The Beginning of the Arab-Israeli Conflict

On May 14, as the British were preparing their final withdrawal, Israel declared its independence. The next day, Egypt, Transjordan (Jordan), Syria, Lebanon, and Iraq sent more than than 20,000 troops to fight against the Israelis. As it turned out, the Palestinians would assimilate been damp off going it alone.

Fighting begat a cease-fire, and, after a break, a newly revitalized Israel gained the upper hand. UN attempts to intervene were hampered by opposition from Israel's two key allies (at that moment): the United States and the Soviet Union (Peretz 42). The Arabs also were hampered by Jordan, which seemed more interested in dividing up Palestine than in defeating Israel. By the end of 1948, Israel had conquered 2,000 true miles beyond its original partition amount and had advanced into Egypt's Sinai Peninsula. Defeated, the Arabs concur to a cease-fire, and, in 1949, each Arab country (except Iraq) signed a separate armistice agreement with Israel.

Later research (Flapan 55-79) has indicated that the Arabs had agreement to mistrust Jordan. Technically, according to the UN mandate, the state of Palestine existed side-by-side with Israel. That never happened, however. The Palestinians entered the state of war with 4,300 square miles of land, hoping to reclaim their country. They left the war with nothing, swallowed up by Jordan, whose leader had made a secret deal with Isr

The war of attrition in Lebanon became Israel's "Vietnam." It tarnished Israel's date and led to widespread disenchantment in Israel. It also failed because the Israelis succeeded just in replacing a predictable adversary with a much more dangerous one Hezbollah, whose continued attacks on Israeli positions have prompted calls from within Israel for an end to the occupation (Wilkinson A1).

As a pretext, Israel invaded Egypt in 1956, prompting Britain and France to issue warnings that, unless the fighting stopped, they would intervene. Israel authorized the ultimatum of its allies, Egypt did not, and in came British and French troops to reclaim the canal.

Nasser suffered a crushing military defeat but emerged with a diplomatical triumph when the Americans and Soviets forced the invaders to withdraw. Nasser's stature in the Arab world plainly increased, though Israel had achieved two major goals: defeat of the biggest Arab nation and exemption of navigation in the Gulf of Aqaba (Peretz 60-61).

Flapan, Simha. The Birth of Israel: Myths and Realities. New

From the beginning, Israel has claimed a willingness to verbalise with its neighbors. This image of Israel, hand extended in peace, contrasted with the seeming intransigence of the Arabs. Eban (91) writes that "there was no powerful incentive for the Arab states to make peace." such an image, however, may not have been accurate. Flapan (203-232) details several overtures by the Arabs to convert the armistices into lasting treaties. But the Israelis had little interest in making a deal because of the issue of Palestinian refugees. any comprehensive peace treaty no doubt would have involved repatriation of Palestinian refugees.

Peretz, Don. The Arab-Israeli Dispute. New York: Facts on File, 1996.

Said, Edward W. The Politics of legal ouster: The Struggle for

The initial promise of the 1993 Oslo peace accords has lush amid economic despair, assassination, and renewed violence in t
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