Allison Clark

April 25, 2015

INR2002
Arab-Israeli Dispute
The Arab-Israeli dispute is the clash of two Nationalisms which consists of Jewish
Zionism and Arab Nationalism (PLO). This dispute concerns a permanent placement for the
Palestinian Arabs, or a nation state to hold their nation. The Arab-Israeli dispute concerns around
four main wars, and ultimately the rejection of the Israelites to share Israel, and of both parties
reluctantly to relinquish the occupied territories.
History of Jewish Hate
For centuries, the Jewish people have been hated for their history as the Christ-killers.
During the time of the Ancient Jewish kingdom (around 2000 BC) known as Israel, the Israelites
practiced a monotheistic religion known as Judaism, while others would practice several
polytheistic religions. One empire would rise and become world renowned: the Roman Empire.
The Roman Empire eventually conquered Israel, and the Jews (former Israelites) did not like the
Romans and vice versa. The Israelites denounced the Roman religion of Christianity and rejected
Jesus Christ as the prophet and son of God. The Jews eventually convinced the Romans to
Crucify Jesus Christ and kill him. Jews were looked at from the death of Christ and beyond as
the Christ-killers, and have been hated forever. Jews have also been hated for their role in
society. They were known as the bankers, and have been seen as greedy for their occupation.
Churches said that it is a sin to charge interest on money, so being bankers makes them sinful.
Jews also face discrimination for their appearance. They looked weird to non-Jews.

Jews were always forced to live in isolation within their own territories, and so these
territories became the ghettos. In 135 AD, Romans finally expelled the Jews, or Israelites, from
their territory and renamed it Palestine. This lead to the scattering of Jews or a Diaspora from
the homeland of Judah. In the seventh century, the Arabs conquered Palestine and the Arabs
became Muslims after the discovery of the illiterate prophet Muhammad. Palestine would
eventually become part of the Ottoman Empire in 1516. At the time the Ottoman Empire was the
Turkish Ottoman Empire, and, under its rule, the Palestinians had 100s of years of ruling
themselves as long as they paid taxes to the Ottoman Empire.
Rise of Zionism
Zionism is a Jewish nationalism movement to establish a national home for Jews.
Zionists wanted to reclaim the original land of Judah, which was Palestine at the time of the
movements creation. Jewish intellectuals behind the Zionism movement were Marxists. During
the last part of the 19th century, Jews began to buy property in Palestine. Later, in 1914, war
broke out between the France and England Alliance and the Germany and Ottoman Empire
Alliance. In 1917, the Balfour declaration came from England from the UK foreign affairs
secretary. This declaration tried to seduce the Jews in the War against the Ottoman Empire.
The British did not have any legal stance to create the Balfour document, and so the Palestinian
Arabs questioned the British about the document and later demanded they denounced it because
Palestine was the Arabs home, and they did not want the Jews to reclaim Palestine. The Jews
eventually immigrated to Palestine after the League of Nations, which was dominated by France
and England, gave Great Britain command over the Middle Eastern Territories of Palestine and
Transjordan until it believed the people could govern themselves. This lead to the Jewish

immigration of the 1930s after WW1. After Hitler became a leader, the British white paper of
1939 was produced.
This White Paper stated that British are going to restrict further immigration of Jews to
Palestine, Palestine would become a Sovereign, independent nation state in ten years, and that
it is not part of government policy that Palestine should become a Jewish state, regarding it as
contrary under the government mandate. After this, only 75,000 Jews would be allowed to enter
Palestine, and after five years, Jews would only be allowed into Palestine if the Arabs allowed it.
In retaliation to these events, the Jews began to form groups known as the Jewish Defense
leagues and IRGUN. The British did not refer to these groups as Jewish terrorists. These Jewish
defense leagues began to battle the British and killing one another over the British White Paper.
The most spectacular attack that the Jewish defense league carried out was the attack on the King
David Hotel in Jerusalem.
The King David Hotel attack consisted of IRGUN planting bombs in the hotel which
would kill ninety one British. The leader of this attack was Menachem Begin. The British offered
a large sum of money as a reward for capturing Begin dead or alive. At the end of World War II,
the British and French were politically and socially bankrupt. They wanted freedom from the
colonies and couldnt afford to keep them. The UN created a patrician plan for Palestine. The
plan recommended an economic union with the Jews and Arabs, as well as creating separate
states for the Jews and Arabs out of Palestine. If the Arabs had accepted this plan, the Jews
would have gotten around fifty six percent of the territory, and Jerusalem would have been an
international city. The Arabs rejected any sort of territorial division.
The Palestinian Arabs mainly lived on the West Bank of the Jordan River, which is the
most desirable piece of land in Israel because of the cold, cleansing water and the fertile soil, as

