Global and Cultural Studies - Middle East in Transition

The Arab – Israeli Conflict The Middle East In Transition Lesson 3

The Arab – Israeli Conflict

The Arab-Israeli conflict has been one of the most dangerous confrontations in the Middle East. Many international actors, including the US, several European powers, the former Soviet Union, and the United Nations, have attempted to negotiate a solution to the conflict.

Why are the two sides so opposed?

Why has the conflict been so violent?

Why haven’t outside efforts been able to bring a lasting peace?

Video

Reading assignment: pages 176 – 187 in the workbook, “Lesson 3, the Arab-Israeli Conflict”

Homework: Extra Credit (due Monday, 12 March); Activity 5 “What Issues Stand …” (due Monday, 12 March); PowerPoint assignment (due Friday, 16 March)

From the Israeli Perspective: http://www.israelinsider.com/maps

PowerPoint Assignment

Weapons of the Arab – Israeli Wars

You are to complete an PowerPoint presentation of no fewer than 10 slides that describes weapons used by both the Arab and Israeli sides during the 4 wars conducted between 1947 and 1973

You should be descriptive when discussing the weapons

Pictures

How the weapon was used

The effectiveness of the weapon

The overall importance of the weapon in use

This is a very good chance to earn 100 points … just follow the instructions I have given you and remember the good and poor examples from our prior PowerPoint assignment

PS …. Ask questions before the last minute

Due to me on Friday, 16 March … no excuses

Background to the Conflict

Many complex issues

The land

A homeland for the Jewish people

An influential kingdom

Overcome by the Babylonian empire in 586 BC

Babylonians defeated by the Persians in 538 BC

63 BC incorporated into the Roman empire

In 70 AD, the Romans destroyed the Temple in Jerusalem

The Jews were scattered throughout Europe and Asia until 1948

a short YouTube version of the Arab - Israeli mess

During this time, Arab populations and the Islamic religion predominated in the territory where the Jewish state had been

For more than 1,000 years, the area has been the home of Arabs who came to be called Palestinians

So, whose land is it?

Private Property

Before the modern state of Israel was founded, many Arabs owned property in what is today Israel and the Occupied Territories

When the Jewish people first began returning to Palestine, they purchased some land from the Arabs in the area

When Israel was created in 1948, the Israelis terminated many Palestinian property rights and took over Arab land

So, whose property is it?

Religion

While some believer in both Judaism and Islam have adopted views that are more tolerant of the other side

Some continue to use their religion to rationalize their hostility for the other side

Both sides

Have long historical memories

Injustices, prejudices, fighting, and killing

This history adds to fuel to the fires

Both sides believe their own unique historical views on the conflict are accurate

The Creation of Modern Israel

For almost 19 centuries, the Jewish people had no state

They became part of the societies in which they lived, or

They maintained their traditional practices and customs, often

Jews were persecuted in their adopted lands

Longing for their own homeland and escaping persecution, some Jews founded a movement to create a Jewish homeland … this movement called ZIONISM gained little ground until World War I

The BALFOUR DECLARATION in 1917, issued by Great Britain, promised to support the creation of a national homeland for the Jewish people in the territory of ancient Israel

Balfour Declaration

Foreign Office, November 2nd, 1917. Dear Lord Rothschild,

I have much pleasure in conveying to you, on behalf of His Majesty's Government, the following declaration of sympathy with Jewish Zionist aspirations which has been submitted to, and approved by, the Cabinet:

"His Majesty's Government view with favour the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people, and will use their best endeavours to facilitate the achievement of this object, it being clearly understood that nothing shall be done which may prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine , or the rights and political status enjoyed by Jews in any other country".

I should be grateful if you would bring this declaration to the knowledge of the Zionist Federation.

Yours sincerely Arthur James Balfour

Following World War I, the League of Nations gave Great Britain control of Palestine

In the 1920’s, thousands of Jews moved to Palestine

They expected Britain to create a Jewish state

The migration led to anti-Jewish Arab nationalism

Britain made no real effort to form this state, so conflict did not occur

After Germany’s defeat in World War II, Zionism became a powerful force in the world’s Jewish community

Britain is now in a very difficult position

Honor their word or jeopardize their oil and strategic interests in the Arab world

Exhausted by World War II and no desire to deal with escalating acts of Jewish and Arab terrorism

The British turned the Palestinian problem over to the United Nations

The United Nations proposed that Palestine be partitioned into a Jewish state along the Mediterranean coast and a Palestinian state mostly inland

Despite opposition from Jews and Palestinians

And with backing of the two superpowers (US and the Soviet Union)

With that backing, the Jews in the region moved quickly, proclaiming Israeli independence on May 14, 1948

