Arab israeli conflict

act by the League of Nations. However it is impossible to blame the

war on the removal of UN troops because if there were no other factors

then the war would not have started. The UN troops were there for

maintaining peace in an area that was in high tension so obviously

their withdrawal made it easier for war to start but we cannot say

that the war would not have started when they were there because the

tension between the two sides was growing. Another limitation to both

sources, especially source D, is that they were from after the war and

so they aren´t reliable in showing what the Arab and Israeli leaders

felt at the time. Both sources put partial blame on other countries

for causing the war but the limitations with dates and provenance and

the fact we know that there were other dimensions not mentioned make

it impossible to say that other countries caused the war.

4.

Source E claims that the Israeli´s are to blame for causing the war

due to their constant acts of aggression towards Syria and its Arab

people under the urging and

backing of USA. By comparing this source with sources F and G it is

clear that there are two conflicting Arab views. These two sources

both show that the Arabs felt strong hatred towards Israel and declare

that they want to see the destruction of the Israeli sate. This is

saying that the Arabs were being aggressive towards Israel but source

E puts the blame on Israeli acts of aggression. These sources do

probably show that Source E is false because they are from one year

before and from the start of the war and should be reliable in showing

the Arab view because they are messages to the Arab people. The claim

that Israel are the aggressors is therefore probably wrong because two

more reliable views from the same side disprove it and also Source E

has several limitations to it. It is made by the deputy commander of

the Egyptian army to his people and so is overtly biased because the

commander will be using the speech as propaganda to motivate his

troops by blaming Israel, so as the International community hears that

Egypt are going to war so as to protect Syria, thus making sure that

the International community doesn´t go against them. Source E is

propaganda and so isn´t the true view of the Arabs which is shown by

the other sources which show Arab aggression.

5.

Both these sources are of some use. Source H is useful for a historian

because it is what an Israeli felt at the time. It should therefore be

useful as his fears should be genuine and reliable and therefore why

he went to war is reliable and of use to. It is useful in showing the

Israeli situation of being poorly defended and vulnerable to attack so

as the best form of defence would be to trigger the war by releasing a

pre-emptive attack. Source I can be used to say that one of the causes

of the war was the tension and aggression between Israel and Egypt

because this is where the photograph shows where the fighting is and

that a pre-emptive and surprise attack was released because so much

destruction to Egyptian tanks is shown. Also the fact that Israel is

attacking the Sinai desert suggests that one cause of the war is that

they want to recapture land there.

However the usefulness of these sources suffers because of their

limitations. Source H is unreliable because it was written after the

event and we don´t know how long afterwards exactly. Writing

afterwards could result in how he thought he felt changing. Also

source H only shows one cause and so is not useful in showing all the

causes of the War. There are severe limitations of Source I. It is

very blurred and relies on a possibly biased caption to explain it,

which means that it could be exaggerated. Also one picture is not

enough to draw reliable conclusions because it is only a snap shot of

what happened and so cannot be trusted in showing the true situation

even on the Sinai front.

6.

There are many ways in which these interpretations of the causes of

the Six Day War differ. Source J shows the Israeli government's excuse

and is therefore biased on the Israeli side. It blames Arab terrorism

and aggression and Soviet disinformation for causing the war and puts

sole blame on them. Source K gives the Egyptian and therefore probably

Arab view of who caused the war and like Source J is overtly biased.

As the Israeli's did, this source claims that the war was in fact

caused by the opposition and so puts the blame on Israeli hostility

and control of foreign media. Quite clearly these interpretations of

the causes differ as they are from both sides and so blame each other.

There are though similarities between the sources. Both are secondary

sources and are books produced by the state for others to read thus

suggesting they are propaganda, being used to show innocence to

international community. Therefore both have limitations to

reliability.

7.

