Albany Senior High School Arab Israeli Conflict by Samuel Barnaby 1

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Background to the Arab-Israeli Conflict

Ottoman era

Because of the development of the Zionist movement the immigration of European Jews increased. This lead to tensions emerging after the 1880's between the Jews and Arabs, it also increased the size of Jewish communities in Palestine by the attainment of land from Ottoman and individual landholders who were known as effendis, also agricultural settlements were established in the historic lands of Judea and Israel which had been part of the Ottoman Empire since 1516. In 1880 it was estimated that the population of Palestine west of the Jordan River was under 590,000 people of witch 96 percent were Arabs (Muslim or Christian) and roughly 4 percent of the population were Jewish. Michael Oren the current Israeli ambassador to the United States of America has written that about 300,000 Arabs did eventually move into Palestine from other surrounding Arab countries to benefit from the economic opportunities that were created by the Zionists, who were more skilled with modern technology and at building urban institutions.

British Mandate 1920-1948

During the time of the British mandate, the Balfour Declaration which had been signed previously in 1917 before the British mandate said that the government of Great Britain supported the establishment of a "Jewish national home" in Palestine. As a result this exasperated the tensions between the Arabs who already lived in the Mandate of Palestine and the Jewish people who had moved there during the Ottoman era. The Faisal-Weizmann Agreement which was signed on the 3rd of January 1919 was done to promote Arab-Jewish cooperation on the advancement of a Jewish national homeland and an Arab nation in a large part of the Middle East. However this agreement between Emir Faisal and Chaim Weizmann had little to no effect on the conflict at all. Eventually tensions rose between the Palestinians and the Jews which led to the 1920 Nebi Musa riots in which five Jews and four Arabs were killed, 216 Jews and 23 Arabs were wounded. And the 1921 Jaffa riots in which 47 Jews and 48 Arabs were killed, with a further 146 Jews and 73 Arabs being wounded.

further conflicts between the Jews and Arabs happened in 1929 with the Hebron massacre where 67 Jews were killed and Jewish homes and synagogues were ransacked and in the 1936-1939 Arab revolt in Palestine where the British and Jewish losses were 300 Jewish people killed and 4 Jewish people executed and 262 British soldiers killed with 550 soldiers being wounded. The Arab losses were 5000 killed,15,000 wounded, 108 executed, 12,662 detained and 5 exiled.

A British Royal Commission of Inquiry was set up in 1936, this became known as the peel commission because it was led by William Robert Wellesley Peel. In 1937 the commission proposed a partition plan for Palestine. This plan gave the Arabs control over all of the Negev, most of what is the present day West Bank and Gaza and the Jews got control over the city's of Tel Aviv and Haifa, present-day Northern Israel and the surrounding area's. The British were to maintain control over the city's of Jaffa, Jerusalem, Bethlehem and there surrounding areas. The Jews accepted the partition plan however the Arabs rejected it and demanded an end to Jewish immigration and the sale of land to the Jews. They were also calling for Palestine to become an independent Arab state. As of 1947 it  was reported that the population of Israel/Palestine is 1,845,000. with 608,000 Jewish people making up 33.9% of the population at the time and 1,237,000 Arabs and others making up the other 67.05% of the population at the time.

Map of United Nations partition plan for Palestine

The Arab-Israeli Conflict

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The Arab-Israeli conflict basically came about because both the Israeli's and the Palestinians layed claim to the land now known as Israel (formerly called Palestine before 1948) tensions between Israel and the surrounding Arab nations became so high that the 1948 Arab-Israeli war broke out on the 15th of May 1948 and ended on the 10th of march 1949 with an Israeli victory. Since then most of the surrounding Arab nations have been involved in a series of wars against Israel the first being in 1956 called the Suez Crisis and then the Six Day War in 1967, the Yom Kippur War in 1973, the South Lebanon Conflict in 1978, the Lebanon War in 1982, the First Intifada in 1987, the Second Intifada in 2000, the Second Lebanon war in 2006 and the Gaza War in 2008. The Arab-Israeli Conflict witch stated in 1948 is still ongoing .

1948 Arab-Israeli War

The 1948 Arab-Israeli started on the 15th of May 1948 and ended on 10th of March 1949 and was between Israel and the countries of Egypt, Transjordan (Jordan), Iraq and Syria and Foreign Volunteers from the Arab Liberation Army, the Muslim Brotherhood, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Yemen and Anglo-Egyptian Sudan. These Arab nations announced their aim of a "United State of Palestine", this was instead of Israel and an Arab state, they also thought that the UN partition  plan was invalid because most of Palestines Arab majority did not agree with it. They claimed that because of the British withdrawal from Palestine there was an absence of legal authority so therefore they sore a need to protect Arab lives and property.

