As immigration rose the Arabs also rose in revolt and a guerrilla war broke out, but when the Arabs attacked, the British defeated them and were then discharged, but the Zionist groups were allowed to keep their armaments. This put the Jews in a much physically powerful position than the Arabs.
During this Arab revolt, attitudes of the British government began to change towards the Zionist project. A white paper stated that Britain did not support a separate Jewish State and neither a partitioned Palestine. Instead Britain called for a United Palestine with both Jews and Arab contributing control of an Independent Palestine.
It was said that only 75000 Jews would be allowed in Palestine in the next five years and then immigration would be utterly stopped. This was to keep the support of the Arabs, but had lost the support of the Jews. They rose in revolt as a ship of 4000 refugees was returned to Germany known as the Exodus. However the Second World War prohibited this plan from being put into action.
The Zionists later lodged a bomb in the King David Hotel which was the British headquarters in Jerusalem.
The sustained violent attacks of the terrorist groups forced Britain to proclaim that the problem was now being handed over to the recently shaped United Nations (UN).
Another reason for British departure was that it was too costly for Britain to make government plans for another country, also in 1945 a new government was nominated, the Labour government, this government was letting more countries administrate themselves. Another aspect was that Labour also had great hopes for a new and modified Britain. Britain was now sick of brutality, radical attacks and especially loss of their own soldiers.
The UN set-up a report which’s consequences in Palestine being partitioned in two distinct states. As soon as the last troops of the British left, Israel was declared as a separate state. The Zionists acknowledged the UN plan, but the Arabs could not accept the fact that although the Arabs outnumbered the Jews they were getting less territory. The Jews could not accept the fact that Jerusalem would not be integrated in their territory. Neither party could accept that their homeland is being divided. As soon as Britain announced that its mandate would end on 15th May 1948, violence between the two parties broke out, the worst incident being at Deir Yassin.
As soon as the birth of Israel was publicized, five Arab countries, Transjordan, Egypt, Syria, Iraq and Lebanon attacked the new state, Israel. Although the Arabs out numbered the Jews, they were alienated and badly led. As a result the Arabs were conquered. The Soviet Union and the USA uttered support for Israel. In June the UN arranged a truce in which Israel was given colossal military aid and shipment. This was sure help for the Israelis; it was getting the Israelis armed. The Israelis being armed was a push factor for another war against the Arab states. This would create hatred between the two parties and make relations with the Arab countries extremely tense.
Tensions still remained high, as the Arabs wanted vengeance for their defeat. The Arabs defeat led to the appearance of Gamal Abdul Nasser, as the new military leader in Egypt. Gamal Abdul Nasser signed an arms deal with Czechoslovakia in 1955, Israel and the West became anxious that Nasser was allowing the USSR a grip in the Middle East. In fact Nasser had only made this arms agreement to gain fighter planes, bombers, guns and tanks and other weapons from the USSR. This agreement greatly worried the USA and Britain. USA immediately annulled their loan to Nasser which was needed to build the Aswan dam, an important venture to Nasser.
Nasser also formed an treaty between Egypt, Syria and Saudi Arabia with their armies under joint dominion. Nasser also convinced the British to give up their military bases along the Suez Canal.
USA, blocking their loans was just the reason for Nasser to nationalise the Suez Canal. The Suez Canal was owned by Britain and France jointly. Nasser thought the levy collected from shipping would help him pay for the claim.
On 26 July 1956 the canal was nationalised. The USA and Britain were extremely furious on hearing this and so set up secret consultations with the Israelis. Discussions took place through September and a final agreement was made to attack Egypt. On 29 October Israel attacked Egypt as agreed to with France and Britain. A day later Britain and France insisted that the Israelis and Egyptians both withdraw from the Suez Canal 16 kilometres. The Israelis approved of this and the Egyptians opposed, just as what was expected. This gave the British the justification that was needed and bombed the Egyptians airfields on 31 October. British and French forces landed in Egypt on 5 November. The bombing at the airfield by the British gave the Israelis the chance to complete their take over of the Sinai.
However, the USA and USSR including the UN condemned this gratuitous attack in many ways. Firstly Arab nations stopped oil supplies to Britain and France. Secondly the USA threatened to withdraw financial help from Israel. Thirdly the USA also refused to sell any oil to Britain. The USA also threatened to withdraw dollars from the bank in London. The USSR also said that it was thinking of ‘flattening’ Israel. After many threats which included monetary and military threats, Britain, France and Israel were all strained to leave. As a result a UN emergency force was set-up on the border between Egypt and Israel to keep peace.
