History of the Middle East

CW43: The Middle East and Arab-Israeli Conflict, c1900–2001

Jewish settlement in Palestine, 1900–45
|Conflict |Causes of conflict |Presence and influence of other actors and |Changing Arab-Israeli relationships |Proposed solutions |
| | |international events | | |
|World War One |Misperceptions |Actors: Ottoman Empire |Jewish settlements |Paris Peace Conference |
|Britain and Arabs ally against the Ottoman|Unaware of the details of the Sykes-Picot |Until 1917, retention of Arab customs in |Lovers of Zion; Rishon-le-Zion; more than 40 |Arabs should have the right to national |
|Empire; expectation from the Arabs that |Agreement and the Balfour Declaration; Britain’s|Palestine |Zionist settlements in Palestine by 1914; Jewish|self-determination; need for a major power|
|they would get Palestine in return; |support for both them and Zionism | |population doubled between |to help them run their new country; |
|Hussein-McMahon letters | |Actors: Britain |1922–29 |Britain received the mandate to look after|
| |Arab disagreement with various proposals: |Balfour Declaration; given a mandate over | |Palestine, also confirmed that the terms |
|Political conflict |verdict of Paris Peace Conference |Palestine by the Paris Peace Conference; helped |Reasons for migration |of the Balfour Declaration should apply to|
|Emir Feisal becomes king of an Arab state |Decision to include the Balfour Declaration in |the Jews build up their military forces such as |Influence of Rothschild; Herzl and the Zionist |the new country |
|consisting of Palestine, Lebanon, |the way in which Palestine was to be governed; |the Hagannah and the Irgun Zvai Leumi |Congress in 1897; Jewish National Fund | |
|Transjordan and Syria; publicly opposes |Peel Report – proposed a Jewish state and an | | |Peel Report |
|Zionist migration; Arab parties unite to |Arab state |Actors: King-Crane Commission |Wartime immigration |Palestine should be divided into a Jewish |
|form the Arab Higher Committee; Ben | |Concluded that the case for a Zionist presence |Jews smuggled in by ship: the Struma |state and an Arab state; Britain to keep |
|Gurion’s conference at the Biltmore Hotel |Rate of settlement |should be dropped; findings ignored by Paris | |control of the area around Jerusalem |
|calls for the immediate creation of a |Herbert Samuel’s influence; Jewish population |Peace Conference | | |
|Jewish state in Palestine |doubled between 1922–29 | | |1939 White Paper |
| | |Actors: France | |Jewish immigration to be limited to 75,000|
|Civil disobedience |Extreme Zionism |King Feisal started attacking the French; French| |over the next five years; no more |
|1936 general strike |Vladimir Jabotinsky, demonstration near the |removed him from Syria and Lebanon | |immigration without Arab consent |
| |Mosque of the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem | | | |
|Arab-Israeli violence | |Actors: Herbert Samuel | |1942 Biltmore Programme |
|Protest against Samuel’s decision; 1929 |Jewish dissatisfaction |British Jew, High Commissioner of Palestine; | |Calls for the immediate creation of a |
|massacre; Irgun planted bombs and shot |Anger at the 1939 White Paper in light of the |16,500 Jews to be allowed to settle in Palestine| |Jewish state in Palestine |
|Arabs in response to the White Paper |Nazi threat |in 1920 | | |
| | | | | |
|Arab-British violence | |Events: First World War; Paris Peace Conference | | |
|1937–39 rebellion | | | | |
| | | | | |
|Jewish-British violence | | | | |
|Lehi, Abraham Stern, Lord Moyne, Irgun | | | | |
|violence | | | | |
| | | | | |
|World War Two | | | | |
|30,000 Jews in Palestine joined the | | | | |
|British army | | | | | The creation of the state of Israel and its impact
|Conflict |Causes of conflict |Presence and influence of other actors and |Changing Arab-Israeli relationships |Proposed solutions |
| | |international events | | |
|Irgun and Lehi |British immigration limits |President Truman |Propaganda – Ben Gurion and the Jewish Agency |UN voted in November 1947 to partition |
|From 1946, the Irgun and the Lehi began a |Despite President Truman’s declaration that |Demanded that 100,000 Jews be allowed into |continued to try to smuggle Jews into Palestine |Palestine six months from that date; |
|large-scale campaign of violence against |100,000 Jews should be allowed into Palestine, |Palestine at once | |Jerusalem should be an international zone |
|the British, including the blowing up of |the British fixed the limit at 1500 a month. | |Political change |under UN control; Jewish and Arab states |
|the King David Hotel in Jerusalem, |This was the last straw for the Lehi and the |United Nations |On 15 May 1948, the British mandate ended and |should be linked in an economic union to |
|headquarters of the British government in |Irgun; Exodus |Asked to take back the mandate from Britain and |the Arab and Jewish states came into being; the |help each other’s trade |
|Palestine, which killed 91 people | |decide the future of the country; UN Special |Jews named their state Israel and formed a | |
| |UNSCOP Plan |Committee on Palestine; truce arranged on |government led by David Ben Gurion | |
|Death toll |Jewish state would be larger than the Arab |11 June 1948 which allowed the Israelis to | | |
|212 killings in Palestine |state; vote for partition was followed by |reorganise their army and transport the Czech |Effects of the violence | |
| |violent Arab protests which soon turned into |weapons they had bought earlier in the year from|Nearly a million Palestinians left or were | |
|Civil War |killings and counter-killings between Jews and |Europe; second truce lasted until October 15 |forced to leave their homes; most went to Jordan| |
|Operation Dalet, Deir Yassin capture of |Arabs | |and the Gaza Strip, many went to Syria and | |
|Tiberias, Haifa and Jaffa; Hagganah | |Arab League |Lebanon; Arab state of Palestine ceased to | |
|occupied most of the Arab areas of West |Purchasing of arms |Palestine turned to it for help; however, it had|exist; Palestinians became a minority people in | |
|Jerusalem |Hagannah leaders went to Skoda arms firm in |only been created recently and its members were |the new state of Israel | |
| |Czechoslovakia and bought a huge quantity of |divided on many issues | | |
|War of Liberation |armaments | |Reasons for Palestinian migration | |
|The civil war of 1948 was about to turn | | |Massacre at Deir Yassin, Israeli military | |
|into an international war, the first of a |Arab League assistance | |victory; Arab leaders encouraged them to leave | |
|series of Arab-Israeli conflicts that has |Arab League in December 1947 declared partition | |during the conflict | |
|rocked the Middle East since 1948. On 15 |illegal and gave the Palestinians 10,000 rifles;| | | |
|May 1948, armies from Egypt, Lebanon, |early in 1948 it formed an Arab Liberation Army | | | |
|Transjordan, Iraq and Syria entered |of 3000 volunteers to fight in partition | | | |
|Palestine with the aim of helping the | | | | |
|Palestinian Arabs fight the Jewish state |Formation of Ben Gurion government | | | |
|of Israel which had been created that day;|Five neighbouring Arab countries sent armies to | | | |
|Arab Legion of Transjordan had taken back |make war on Israel | | | |
|control of the Old City of Jerusalem; | | | | |
|Israelis seized western Galilee; drove the| | | | |
|Lebanese back north; Israel was left in | | | | |
|control of 80% of the land | | | | |

