The plan was that Israel would seize the Suez Canal and bring Egypt to a duel; Britain and France would then ask Egypt and Israel to with draw from the canal. But they knew that Egypt would refuse. This would lead to Anglo French troops to intervene in order to protect the canal.
France-Britain would then propose an ultimatum and expect Nasser to refuse. Once this would happen, French and British troops would invade Egypt bombing airfields. Nasser refused the ultimatum and as a result Egypt was invaded. Economic targets were destroyed. On the other hand, because of US pressure, The two countries were asked to retreat. On November 1956, there was an order of immediate cease fire.
There was a Military defeat for Nasser, but he was on the winning side. He had been able to hold the Suez Canal intact without being over powered by the French and the Brits. Israel had also gained from the war, they were guaranteed freedom of shipping in the gulf of Aquaba which would allow them to have an exportation and importation system. France Britain were considered as the losers as they never were in control of the canal and were asked to retreat before they could achieve that capture.
In the few coming years, there was the formation of the PLO, the Palestinian liberation organisation. Nasser established the PLO in an attempt to control the Palestinian and to prevent their actions from completely destabilising the region.
It served as un umbrella for all Palestinian resistance groups. It soon was the object of an inter-arable struggle for influence between Egypt, Syria, and Iraq, as well as an Arab Palestinian struggle for control.
The next war on the list was the so called miraculous six day war. One of the reasons were because of the Israeli occupation of the Sinai for 15 years. Issues of the war did not have anything to do with 1948 war issues. It was about Arab states and Israel conflicts. There was not so much Palestinian conflicts fight for land. It all started when the Soviet Union told Egypt that Israeli troops had invaded Syria. It was lies. It could have been to put the ambiance of a cold war and put USA’s involvement in the Vietnam war in a bad situation. When the Egyptians closed the straits of tyran they considered it as an act of war. At this period Arab states and Israel were at war again.
War was inevitable in the first place. As soon as Egypt would use the straits of Tyran, would close them, Israel would declare war. To a surprise, The war only lasted six days as too much damage in the Egyptian side were seen. By June 10th, Syria, Jordan and Egypt had agreed to cease-fire. The consequences of that war were enormous and had a long lasting effect. There was an increase in Israel’s territory, more security for Israel and Nasser was defeated. In addition, Israel was seen as a valuable asset to the US in this region in order to counter soviet influence.
Resolution 242 embodied all those key elements which had to be addressed for conflict resolution. Recognition, inadmissibility of acquiring territory by war, freedom from acts of force, peace, and the Palestinian refugee problem. Arabs insisted that 242 called for Israeli withdrawal from all territories, while Israel insisted it had to hold onto some of the territories in order to live within secure boundaries. The issues after the war, were that Israel wanted peace.
Year 1969, was an important year, many things happened. The war of attrition, known as the war of attrition as it was the unresolved Palestinian question, border tensions and failure of diplomatic initiative. It was a continuation of the 1967 war. It was a conflict characterised by sporadic bombardment, commando raids, fire and counter fire against strongholds along the Suez canal. Again, there were no issues of the 1948 war. This war was the Palestinian revival and the black September Surprise attack on Israel. The preceding 1967 war made it clear that the Arab states were not able or willing to liberate Palestine. Israel had gained a lot of Palestinian land.
Failure of resolution 242 to address the situation of the Palestinian people and their political aspirations.
Yasser Arafat was the new elected chairman of PLO. He was able to draw upon a fighting force of 5000-10000.
In 1970 Nasser was succeeded by sadat after his death. Sadat made changes in Egypt so that he could gain a reputation which was of a better rank than Nasser’s. His intentions were to bring Egypt’s financial problems up and get a better image than Nasser. In the 1973 war, Sadat’s intentions were not of a major military act. He just wanted a minor involvement from the army and wanted to go to war with Israel so that he could convince Israel to negotiate terms which would be acceptable to Israel. Sadat wanted to reclaim the Suez canal and the Sinai.
Israel had underestimated the frustration of the Arab governments over Israel occupation of the Golan heights, Sinai, west bank and the Gaza strip.
The Arabs won the war. Egyptian confidence grew dramatically as a result. Israel’s invincibility had been destroyed. It was on the other hand a sign of coward that Egypt and Syria attacked on the night of Yom Kippur.
