history conflict in the middle east

• the SS exodus

  beginning: 4500 holocaust survivors tried to smuggle into palestine on a ship

  middle: british navy blockaded the ship so they couldn’t reach palestine, british returned ship to france where a 3 week hunger strike occurred

  end: holocaust survivors were taken back to sites of old concentration camps
• consequences of SS exodus

  causes global outrage and anger + rising support in zionism. britain wanted to end the mandate
• bombing of king david hotel

  beginning: houses the british government group controlling mandate. irgun in disguise took milk churns inti basement which contained explosives

  middle: leader of irgun said he telephoned warnings to hotel, bomb went off

  end: explosion killed 91 people
• consequences of bombing of king david hotel

  british started doing random searches + gave curfew for jewish people in lands of palestine. haganah were outraged + condemned irgun
• what was the partition plan

  UNSCOP recommended partition of palestine— 1 arab state, 1 jewish state

  needed a 2/3 majority vote to pass it

  UN resolution 181 was passed
• why is the suez canal important

  it’s an important trade route for western european countries

  ships can avoid 2 week journey around africa

  important for britain and france - britain had 80,000 soldiers monitoring canal in egypt
• what was president nasser’s aims

  independence- free egypt from british control

  prosperity- improve lives of egyptian people

  pride- wanted arabs to be proud of their united strength

  britain and america were worried abt him
• conflicting demands of the jews and arabs in british mandate

  jews: need for a jewish homeland was clear after holocaust. zionists demanded creation of a jewish state in palestine- they hoped british gov would help move holocaust survivors into palestine

  arabs: some disliked fact that they hadn’t been granted independence at end of ww1. were also furious as they weren’t consulted about the use of palestine as a homeland.
• the impact of jewish insurgency

  army controlled jewish areas in palestine

  made mandate more expensive for britain as they had to pay for the army

  britain was recovering from ww1 + keeping 100,000 soldiers in palestine was hard to justify to britain

  people started to turn against mandate
• jewish insurgency

  zionists wanted to help holocaust survivors move to palestine

  extremist + moderate groups worked together to blow up british railway in 153 places to destroy communications

  irgun + lehi carried out more british attacks, 73 british soldiers were killed

  2 irgun terrorists were sentenced to 18 years + were beaten 18 times w a cane so leader of irgun did caned 4 british soldiers
• american support for jews (british mandate)

  lots of support in america for jewish homeland, $46 mil donated to jews

  zionists pressured harry truman (US) to help holocaust survivors so they welcomed 150,000 survivors + he wanted britain to allow 100,000 from europe

  britian was dependent on money from US so they said they’d remove money if britain didn’t help

  britain knew situation was bad so asked for help from UN
• what happened at deir yassin

  100 irgun + lehi fighters attacked the village as they thought arab fighters were hiding there

  100 civilians were killed + jewish forces suffered 4 deaths

  leader of irgun justified attack by saying fighters were using village as a base to attack jews
• consequences of the deir yassin attack

  arab radio stations responded by broadcasting details, hoping arabs would want revenge

  HOWEVER it made them think they were in danger

  250,000 palestinians abandoned village - went to arab-controlled lands
• arab-israeli war (1948-49)

  BEGINNING: egypt, syria, transjordan, lebanon & iraq invade israel, so they struggle to defend themselves + survive due to lack of weapons. UN organises a truce

  MIDDLE: truce was broken. egypt launched attacks which led to israeli counter-attacks, israel occupied lydda and ramleh. 2nd truce arranged

  END: violence continued- truce broke, israel recaptured its land. armistice was signed, iraq refused
• consequences of arab-israeli war

  palestinians: 700,000 became refugees in camps w bad conditions, believe they have a right to return as they didn’t leave voluntarily, lost 50% of their land

  isrselis: gained 50% of land, IDF was created, law of return was made which said that any jew had the right to come to israel and become a citizen
• egypt‘s relations w israel after arab-israeli war

  arab league boycotted all trade w israel

  egypt searched all ships going down suez canal + confiscated any items they thought had been bought at israeli port

  relations deteriorated more when egypt had a new leader, nasser
• how did nasser achieve his aims

  stage 1: britain agreed to withdraw from canal, nasser showed himself to be a strong leader

  stage 2: he redistributed lands to build schools & hospitals, aimed to dam the river nile for hydroelectric power + water

  stage 3: become champion of arab nationalism

  if he was going to lead arabs he’d need more weapons but USA refused. he championed the palestinians, encouraged militants to launch attacks on them
• causes of suez crisis: deal w czechoslovakia

  nasser negotiated a secret arms deal w czechoslovakia, exchanging $300 million of cotton for tanks, MIG fighter-jets & bombs

  fedayeen raid killed 11 israelis, leading to IDF reprisal on gaza which killed 72 soldiers

  he decided to make his deal public & closed the straits of tiran to israeli ships

  BACKFIRED BC, israel deciding war on egypt was inevitable

  USA and UK withdrew offer of $279 million loan to build the aswan dam
• causes of suez crisis: sevres agreement

  ben gurion & the head of the IDF flew to france and met w french + british ministers, a plan was devised over the next few days

  israel would attack egypt: britain and france could then invade egypt & regain control of the suez canal
• the suez crisis

  beginning: israel occupied gaza and dropped paratroopers into sinai- a further 1000 men in 200 vehicles set off for sharm el sheikh

  britain & france ordered israel to stop fighting & to remove soldiers from canal

  middle: nasser refuses so britain bombed cairo airport & britain and france launched an air attack. israel took control of sharm el sheikh

  end: nasser sank ships in suez canal to block, UN called ceasefire, event only lasted 8 days
• consequences of suez crisis

  israel: achieved security, blockade on straits of tiran were lifted , IDF showed they could beat arab armies

