Arab-Israeli Conflict

Last years of British Mandate; UNSCOP partition plan and the outbreak of civil war
British Mandate
British did not want Jews to enter Palestine
Sent back 50,000 Holocaust survivors to Cyprus
Bad PR for Brits
Truman wanted to let Jews into Palestine
British wanted separate Arab and Jewish settlements
Still didn't let Jews in
Jews got angry, started Hebrew Resistance Movement
Irgun
Haganah
Lehi
British arrested a bunch of them
Jews bombed the King David
Ben Gurion denounced it
Irgun executed bombing
Truman announced support of admission of 100,000 Jews into Palestine
London Conference
Met with leaders of the Arabs and Jews
Proposed that Palestine would remain under British for 5 more years
After, Palestine would be created with Jews and Arabs
Proposed over next two years, 98,000 immigrants would be allowed
Rejected by Arabs and Jews
Brits were fed-up, handed over to UN.
United Nations Special Committee on Palestine
Comprised of 11 countries
Arabs didn't co-operate but Jews did
UNSCOP Report
Partition into separate Jewish and Arabic states
Jerusalem and international city
Economic union
Zionist Response
Accepted although somewhat unhappy especially about
Jerusalem
Arab Response
Totally rejected >:-|
Takes half of Arab land and give to Jews
Many Arabs would have to live there
US response
Supported
After heavy Zionist influence
Weary because didn't want to upset Arabs
Held oil reserves
British Response
Rejected
It would lead to war
It passed but only after heavy lobbying and threats

UN set up Palestine commission to oversee it and the

economic union
British didn't allow this

Civil Warrrrrrr
Arabs
Not very organized
Liberation Army
Palestinians and Syrians
al-Husayni
Internal fighting
Zionists
Well led
More experienced
Haganah
Six brigades
Irgun and Lehi helped
Went on offensive eventually and took UN controlled places
Zionists killed lots of Arabs
Caused Palestinians to flee
Zionists got arms from Czechoslovakia (you know, since it existed back
then)

British withdrawal; establishment of Israel; Arab response and the 1948/49 war
British withdrew May 14, 1948 and that afternoon Ben Gurion declared the
establishment of the state of Israel. He became the first Prime Minister while
Weitzmann became the first president.
US/USSR automatically recognized Israel (USSR to undermine the Brits and to
appease the Jews in the Communist party)
Arab Response
May 15, Egypt, Transjordan (Jordan), Lebanon, Syria and Iraq attacked

Israel

The Arab forces were really weak because

Israel had a larger army
their attempt was half hearted at best; they only attacked to
appease their people, because there would be unrest if they
didn't help their neighbors. They were really only looking out
for themselves and could use conflict with Israel as a
distraction for their own people so they didn't realize how
crappy their governments actually were.
Syria and Lebanon did basically nothing constructive
Transjordan had the most forces, but King Abdullah was
negotiating w/ the Zionists so he could have some Palestine
territory
as a result they were further weakened because the
other Arab countries didn't trust Transjordan

Which leads to...1948/49 Arab-Israeli War!

Phase 1 (May 15-June 11)
fierce fighting/evenly balanced/Arabs had slight advantage with
heavy artillery and air power
Phase 2- Truce (June 11-July 8)
Ben Gurion got more heavy weapon supplies/aircraft
Phase 3 (July 8-July8)
Israelis gained upper hand
took land not given to them under UN partition plan
Lydda Death March
Phase 4- Truce/Bernadotte Plan (July 18-October15)
Bernadotte proposed
Israel keeps Galilee and withdraw from Negev, Lydda and
Ramle
Jerusalem stays international city
Palestinians get to return home
Bernadotte gets assassinated. They don't do what he said.
Phase 5 (October 15-January 1949)
They started fighting again, Israel basically kicking everyone's 4$$
and they end up with still more territory.
when it's all said and done in January 1949, Israel now occupied
79% of Palestine.
UN negotiated cease-fires
demilitarized zones established on Israeli-Egyptian and Syrian
borders
What was left of Arab Palestine was brought under control of Egypt
and Transjordan
Egypt- Gaza strip
Transjordan- West Bank/Old Jerusalem
Transjordan becomes just Jordan and annexes the West Bank/Old
Jerusalem
The agreements of 1949 were merely a series of cease fires- not a peace
treaty
the Palestinians refused to sign a peace treaty unless the Jews
allowed the refugees to return home and the Jews refused to do so
unless under a larger peace treaty settlement.