After this war, both sides knew that they could never really completely defeat each other and that peace was a better option. The first agreements between Egypt and Israel marked a change in their relations. In December 1973, a peace process was held in Geneva, Switzerland. That conference failed to convene after the penning speeches. It accomplished little but their was Less pressure with Egypt but yet still pressure with Syria.
Another peace treaty to find peace was held a camp David where 2 agreements were concluded. Israel would give up the Sinai. The 2nd was for peace in the middle east, based on resolution 242 and 338, the resolution of the Palestinian problem, good neighbourly relations, and Palestinian autonomy in west bank, excluding Jerusalem, and the Gaza strip. This agreement was not very welcomed in both Israel and Egypt’s population. This agreement was only peace for Israel and Egypt as opposed to other Arab leaders who did not take part. For the Palestinians in Israel, the Egyptian-Israeli agreement seemed to confirm continued Israeli rule over them.
Before the next peace treaty of Madrid, a war took place in Lebanon, a Lebanese civil war. Israel had little intervention.
The Madrid peace treaty was the next attempt to find peace. The idea of this treaty was to give the Arabs and the Israelis what they wanted. It was the first time Syria and Lebanon and Jordan sat together with Israel. This treaty consisted of achieving separate treaties with Israel and its Arab neighbours. It was Also to resolve issues affecting the region as a whole, promoting peace stability and co-operation. This peace treaty was more a construction of frame work for future peace treaties as there were no accords set up.
Oslo process was the following peace process and Israeli Palestinian negotiations. The main ideas of this treaty consisted of the withdrawal of Israeli from Gaza, and a gradual economic power to Palestinians, and international economic assistance. Talks broke down completely in December 1992, when Israel deported 415 Palestinian islamists to south Lebanon.
A big step further step was on the 30th august 1993 when Rabin, the Israeli and Arafat exchanged letters of mutual recognition. This was the first time in history that Israel and Palestinians actually recognised each other. This was a big step to peace.
Further negotiations were that an early empowerment for Palestinians in the west bank would be done, and the election of a Palestinian council.
After all these peace treaties came another one, it was the accord between Jordan and Israel. This is one of a few which went on very well. It concluded without any problems. There were no territorial dispute and it consisted of issues of security, water refugees and borders. There was peace between the two countries.
On the other hand, the peace meeting with Syria and Lebanon was the most problematic. Asad, the Syrian president was reluctant to engage any peace with Israel, insisting that Israel should return the Golan heights before commencing talks. The talks were also mainly to have a better relations with the united sates after their the end of the relations with their main supporter the soviet union. For Lebanon, they needed peace as they just got out of a 15 year civil war.
Since the begging of the accords, militant nationalists, both Israeli and Palestinian, have opposed the peace process from the beginning. They had determination to sabotage the treaty. There were no major changes but at least there was peace.
The final conference, was the Wye river meeting. It consisted of Yaser Arafat, the Palestinian leader, Israel prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Former president Bill Clinton, foreign Minister Ariel Sharon, Defence Minister Yitzhak Mordechai and Minister of Trade and Industry Nathan Sharansky. This was the most important meeting for peace there was since the beginning. This meeting covered a lot of issues. Some were that The Palestinian side will establish and vigorously and continuously implement a program for the collection and appropriate handling of illegal firearms.
Both sides will respect and cooperate biblical cooperation, a Palestinian-Israeli comity which will meet and discuss about event. Also Recognizing the importance of the port of Gaza, both sides commit themselves to proceeding without delay to conclude an agreement to allow the construction and operation of the port in accordance with the prior agreements. Lastly Neither side shall initiate or take any step that will change the status of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip in accordance with the Interim Agreement. These agreements, which are not all that was said, are important and shows a big step in peace agreements.
During all those years, all those wars and peace processes, one thing is missing. Although there were attempts to come to accords on peace, most of those accords were based on the principles of coming to peace with Arab states so that there are no more wars in the future. On the other hand, there has been attempts to bring peace between Palestinians living in Israel with the actual Israelites themselves. The issues of the first war was that the Palestinians wanted all the Israelis out of Israel, have a Palestinian state and have all the land for them. But it is proven that it is not the case. At this day, Palestinians still do not have all the land nor a Palestinian state. At this day, extremists parties have developed and introduce extreme hate between the two.
From both sides, Palestinians and Israelis want the same thing, it seems that there will never be an agreement where everyone will be happy. I believe The walls between the Arabs and the Israelites resolved non of the issues which led to the outbreak of the first war in 1948. I think that even though there were attempts, this conflict will never end until something major is done.