It was estimated that about two thirds of Palestinian Arabs fled or were expelled when the land they were on came under Jewish control. And the rest that did not flee or were not expelled became Arab citizens of Israel, also most of the Jews that were in the land that was captured by the Arab forces  also fled or were expelled. The estimate by the United Nations of the number of Arabs that became refugees during the war was 711,000. The war ended in 1949 with the signing of several different Armistice Agreements between Israel, Egypt, Lebanon, Jordan and Syria, these agreements gave Israel control of all the land that was going to be given to the Jewish state and just over half of what was going to be given to the Arab state.

 1948 Arab Israeli War - May 15-June 10.svg          Israeli soldiers 1948.jpg                                              

Aftermath of the 1948 Arab-Israeli War

The estimated 630,000-700,000 Palestinians who fled Irael or were expelled from the lands that became part of the new state were not allowed after the war to return to their homes.Because of this they took up residence in refugee camps in the surrounding countries, these countries included Lebanon, Jordan, Syria and the area that would come to be known as the Gaza Strip. most of the time the refugees were not allowed to leave the camps and mix with the local Arab community.This has left the Palestinian refugee still unsolved even today.

The 1956 Suez Crisis

Egyptian prisoners of war during the 1956 Suez crisis                                          Smoke rises from oil tanks beside the Suez Canal hit during the initial Anglo-French assault on Port Said, 5 November 1956.

The 1956 Suez Crisis was fought between the countries of Israel, the United Kingdom and France against Egypt and started on the 29th of October and ended on the 7th of November 1956. The aim of the British and French was to take back the Suez canal which the Egyptians  had taken control of it from the French and British companies that had owned it, Israel's reason for joining the Suez Crisis was that the Egyptian forces had blocked the Straights of Tiran which was Israel's outlet to the Red Sea.  The result of the 1956 Suez Crisis was that Egypt and its Soviet allies won a political Victory, The coalition of Great Britain, France and Israel won a military victory eventhough after the crisis there was a forced British and French withdrawl. Israel occupied the Sinai Peninsula untill March 1957, there was a United Nations cease-fire, the United Nations Emergency Force was deployed in the Sinai Peninsula. The Straights of Tiran were also reopened for Israeli shipping, the current British Prime Minister at the time Anthony Eden resigned, it was the end of Great Britain's role as a superpower, Guy Mollet's position as French Prime Minister at the time  was heavily damaged. This was a major factor in his resignation five months after the former British Prime Minister Anthony Eden's resignation.also the the Suez Canal was left in Egyptian hands. (part 1 of 3) (part 2 of 3) (part 3 of 3)

Between 1956 and 1967

The period between the 1956 Suez Crisis and the 1967 Six Day War saw the rise of Nasserism which was a political ideology based on the thinking of the former Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser, the founding of what was known as the United Arab Republic (Egypt and Syria joined together) in 1958 and its collapse 1961, the increasing alignment of Arab states with the Soviet Union (1922-1991) who eventually became there biggist weapons supplier. And in 1964 the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) was established, this was mostly by Palestinian refugee's who were mostly from Jordan.

1967 Six Day War

1967 6-Day war.jpg                                 6 Day War-Amos.jpg

The Six Day War of 1967 stated on the 5th of June 1967 and ended on the 10th of June 1967. It was between Israel on one side and Egypt, Jordan, Syria and the Arab Expeditionary Forces of Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Morocco, Algeria, the Kingdom of Libya, Kuwait, Tunisia, the Republic of the Sudan, Pakistan and the PLO (Palestinian Liberation Organization) on the other. On the 10th of June the IDF (Israel Defense Forces) had completed its last assault in the Golan Heights, this is an area that has been controled by Israel since the Six Day War and it borders on the countries of Israel, Lebanon and Jordan. The day after the assualt a ceasefire was signed. Israel won the war and they had gained control over the areas of the Gaza Strip, the Sinai Peninsula, the West Bank of the River Jordan (this included East Jerusalem which had previously been controled by the Jordanians) and the Golan Heights.

