The USA played a much more significant role than the USSR in the Arab-Israeli conflict in the years from 1948-1991. How far do you agree?

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‘The USA played a much more significant role than the USSR in the Arab-Israeli conflict in the years from 1948-1991’. How far do you agree?

This essay will analyse the involvement of the two superpowers in the Arab-Israeli conflict and consider as to what degree it is correct. The Arab-Israeli conflict consisted of several major events in which both the USA and the USSR aided their allies. It sparked from the birth of the state of Israel in 1948, many events soon followed, after which propelled this regional conflict amid Jews and Arabs into the Cold War.  Michael Comay a senior official rightly perceived that, ‘At the birth of the state there were two godfathers, the United States and the Soviet Union.’ As stated by Michael Comay we do observe that at the birth of Israel, both the USA and USSR supported Israel, however this perception later changed and the Soviets aligned with the Arabs, whom were to a great extent aided by Soviet military and technology throughout the Arab-Israeli conflict. The importance of soviet’s role was witnessed in the event of the Israelis War of Independence, the Suez Crisis and the Yom Kippur War in 1973. As for America they were financially and politically devoted towards the welfare of Israel; their involvement saw fruit through events such as the Six Day war and the Camp David accords. However, I cannot fully agree with the statement as facts and contextual knowledge would balance out significance of each of the superpowers role, proceeding to analyze the overall effect of their actions on the Arab-Israeli conflict will illustrate how important their roles throughout the conflict were, between the years 1948 to 1991.

To explore the significance of each superpowers role throughout the Arab-Israeli conflict one must first analyses the nature and motive behind their involvement and therefore the impact they had on the overall conflict. For instance historians usually contend that domestic political motives aided American involvement in the Arab-Israeli conflict, as they gaining Jewish political support in their states, especially since they had the largest Jewish population outside of Israel.  We also see the motivation towards gaining of oil with some American companies already established in the Middle East, the Arabian-American oil company in Saudi Arabia. Finally we observe the humanitarian motives; millions of Jews throughout Europe were living in extreme condition, surviving from the horrible event of the holocaust. The nature of the Arab-Israeli conflict is a rather difficult to express, along with American involvement with Arab but simultaneously the Jews.

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Soviet motives at surface seemed solely upon the determination to elimination British colonialism within that area. We also see Soviets strategic considerations as they seemed reluctant in supporting the American position on Palestine in hopes of ameliorating the current situation thus reducing the risk of direct confrontation, especially since they were behind on the nuclear arms race. As usual the financial gain though obtaining oil was a similar objective for the Soviets to the Americans.

Having established motive we precede to the super powers actions and aids, thus establishing the importance and effectiveness of these aids, either financially, economically or ...

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