Demographic shifts: the Palestinian diaspora 1947 onwards; Jewish immigration and
the economic development of Israel
Palestinian diaspora
730000 Arabs displaced during the Civil War (47-48) and Arab-Israeli War
(48-49) and they went to
refugee camps in Gaza Strip or West Bank
Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, Egypt and Iraq
They stayed in camps and turned down offers to become citizens of these
countries, because they were intent on returning to Palestine
Absentee Property Law ('50)- passed by Israeli Parliament, Knesset, which
declared Palestinian refugees "absentees" so they were not Israeli citizens

and therefore had no claims to their land, which allowed the Israeli
government to destroy 80% of the Arab villages remaining to make room
for the influx of Jewish immigrants in the 40s and 50s.
Many Arabs who remained in Israel were denied citizenship
UN Relief for Palestine Refugees (Nov. 1948)- The Arab states that
bordered Israel couldn't cope with the massive influx of refugees, most of
whom had left behind everything they owned and were cut off from their
means of livelihood, so the UN set up the Relief for Palestine Refugees to
provide food, clothing and tents.
Jewish Immigration
Law of Return (1950)
granted citizenship to any Jew who wished to live in Israel
encouraged immigration to boost economy and security
665000 Jews immigrated in the first three years
Although they encouraged Jews to immigrate, many that did were
poor and ended up being a burden on society, so in 52 they
reformed the law so that people had to be an asset to Israel
economically or militarily to live there.
Ashkenazim and Sephardim
In 1948, Ashkenazim made the majority of population, but more
Sephardim were emmigrating, because living in the surrounding
Arab states got more difficult for them which caused more tension
the European Jews dominated politics and business while the
Sephardim took lower paying jobs
the Ashkenazim were more militantly Zionist while the
Sephardim were more mellow, and they worried that with
more Sephardim in the country, Israel would lose its Zionist
culture.
Economic Development of Israel
Israeli Agriculture
Kibbutzim
citrus and cotton
Foreign Aid
received a great deal of foreign $$, especially from the US
Balance of payments deficit
v. short of raw materials--> serious balance of payments deficit
developed because they had to import important commodities like
oil
huge defense spending fighting against Arabs & vulnerable borders
additional housing costs due to new immigrants
Economic Developments 1956-67
sustained economic growth in this period
population rose significantly
irrigation and development of new towns
however, there were other serious economic problems:
large trade deficit
defense spending still high
high unemployment

Suez Crisis: role of Britain, France, U.S, USSR, Israel, and UN

Britain
Originally had control over Suez canal still
This angered the Egyptians
Wanted to make peace between Israel and Egypt
Agreed to leave Suez region
Became hostile toward Egypt
Because they supported Communist China
Saw Nasser as a Hitler figure
Also joined French in helping Israel
Forced to withdraw
US
Originally liked the Egyptian Revolution
Eisenhower was much more of a hard-ass, though.
Wanted to make peace between Israel and Egypt
Scared of Nasser
Has been accepting communist arms
Rejected American advice
Became hostile toward Egypt
Because they supported Communist China
After France and Britain invade Egypt
Demands withdrawal
Eisenhower Doctrine
Promised financial assistance to any Middle Eastern country that
wanted to fight Communism
Israeli
Wanted to sabotage Egypt'
Fought with Egypt
Egypt fought back
Work with lots of people to fight Egypt
Pact with France
After crisis
Came out stronger
USSR
Supported Egypt-like, lots
Just to damage western influence
Gave them arms, aircraft
France
Gave arms to Israel
Fight Egypt with Israel
Forced to withdraw
Nasser emerged hero to Arabs
Straits of Tiran international waterway
Nasser drew closer to USSR

Arabism and Zionism; emergence of PLO

Pan-Arabism

Pan-Arabism-