In the aftermath of the 1967 Six Day War between 776 to 983 Israelis were killed with a further 4,517 being wounded, another 15 Israeli soldiers were captured by the Arab forces. However were said to be far greater. Between 9,800 and 15,000 Egyptian soldiers after the war were listed as killed or missing in action, on top of that there was a further 4,338 Egyptian soldiers captured. The Jordanian losses have been estimated to be 6,000  soldiers killed or missing in action and 533 captured and the Syrian losses were estimated to be 1,000 soldiers killed and a further 367 soldiers captured. All these figures combined give a total of 17,783 soldiers on all sides killed and 9,755 soldiers captured. (part 1 of 3) (part 2 of 3) (part 3 of 3)

War of Attrition 1967-1970


The War of Attrition started in July 1967 and ended on the 7th of August 1970. It was between Israel on one side and the countries of Egypt, the Soviet Union, Cuba, Jordan, Syria,the PLO (Palestine Liberation Organization) on the other. The War of Attrition came about because of the Israelis taking the Sinai Peninsula during the Six Day war. Egypt eventually began shelling Israeli positions along the Bar Lev Line with heavy artillery, MiG aircraft and many other forms of equipment that they had got from the Soviet Union (Russia). The Egyptians did this because they were hoping that this would force the Israeli Government into concessions, however the Israelis did not take this well because they responded with aerial bombardments, airborne raids on Egyptian military positions and aerial strikes against strategic facilities in Egypt. The result of the war was that both Israel and Egypt and Egypts allies claimed victory despite the fact that Israel still had control of the Sinai Peninsula.Israel lost between 594 to 1,424 soldiers, 2,659 were wounded, 127 Israeli civilians were killed and they also lost 14 to 30 aircraft, 1 destroyer, 4 tanks, 2 half-tracks and 2 armored cars. Egypt lost between 2,882 to 10,000 soldiers and civilians, 6,285 were wounded and they also lost 60 to 114 aircraft, the PLO lost 1,828 people with 2,500 being captured. Jordan lost about 84 soldiers, 250 were wounded, 4 captured , they also lost 30 tanks and 2 aircraft. the Soviet Union lost 58 people and 4 to 5 aircraft. Cuba lost 180 people with a further 250 wounded and Syria had hundreds of casualties.

1973 Yom Kippur War

 Israeli tanks crossing the Suez Canal during the war                President Hafez al-Assad of Syria (right) with soldiers, 1973.                          

The Yom Kippur War started on the 6th of October 1973 and ended on the 25th of October 1973. It was between Israel supported by the United States of America on one side and Egypt, Syria, supported by the major Arab expeditionary forces of Iraq and Jordan. Egypt and Syria were also supported by the Soviet Union, Morocco, Saudi Arabia, Tunisia, Libya, Kuwait, Algeria, Sudan (now split into Sudan and South Sudan), Lebanon, North Korea, Cuba and the PLO (Palestine Liberation Organization). The 1973 Yom Kippur War came about because of an joint suprise attack by Egypt , Syria and all the forces sent by the other countries that were supporting them against Israel on the holiest day in Judaism Yom Kippur (this is why its now called the Yom Kippur War). The United States stated resupplying the Israelis and the Soviet Union (Russia) started resupplying the Arab side during the war. Because of this happening it almost lead to a near confrontation between the USA and the Soviet Union. After the first three days of the Yom Kippur war Israel had lost hundreds of tanks and about 50 aircraft, by yhe 10th of October 1973 the Syrians  had been driven out of the territory that they had occupied during the first days of the war by the Israelis and a day later the Israelis had enterd Syria itself. This allowed them to concentrate their resources to the Egyptian front of the war. eventually the United States government started puting pressure on Israel to agree to a ceasefire, on the 26th of october 1973 Israel reluctantly agreed to a ceasefire. After this the 1973 Yom Kippur war was over.

1982 Lebanon War

             Syrian anti-tank teams deployed French-made Milan ATGMs during the war in Lebanon in 1982.                                 Lebanese Army APC, Beirut 1982            

The 1982 Lebanon War stated on the 6th of June 1982 and it ended on the 17th of May 1983.On one side was Israel, the South Lebanon Army (SLA) and the Lebanese Front and on the other side was Syria, the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), the Lebanese National Resistance Front (LNRF), Hezbollah, the Amal Movement, Armenian Secret Army for the Liberation of Armenia (ASALA), Al-Tawhid and the Kurdistan Workers' Party. The Israelis goals during the war were to destroy the PLO(Palestine Liberation Organization) and to reduce Syria's power. They were also intending to set up a Lebanese Government that was friendly to them and was run by lebanese christians. The Israelis did kind of achieve some of their goals because while they forced the PLO leaders out  they were unable to impose a christian government  on Lebanon, and some of their other goals were complete failures because not only did they fail to reduce Syria's power by the end of the war Syria's power was greater than ever. It was estimated that about 19,000 Palestinians and Lebanese people (most of which were civilians) and about 700 Israeli soldiers were killed by the end of the war. Much of the world condemned the Israeli invasion of Lebanon. And it also caused deep unease amongst many of the Jewish people of Israel after the war had ended. (part 1 of 3) (part 2 of 3) (part 3 of 3)