Reasons for, and outcomes of, Arab-Israeli conflicts to 1973

|War of 1948 |War of 1956 |War of 1967 |War of 1973 |
|Description: |Description: |Description: |Description: |
|On 15 May 1948, armies from Egypt, Lebanon, Transjordan, |Lasted for 10 days; invasion began on |5 June 1967; Israeli initial air strike (bombed Egyptian |6 October; the Day of Atonement; Arab initial success: |
|Iraq and Syria entered Palestine with the aim of helping |29 October; advanced deep into Sinai; involvement of |airfields and launched similar attacks against the other |smashed Israel’s Suez Canal defences; 80,000 Egyptians |
|the Palestinian Arabs fight the Jewish state of Israel |Britain and France; Egypt refused to evacuate Suez Canal |Arab air forces); land war (drove Egyptians out of the |crossed the canal; destroyed Israeli tanks; Syria |
|which had been created that day |zone and were bombed by the British and French; UN voted |Gaza strip and Sinai; defeated Jordan within two days, |advanced into the Golan Heights and drove the Israelis |
| |for a ceasefire; Arab countries stopped supplying Britain|capturing the Old City of Jerusalem and the ‘West Bank’; |back into Galilee; Israel fought back: US weapons sent to|
|Causes: |with oil; USA refused to support the invasion; Eden |attacked the Syrian army in the Golan Heights and this |Israel; 254,000 reservists mobilised; 14 October tank |
|Establishment of Ben Gurion government; unhappiness with |forced to agree to a ceasefire just 24 hours after the |was over by June 10); United Nations ordered a ceasefire |battle against the Egyptians; Israel crossed into the |
|the UN Partition Plan; British mandate expiring; both |first British troops had landed in Egypt; UN Emergency |which the Arab nations had to accept |Suez Canal; international pressure – USSR wanted it ended|
|sides rearmed |Force moved in to police the border between Egypt and | |(feared that the Egyptians would lose); USA wanted it |
| |Israel |Causes: |ended (did not want to provoke the Soviets into giving |
|Effects: | |- Syria became violently anti-Israel (General Jedid’s |even more weapons to Egypt and Syria); joint ceasefire |
|- Egypt, Lebanon, Jordan and Syria signed armistices |Causes: |takeover, attacks by Fatah guerrillas from Syria |proposed came into force on 22 October |
|with Israel but no peace treaty; many Arabs have refused|- Nasser wanted to avenge Egypt’s defeat in the 1948 war|increased) | |
|to recognise Israel and have talked about destroying it;|against Israel and to return Palestine to the Arabs; |- Land dispute – Israeli tractor ploughed up some |Causes: |
|many Jews arrived in Israel from existing refugee camps |increased wealth and armed strength; his reputation in |Arab-owned land close to the border and met Syrian fire.|- Sadat replaced Nasser in 1970 and he wanted to reverse|
|and communities from Eastern Europe |the Arab world increased; he aimed to unite the Arabs |Israel responded by bombing Syrian guns. Israel warned |the Arab defeat of 1967 |
|- Israel’s first law in 1950 was the Law of Return; |under Egyptian leadership |that it would strike back if Syria did not stop |- Egypt was more ready – asked the USSR for assistance; |
|anti-Jewish riots; in Iraq, Zionism was punishable by |- 1955 arms agreement with Czechoslovakia gave Egypt |- USSR intervention (incorrectly argued that Israel was |plans were made for an invasion of Sinai across the Suez|
|death; Arab protest at Israeli diversion of the waters |many Soviet weapons |ready to invade Syria at short notice); King Feisal of |Canal; Syria would also attack from the Golan Heights |
|of River Jordan |- Support for Algerian rebels angered France – supported|Saudi Arabia and King Hussein of Jordan promised to help| |
|- Need for $65 million of international aid to cope with|Arab rebels who were fighting the French in their colony|Syria |Effects: |
|new humanitarian needs; change of leadership in Arab |of Algeria |- Nasser ordered UN Emergency Force to leave Egyptian |- Israeli victory: 12,000 Arabs had been killed compared|
