P4

• Part 5 covers the years 1972-1980, also known as the détente era
• The détente era started around Nixon's re-election in 1973 and ends with the soviet invasion of Afghanistan and the Presidential election of Ronald Reagan
• By the time the Carter administration takes over from President Ford in 1977, détente will already be dead, as the cooperation between USA and USSR has become almost impossible
• This part will focus on the Middle East, detailing the evolution of the Palestinian situation, from the creation of Israel in 1948 to the Six-Day War of 1967 and the Yom Kippur War in 1973
• It will also cover the first oil shock, in response to these events in the Middle East, and the economic crisis that will ensue
• It will end with the Iranian revolution, its repercussions and the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, which will effectively mark the ending of the détente era and lead to a new period of confrontation between the US and the Soviet Union
• Throughout modern history, especially since the high Middle Ages (after the year 1000), Jews have continuously and systematically been blamed and used as scapegoats whenever things went wrong
• By the 19th century, with the rise of nationalism and Nation-States, Jews have fully integrated into national societies, yet they were still widely being blamed for everything that went wrong, including all the economic problems that would occur
• Theodor Herzl


  An Austro-Hungarian Jewish journalist who believed the only solution to provide security for the Jewish people was the creation of their own state
• Herzl's book "the Jewish State" in 1897 advocating organized Zionism quickly gained ground amid a minority of Jews in Europe who were suffering from anti-Semitism
• Balfour declaration


  A letter from Foreign Secretary Arthur Balfour to Lord Rothschild, a leader of the British Jewish community, stating the official British support for a Jewish State in Palestine
• The UN drew up a partition plan in 1947 dividing Palestine into Jewish parts and Arab or Palestinian parts
• The partition solution was accepted by the Zionists and endorsed by the UN General Assembly in November 1947, giving the Jews 56 per cent of the land when they constituted less than one-third of the population
• The Arabs had never accepted the principle that they should give up their land to save significant numbers of Jewish refugees from the Holocaust
• On 14th of May 1948, after British troops left, Israel proclaims its independence
• On the 15th of May, a very brief, violent, war erupts between Israel and its Arab neighbors
• Around 700,000 Palestinian Arabs fled or were expelled from their homes in the area that became Israel, and they became Palestinian refugees in what is often referred to as Al-Nakba (meaning "the catastrophe")
• About the same number of Jews were forced to flee from different Arab countries towards Israel in the following years
• The Middle East is very divided, with regional rivalries not only among the Arabs but also with the Turkish and Iranian
• The PLO (Palestinian liberation organization) was created by Nasser in 1964 to give Palestinians a voice
• After the defeat of the 6-day war, Palestinian organizations started to take over the PLO, with the most important one being Al Fatah, created and led by Yasser Arafat
• Tensions had been rising between Israel and its neighbors in part because of the Palestinian guerilla attacks on the border, amounting in a number of military incidents between '64 and '67
• In May of 1967, Nasser demanded that the UN forces which had been there since 1956 would be withdrawn from the Sinai desert – unexpectedly, they actually did
• Nasser then felt obliged to move his troops in the Sinai desert along the Israeli border, and announced that he would close the straights of Tiran to Israel
• Israel then carefully attacked Egypt, Syria, and Jordan one by one, completely neutralizing their air forces and taking control of the Sinai desert, the West Bank, and the Golan Heights
• The Six Day war will have very important and long-lasting consequences, including worsening the refugee problem, with around 300,000 more people fleeing from Gaza and the West Bank
• The United Nations Security Council will unanimously adopt Resolution 242, which is still today the basis for negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians
• Golan Heights


  Strategically important territory taken over by Israel from Syria, improving their security situation
• Six Day War


  Had very important and long-lasting consequences
• From Israeli perspective


  Why would they return territory that improves their security, especially since hostile neighbors refused to recognize their right to exist and East Jerusalem is religiously important
• Six Day War


  Markedly worsened the refugee problem, around 300,000 people fled from Gaza and West Bank
• Six Day War


  Improved Israel's security but worsened their image in the world, increased sympathy for Arab cause and Palestinians
• UN Security Council unanimously adopted Resolution 242, which states that it is inadmissible to acquire territory by war and if Israel wants peace, it will have to return the lands that it took
• After their defeat in the Six Day War, Arab countries were not able to regain the lost territories
• For Israelis


  There was no reason to negotiate the territories as they improved their security
• For Arabs


  They had no leverage to force the Israelis to negotiate
• Yom Kippur War (1973)

  1. Sadat's plan to coordinate a surprise attack on Israel on Yom Kippur

  2. Attack led by Egyptians, Syrians and other Arab countries

  3. Initially caught Israelis off guard but they were able to reverse the situation
• Yom Kippur War


  UN Security Council passed a resolution for an immediate ceasefire, brokered by US and Soviet Union
• Tensions escalating in Yom Kippur War

  US pressured Israel to halt its advance to prevent Soviet intervention
• Yom Kippur War ceasefire

  Marked a turning point for Egypt's relationship with the US