Arab-Israeli conflict: Encyclopedia II - Arab-Israeli conflict - History

Arab-Israeli conflict - History

The Arab-Israeli conflict is a modern phenomenon, which dates back to the end of the 19th century. The conflict became a major international issue after the collapse of the Ottoman Empire in 1917, and in various forms it continues to this day. The Arab-Israeli conflict has resulted in at least five major wars and a number of "minor conflicts". It has also been the source of two major Palestinian intifadas (uprisings) and is cited by al-Qaeda, a largely Arab organization, as one of the reasons for its conflict with the Western world. The periods of conflict include:

Arab-Israeli conflict - Before 1947

Tensions erupted between the Jews and Arabs after 1880s, when Jews bought up land from Ottoman and individual Arab landholders and established agricultural settlements there. Several violent outbreaks occurred during this period: Riots in Palestine of 1920, Jaffa riots of 1921, Riots in Palestine of 1929, Great Arab Uprising of 1936-1939, primarily due to opposition by the Arab majority in the region to the stated intent of Britain, the League of Nations and the local Jewish population to establish a Jewish Homeland.

Arab-Israeli conflict - War of 1948

The 1948 Arab-Israeli War, known as the "Israeli War of Independence" or "al-Nakba" (The Disaster), 1948-1949, began after the British withdrawal and the declaration of the State of Israel on May 14, 1948. The Arabs had rejected the November 1947 UN Partition Plan, which proposed the establishment of Arab and Jewish states in Palestine. Jewish and Arab militias had begun campaigns to control territory inside and outside the designated borders. Joint Jordanian, Egyptian, Syrian, Lebanese and Iraqi troops invaded Palestine, which Israel, the US, the Soviet Union, and UN Secretary-General Trygve Lie called illegal aggression, while China broadly backed the Arab claims. The Arab states proclaimed their aim of a "United State of Palestine"[1] in place of Israel and an Arab state. They considered the UN Plan to be invalid because it was opposed by Palestine's Arab majority, and claimed that the British withdrawal led to an absence of legal authority, making it necessary for them to protect Arab lives and property.[2] About two thirds of Palestinian Arabs fled or were expelled from the territories which came under Jewish control (see Palestinian exodus); practically all of the much smaller number of Jews in the territories captured by the Arabs, for example the Old City of Jerusalem, also fled or were expelled. About 700,000 Arabs (estimates vary from 520,000 to 957,000 [3]) became refugees during the fighting.

The fighting ended with signing of the Rhodes Armistice, which formalized Israeli control of the area allotted to the Jewish state plus 23% of the area allotted to the Arab state. The Gaza Strip was occupied by Egypt and the West Bank by Jordan until June 1967.

Arab-Israeli conflict - Aftermath of the 1948 war

The Palestinians who fled or were expelled from the areas that became Israel were not allowed to return to their homes, and took up residence in refugee camps in surrounding countries, including Lebanon, Jordan, Syria, and the area that was later to be known as the Gaza Strip. The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East was established to alleviate their condition.

Over several years after the 1948 war ended, approximately 900,000 [4] Jews fled the Arab countries they were living in, in many cases owing to anti-Jewish sentiment, expulsion (in the case of Egypt), or, in the case of Iraq, legal oppression (see Jewish exodus from Arab lands); of these 900,000, two thirds ended up in refugee camps in Israel, while the remainder migrated to France, the United States and other Western or Latin American countries. Since that time, Israel has maintained that an exchange of population had occurred, and that the Jews fleeing Arab countries constitute refugees equivalent in status to the estimated 750,000 Palestinian refugees forced to live in refugee camp in the Middle Eastern countries. Furthermore, Israel has charged that Palestinian refugees were neglected by most Arab nations, whereas Jewish refugees were integrated into Israeli society, and that this neglect is the true cause of the poverty and misery experienced by the residents of those camps, not their flight or expulsion from Israel as the Palestinians believe.

For the nineteen years from the end of the Mandate until the Six-Day War, Jordan controlled the West Bank and Egypt controlled the Gaza Strip. In 1950, Jordan annexed the West Bank, but this annexation was recognized only by the United Kingdom. Both territories were conquered (but not annexed) from Jordan and Egypt by Israel in the Six-Day War. Neither Jordan or Egypt allowed the creation of a Palestinian state in these territories.

Arab-Israeli conflict - War of 1956

The 1956 Suez War was a joint Israeli-British-French operation, in which Israel invaded the Sinai Peninsula and British and French forces landed at the port of Suez, ostensibly to separate the warring parties, though the real motivation of Britain and France was to protect the interests of investors in those countries who were affected by Egyptian President Nasser's decision to nationalize the Suez Canal. Israel justified its invasion of Egypt as an attempt to stop attacks (see the Fedayeen) upon Israeli civilians, and to restore Israel shipping rights through the Straits of Tiran, which Egypt claimed was within its territorial waters. The invading forces agreed to withdraw under U.S. and international pressure, and Israel withdrew from the Sinai as well, in return for the installation of U.N. separation forces and guarantees of Israeli freedom of shipment. The canal was left in Egyptian (rather than British and French) hands.

Arab-Israeli conflict - Between 1956 and 1967

This period saw the rise of Nasserism; the founding of the United Arab Republic in 1958 and its collapse in 1961; disputes between Israel and Syria over water and border areas; continued fedayeen raids, mostly from Syria and Jordan, and Israeli reprisals; and the increasing alignment of the Arab states with the Soviet Union, who became their largest arms supplier.