Intifada of 1987-1993

 First Intifada in 1987          WomenPalestineActivists.jpg                                 

The Intifada of 1987-1993 also known as the First Intifada lasted from December 1987 to 1993. It was an uprising of Palestinians from the West Bank and Gaza against Israeli rule, for over five years thousands of young Palestinians attacked Israeli troops with nothing but stones and petrol bombs, this became  known as the Intifada which means shaking off in Arabic. Rafael Eitan the Israeli chief of staff at the time  gave instructions that anyone who was found breaking the curfew could be beaten before questions were asked. during the Intifada thousands of Palestinian protestors were killed by Israeli soldiers and about 700 more Palestinians were killed by their own people because they were suspected as being informers for the Israelis. Palestinian areas were regularly sealed off and placed under curfew, this forced the people living in these areas to stay indoors. Israeli troops were allowed to shoot dead anyone who was resisting arrest during the time the curfew was in effect, the Israeli critic former foreign minister Abba Eban said "This meant that someone on the way to see a doctor would be risking his life". 23 percent of people killed during the first Intifada were all aged under 16 years old . The government of Israel responded to this by closing down the Palestinian school system for two years between1988-1990 they also closed down Palestinian universities for four years, however neither the shootings, the closure of the Palestinian school system or the curfews stoped the Intifada.

  1993 Oslo Accords

    Yitzhak Rabin Prime Minister of Israel, Bill Clinton President of the United States, Yasser Arafat chairman of the PLO

The Oslo Accords were officially called the Declaration of Principles on Interim Self-Government Arrangements or Declaration of Principles (DOP) were peace talks between Israeli government and the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) that took place in Oslo Norway (this is why they are called the Oslo Accords). An a agrrement was reached between the Israeli government and the PLO (Palestinian Liberation Organisation) on the 30th of August 1993 in Oslo Norway, about two weeks later on the 13th of September Yitzhak Rabin the Prime Minister of Israel and Yasser Arafat who was Chairman of the PLO and then President of the Palestinian National Authority came to another agreement in Washington D.C., this was not a final settlement between the Israeli Government and the PLO but it did establish a Palestinian Authority which would give Palestinians living in Gaza control over much of their daily life in Gaza and the West Ban. However this agreement put off long term decisions about difficult issues like Jewish settlements and the future of the city of Jerusalem, a Palestinian Policeforce that was armed was also set up, and the Israelis also promised the PLO that they would withdraw their troops from the most populated areas in Gaza and the West Bank. This agreement was started to be put in effect in May 1994.Later in that year Arafat, Rabin and Shimon Peres the Israeli Foreign minister all jointly won the Nobel Peace Prize.

Intifada of 2000


The Al-Aqsa Intifada or more comonly known as the second Intifada started in late September 2000 around about the same time the Israeli oposition leader Ariel Sharon and a large group of armed body guards visited the Temple Mount/Al-Aqsa Mosque complex in the city of Jerusalem, they declared the area to be an eternal Israeli territory. This resulted in widespread attacks and riots braking out among Palestinians and Arab citizens of Israel in Jerusalem and other major cities of Israel, this also spread throughout the Gaza Strip and the West  Bank. The Palestinian Authorities involement in this Itifada was handled by the organisation known as the Tanzim which was a armed secret branch of Arafat's Fatah party which in itself was the largest group within the PLO (Palestinian Liberation Organisation). The Palestinian Authorities direct involvement in the second Intifada was confirmed by the IDF (Israel Defense Forces) in January 2002 when they intercepted a cargo ship that was in the Red Sea carrying lots of rockets, mortars and other weapons and ammunition from Iran, these were earmarked for smuggling into PA areas.
Arab Peace Initiative of 2002

Saudi Arabia offered a plan for peace in The New York Times and again at a summit meeting of the Arab League in Beirut the capital city of Lebanon  in 2002. The peace plan was based on but went beyond United Nations Security Council Resolution 242 and United Nations Security Council Resolution 338, it called for full withdrawl, a solution of the refugee problem through the Palestinan "right of return" (giving any person the right to return to, and re-enter, his or her country of origin) and a Palestinian nation with its capital in East Jerusalem in return for normal relations with the whole Arab world. This was the first proposal that was unanimously backed by the Arab League. Shimon Peres the Israeli Foreign Minister said in responce to this "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", he was reffering to the Netanya suicide attack in which 30 civilians were killed.

