[Steve_Seattle]

"who started the Six days War"

The precipitating factor was an Egyptian blockade of Israeli shipping in the gulf. This coincided with a massive Arab military buildup (400,000 soldiers) along Israel's borders with Egypt and Jordan. Fearing imminent invasion, Israel launched a pre-emptive strike which crippled the Egyptian air force and artillery, pretty much winning the war in the first few hours. So who started it depends on how you look at it.

[Steve_Seattle]

"who started the Six Days War"

I forgot to mention that in the weeks leading up to the Arab military buildup, Egyptian President Nasser was engaging in a lot of bellicose "we will destroy Israel" speechifying.

[FairWitness]

The precipitating factor was an Egyptian blockade of Israeli shipping in the gulf. - - - - - So who started it depends on how you look at it.

Isn't a blockade of one nations ports by another nation generally agreed to be an act of war?

[John H K]

This is a somewhat complicated issue.

Simply mobilizing along the borders, but not firing a shot, is EFFECTIVELY starting a war with Israel.

Israel has a far smaller population than the neighboring Arab states, and thus has to mobilize a far higher % of its population for war. The Israelis are unable to mobilize their entire army and keep it mobilized for more than a few weeks, maybe a month, before their entire economy would collapse because there's no work getting done. However, the Arab states can stay mobilized far longer. So, basically, Israel generally HAS to strike first; they can't sit around mobilized forever.

In 1967, technically, the Israelis "started" the war because they fired the first shots; The reality was that they really couldn't do much else.

The Arab states are aware they'll get struck preemptively if they even begin to mobilize in a serious way; hence, they don't do so.