The USA, USSR and the UN played a fundamental role in this war as they were trying to help find a resolution and make peace between the two participants. Britain and France on the other hand, were only using Israel in between to get the Suez Canal back. Israel took the offer up and used it as a chance of invasion. Britain and France had hindered the progress of Israel and the Arab states for their own reasons.
The UN had also played a worthy role in demanding the British, French and Israeli troops out of Egypt but could not have done it without the individual’s help of USA and USSR.
Nasser, as a result, became a leading Arab figure with the help of the USSR and used this position to plan another war in 1967.
In 1966, the army took over the government and took a forceful approach towards Israel, in Syria; its troops were concerted on the Golan Heights.
On the 16 of May Nasser ordered the UN troops who were situated on the borders of Egypt to have Egyptian territory, Nasser also closed the Gulf of Aqaba to Israeli ships. Syria decreed war against Israel, Jordan and Egypt offered help and began to join forces.
Israel however, was not prejudiced by fright, especially due to the assurances from America as to there would be no ‘restraint’. On 5 May Israel attacked on the Arab states even before the Arab sates attacked. This was an advanced attack in self-defence which was known as being pre-emptive. The Israelis taking full control of the skies on the first day quickly and promptly defeated the Arab countries, occupied the Sinai penisula, Gaza Strip and the West Bank. Israeli forces also attacked the Golan Heights in Syria. Israel soon agreed to a temporary truce known as a cease-fire. The Six day war soon ended.
Egypt’s blockade of the Gulf of Aqaba, Fatah (PLO) attacks on Israel, the creation of an independent Jewish state, Israel’s decision to strike first in self defence, and the eviction of the UN forces from the borders by the Egyptian’s were all causes of this war.
After the war, the USA preserved its support for Israel by not joining with those countries who called for Israel to withdraw from the land that was conquered. Instead the USA persuaded the UN Security Council to pass resolution 242, this said for the Israelis to withdraw from newly occupied land provided the Arab States agree on lasting peace which meant to recognise the existence of Israel.
However, the Arab countries did not agree to this. A war of abrasion now took place between Egypt and Israel. The USSR was permanently re-equipping Egypt and USA supporting and sympathetic towards the Israelis. It was soon close for the USSR and USA to bring themselves into war. The USA did not want this and so warned Israel that support was not guaranteed. The Israelis soon agreed t o a cease-fire.
Whilst negotiations were still taking place Nasser died and was replaced by Anwar Sadat. Anwar Sadat offered for a permanent agreement in return for Israeli withdrawal from the Sinai. When this was discarded, Anwar thought the only way to force the Israelis to negotiate for peace, was war.
Sadat turned to the USSR for military aid, especially surface to Air Missiles (SAMS) as this was believed to force the Israelis to negotiate. The Arabs took the Jews by surprise. It was the day of ‘Yom Kippur; the day of making amends to sins or wrong doings. This was the holiest day in Jewish calendar and a national holiday in Israel.
Troops flew in to Israel for targets and other troops started to conquer or ‘caught with their trouser down’.
It seemed as though the Arabs would win this time, the Israelis however, started acting but could not compete with the advanced technology used by the Arabs. The biggest mistake of the Arabs was to travel further than the SAMS cover. As soon as they did so the Israelis crushed them back to the Sinai, crossed the Canal and in to the capital of Egypt, Cairo. The Arabs troops were marooned and did not know what to do. The organisation of Arab petroleum Exporting countries met and decided to raise the price of oil. This would be an economic weapon used against Israel and its allies. The price of oil was increased by 10%. No oil was now to be transported to the USA. This made the Western countries realise the economy of oil. If the war was to last long it was to prove mayhem for the Western countries. As a result pressure was put on Israel to agree to a cease- fire, and the Yom Kippur war ended on 26 October 1973.
The ‘oil’ weapon had a great effect on the other countries. USA began to institute their relationships with the oil- producing countries. Due to the oil- ban alone, USA sided with the Egyptians in negations with the Israelis to remove Israeli troops from the Suez and the Sinai. This meant USA was only siding with the Egyptians for their best interest, not for the best interest of the conflicting states.
In Britain there were ques for petrol; people were filling as much as they could in case supplies ran out. Car manufactures were looking at the growth of other power sources.
Oil was not just affecting cars and homes but was also influencing employment. Unemployment in Britain shot up. In fact the prices of houses were also affected as they too rose.
However western government could not just wait in the hope for oil to be in its normal price, but had to start looking at substitute sources of energy. Coal, gas, hydroelectricity and nuclear power came to be dependable on, though the oil weapon had not completely lost its value.