well as the holy city of Jerusalem. On May 14, 1948, the British declared the existence of Israel
as a nation state, and so the Arab-Israeli dispute broke out.
The Arab-Israeli Dispute
First Arab-Israeli War
After the dispute broke out, the Jews and Arabs went to war. The Arabs claimed the West
Bank, but because they lost this war, the Jews controlled the West Bank and the Gaza strip. The
Israelis got what the UN had originally intended for them to own, but also the West Bank and the
Gaza strip. There was bitterness and resentment after this war. Many of the Palestinians became
refugees. Palestinians went to refugee camps which are still located today in the Gaza strip, and
in Syria, Jordan, Lebanon, and the West Bank. There have been many generations of Palestinians
that were born in the refugee camps and they have no national home. The refugee camps have
become hot beds, and there was hatred and resentment for the Jews well into the 1950s.
Second Arab-Israeli War
In 1956, the President of Egypt, Nasser, wanted to nationalize the Suez Canal, which was
constructed by the French and British. Nasser wanted to build a dam in Aswan which would
make a lot of electricity and would nationalize the country. Nasser would need money to build
the dam and so he uses the canal to collect tolls to raise the money. The British and French are
upset at this, and so they make a secret deal with the Israelites to invade Egypt and reclaim the
Suez Canal. President Dwight Eisenhower does not approve of this intervention and he
announces that the US will not send money to the French-British-Israeli alliance unless they
leave Egypt. This war makes Nassers prestige God-like, and to show the independence of

Egypt from the West, Nasser becomes an ally with the Soviet Union. Nasser also now moves to
harness pan-Arab force over the next decade.
During the 50s, the Jewish Immigration into Israel continues at a very high rate, and the
Israeli demographics begin to change. There are two waves of Jews which come to Israel. The
first are the Western Ashkenazim, who are have a high social class, are educated and politically
aware, and have an average of around two point one children. The second wave of Jews are the
Sephardim. These Jews are oriental and come from the pacific. They are illiterate, have a lower
social class, are uneducated, and have well over the sustainable amount of children.
Third Arab-Israeli War
The third Arab-Israeli war took place after Nasser demanded that the peace keeping
forces left Egypt. Nasser closed the key port for Israeli shipping. On June 1967 a preemptive
strike against Syria and Jordan was launched. Israel controlled the air during this third war which
is known as the six day war. The results of this six day war was untimely for Israelis to remain in
the occupied territories. Israel captured both the Sinai Peninsula and Gaza strip from Egypt, the
West Bank from Jordan, and the Golan Heights from Syria which they took for the higher ground
advantage. Finally, the Israelites captured the holy city of Jerusalem, which affected not only the
Arabs, but also the Christians because this is this holy city for the entire western world.
Jerusalem includes the Wailing Wall, the Mosque significant to the Muslims, and many Christian
churches and Christian relics. Israelis have said that they will stay in the occupied territories
unless there was signs of progress towards a meaningful resolution for the Arab-Israeli dispute.
There has not been a resolution for nearly fifty years. Some argue that the Israelis are not
interested in peace, but just want to occupy the territories. Others say that the Israelis want to

divert the attention away from the lack of sanitary conditions, sewers, infrastructures, and the
decay of their society.
In November 1967, the UN passed resolution 242 which was a seminal document. It was
passed unanimously by the US and the Soviet Union. There were six points to this document: 1)
Israel should withdraw from the occupied territory. 2) Both sides of the dispute need to end
warfare 3) both sides should respect and acknowledgment of the sovereign independent nation
state in the territory 4) There should be an establishment of secure and recognized boundaries 5)
There should be freedom of navigation in the territories including the navigation to the holy city
and 6) A just resolution to the Palestinian refugee problem. This resolution was not abided by.
After president Nasser died of natural causes in 1971, he was succeeded by Anwar Sadat. Sadat
would publically call for peace with Israel later that year. His announcement would later cause
him to be assassinated in 1981. His killer shouted I killed the Pharaoh! Pharaoh symbolized
the corruption that the killer saw in Sadats idea to have peace with Israel.
Emergence of the Palestinian Liberation Organization
The Palestinian Liberation Organization was founded in 1964 to be the sole
representative of Palestine. This organization consists of two branches, Hamas and Fatah, and
Hamas is was founded in 1987 as an outgrowth of the original Muslim Brotherhood. Hamas
emphasizes religion and says that Muslims should be liberated through killing Jews. The Fatah is
secular, and the original founder of the PLO was Fatah. This organization believes that the
liberation of Palestine is both a Palestinian and Arab duty, and that Judaism is not an independent
nationality.
Fourth Arab-Israeli War

