Nasir’s Strategy for ‘Eliminating the Traces of Aggression’ June 1967-September 1970: A Reassessment
Keywords:
Gamal Abdel Nasser, Israel–Egypt relations, Soviet–Egyptian relations, Six-Day WarAbstract
In his resignation speech of June 9, 1967 Nasir defined for the first time the main goal of his strategy as ‘the eradication of the traces of aggression’, that is, the annulment of Israel’s war gains. The Khartoum Arab Summit in September ratified this strategy. Based on Egyptian and Arab primary sources, the article reassesses some of the central issues related to this strategy. These include: Soviet influence on formulating and implementing the strategy’s principles; Nasir’s near-obsessive determination to reach a military confrontation with Israel; Nasir’s view that a political solution to the conflict was unattainable. The strategy’s basic guidelines were: refusal to accept Israel’s conditions; preservation of Arab honor; ‘recovery by force what was taken by force’; and reliance on Soviet military and political support. Nasir implemented this strategy along two parallel tracks: political activity and intensive military preparation. However, since he believed that the political path was doomed to failure, war was inevitable.
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