Maps aren't just paper and ink. They're claims. They're arguments. When you look at a 6 day war map from June 4, 1967, and compare it to one from June 11, the difference is honestly staggering. It’s not just a few border tweaks or a tiny village changing hands. We are talking about a total geographic overhaul that tripled the size of the territory under Israeli control in less than a week.
Think about that.
Six days.
In the time it takes most of us to finish a work week, the entire geopolitical DNA of the Levant was mutated. Egypt lost the Sinai Peninsula and the Gaza Strip. Jordan lost the West Bank and East Jerusalem. Syria lost the Golan Heights. If you're trying to understand why the news looks the way it does today, you have to start with these specific lines on the dirt.
Why the Pre-1967 Lines Were a Powder Keg
Before the shooting started, the map looked like a tangled mess of "Green Lines." These weren't permanent borders; they were just armistice lines from the 1948 conflict. Imagine living in a country where your waistline is only nine miles wide. That was Israel near Netanya. Military planners called it the "Auschwitz borders" because they felt completely indefensible.
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Tensions weren't just about land, though. They were about water and access. Egypt’s Gamal Abdel Nasser blocked the Straits of Tiran. That’s a huge deal. It basically choked off Israel's only southern sea route. When you see a 6 day war map showing the naval positions, you realize Israel felt backed into a corner.
Then there’s the West Bank. Back then, it was actually part of Jordan. You could stand in Jordanian territory and look right down into the heart of Tel Aviv. It’s hard to overstate how much that specific geography influenced the decision to launch a preemptive strike.
The Sinai and the Massive Shift South
The biggest chunk of land on the 6 day war map is undeniably the Sinai Peninsula. It’s huge. It’s mostly desert, sure, but it’s a massive buffer. When Israeli jets took out the Egyptian air force on the ground during Operation Focus, the map started changing within hours.
Israeli tanks under commanders like Ariel Sharon and Israel Tal didn't just crawl; they raced. By the time they reached the Suez Canal, the map had swallowed an area several times larger than Israel itself. For Egypt, this was a catastrophe. Not only was the Suez Canal—a global shipping artery—now a front line, but their entire sense of regional leadership was shattered.
Eventually, the Sinai was returned to Egypt following the 1979 peace treaty, but for over a decade, that vast triangle of sand was the most significant "poker chip" in Middle Eastern diplomacy.
The Battle for the Heights
If you look at the top right of a 6 day war map, you'll see the Golan Heights. Before 1967, Syrian artillery sat on those volcanic plateaus and could basically rain fire down on Israeli farmers in the Galilee at will. It was a tactical nightmare for Israel.
The climb up the Golan was brutal. It’s steep, rocky, and heavily fortified. When Israeli forces finally seized the ridge, they didn't just gain land; they gained "eyes." From the Golan, you can see all the way toward Damascus on a clear day.
Even today, this is some of the most contested real estate on the planet. While the Sinai was returned, the Golan was effectively annexed by Israel in 1981, a move most of the world (with the notable exception of the U.S. in recent years) still doesn't recognize.
Jerusalem and the West Bank: The Heart of the Matter
This is where the map gets really complicated. And emotional.
For nineteen years, Jerusalem was a divided city. Barbed wire. Sniper posts. Concrete walls. Jordanians on one side, Israelis on the other. On June 7, 1967, when Israeli paratroopers reached the Western Wall, the 6 day war map underwent its most symbolic change.
- East Jerusalem was captured from Jordan.
- The Old City, containing the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock, changed hands.
- The West Bank (Judea and Samaria) fell under Israeli military administration.
You can't just look at this as a military victory. It created a massive humanitarian and political puzzle that we're still nowhere near solving. Suddenly, Israel was responsible for over a million Palestinians living in these territories. The "Green Line" became a ghost—still there on old maps, but increasingly blurred by settlements and security infrastructure on the ground.
The Geography of Occupation vs. Security
Some people look at the post-1967 map and see "strategic depth." They argue that the Jordan River is the only logical security border for Israel. Others look at the same map and see a blueprint for a humanitarian crisis.
The nuance is that both can be true at the same time.
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The maps show how the "Allon Plan" attempted to find a middle ground—annexing some parts for security while returning others for peace—but it never really took off. Instead, we got a patchwork map. If you look at a modern map of the West Bank today, it looks like Swiss cheese, with Areas A, B, and C all stemming from the original lines drawn in the sand in 1967.
What Most People Get Wrong About the Map
One huge misconception is that the borders changed because of an Israeli "land grab" for the sake of empire. If you read the primary sources from the time—the cables between DC, Tel Aviv, and Cairo—it was way more chaotic.
There wasn't a master plan to take the West Bank on day one. In fact, Israel sent messages to King Hussein of Jordan through the UN, basically saying: "If you don't jump in, we won't touch you." Hussein, influenced by false reports from Egypt that they were winning, joined the fray.
Bam. The map changed.
If Jordan had stayed out, the West Bank might still be Jordanian today. History is weird like that. It’s often a series of frantic decisions made in smoky rooms rather than a grand, multi-decade conspiracy.
How to Read a 6 Day War Map Today
When you’re looking at these maps, don't just look at the colors. Look at the topography.
- Check the Elevations: See how the Golan Heights towers over the Hula Valley.
- Look at the Water: Notice how the map centers around the Jordan River and the Sea of Galilee.
- Note the Narrowness: Look at the "waist" of Israel near Qalqilya before the war. It's tiny.
The 6 day war map is basically the "Old Testament" of modern Middle Eastern politics. Everything that came after—the 1973 Yom Kippur War, the Lebanon wars, the Intifadas, the Abraham Accords—it all references back to these six days in June.
Moving Forward With This Knowledge
Understanding the map is the first step toward having a semi-intelligent conversation about the Middle East. If you want to dive deeper, you should look into the specific UN Resolution 242. It’s the "land for peace" document that was written specifically to address the changes on the 1967 map.
To really get a feel for the scale, find a topographical map of the region. Seeing the mountain ridges of the West Bank and the cliffs of the Golan explains the "why" behind the military movements better than any history book. You can also compare the 1949 Armistice map with the 1967 ceasefire map side-by-side; the visual of Israel's size change is the quickest way to understand the seismic shift in regional power.
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The lines might have been drawn in 1967, but the ink is still wet. Every time a new settlement is built or a peace treaty is discussed, someone is pulling out a 6 day war map and pointing to a ridge, a road, or a holy site. It’s the most important geography lesson you’ll ever take.
Actionable Next Steps:
- Compare the "Green Line": Search for an overlay map that shows the 1967 borders on top of modern-day satellite imagery to see how much the infrastructure has changed.
- Study Resolution 242: Read the actual text of the UN resolution; it's surprisingly short and uses the phrase "withdrawal of Israel armed forces from territories occupied in the recent conflict," which remains a point of grammatical and legal debate (the "the" or lack thereof).
- Trace the Jordan Valley: Look at the elevation of the Jordan Rift Valley to see why it remains the most significant natural military barrier in the region.