|governments: assassination of Egyptian prime minister in|- Nationalisation of Aswan Dam angered Britain – it had |territory; UN was ordered to withdraw; barred the Gulf |to 2000 Israelis |
|1948; a series of military takeovers in 1949; in 1950: |been owned largely by British and French shareholders; |of Aqaba to Israeli ships; military pacts (Jordan and |- Oil as a weapon: OAPEC increased the price of Arab oil|
|assassination of Lebanese prime minister; murder of |Nasser did this after Britain and the USA cancelled the|Egypt formed a defence pact; eight Arab states were |until Israel withdrew from Egypt and Syria |
|King Abdullah of Jordan; coup in Egypt which gave |loans they had promised |poised to attack); Moshe Dayan (appointed Minister of |- USA tried to appease the Arabs |
|Colonel Nasser power; Arab leaders blamed their defeat |- Increase of Fedayeen attacks angered Israel – |Defence) decided to use attack as a form of defence |- Britain stopped supplying Israel with weapons |
|on Britain and the USA and concentrated on improving |continuance of cross-border attacks; closing of the | |- EEC expressed sympathy for the Palestinians |
|their economies |entrance of the Gulf of Aqaba to Israeli ships | |- Kissinger’s proposal: disengagement of |
| | | |Israeli and Egyptian forces should happen in 1974; they |
| | | |should withdraw to pre-ceasefire positions; UN army |
| | | |should control the gap between them; Israel should |
| | | |withdraw from Sinai and in return get American aid | Reasons for, and outcomes of, Arab-Israeli conflicts to 1973 (cont)
|War of 1948 |War of 1956 |War of 1967 |War of 1973 |
| - Some of the new leaders hoped for a union of the Arab|Effects: |Effects: | |
|countries; very little action taken on Palestinian |- Egypt’s military power reduced – 1000 casualties; |- Israel improved its strength and security – kept | |
|refugees among all Arab countries, except Jordan; |Israel accepted as a permanent member of the |Sinai, Gaza Strip, West Bank, Golan Heights, and doubled| |
|Fedayeen established – secret guerrilla attacks on |international community |the size of the country | |
|Israeli targets; each year from 1949 to 1955, some 250 |- Britain and France humiliated – their influence in the|- Disaster for the Arabs – 15,000 men killed; 800 tanks | |
|Israelis were killed or wounded in such attacks. This |Middle East declined; had to leave Egypt empty-handed; |captured or destroyed; suffering for the Palestinians – | |
|prompted Israeli attacks in retaliation, including an |failed to overthrow Nasser; failed to keep the Suez |those who had been living in the West Bank and the Gaza | |
|attack on the village of Qibya in Jordan in 1953 and in |Canal open; had to introduce petrol rationing |Strip were now in occupied territories and faced heavy | |
|1955 the Israelis mounted a raid on the Gaza strip after|- Israel gained security against Fedayeen attacks – |restrictions on their lives | |
|a series of Fedayeen attacks on their territory; Arab |destroyed their bases; UN took over Sharm el-Sheikh and |- Strength of Fatah – Turned to Fatah rather than other | |
|boycott of Israeli trade – Israeli ships could not use |Gaza; emergence of Palestine Liberation Organisation |Arab states – Fatah increased their weapons; Battle of | |
|the Suez Canal; confiscation of cargo from Israeli |- Nasser’s reputation in the Arab world increased – |Karameh; Arafat became leader; continual fighting | |
|ships which called at Arab ports; Israel was in a |pro-western governments in Jordan, Lebanon and Iraq |between Egypt and Israel; support from USSR; 1970 | |
|permanent state of tension |turned against France and Britain; hopes for United Arab|ceasefire; Guerrilla warfare (PFLP, Dawson’s Field | |
| |League were soon dashed |hijackings), Black September Organisation assassinated | |
| | |the Prime Minister of Jordan, kidnapped and later | |
| | |murdered eleven Israeli athletes taking part in the | |
| | |Munich Olympic Games; failed diplomatic effort – UN | |
| | |Resolution 242 | |