Israel and Egypt both now realised that there would never be peace unless they were primed to make concessions.
Henry Kissinger, the National security Advisor of President Dixon, endeavoured to bring some peace talks in the warring countries. He travelled between Tel Aviv, Damascus and Cairo, which came to be known as the ‘shuttle diplomacy’. Kissinger arranged peace talks at Geneva in December 1973. The Arabs and Israelis sat at a negotiating table for the first time. In January 1974 Egypt and Israel agreed to withdraw their troops from the Golan Heights.
However there was a change of attitude in the USA after President Carter in 1977. He expressed compassion for a Palestinian homeland. Despite the resentment of Syria and the PLO, Sadat met with Prime Minister Begin for discussions regarding the Sinai. Talks went on there, but no solution was come to. President Carter, acting as a mediator, invited them to his holiday home at Camp David. Talks here lasted for thirteen days; an agreement was eventually made and signed in the White House. In the Camp David Accords, Sadat and Begin agreed to negotiate a peace treaty and establish relations between nations by peaceful means. Egypt would now recognise Israels’ right to exist. In return Israel would steadily leave the Sinai Peninsula and restore it to Egypt.
The Camp David agreement was hoped to soon be followed by a general peace between the rest of the Arab countries and Israel. In fact the rest of the Arab countries opposed it and strongly condemned Sadat for making such an agreement. In October 1981 Sadat was gunned down by some of his soldiers as he was seen to as an ignominy to the Arabs and Islam.
Days after the Gulf War ended in 1991 the United States took the prospect to open talks again. The USA Secretary of state, James Baker, travelled to and from the Middle East for eight months trying to get the Arabs and Israeli’s to hold a peace conference. In October 1991 he finally managed to influence the Israelis to hold a peace conference in Madrid, this however did not solve the problem but it was a beginning. Secret talks were set up in Oslo in December 1992. This made progress, the Israelis were reluctant to discuss the rule of Jerusalem, and however they were prepared to talk about the future of Gaza and the West Bank. In a result they both signed a resolution of principles.
Progress towards peace however, was made. On 4 May 1994 the Gaza-Jericho agreement was signed in 1995 further talks began of what would be called the Oslo II agreement. This agreement led to the Israeli withdrawal from the West Bank. However this progress was soon broken down as Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin was assassinated. He paid the price for talking to the enemy. Peres succeeded Rabin but lost the election. He too was succeeded by Benjamin Netanyahu. However President Clinton secured the agreement between the two sides. The Maryland Agreement involved Israeli troops withdrawing from a further part of the West Bank and in return the Palestinians would reduce the risk of terrorism in Israel. The future of this agreement is however doubtful.
However, in conclusion, in 1948 both super powers, USA and USSR both supported the creation of Israel. In return Israel kept friendly terms with them.
American influence over Israel can be seen in the wars at 1956, 1967 and 1973. In the 1956 war Israel attacked Egypt, together with French and British forces. The Americans were not consulted and so were very angry. Although the Israeli Army successfully seized the Sinai but the American government insisted that the Israelis should withdraw. In 1967 Israel went to war against Egypt, Syria and Jordan. Having learnt a lesson previously, the Israelis only attacked when some of the Americans. When the Israelis were shocked with a surprise attack by the Egyptians, USA airlifted emergency supplies of arms to Israel.
This shows that Israel was given full support to by the USA.
On the other hand, the USSR provided support for the Arab States; in return the Soviet used Egyptian ports.
However when Sadat come to power he expelled soviet advisor from his county in 1972 and moved closer to the USA. The Americans used their new relationship to bring about a peace deal between Israel and Egypt. Jimmy Carter brought Sadat and Begin together at camp David, where they agreed the details of a peace treaty. As a result American influence in Israel increased.
In my opinion, Britain only took part in the conflict when it came to the Suez Canal, as this was the last British intervention in the conflict. Britain and France had obstructed the progress of peace for their own reasons and got Israel involved in the 1956 war.
USA, on the other hand, hindered and helped in the search of a resolution, as in the war of 1973, when oil was used as a weapon, USA quickly sided with the Arab countries, thus hindered. However, the closer the events to the present day situation, USA managed for the two states to meet at camp David and came to an agreement, thus helped in the search of a resolution.
The Soviet Union, provided help for the Arab countries in return for huge gifts of weaponry soviet naval ships used Egyptian ports, and Soviet exploration planes flew from Cairo airport. Thus the Soviet Union was behind a deal.
Also providing either party, Arabs or Israelis with weapons was clearly a push factor of war between the two and creating extreme tense situations.