Independence Link

Israel at War

Peace did not break out in Palestine or in Israel

Almost immediately, Arab states attacked Israel

The outnumbered Israeli forces retreated before the Egyptian, Iraqi, Jordanian, Lebanese, and Syrian armies

Israel turned to the United Nations for help and with the US and Soviet Union working together, a four-week long cease fire was brokered

During the cease-fire

The Israelis obtained large quantities of weapons from communist Czechoslovakia

When the cease-fire ended

The Israeli army pushed the Arabs back and pursued them into Arab territories

The Egyptians sued for peace, and the United States arrange a region wide truce

Modern Israel had passed its first trial by fire

It had acquired territory that under the UN partition had been intended for the Palestinians … despite US pressure to return it, Israel kept the territory and forced more than 750,000 Palestinians to flee to other Arab countries

The Arabs accused Israel of EXPANSIONISM

The Arabs and Israelis would fight 3 more major wars

What about Jews living in Arab lands???

Jewish Populations of Arab Countries: 1948 and 2001 <6,500 758,000 - 881,000 Total ~200 1.0% 45,000-55,000 Yemen ~1,000 1.4-3.0% 50,000-105,000 Tunisia ~100 0.4-0.9% 15,000-30,000 Syria 5,230 2.8% 250,000-265,000 Morocco 0 3.6% 35,000-38,000 Libya < 100 0.4-1.5% 5,000-20,000 Lebanon ~200 2.6% 135,000-140,000 Iraq ~100 0.4% 75,000-80,000 Egypt 36 0.5% 550-600 Bahrain ~0 1.6% 140,000 Algeria ~0 8,000 Aden Estimated Jewish population 2001 Jewish % of total population, 1948 1948 Jewish population Country or territory

1956 War

In 1956, France, Britain, and Israel attacked Egypt after Egypt threatened access to the Suez Canal and moved closer to the Soviet Cold War camp

It was an easy victory

The US and Soviet Union insisted that France and Britain withdraw and Israel return the land it had acquired

All three complied

1967 War – “The Six Day War”

After the Arab states surrounding Israel again mobilized for war

Israel attacked and won a stunning military victory in only 6 days

Thus, we call it the “6 day war”

Israel acquired the Gaza Strip and Sinai Peninsula from Egypt, the Golan Heights from Syria, and Jerusalem and the West Bank from Jordan

After the war, Israel agreed to the UN Security Council Resolution 242

Israel would return the Arab lands it had acquired in the war

Arab acceptance of the Israeli state

Arabs and Palestinians declared they would continue to fight Israel, so Israel refused to return the territory

Israel now occupied land that was (and had been for thousands of years) unarguably Arab

Thousands of Palestinian refugees flooded into Arab countries

Israel controlled territory in which thousands of Palestinians lived

Many Palestinians now accepted the radical Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) and its leader, Yasser Arafat , as their spokesman

Many Palestinians turned to terrorism in response to what they perceived as Israeli expansionism

1974 1993 1968

Map of Israel and the Disputed Lands Years before the war, hostilities between the Arab nations, and the Jews had already been at a high point. The Arab nations refused to accept the fact that Israel could be a Jewish state, and so, President Nasser of Egypt called for the destruction of Israel. At first, there were just attacks on civilians once and a while, but the attacks became more and more ferocious, until it came to Israeli villages being heavily shelled by Syrian troops from the Golan Heights. Israel had warned Syria, but Syria came to Egypt for help, and by then, Egyptian forces were packed into the Sinai Peninsula. Nasser then closed down the Strait of Tiran, which was a very important trading link between Israel and the other countries of the world. Such an act was an act of war, but what they didn't know was that Israel would react with full force. Israel's victory was extremely devastating to the Arabs, who expected victory for themselves. The fact that the war took only 6 days shows that Hashem is with Israel. The Arab forces lost almost their entire air forces, and much of their armed weaponry. 10,000 Egyptians were killed in Siniai and Gaza alone, compared to the 300 Israeli casualties on that front. In all, Egypt lost about 11,000 troops, Jordan lost about 6,000, Syria lost about 1,000, and Israel lost about 700. Israel gained all of Jerusalem, The Golan Heights, Sinai, the Gaza Strip, and the West Bank. This is an Israeli point of view

1973 War – “The Yom Kippur War”

Egypt and Syria launched a surprise attack

Taken off-guard, Israel suffered heavy losses and was almost overwhelmed

A massive US airlift of materials and supplies averted the disaster

Within days, Israel recovered and launched a fierce counter-attack

US diplomacy once again constructed a cease-fire, and an uneasy truce fell over the Middle East

In retaliation for US airlift support to Israel, Arab oil-producing states temporarily stopped shipping oil to the United States

Part 1 of a 4 part series on the Yom Kippur War

Cairo-Egyptian air defense commanders are puzzled by an episode that occurred late in the October, 1973, War when an Israeli Phantom was shot down in Sinai and the pilot ejected and parachuted safely into no-man's land between the two armies. The Egyptians routinely sent a jeep and two soldiers to pick up the pilot and were driving back toward their lines when an Israeli helicopter appeared. It disgorged a commando team who captured the Egyptians, spirited the pilot into an armored personnel carrier and sped off. "They never made that much of an effort for any other pilot during the whole war," an Egyptian commander noted. "it must have been very important to them. Could it have been one of their American pilots?"