This war, known as the Yom Kippur war because it occurred during the observation of
Yom Kippur, would destroy the myth that the Israelites could easily defeat the Arabs. On October
6, 1973, Syria and Egypt would use the knowledge that the Israelis would not be at their posts to
their advantage, and would attack. They fought on both the Sinai Peninsula and Golan Heights.
Despite initial setbacks, it was believed that Israel would win quickly, and that the Arabs would
force Soviet intervention. It was proposed that the US and Soviet Union call for cease fire and
go back to the 1967 ceasefire lines. During this time the Palestinian Liberation organization
(PLO) had headquarters in Jordan to raid Israel, and so the PLO attacked Israel. Egypt requested
that the Soviet Union supply weapons after they rejected the proposal for a cease fire. Israel
requested the same of the US, and because Nixon did not want to see an Israeli defeat, the US
sent over supplies by air. Israel began to go to Lebanon which caused the PLO to withdraw from
Lebanon. While they were withdrawing, Israeli troops allowed Christian, Lebanese, right-wing,
Phalangists (Phalangist Party) to murder around 700 women and children in Palestine. An Israeli
defender was courted and questioned. The court saw that he was responsible for the massacre,
but he would later become the next Prime Minister of Israel.
The war turned against the Arabs when US weapons and supplies came by the air. I
response to the US sending Aid, Saudi Arabia stopped all Oil shipments to the US, which was the
Saudi Arabia Oil embargo of 1973. This also highlights that Western Worlds demand on OPEC
oil. On October 16, Sadat began to show interest in a ceasefire, and so a US and Soviet Union
ceasefire was adopted by the UN as resolution 338. The Israelis still refused to ceasefire, so
Nixon was called and urged to send troops to the Middle East to force a ceasefire. The Soviet
Union and the US sent their troops. This event made Osama Bin Laden very upset because
American troops were on sacred land. Saddem Hussein sends Iraqi troops in and sees that he can

gain importance in the war, so he joins with Syria and Egypt against Israel. The Soviets began to
send aid to Egypt and Syria by both land and sea. The US, under pressure from the oil embargo
and the Soviet Union, brings together Israel and Egypt, and Israel and Palestine to strike an
agreement.
Long Term Effects of Yom Kippur War
The US, Israel, and the PLO met in Washington DC to arrange an agreement between
Israel and the PLO. The Oslo Accords were signed, and as a result, the PLO renounced violence
and both entities recognized each others sovereignty. The PLO now had authority over Palestine
in which the government of Palestine does not govern the state, but the people. This government
sits on the West Bank and has limited autonomy. The problem remains that the Palestinians do
not hold the right to return to Palestine/Israel. The government of Israel holds the Right to
Return as an ambit claim, and does not see it as a right. The Oslo accords did not create a nation
state for Palestine.
In response to the slow progress towards peace between Israel and Egypt that was
upsetting both Sadat and Begin, President Jimmy Carter invited the two leaders to Camp David
where they signed a peace treaty known as the Israel-Egypt Peace Treaty in 1979. After
discussion, Israel finally withdraws from the Sinai Peninsula, which is the only territory today
that remains unoccupied. President both would later call for Israeli reform and would be the only
US president today that publically enforce that there should be a Sovereign nation state for the
Palestinians.
The Hamas won the Palestinian Legislative Election of 2006, and as a result, the US
suspended aide to the Palestinian Authority because it believed that the Hamas and other terrorist

groups should not be allowed to vote until it recognized the Sovereignty of Israel as a nation
state. This win for the Hamas led to the Hamas-Fatah conflict because the election meant that the
Hamas would control the Gaza Strip while the Fatah controlled the West Bank. The Palestinians
would later bid to win full statehood in the UN, but the UN would reject this on the grounds that
they must first recognize the sovereignty of Israel.
Obstacles to Peace
There are many obstacles to peace between the Israelis and the Arabs. The status of the
occupied territories remains a large part, as there is an unfair distribution as to who is occupying
what territory. One of the obstacles includes the religious fundamentalists on both sides which
include the Jewish Zionism group and the Hamas on the PLO side. These groups are both violent
towards one other and can be considered terrorists. The Palestine extremist groups have
continued to be violent because they are still resentful of the lack of established nation state.
They are a nation without a nation state, and will continue to be unless Israel and the Palestinians
withdraw from all the occupied territories and a resolution is met. Many would conclude that the
best solution to the Arab-Israeli issue would be the establishment of a two-state system, but the
main issue is how to divide these nation states. In 2007, President Obama released a statement
saying that [The US] supports a future Palestinian state based on 1967 borders. This would
encompass the borders before the 1967, which the Palestinians are not seeing eye-to-eye on.