In the early 1960s, the PLO was established by Arab states. The Article 24 of the Palestinian National Charter of 1964 [5] stated: "This Organization does not exercise any territorial sovereignty over the West Bank in the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, on the Gaza Strip or in the Himmah Area."

Arab-Israeli conflict - War of 1967

The Six-Day War, 1967 began as a strike by Israel, which Israel and its supporters consider preemptive, against Egypt and Syria following the Egyptian closure of the Straits of Tiran (a casus belli, according to a possible interpretation of international law), a build up of troops along the Syrian border, expulsion of U.N. peacekeepers from the Sinai, stationing some 100,000 Egyptian troops at the peninsula, and a public announcement by Nasser that he intended to destroy Israel [6]. (In fact Nasser had said this would be an objective only if Israel "embarks on an aggression against Syria or Egypt"). Surprise Israeli air strikes destroyed the entire Egyptian air force while still on the ground. A subsequent ground invasion into Egyptian territory led to Israel's conquest of the Gaza Strip and the Sinai Peninsula. In spite of Israel's request to Jordan to desist from attacking it, both Jordan and Syria began to shell Israeli targets; Israel responded by capturing the West Bank from Jordan on June 7, and the Golan Heights from Syria on June 9.

Arab-Israeli conflict - War of 1968-1970

The War of Attrition was a limited war fought between Egypt and Israel from 1968 to 1970. It was initiated by Egypt as a way to recapture the Sinai from Israel that had occupied it since the Six-Day War. The war ended with a cease-fire signed between the countries in 1970 with frontiers at the same place as when the war started.

Arab-Israeli conflict - War of 1973

The 1973 Yom Kippur War began when Egypt and Syria launched a surprise joint attack in the Sinai and Golan Heights. The Egyptians and Syrians advanced during the first 24–48 hours, after which momentum began to swing in Israel's favor. By the second week of the war, the Syrians had been pushed entirely out of the Golan Heights. In the Sinai to the south, the Israelis had struck at the "hinge" between two invading Egyptian armies, crossed the Suez Canal (where the old cease-fire line had been), and cut off an entire Egyptian army just as a United Nations cease-fire came into effect. Israeli troops eventually withdrew from the west of the Canal and the Egyptians kept their positions on a narrow strip on the east allowing them to re-open the Suez Canal and claim victory.

Arab-Israeli conflict - War of 1978

Operation Litani was the official name of Israel's 1978 invasion of Lebanon up to the Litani river. The invasion was a military success, as PLO forces were pushed north of the river. However, international outcry led to the creation of the UNIFIL peacekeeping force and a partial Israeli retreat.

Arab-Israeli conflict - War of 1982

The 1982 Lebanon War began when Israel attacked Lebanon, justified by Israel as an attempt to remove the Fatah militants led by Yasser Arafat from Southern Lebanon (where they had established, during the country's civil war, a semi-independent enclave used to launch terrorist attacks on Israeli civilians). The invasion was widely criticized both in and outside Israel, especially after the Sabra and Shatila massacre and ultimately led to the death of 20,000 Lebanese. Although the attack succeeded in exiling Arafat to Tunisia, Israel became entangled with various local Muslim militias (particularly Hezbollah), which fought to end the Israeli occupation. By 1985 Israel retreated from all but a narrow stretch of Lebanese territory designated by Israel as the Israeli Security Zone. The UN Security Council Resolution 425 confirmed ([7]) that as of June 16, 2000, Israel had completely withdrawn its forces from Lebanon.

Arab-Israeli conflict - Intifada of 1987-1993

The First Intifada, 1987-1993, began as an uprising of Palestinians, particularly the young, against the Israeli military occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip. The exiled PLO leadership in Tunisia quickly assumed a role, but the uprising also brought a rise in the importance of Palestinian national and islamic movements. The intifada started by a group of young who started throwing rocks at the Israel occupying forces in Jabalia (Gaza Strip) in December 1987. Children of Palestine were the leaders of this uprising and were called (Atfal Al-Hijara). The Intifada ended with the signing of the Oslo Accords by Israel and the PLO.

Arab-Israeli conflict - Gulf War of 1990-1991

The Gulf War, 1990-1991, began with the Iraqi invasion and annexation of Kuwait and did not initially involve direct military engagement with Israel. An international coalition led by the United States which included Arab forces was assembled to drive Iraqi forces out of Kuwait. To draw Israel into the confrontation and fracture the multinational coalition, Iraq launched Scud missiles on Israeli cities and on Israel's nuclear facilities at Dimona. However, under strong pressure from the U.S. which feared direct Israeli involvement would threaten the unity of the coalition, Israel did not retaliate against Iraq and the multinational coalition ousted Iraqi forces from Kuwait. During the war, the Palestinian leadership and king Hussein of Jordan allied themselves with Iraq's invasion of Kuwait. Kuwait and other Gulf Arab monarchies then expelled more than 400,000 Palestinian refugees ([8]) and withdrew their support from the Palestinian cause, which was one of the factors leading to the PLO signing the Oslo Accords.

Arab-Israeli conflict - Intifada of 2000

The al-Aqsa Intifada began in late September, 2000, around the time Israeli opposition leader Ariel Sharon and a large contingent of armed bodyguards visited the Temple Mount/Al-Haram As-Sharif complex in Jerusalem and declared the area eternal Israeli territory. Widespread riots and attacks broke out in Jerusalem and many major Israeli cities. The response of Israeli Defense Forces to fight terror in Israel, West Bank and Gaza have been disputed around the world. In the months after the death of Yasser Arafat on November 11, 2004, the Intifada is largely thought to have come to an end. An Israeli Human Rights group B'Tselem estimated[9] the death toll to be around 4000.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "History", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki