The First Arab Israeli War was the first large scale military involvement between the state of Israel and its Arab neighbours, and it set the precedent for forthcoming engagements. The war was initially close-fought, but after the truce, when Israel received its armaments from Czechoslovakia, the battle was fairly one sided, with the Israeli unity and desire to strengthen the state of Israel overpowering the larger yet disorganised Arab forces, who seemed to be fighting for their own gain, rather than the greater good of the Arabs. The land gains made by the end of the first Arab-Israeli war were the first steps in the consolidation of the state of Israel.
This links to a way in which the military dominance of Israel increased, and the conflict between the Arabs and the Israelis changed, in the way that the involvement of the Superpowers became more prominent during the Suez Canal crisis. Nasser received economic funding from the USSR for his Aswan Dam project, and it was his nationalisation of the Suez Canal Company that triggered the British and French to team up with the Israelis to fight against what the British saw as a threat. However, there was further Superpower involvement from the US, in the sense that it was them who threatened to withdraw economic support if the British and French did not withdraw from the Middle East, and condemned their imperialist behaviour. Therefore, although the Israeli military strength was still prominent, the involvement of the superpowers was increased.