Arab nationalism in the 1980s and 1990s, and divisions in the Arab world
|Divisions in the Arab world |Conflict |
|President Sadat |Direct conflict between Israel and Lebanon |
|Sadat’s initiative: recognised Israel’s existence; Camp David Agreement of 1978; Washington Treaty 1979; caused |26,000 Israeli troops invaded Lebanon in response to a bus hijack; PLO continued their attacks undeterred by the UN|
|fury in the Arab world; President Sadat was murdered by angry Egyptian soldiers |or the Christian militia leader, Major Haddad; June 1982 – 172,000 Israeli soldiers invaded Lebanon; UN let them |
| |pass; forced the PLO out of Beirut; PLO went to Algeria and Iraq. Defeat for Israel – assassination of pro-Israeli |
|Lebanon |Maronite President Gemayel of Lebanon; Sabra-Chatila massacre turned public opinion in Israel against the war; |
|Sunnis, Shi’ites, Druzes; Christians-Maronites, Greek Orthodox, Greek Catholics; conflict between Maronites and |Defence Minister Ariel Sharon resigned; Israel had to withdraw from Beirut; met with suicide bombs from fanatical |
|Sunni Muslims; refugee problem |Shi’ites |
| | |
|PLO in Lebanon |PLO attacks |
|Muslims in Lebanese government supported the PLO whilst the Maronites condemned them; full-scale civil war between |By 1986, PLO guerrillas were back in south Lebanon and making cross-border attacks on Israel; splinter groups came |
|Phalangist Militia and Tiger Militia and Shi’ite and Druze Muslims; Syria invaded Lebanon on the side of the |into being; Palestine Liberal Front hijacked a cruise ship and the Abu Nidal group hijacked an Egyptian airliner |
|Christians and then killed Christians | |
| |Internationalisation of conflict |
|Civil war between terrorist groups in Lebanon |Terror campaign was spread in places like Britain and France; in 1986 an American soldier was killed by a terrorist|
|Islamic Jihad Organisation; Hezbollah; Arab Red Knights; Black Brigades; civil war involved taking of hostages |bomb in West Berlin; US bombing of Tripoli and Benghazi |
| | |
|Rise of Hamas from Fatah |Political dissension within Israel |
|Following on from this, Hamas and other militant organisations rose to power and shook the foundations of the |Peres – talks in Morocco and Egypt; Taba; Yitzchak Shamir – no negotiation with the Arabs over the West Bank; |
|authority which Fatah under Arafat had established. However, Arafat remained in his position until a month before |Jewish settlers continued to build new settlements there; Likud talked of extreme solutions such as the annexation |
|his death in 2004 |of the occupied territories |
| | |
| |Intifada |
| |On 9 December 1987 an Israeli army patrol shot two attackers; uprising soon followed; strikes and economic |
| |boycotts; refused to work for Israeli employers; Israel’s response – ‘iron fist’ |
| | |
| |Arafat’s change of tactics |
| |Renounced terrorism; proclamation of independent state of Palestine; sought to negotiate a settlement with Israel; |
| |USA entered into talks with the PLO; the Oslo Accords of 1993, agreed by Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and |
| |PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat, granted the Palestinians the right to self-government in the Gaza Strip and the city of|
| |Jericho in the West Bank, through the creation of the Palestinian Authority. The PLO had used negotiating tools to |
| |get as close to their stated aims as was realistically possible, but this by no means marked the end of the |
| |conflict, as the Second Intifada, with repeated suicide bombings, took place in 2000–04 | Sources
|Lowe, N. Mastering Modern World History (3rd edition, Macmillan Masters, 1997) |
|BBC series, Cold War, written by Jeremy Isaac and Taylor Downing, published by Transworld in 1998 |
|Hunter, R. E. The Six Day War (Purnell’s History of the 20th century, Vol. 6, Chapter 94, BBC, 1969) |
|Kyle, K. Suez: Britain’s End of Empire in the Middle East (I. B. Tauris, 2003) |
|Mandle, B. Conflict in the Promised Land (Heinemann, 1976) |
|Mansfield, P. A History of the Middle East (Penguin, 2003) |
|Perkins, S. J. The Arab-Israeli Conflict (Nelson Thornes, 1991) |
|Regan, G. Israel and the Arabs (Cambridge University Press, 1993) |
|Scott-Baumann, M. Conflict in the Middle East: Israel and the Arabs (Hodder Murray, 2007) |