Israel's unilateral disengagement plan of 2005


In 2005 the Israelis unilaterally evacuated civilian settlements and military outposts from the Gaza strip and the Northern West Bank. this plan was a proposal by Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon that was adopted by the Israeli Government and enacted in August 2005. This was done to remove a perminant Israeli presence from the areas of the Gaza Strip and four Israeli settlements that were in the Northern West Bank, the civilians of these areas were finally evacuated and residential buildings demolished after August 15th, the disengagement of the Gaza Strip was completed  four weeks later on the 12th of September 2005 when the last Israeli soldier left also ten days after this happened the military disengagement from the Northern West Bank was completed.

2006 Lebanon War

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The 2006 Lebanon War was a conflict that started on the 12th of July and ended on the 14th of August and was between Israel on one side and Hezbollah, the Amal Movement, the Syrian Social Nationalist Party (SSNP), the Lebanese Communist Party (LCP) and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine – General Command (PFLP-GC) on the other. It came about because of an attack by Hezbollah on Israel in which three Israeli troops were killed and two were kidnapped and taken prisoner into Lebanon. Because of this Israel launched a search and rescue operation to return the captured soldiers, during this operation a further five Israeli soldiers were killed. This marked the beginning of a new wave of violent clashes between Israel and Hezbollah, these clashes saw the Lebanese capital of Beirut, the only lebanese international airport and mouch of Southern Lebanon attacked by the Israelis, while lebanese militias most likely Hezbollah bombarded northern Israeli cities, striking as far south as the city of Haifa. It is estimated that  more than 1,000 people were killed during this conflict,most of these people were lebanese civilians and Hezbollah fighters. The 2006 Lebanon War displaced about 974,184 Lebanese people and 300,000-500,000 Israelis. there were fears that the conflict could get worse with the posibility of Iran or Syria getting involved, but this did not happen as a cease fire was signed and came into effect on the 14th of August 2006.

Recent developments


Flag of Iran.svg           Emblem of Iran.svg               

Iran is an Islamic country but not an Arab one. During January 2007 there was increasing amongst Israel's leaders that President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran might have been planing some sort of nuclear weapons build up that might be used against Israel, because of this the security council voted to put sactions on Iran because of the countries persuit of nuclear technology. There was also evidence that the international sactions were creating discontent among the people of Iran because of Ahmadinejad's policies.


Flag of Syria.svg         Coat of arms of Syria.svg   

In January 2007 some Israeli officials claimed that there had been a litle bit of constructive progres in talks with Syria that were not made public. But Syria had requested many times that Israel restart peace talks with the Syrian government.In the Israeli Government there is still an ongoing debate about the seriousness of the Syrian invitation for peace talks. During May 2008 it was officially confirmed by Israel and Syria that peace talks were going to take place between  them with Turckey being a mediator. These negotiations were going to prepare the grounds for direct Israeli-Syrian negotiations that started in the second half of 2008 despite the USA previously demanding that Israel desist with this.


Flag of Lebanon.svg                Coat of arms of Lebanon.svg   

Thousands of Lebanese gathered in Lebanon in a rally to support the political party Hezbollah in January 2007, they also were celebrating the fact that Israel's top military commander Dan Halutz who had served in the Israeli defence forces since 1966 had resigned. Not every one in Lebanon supported Hezbollah because they opposed Lebanon's national government and in some communities they lost support because of this.


Flag of Egypt.svg              Coat of arms of Egypt (Official).svg            

The Israeli Prime Minster and the Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak met in January 2007 in wich the later called for Israel to persue peace more actively despite the fact that Israel and Egypt had already signed a peace treaty back in 1979, he also stated that Egypt would try to stop the illegal arms being smugled  into the Gaza Strip. Egypt also said it would help with the policing of the border of the Gaza Strip.


Flag of Jordan.svg             Coat of arms of Jordan.svg    

In 1996 Israel and Jordan  signed a trade treaty wich would cover the following areas: Environmental Protection, Commerce and Trade, Transportation, Air Transport, Water, Agriculture, Combating Crime and Illicit Drugs, Communications and Mail, Science and Culture, Education, Health, Borders, The Eilat-Aqaba Region, Tourism and Energy. Also as part of this agreement the Israelis heleped the Jordanians in establishing a modern medical center in the Jordanian capital of Amman. Since the start of 2010 their relations have not been so good because Uranium was discoverd in Jordan, which the Jordanians wanted to use as nuclear fuel for their power plants and of course the Israelis were against the idea.

External Links!/samsayshistory