Using these sources and contextual knowledge it is difficult to put

sole blame on one country for causing the Six Day war. This is because

the sources and contextual knowledge, when corroborated, lead to

different conclusions and so contradict each other. Sources B, F, G

and J all indicate that the Arab nations are to blame for causing the

war. They say that the Arab Nations showed continuous signs of

aggression through acts of terrorism and speeches made and this

therefore would´ve caused the Israeli´s to release a pre-emptive

attack. However there are several problems with these sources in terms

of validity and reliability. Sources B, F and G are said or done by an

Arab to its people and so would be biased. Source B is unreliable

because it is a cartoon aimed at the Arab people and so will be for

propaganda. Source J would be unreliable because an Israeli tells it

after the war and this could be because Israel is trying to explain

itself and put the blame on the Arabs in front of the international

community. Sources F and G are said by Arab Leaders to their people

and so again are overtly biased and are also contradicted by the

Egyptian deputy commander-in-chief in Source E. This disagreement

between people of the same side clearly shows that one of them is

lying and that the Arabs aren´t telling the whole truth. It is more

likely that source E, which blames Israel for starting the war is more

unreliable because it is a speech designed for the international

community and so is biased so as to make them the Arabs look good.

However source K also blames Israel for being responsible for the war

as it mention show Israel was being hostile to her neighbours and had

ulterior motives because going to war would improve the economy and

employment. This source, although it matches what is said by E is

again unreliable because other Arab sources clearly indicate Arab

aggression and also it is a biased source because it is in book to be

seen by the international community.

The sources C and D and K claim that the USA, USSR and are responsible

for the war. They suggest that the USA and USSR were using the Middle

East as a place to show off their power and support and to use the

area as a battlefield for them to cause trouble. It is also claimed

that the mistake made by the removal of UN troops from the buffer zone

in Israeli sparked off the war. However it is impossible to say that

either source is correct because both have limitations. Neither source

when corroborated has another source with the same conclusion and so

is unreliable. Also source C is a cartoon which is often exaggerated

whilst D, which was written several years after the war will not have

how both sides felt at the actual time.

Using contextual knowledge and these sources it is probably best to

say what is said in source A that both sides are to blame and that the

war was inevitable due to both long-term and short-term causes. We

know that Israel fired the first short on the actual break out of war

but before this there was Arab aggression thus forcing them to release

their pre-emptive attack. We also know that there had been a history

of conflict between both sides and so it is hard to blame one

particular side for causing this war. This is also because the sources

contradict each other and so it is best to say that there are several

causes of the war including the part other factors such as the UN and

USSR played.

8.

There are many reasons why there is disagreement over who caused the

Six Day war. A main problem is that all the sources are problematic.

They all have their merits to show who caused the war but are also

unreliable and have technical limitations. The sources often

contradict each other and this is because we hear the biased view of

both sides. Sources A, B, F, G and J blame the Arab aggression for

causing the war. This is contradicted by sources A, E, and K which

blame Israeli ulterior motives and attacks on Syria whilst sources C,

D and K blame other factors such as the USSR, USA and the UN thus

leading to confusion on who is really to blame. Even sources from the

same side (e.g. sources E, F and G) say different things making them

difficult to believe which is true and who is to blame. Each source

comes down in a different direction giving a slightly different

conclusion for what caused the war. With all these different views and

the limitations to them it is impossible to believe which one is true

thus causing problems on who caused the war. The majority of the

sources are biased in favour of one country and the neutral sources

are from years after the war thus giving time for facts and opinions

to alter from the actual event. Clearly the unreliability in the

sources makes them severely limited in showing what caused the war.

Also by using contextual knowledge we know that there had been a

history of violence between the sides making it hard to work out who

would´ve wanted to attack most. Israel was motivated by Arab

aggression and the desire to recapture land taken back from them in

the previous war whilst the Arabs believed that the land was stolen

from them by the Jews and they wanted revenge for previous defeats.

Also there is the view that other dimensions such as the UN, USSR and

USA are to blame and so there is confusion on whether or not one

factor is to blame and also which of the causes are actually true.