  britain & france: was humiliating, now seen as allies of israel so lost support from arab countries

  egypt: had complete control of suez canal, became allies w USSR, life become v difficult for jews in egypt so many left
• nasser + the UAR

  he was invited by syria to join syria and egypt to form the first United Arab Republic

  many hoped it would be the first step towards creating an arab state, uniting all arabs

  didnt last long as syria pulled out- didn’t like being the lesser partner to egypt
• consequences of cairo conference: headwater diversion plan

  meant that syria & lebanon would block 2/3 sources of river jordan to stop flowing into sea of galilee

  aim was to reduce amount of water in sea of galilee that israel could use

  if it failed, all arab states would prepare for war to try & destroy israel
• consequences of cairo conference: PLO

  set up the Palestinian Liberation Organisation to unite & lead all palestinians in struggle to regain lost land

  controlled the wellbeing of all palestinians in refugee camps

  PLO also set up a Palestinian Liberation Army

  nasser made it clear that he was against israel
• impact of cairo conference on israel

  didn’t feel immediately threatened- IDF was better trained and equipped and also outnumbered them

  HOWEVER, headwater diversion plan was a threat to israel. syria started to construct a canal to move flow of water away so israel prevented this by carrying out air strikes
• who are fatah

  a group which rejected the PLO completely, lead by yasser arafat

  he believed that the state of israel had no right to exist & should be replaced by a single arab state (palestine)

  also believed that palestinians had to stop waiting for the arab states to solve their problems
• syrian support for fatah

  syria provided funds, weapon and explosives for fatah so they launched over 100 raids on israel

  a new syrian government took power & increased support for fatah

  nasser agreed to sign a defence pact w syria

  HOWEVER, they were unsuccessful as they didn’t destroy israel & israel had retaliated every time
• israeli’s raid on samu

  an israeli police patrol drove over a landmine near a border, killed 3 israeli policemen & 6 were injured- fatah were suspected

  israel sent 600 troops, 11 tanks & 60 military vehicles into west bank- everyone was ordered to gather in central square of samu, israelis started to blow up their homes
• consequences of israel’s raid on samu

  israel was criticised for sending such a large force & the attack was condemned by the UN

  USA were furious as they had been trying to make good relations w jordan

  eshkol defended himself saying it was punishment for deaths of the 3 policemen
• consequences of israel’s raid on samu #2

  king hussein faced protest in jordan for failing to protect palestinians & there were riots in west bank calling for his removal

  he publicly called for revenge on israel & did his best to stop fatah activity

  he then tried to protect himself by targeting nasser & accusing him of being a coward + not protecting palestinians, which took the focus off of hussein
• the dogfight of 7th april

  syrian troops fired at an israeli tractor in the DMZ

  as retaliation, israel sent planed in to attack the syrian troops & israeli jets also hit several syrian villages up on golan heights

  as response, syrians sent in their own fighter jets- a dogfight followed in which the israelis shot down 6 syrian jets
• what was plan D

  introduced by haganah

  many thought it was offensive plan to secure all land around jewish settlements, including those in new arab state

  others thought it was defensive plan to secure all land in new jewish state, including arab settlements
• reactions to partition plan

  jews: most accepted plan but many were reluctant

  arabs: rejected proposals felt that UN had no right to take land away. wasn’t fair as jews were offered half of palestine & that land included most fertile for farming

  british: thought that plan was impractical & not very good - would lead to war
• USSR & nasser before six day war

  tensions were high between syria & israel

  USSR told nasser that israel were keeping troops near the syrian border, ready to attack- this was false information

  naser decided to: put egyptian army on alert & move them into sinai, close the straits of tiran to the israelis which reduced their ability to trade and get oil, tell the UN peacekeeper’s to leave

  he believed arabs would win as they outnumbered israel & eshkol seemed like a weak leader
• israel & the USA before six-day war

  eshkol didn’t give into nasser’s demands & put israel on military alerts and called up reserve troops

  he decided that straits of tiran had to be reopened, israel asked USA for help but refused- they suggested that they take action themselves

  so israeli government decided on war
• the six day war

  beginning: israel launched surprise attack- by 11am, israel had destroyed 309 egyptian aircrafts. israel controlled the skies, IDF tanks sped across sinai, destroying egyptian tanks

  middle: israeli forced reach suez, jordan bombarded israeli cities. israel launched counter-attack by taking west bank. UN ceasefire agreed

  end: golan heights had been captured, IDF forces moved into sinai. israeli victory: 779 israelis + 20,000 arab men killed
• what was the UN resolution 242

  stated that:

  israel should withdraw from ‘territories occupied in the recent conflict’

  arab states should recognise israel’s right to exist

  there should be a ‘just settlement of the refugee problem’
• reactions to UN resolution 242

  palestinians: rejected the resolution. reference to them as the ‘refugee problem’ was seen as very insulting, and they believed the ‘land for peace’ idea ignored their ‘right to return’

  israelis: israel said they were prepared to negotiate separately to each state but didn’t commit to fully withdrawing from them

  king hussein of jordan and nasser said they would accept the resolution as long as israel left ALL territories it occupied
• the three no’s

  1 no peace with israel

  2 no recognition of israel

  3 no negotiations with israel
• continued dispute over suez canal after six day war

  nasser decided to try and force israel to back away from suez canal

  with soviet aid, he started rearming & egyptian forces were regularly bombarding & raiding israeli position on the sinai side of suez canal- an israeli war ship sunk. as retaliation, israel raided egyptian towns & bombed egyptian cities + oil refineries which badly affected their economy

  USSR provided egypt w SAM-3 missiles, while 20,000 soviet troops built bases

  1.5 million egyptians forced to flee, 1000 israelis killed

  ceasefire agreed in 1970