After six days of fighting, the geopolitical map of the central Middle East changed dramatically. By occupying the Sinai Peninsula, Gaza Strip, West Bank, Golan Heights, and East Jerusalem, Israel more than trebled the territory it controlled. The new territorial configuration of the region represented a remarkable strategic improvement for Israel. Its land boundaries had shrunk by about 25 percent, while its shoreline more than doubled. In the south, Egyptian forces had been pushed back across the desert to the opposite side of the Gulf of Suez. In the north, Israeli forces had captured the high ground over Syria, thus bringing them within 24 kilometres of the Damascus—Amman highway. And in the center of the country, the cease-fire line was pushed eastward beyond the West Bank, to the Jordan River. (See map 6.1.)

Israel's gains were also impressive insofar as water resources were concerned. By occupying the Syrian Golan Heights, it controlled the headwaters of the Banias tributary. The only remaining northern source of the Jordan system outside Israel's command was the Hasbani tributary, rising in southeastern Lebanon. (By 1978, however, the state had gained much influence in that region. And since the 1982 invasion of Lebanon, Israeli forces have maintained effective control over the south and thus, of the Hasbani tributary, as well.)