Processes (Part A)
|Assess the impact of British intervention 1914–21 on the growth of Arab nationalism in the ensuing decade. |
|Assess the impact of Britain, Egypt and Suez 1945–56 on the growth of Arab nationalism in the ensuing decade. |
|Assess the impact of the Cold War 1956–73 on the growth of Arab nationalism in the ensuing decade. |
|Assess the impact of the United Nations and the Gulf War 1990–91 on the growth of Arab nationalism in the ensuing decade. |

The role of individuals (Part A)
|What was the short-term significance of David Ben Gurion? |
|What was the short-term significance of Colonel Abdel Nasser? |
|What was the short-term significance of Yasser Arafat? |
|What was the short-term significance of Saddam Hussein? |

Key events (Part A)
|What was the short-term significance of the creation of the state of Israel, 1948? |
|What was the short-term significance of the war of Yom Kippur, 1973? |
|What was the short-term significance of the Iranian Revolution, 1979? |
|What was the short-term significance of the assassination of Yitzhak Rabin, 1995? |

Processes (Part B)
|How significant was the presence of foreign powers as an influence on the nature and growth of Arab nationalism in the years 1900–2001? |
|How significant was the existence of Israeli-Arab wars as an influence on the nature and growth of Arab nationalism in the years 1900–2001? |
|How significant was the promotion of proposed solutions as an influence on the nature and growth of Arab nationalism in the years 1900–2001? |
|How significant was Israeli migration as an influence on the nature and growth of Arab nationalism in the years 1900–2001? |

The role of individuals (Part B)
|Assess the significance of the role of individuals in affecting Israeli-Arab relations in the years 1900–2001. |

Key events (Part B)
|To what extent do you consider the Balfour Declaration to be a key turning point in the political development of the Middle East during the 20th century? |
|To what extent do you consider the 1948 Civil War in Palestine to be a key turning point in the political development of the Middle East during the 20th century? |
|To what extent do you consider the founding of the Palestine Liberation Organisation to be a key turning point in the political development of the Middle East during the 20th century? |
|To what extent do you consider the death of President Nasser to be a key turning point in the political development of the Middle East during the 20th century? |