The Six-Day War of 1967 marked a turning point in Israeli-Arab relations. The war was a bloody but brief conflict between Israel and the Arab states of Syria, Jordan and Egypt. After years of diplomatic disagreement and discontent, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) staged preemptive airstrikes that crippled the Egyptian military (Shlaim and Louis, 2012). Israel then seized the Gaza Strip and the Sinai from Egypt, the Golan Heights from Syria, and East Jerusalem and the West Bank from Jordan. The war ended quickly with a UN-brokered ceasefire, but the legacy of the conflict continues to dictate Arab-Israeli relations. For the Arab world, the war meant the end of pan-Arab nationalism led by Nasser and, as a result of this disenfranchisement, the return of conservative Islam. On the margins of Arab society, this fundamentalism has led to a rise in terrorism; is now regularly used to discredit the Arab side in Arab-Israeli relations. Similarly, Israel's success in the Six-Day War strengthened conservative Zionism within Jewish society. As a result of this push, right-wing fundamentalist culture continues to control Israeli foreign policy toward the Arab world. But perhaps most important is the bilateral relationship between the United States and Israel, born out of the Six-Day War. This relationship has created a dangerous co-dependence that continues to allow Israel to hold the greatest military and economic strength in the region. The Six-Day War led to the rise of extremism in the Arab and Israeli world and interference by the United States, devastating Arab-Israeli relations. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why violent video games should not be banned”? Get the original essay The Six-Day War led to the decline of Arab nationalism and, subsequently, the rise of the frequently used Islamic fundamentalism by Israel and its allies to discredit Arab foreign policy in Arab-Israeli relations. In the early 20th century, efforts were made to build a pan-Arab nationalism more aligned with liberal and socialist principles than with traditional Islam. The greatest expression of this new nationalism was Nasserism, based on the thought of Nasser, Egypt's second president. This model hoped to create Arab unity in the conflict against Western colonialism and Zionism. However, the decline of Nasserism in the face of the Six-Day War discredited this ideology and was replaced by a return to Islamic fundamentalism. Many people in the Arab world believed that the "abandonment" of Islam led to the undoing of 1967. "Each of the Islamic jihadists I interviewed said that 1967 marked a watershed moment for them - an awakening brutal that the Arab socialists experienced. the leaders had deceived them.” After the war, the power of Islamic groups grew as growing numbers of embittered nationalists abandoned socialist and liberal ideologies in favor of fundamentalism. Ayman al-Zawahri's journey illustrates this rise. At the time, aged fifteen, Ayman recounted how the defeat of 1967, as well as the execution of the Muslim Brotherhood's spiritual leader, Sayyid Qutb, a year earlier, had given him the power to create an organization to replace Nasser by an “Islamist caliphate”. Many felt the same way, jihadist expert Fawaz Gerges, after interviews with those who would later join Islamic jihadist groups, concluded that the defeat of the six-day war "can be considered the most crucial eventwhich helps us understand why Islamic militancy has become a powerful force in the world.” the region” (2005). In 1978, Ayman al-Zawahri became leader of an Islamic Jihad faction calling for Palestinian liberation. In 1981, Egyptian President Anwar Sadat was assassinated by Islamic Jihad. Two years earlier, Sadat had signed a peace treaty with Israel. In 1988, Osama bin Laden and others, including Ayman Zawahri, issued a fatwa calling for the overthrow of governments friendly to the United States, titled "World Islamic Front Against Jews and Crusaders." This type of extremism has frequently been used by Israel to discredit Arab foreign policy in Arab-Israeli relations: “Lebanon, controlled by Hezbollah, now chairs the UN Security Council. In effect, this means that a terrorist organization presides over the body responsible for ensuring the security of the world” (Netanyahu, 2011). Indeed, the Israeli Prime Minister freely admits the way in which Islamic fundamentalism has been used to discredit the Arabs: “One thing we benefit from is the attacks on the Twin Towers and the Pentagon and the American struggle in Iraq. These events swung American public opinion in our favor” (Netanyahu, 2008). Pre-war pan-Arab nationalism was abandoned in the aftermath of the Six-Day War to be replaced by a return to fundamentalist Islam which, in Israeli eyes, would pollute future Arab foreign policy. The Six-Day War led to the rise of a conservative religious movement. Zionism as the dominant form of Israeli Judaism, a form that continues to shape the state's expansionist policies in Arab-Israeli relations. By June 10, 1967, the mood in Israel was euphoric, the young and relatively small nation had conquered the Gaza Strip and the Sinai Peninsula from Egypt, the Golan Heights from Syria and East Jerusalem and the West Bank from Jordan. The country was celebrating the defeat of much of the Arab world. Before the war, internal conflict within Judaism over Zionism had called into question the migration of the Jewish people to Israel; many Orthodox Jews believed that returning to Israel was forbidden until the Messiah came. Today, however, many view the successful conquest of the biblical homeland as a “sign of God's providence,” legitimizing the occupation of Palestine. Zionist leader Hillel Kook expressed this view: “The IDF [Israel Defense Forces] is completely holy. It represents the dominion of the Lord’s people over their land.” While some within the Jewish community advocated for the return of occupied Arab lands, the conquest had already given a powerful voice to those who advocated continued occupation and led to the popularity of Jewish fundamentalists who reinforced the concept of a “Greater Israel”. “This gave rise to a far-right messianic expansionism and ideology in Israel that did not really exist before 1967. Once Israel took control of the West Bank and more and more settlements were built, these have become a major obstacle to peace.” After the success of 1967, there remained a secular Labor government in Israel. However, the Six Day War empowered the Zionists and six years later, after the Yom Kippur War, a coalition of political conservatives and religious Zionists came to power. This fundamentalist conservatism, which came to power more than forty years ago, continues to dictate Israeli policy. "...the Six-Day War taught us a lifelong lesson that constitutes its cornerstone: Israel will defend itself against every enemy and against.