España y la guerra de los 6 días

Abstract

The recent declassification of some of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs files allows us to tackle recent international events in which Spanish Foreign policy was involved, in particular with regard to aspects of the Middle East conflict, such as the so called 6 Day War (6-11/6/1967). The Spanish efforts to mediate in this conflict date back to the origins of the war in 1948 and derive from three fundamental reasons: firstly the lack of relations with the State of Israel; secondly, the historical rights to the Holy Lands; and lastly the relationships with the Arab countries. The approach of the Minister of Foreign Affairs of that time - Fernando Castiella - was driven by the desire to support the Arab cause, at the same time as the Arab countries backed the Spanish thesis for the internationalisation of Jerusalem, with the Arabs additionally requesting the support of the Spanish with the idea that Spain should obtain the support of the Hispano-American countries for the Arab cause within the various international forums. The Spanish diplomatic corps similarly maintained contacts with the Vatican in an effort to obtain their support with the Jerusalem problem. However, the Vatican diplomats adopted a somewhat two-faced posture, on the one hand outwardly defending against the internationalisation of the Holy Hands, while on the other hand accepting the reality of the situation, that is to say the occupation of the city by Jordanians and Israelis in perfect harmony with the American and British interests. Spanish diplomacy in the international arena was constrained by these influences, together with the additional pressure that was being applied by the Americans on the Madrid government to tone down their pro-Arab stance, and as a consequence of this protect the American interests in many of the Arab countries, and achieved an excellent image with the rest of the world with the liberation of a large number of Jews who at that time lived in various Arab countries, particularly Egypt.