Timeline Part Three (1963: No Dallas)

May 22, 1967 President Kennedy orders the USS "Independence" Carrier Group from Gibralter towards Israel. Within days, Soviet ships begin to shadow the group. Alexei Kosygin communicates angrily over the Hotline teletype and the White House has the Soviet ambassador come in for a special meeting with Kennedy on the 26th. Kennedy, updated on some of the "close calls" from the Cuban blockade in '62, assures the ambassador that the group is merely there to prevent "an escalation" of the looming war. But tensions remain high throughout the upcoming conflict.

June 3-9 1967 Two days earlier than OTL, the Six Day War begins. The air assault against the Egyptian air forces works even better than in OTL with over 450 aircraft destroyed in the first night. Ground fighting soon begins in the Sinai and Ariel Sharon and the Israelis (as in OTL) win the vital Battle of Abu-Ageila, with slightly more ground troop casualties (50 instead of 33, and 22 tanks instead of 19). The Egyptians also lose slightly more (4300 KIA and some 70 tanks). Field Marshall Abdel Hakim Amer, as in OTL, panicks and orders a retreat from the Sinai, thus leaving it wide open to the Israelis.

Meanwhile, fighting starts on the 4th in the West Bank. Like OTL, the Israelis demolish the Jordanian forces after heavy fighting. But unlike OTL, Moshe Dayan fails to receive intelligence reports of Hussein's withdrawal and doesn't order taking of the West Bank. When the war ends, the West Bank, unlike OTL, reverts back to Jordan.

In the Golan Heights, vastly different to OTL events occur. Syria fails to believe the Egyptian reports of "victory" over the IDF and Nureddin al-Atassi puts it down to propaganda. Syrian forces continue shelling Israeli settlements from the Heights, but dig in and reinforce their positions even more stronger. As in OTL, the Syrian Air Force is nearly wiped out by the Israelis, but Prime Minister Eshkol and the Isreali cabinet vote against an all-out assault on Golan and maintain aerial bombardment of the area. By the end of the war on the 9th, Syria retains the territory.

Meanwhile in Washington, Kennedy and Dean Rusk were pushing for a ceasefire in the UN. Additional help came from the Soviets as Kosygin relented and failed to provide Syria the aid they requested upon seeing the devastation of their air forces by Israel, the defeat of the Jordanians, and tremendous defeat of the Egyptians and the seizure of territory from them. Naval forces of both super-powers began withdrawing on June 7th.

On June 9th, a ceasefire was signed. Unlike OTL, Israel controlled only the Gaza Strip and the Sinai Peninsula. Jordanian forces retook the West Bank and UN forces returned to Jerusalem. Syria though battered, remained "officially" "undefeated". Other powers who had aided the Arab attack were embarassed and Israel's defense was clearly shown to be strong. Though Israel did not gain as much territory as in OTL, they also did not gain a huge Arab population in occupied lands. Technically, the Palestinians on the West Bank were still under Jordanian rule.

An additional alternative event also failed to happen. There was no attack on the USS "Liberty" by Israeli forces. That sore point, that haunted Israel-American relations, and provided fodder for conspiracy theorists...never occured. The "Liberty" safely returned to base and continued its service until it was scrapped in 1973.