone
and unaided."
On June 8 Egyptian resistance in Sinai was destroyed and Egypt accepted
the UN Security Council's call for a cease-fire. By dawn on the following
morning three Israeli columns held positions all along the Suez Canal. On the
same day Israeli forces were transferred from the central front to the North,
where aircraft, artillery, armor, and infantry broke through the Syrian positions
on the Golan Heights, from which Israeli villages in the valley below
had been repeatedly harassed and shelled.
On June 10 the Syrians agreed to a cease-fire, but, as they continued to
shell Israeli villages, the Israeli forces attacked and occupied the whole of
the Golan Heights as far as Kuneitra, 60 kilometers from Damascus. The
cease-fire went into force on the northern sector at 16:30 GMT, bringing
the six-day war to an end.
On the same day the Soviet Union announced the rupture of. diplomatic
relations with Israel; Poland, Hungary, Yugoslavia and Czechoslovakia followed
suit.
On the evening of the 11th, Israeli casualties were announced: 679 killed,
255 with serious or medium injuries, and 2,038 slightly injured. On the same
day, the S.S. Dolphin, flying the Israeli flag, passed through the Strait of
Tiran and anchored at Eilat.
The Home Front
The mobilization of the reserves placed a severe strain on the economy
and public services, but older men, women and schoolchildren volunteered
all over the country to perform whatever tasks were required. Workers in
factory, field, and office worked overtime without pay to get in the harvest,
keep up supplies, and fill export orders, while boys and girls manned the
postal services, which remained almost normal.
After a day's rush by housewives to fill their food cupboards, the government
announced that ample supplies were available, and kept the warehouses
open until late at night so that shops could replenish their stocks.
Following the closing of the Strait of Tiran to Israeli shipping, Menahem
Begin, leader of Gahal (Herut-Liberal bloc), Simeon Peres, Secretary-General
of Rafi (Israel Labor List) and Moses H. Shapiro, leader of the National
Religious party, called for the expansion of the cabinet to fortify public confidence.
Peres offered to merge Rafi with Mapai to facilitate the inclusion