History of the Arab-Israeli conflict

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The Arab-Israeli conflict is a modern phenomenon, which dates back to the end of the 19th century. The conflict became a major international issue after the collapse of the Ottoman Empire in 1917, and in various forms it continues to this day. The Arab-Israeli conflict has resulted in at least five major wars and a number of "minor conflicts". It has also been the source of two major Palestinian intifadas (uprisings) and is cited by al-Qaeda, a largely Arab organization, as one of the reasons for its conflict with the Western world.

Contents

Before 1947

Tensions between the Jews and Arabs started to emerge after the 1880s, when European Jews began to immigrate and augment Palestinian Jewish communities by buying land from Ottoman and individual Arab landholders, and establishing agricultural settlements in the historic lands of Judea and Israel, which were then part of the Ottoman empire [link]. By the 1920s, tension had given way to violence, such as the Riots in Palestine of 1920, and Jaffa riots of 1921. To assuage the Arabs, and due to British inability to control Arab violence in the British Mandate any other way, the semi-autonomous Arab Emirate of Transjordan was created in all Palestinian territory east of the Jordan river (roughly 80% of the mandate). The violence continued to mount, however, throughout the 1930s and 40s, resulting in loss of life on all sides, including the Riots in Palestine of 1920, 1921 and 1929, attacks by Irgun, the Great Arab Uprising of 1936-1939, the Assassination of British Mandate Officials, and the 1946 King David Hotel bombing.

War of 1948

May 15 - June 10

The 1948 Arab-Israeli War, known as the "Israeli War of Independence" or "al-Nakba" (The Disaster), 1948-1949, began after the British withdrawal and the declaration of the State of Israel on May 14 1948. The Arabs had rejected the November 1947 UN Partition Plan, which proposed the establishment of Arab and Jewish states in Palestine. Arab militias had begun campaigns to control territory inside and outside the designated borders. Joint Jordanian, Egyptian, Syrian, Lebanese and Iraqi troops invaded Palestine, which Israel, the US, the Soviet Union, and UN Secretary-General Trygve Lie called illegal aggression, while China broadly backed the Arab claims. The Arab states proclaimed their aim of a "United State of Palestine" [Cablegram from the Secretary-General of the League of Arab States to the Secretary-General of the United Nations] May 15, 1948, at Wikisource. Accessed March 22, 2006. in place of Israel and an Arab state. They considered the UN Plan to be invalid because it was opposed by Palestine's Arab majority, and claimed that the British withdrawal led to an absence of legal authority, making it necessary for them to protect Arab lives and property.[The Origins and Evolution of the Palestine Problem: 1917-1988, PART II, 1947-1977], United Nations Information System on the Question of Palestine(UNISPAL), June 20, 1990, ST/SG/SER.F/1 About two thirds of Palestinian Arabs fled or were expelled from the territories which came under Jewish control (see Palestinian exodus); practically all of the much smaller number of Jews in the territories captured by the Arabs, for example the Old City of Jerusalem, also fled or were expelled. The official United Nations estimate was that 711,000[General Progress Report and Supplementary Report of the United Nations Conciliation Commission for Palestine, Covering the Period from 11 December 1949 to 23 October 1950], published by the United Nations Concilation Commission, October 23, 1950. (U.N. General Assembly Official Records, 5th Session, Supplement No. 18, Document A/1367/Rev. 1). The Committee believed the estimate to be "as accurate as circumstances permit", and attributed the higher number on relief to, among other things, "duplication of ration cards, addition of persons who have been displaced from area other than Israel-held areas and of persons who, although not displaced, are destitute." Arabs became refugees during the fighting.

The fighting ended with signing of the Rhodes Armistice, which formalized Israeli control of the area allotted to the Jewish state plus just over half of the area allotted to the Arab state. The Gaza Strip was occupied by Egypt and the West Bank by Jordan until June 1967 when they were seized by Israel during the Six-Day War.

Aftermath of the 1948 war

Comparison between partition plan and armistice lines

The Palestinians who fled or were expelled from the areas that became Israel were not allowed to return to their homes, and took up residence in refugee camps in surrounding countries, including Lebanon, Jordan, Syria, and the area that was later to be known as the Gaza Strip. The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East was established to alleviate their condition.

Over the next several decades after the 1948 war ended, between 700,000 and 900,000 (see Jewish exodus from Arab lands) Jews fled the Arab countries they were living in, in many cases owing to anti-Jewish sentiment, expulsion (in the case of Egypt), or, in the case of Iraq, legal oppression; of this number, two thirds ended up in refugee camps in Israel, while the remainder migrated to France, the United States and other Western or Latin American countries.

For the nineteen years from the end of the Mandate until the Six-Day War, Jordan controlled the West Bank and Egypt controlled the Gaza Strip. In 1950, Jordan annexed the West Bank, but this annexation was recognized only by the United Kingdom. Both territories were conquered (but not annexed) from Jordan and Egypt by Israel in the Six-Day War. Neither Jordan or Egypt allowed the creation of a Palestinian state in these territories.

