ARab-Israeli Conflict
...Arabs and the Jews. Instead the British supported the Arabs against the Jews, and the Jews against the Arabs. (Silverman, 61-67) As more Jews arrived, the economy grew and attracted Arabs to immigrate to Palestine. However, while the Jews were returning to their homeland, Arab nationalism was growing. Palestine’s Arabs rejected the Balfour Declaration, even though they themselves had little interest in a state of their own at the time. Before long, the Arabs opposed the establishment of any Jewish State in the Middle East. (Goldschmidt, 158) After 1945 and the Holocaust, which left 6 million Jewish men, women and children dead, the cause for a Jewish homeland, where Jews could be free of persecution gained momentum. In 1947, the United Nations voted to divide the Middle East between Jews and Arabs. The Jews agreed to this plan, while the Arabs rejected it. The Arabs would not recognize a Jewish State. Jordan and Syria also wanted Palestine to belong to them, and the Arabs of Palestine didn't see themselves as Palestinian, but instead as Arabs and wanted to be part of another Arab country. (Hiro, 65) The basic cause for conflict between the new state of Israel and its Arab neighbors was that both the Jews and the Arabs claimed that Israel/Palestine was their homeland. (Cozic, 32-42) Nationalism was another cause for conflict. Zionism was an ideology and national movement that grew in Europe during the 1800s, proclaiming that all the Jewish people had the right to exist in a safe homeland of their own. (Cozic, 51) Zionism initiated the centuries-old desire of the Jewish people to return to the land of their ancestors. And once the Jews began to settle in the ancient Kingdom of Israel, they were no longer willing to leave. (Silverman, 51-56) The Jews also believed that Israel was their homeland, because Jerusalem had never been the independent home and capital of any other people but the Jews. On May 14, 1948 the state of Israel was established. Less then twenty-four hours later, Israel was invaded by its Arab neighbors: Egypt, Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, and Iraq. Now Israel had to fight for its very survival. (Silverman, 87) The War of Independence had begun. For more than fifteen months Israel fought a fierce battle. Israel was poorly equipped and its defense forces were not professional soldiers. However the Israeli forces finally pushed back the invading armies. The price for victory was very high. More than six thousand Israeli men and women died defending their country. On July 18, 1948, a truce was accepted by the Israelis and Arabs. Nonetheless, this truce was often broken. (Hiro, 127) Arab forces often attacked Israel again and again. Finally the United Nations appointed a mediator to arrange an end to the hostilities. Dr. Ralph Bunch of the United States succeeded in bringing the fighting to an official end in January 1949. (Goldschmidt, 252) By July 1949, the War of Independence was over. Many Arabs living in Palestine became refugees. About 1.3 million Jews living in Arab countries were also kicked out of their homes by the Arabs. Nearly all of these Jews went to Israel. In 1953, Israel passed the Land Acquisition Law, offering payment for property taken from Arab citizens of Israel who lived there between May 4, 1949 and April 1, 1952. In 1964, the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) was created. (Silverman, 88-89) In 1967, the Six-Day War between Israel and the Egyptian and Syrian armies occurred. In six days, Israel defeated Egyptian, Syrian, and Jordanian forces, gaining Sinai, the Gaza Strip, the Golan Heights, and the West Bank. After the Six-Day War, the Arab states refused to recognize Israel’s existence, negotiate with Israel, or make peace with Israel. (Tessler, 335) In 1969, the War of Attrition between Egypt and Israel occurred, when Egypt’s president Gamal Abdel Nasser broke the cease-fire agreement, and began military attacks on Israeli territory. (Tessler, 445) In 1972, PLO terrorists murdered eleven Israeli athletes at the Olympic games in Munich, Germany. (Silverman, 90) Once again, issues between the Israelis and Arabs were unresolved, and when a new Egyptian President was elected, he attacked Israel, in 1973, during the Jewish holiday of Yom Kipper. The Yom Kippur War took the Israelis by surprise. It took the Israelis three weeks to organize, counterattack, and halt the enemy advance. Two thousand Israeli soldiers died in battle. (Goldschmidt, 282-283) In 1976, Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin ordered an invasion of several Arabic nations, which resulted in the rescue of over a hundred Israeli hostages, who had been hijacked and held by Palestinian terrorists at the airport at Entebbe, Uganda. In 1977, Egyptian President Anwar Sadar arrived in Jerusalem. He was the first Arab leader to visit Israel. This was the beginning of peace negotiations between Egypt and Israel. In 1978, Egypt and Israel signed the Framework for Peace in the Middle East. In 1979, the Egyptian-Israeli Peace Treaty was signed in Washington D.C., ending thirty years of hostility between the two nations. It was also the first peace treaty between Israel and an Arab state. (Silverman, 91) In spite of this, during a military parade in Cario, Islamic militants opposed to the Egyptian-Israeli Peace Treaty assassinated Egyptian President Anwar Sadat. (Goldschmidt, 333) In 1980, tensions were increased by the forma...