Another example of how the Egyptian air force applied the lessons it learned from the Israelis during the war of attrition was told by a 32-year-old deputy MiG-21 regiment commander who has been flying since he was 15. "During the war of attrition, the Israeli air force had a favorite ambush tactic, he told AVIATION WEEK & SPACE TECHNOLOGY. “They would penetrate with two aircraft at medium altitude where they would be quickly picked up by radar, We would scramble four or eight to attack them. But they had another dozen fighters trailing at extremely low altitude below radar coverage. As we climbed to the attack they would zoom up behind and surprise us. My regiment lost Migs to this ambush tactic three times. But we learned the lesson and practiced the same tactics. In the final fights over Deversoir, we ambushed some Mirages the same way, and my own 'finger four' [formation] shot down four Mirages with the loss of one Mig."

Shuttle Diplomacy

US diplomats led by US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger engaged in “shuttle diplomacy” for several years, flying back and forth between Washington, Israel, and several Arab states trying to arrange a more permanent peace

2 significant interim agreements

The disengagement of hostile forces in the Sinai and in the Golan Heights

An Israeli withdrawal from 2 strategic passes

Despite this, the Arab-Israeli conflict continued

Camp David

With the election of President Jimmy Carter in 1976, the fear that another war in the Middle East might erupt again was in the forefront of American diplomatic affairs

Proposed a meeting of all concerned parties in Geneva, Switzerland

Sought to include the USSR because of its influence with the Palestinian Liberation Organization and radical Arab states

Did not please the Israelis who had been fighting against Soviet equipped armies

Nor did it please Egypt’s President Anwar Sadat who in 1972 had ordered the Soviets out of Egypt

Sadat proposed to Israel a direct negotiation … and the 2 sides met in Nov 1977 in Israel

Even though the trip was a diplomatic success … Israel refused to trade land for peace except in the Sinai Peninsula

Israel offered only limited self-rule to the West Bank and Gaza Strip

Distrust of the Arabs was too great to do more

The effects of this attempted negotiation

Caused furor toward Egypt from the rest of the Arab world

Israel’s policy to encourage Israeli settlement in the West Bank was seen as a slap in the face to both Egypt and the US

Jimmy Carter made one last try for peace

A 12 day peace summit between Sadat and Israel’s conservative leader Menachem Begin at Camp David

The Camp David Accords

Begin promised to recognize the “legitimate rights of the Palestinians”

To allow West Bank and Gaza Palestinians to participate in negotiations on these areas and to temporarily freeze new settlements there

Return the Sinai Peninsula to Egypt

Sadat and Begin also committed their countries to sign a peace treaty within 3 months … actually signed in March 1979

After Camp David

Egypt is now isolated within the Arab world

A subsequent announcement by Begin that Israel would “never” withdraw from all the land it had acquired in 1967

As the 70s gave way to the 80s

Apparent that Arab – Israeli discontent had not gone away

1981 … Israel attacked and destroyed Iraq’s nuclear reactor

In late 1981, Islamic radicals assassinated Anwar Sadat … would his successor honor the Israeli – Egyptian treaty … he did

1982 … Israel invaded Lebanon to stop Palestinian attacks on Israel

Israel pursued accelerated settlement programs in the West Bank

1987 … a Palestinian Intifada , an uprising against Israeli occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip

Arab – Israeli Negotiations in the 1990s

After the 1991 Persian Gulf War … the US started another effort to resolve the Arab – Israeli conflict

President Bush had assembled an alliance among the Arab states

October 1991 – July 1993 in Madrid

10 rounds of talks

Optimism and pessimism about the talks

Israeli – PLO Accords

Between January and August 1993, Israelis and Palestinians met 14 times in a series of extremely secret two- to three-day meetings in Oslo, Norway

August 20 th – an agreement was finalized and signed by the negotiating teams

August 27 th – the Israelis briefed the US about the course of events

September 9 th – Israel and the PLO exchanged letters recognizing the legitimacy of each other

September 13 th – Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat signed the agreement on the White House lawn in Washington … Declaration of Principles … also known as the OSLO ACCORDS