War of 1956

The 1956 Suez War was a joint Israeli-British-French operation, in which Israel invaded the Sinai Peninsula and British and French forces landed at the port of Suez, ostensibly to separate the warring parties, though the real motivation of the United Kingdom and France was to protect the interests of investors in those countries who were affected by Egyptian President Nasser's decision to nationalize the Suez Canal. Israel justified its invasion of Egypt as an attempt to stop attacks (see the Fedayeen) upon Israeli civilians, and to restore Israeli shipping rights through the Straits of Tiran, which Egypt claimed was within its territorial waters. The invading forces agreed to withdraw under U.S. and international pressure, and Israel withdrew from the Sinai as well, in return for the installation of U.N. separation forces and guarantees of Israeli freedom of shipment. The canal was left in Egyptian (rather than British and French) hands.

Between 1956 and 1967

This period saw the rise of Nasserism; the founding of the United Arab Republic in 1958 and its collapse in 1961; disputes between Israel and Syria over water and border areas; continued fedayeen raids, mostly from Syria and Jordan, and Israeli reprisals; and the increasing alignment of the Arab states with the Soviet Union, who became their largest arms supplier

In the early 1960s, the PLO was established by Arab states. The Article 24 of the Palestinian National Charter of 1964 [link] stated: "This Organization does not exercise any territorial sovereignty over the West Bank in the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, on the Gaza Strip or in the Himmah Area."

War of 1967

The fighting in the Six-Day War of 1967 began with a strike by Israel, which many consider preemptive, against Egypt and Syria following the breakdown of international diplomatic efforts to solve the crisis begun by the Egyptian closure of the Straits of Tiran (a casus belli, according to a possible interpretation of international law), expulsion of U.N. peacekeepers from the Sinai, stationing some 100,000 Egyptian troops at the peninsula, a public announcement by Nasser that he intended to destroy Israel [link]. and a build up of troops along the Syrian border. Surprise Israeli air strikes destroyed the entire Egyptian air force while still on the ground. A subsequent ground invasion into Egyptian territory led to Israel's conquest of the Gaza Strip and the Sinai Peninsula. In spite of Israel's request to Jordan to desist from attacking it, both Jordan and Syria began to shell Israeli targets; Israel responded by capturing the West Bank from Jordan on June 7, and the Golan Heights from Syria on June 9.

War of 1968-1970

The War of Attrition was a limited war fought between Egypt and Israel from 1968 to 1970. It was initiated by Egypt as a way to recapture the Sinai from Israel which had occupied it since the Six-Day War. The war ended with a cease-fire signed between the countries in 1970 with frontiers at the same place as when the war started.

War of 1973

When the cease fire came into effect, Israel had lost territory on the east side of the Suez Canal to Egypt (show in red) but gained territory west of the canal and in the Golan Heights (shown in green)

The 1973 Yom Kippur War began when Egypt and Syria launched a surprise joint attack, on the Jewish day of fasting, in the Sinai and Golan Heights. The Egyptians and Syrians advanced during the first 24–48 hours, after which momentum began to swing in Israel's favor. By the second week of the war, the Syrians had been pushed entirely out of the Golan Heights. In the Sinai to the south, the Israelis had struck at the "hinge" between two invading Egyptian armies, crossed the Suez Canal (where the old cease-fire line had been), and cut off an entire Egyptian army just as a United Nations cease-fire came into effect. Israeli troops eventually withdrew from the west of the Canal and the Egyptians kept their positions on a narrow strip on the east allowing them to re-open the Suez Canal and claim victory.

Operation Litani of 1978

Operation Litani was the official name of Israel's 1978 invasion of Lebanon up to the Litani river. The invasion was a military success, as PLO forces were pushed north of the river. However, international outcry led to the creation of the UNIFIL peacekeeping force and a partial Israeli retreat.

War of 1982

The 1982 Lebanon War began when Israel attacked Lebanon, justified by Israel as an attempt to remove the Fatah militants led by Yasser Arafat from Southern Lebanon (where they had established, during the country's civil war, a semi-independent enclave used to launch terrorist attacks on Israeli civilians). The invasion was widely criticized both in and outside Israel, especially after the Israeli-backed Christian militia's Sabra and Shatila massacre and ultimately led to the death of 20,000 Lebanese. Although the attack succeeded in exiling Arafat to Tunisia, Israel became entangled with various local Muslim militias (particularly Hezbollah), which fought to end the Israeli occupation. By 1985 Israel retreated from all but a narrow stretch of Lebanese territory designated by Israel as the Israeli Security Zone. The UN Security Council Resolution 425 confirmed ([link]) that as of June 16 2000, Israel had completely withdrawn its forces from Lebanon. Despite UN Security Council resolutions 1559 and 1583, Hezbollah continues active involvement in the conflict.

