Abstract

This article explores the role of Britain in the lead-up to the 1967 Middle Eastern War. It analyzes why Britain took such an active role in the initial stages and why this was scaled back to a policy of non-intervention in the end. It concludes that Britain's interests in the Middle East, which were primarily the protection of oil, the maintenance of a balance of power and the containment of Nasser, became dependent on an Israeli military victory. Intervention would have had much too high a political and economic cost. Likewise, the USA came to much the same conclusion, which was why both nations secretly welcomed the Israeli victory.