Intifada of 1987-1993

The First Intifada, 1987-1993, began as an uprising of Palestinians, particularly the young, against the Israeli military occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip. The exiled PLO leadership in Tunisia quickly assumed a role, but the uprising also brought a rise in the importance of Palestinian national and Islamic movements. The intifada started by a group of young who started throwing rocks at the Israeli occupying forces in Jabalia (Gaza Strip) in December 1987. Children of Palestine were the leaders of this uprising and were called (Atfal Al-Hijara). The Intifada ended with the signing of the Oslo Accords by Israel and the PLO.

Gulf War of 1990-1991

The Gulf War, 1990-1991, began with the Iraqi invasion and annexation of Kuwait and did not initially involve direct military engagement with Israel. An international coalition led by the United States which included Arab forces was assembled to drive Iraqi forces out of Kuwait. To draw Israel into the confrontation and fracture the multinational coalition, Iraq launched Scud missiles on Israeli cities and on Israel's nuclear facilities near Dimona. However, under strong pressure from the U.S., which feared direct Israeli involvement would threaten the unity of the coalition, Israel did not retaliate against Iraq and the multinational coalition ousted Iraqi forces from Kuwait. During the war, the Palestinian leadership and King Hussein of Jordan allied themselves with Iraq's invasion of Kuwait. Kuwait and other Gulf Arab monarchies then expelled just under 400,000 Palestinian refugees ([link]) and withdrew their support from the Palestinian cause, which was one of the factors leading to the PLO signing the Oslo Accords.

Intifada of 2000

The al-Aqsa Intifada began in late September, 2000, around the time Israeli opposition leader Ariel Sharon and a large contingent of armed bodyguards visited the Temple Mount/Al-Haram As-Sharif complex in Jerusalem and declared the area eternal Israeli territory. Widespread riots and attacks broke out in Jerusalem and many major Israeli cities, and spread throughout the West Bank and Gaza Strip. An Israeli Human Rights group, B'Tselem, estimated the death toll to be 3,396 Palestinians and 994 Israelis [link], although this number is criticized for not showing the whole picture, and not differentiating between combatants and civilians (suicide bombers, for example, are counted as victims) [link] [link].

Arab Peace Initiative of 2002

In 2002, Saudi Arabia offered a peace plan in The New York Times and at a summit meeting of the Arab League in Beirut. The plan is based on, but goes beyond UN Security Council Resolution 242 and Resolution 338. It essentially calls for full withdrawal, solution of the refugee problem, and a Palestinian state with its capital in East Jerusalem in return for fully normalized relations with the whole Arab world. This proposal received the unanimous backing of the Arab League for the first time.

In response, Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres said: "... the details of every peace plan must be discussed directly between Israel and the Palestinians, and to make this possible, the Palestinian Authority must put an end to terror, the horrifying expression of which we witnessed just last night in Netanya", referring to the Netanya suicide attack. [link]

In November 2005, the Bush administration acknowledged that Saudi Arabia has renewed funding to Hamas and other Palestinian insurgency groups. [link]

Israel's Disengagement of 2005

Map of Disengagement

In 2005 Israel unilaterally evacuated settlements, and military outposts from the Gaza Strip and the northern West Bank.

The Disengagement Plan was a proposal by Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, adopted by the government and enacted in August 2005, to remove permanent Israeli presence from the Gaza Strip and from four settlements in the northern West Bank. The civilians were evacuated (many forcibly) and the residential buildings demolished after August 15, and the disengagement from the Gaza Strip was completed on September 12, 2005, when the last Israeli soldier left the Gaza strip. The military disengagement from the northern West Bank was completed ten days later.

Israel-Lebanon conflict of 2006

The 2006 Israel-Lebanon crisis began on July 12, 2006, with an attack by Hezbollah on Israel. Three Israeli soldiers were killed, and two were kidnapped and taken prisoner into Lebanon. In a search and rescue operation to return the captured soldiers, a further five Israeli Defense Forces troops were killed. It marked the beginning of a new wave of clashes between Israel and Hezbollah which has seen the Lebanese capital, the sole Lebanese national Airport, and much of southern Lebanon attacked by Israelis while Lebanese militias, presumeably Hezbollah, have bombarded northern Israel, striking as far south as the Israeli city of Haifa. Hundreds of civilians have been killed. Fears are growing that the situation may deteriorate further, with the possibility of either Syria or Iran becoming involved.

Abbreviated timeline

References

External links

[Source Documents and texts on the Arab-Israeli and Palestinian-Israeli conflict, and history of Israel and Palestine]
[Source Documents and texts on Zionism and the Creation of Modern Israel]
[Documents related to the Mideast Conflict] from Mt. Holyoke College
[The Avalon Project at Yale Law School] records from 1916-1999

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