First Arab-Israeli War

1948-1949 Palestine invaded by 30,000 Arab soldiers. Arabs badly organized, their leaders didn’t trust each other. Abdullah of Jordan in control but other countries ignored him. Israelis fought fiercely survived first Arab onslaught. US and SOVIET governments expressed support for Israelis, this helped them. 11^th June UN arranged 1 month truce. This helped Israelis who received supplies. Fighting restarted Israelis captured ports of LYDDA and RAMLE.In July there was 2^nd truce. This broke in October when Israelis attacked Arabs. Israel took coastal strip between TEL AVIV and GAZA. They drove Arab forces out of Northern Palestine. By 1949 Israel controlled all of Palestine except Gaza strip. The Arab armies were forced to surrender

1 A new Jewish state was established in area controlled by Jewish forces. Large numbers of Jews moved to new state of Israel. 2 Only the Gaza strip wasn’t controlled by Israel. 3 Majority of Arab Palestinians fled from Israel and became refugees. 4 Arab Governments humiliated by their defeat.

1956 There was no real peace in the conflict 1948-1956. Tensions rose due to an arms deal in 1955 between Czechoslovakia and Egypt . Israelis saw this as an attempt by the Soviets as a plot to start an Egyptian attack on Israel. Fears grew further when Syria, Egypt and Jordan joined to plan military operations. Nasser, the Egyptian leader annoyed when Americans and British refused to supply him with arms. In 1956 the US withdrew its support for Aswan Dam. Nasser asked Soviets for help then seized the company responsible for building the Suez canal. The French and British Governments took back the Suez canal by force and secretly invited Israel to overthrow Nasser. The plan was for Israel to invade Egypt while Britain and France would pretend to be interested in separating the 2 sides. They would then send troops to the canal. In the resulting turmoil Nasser would lose power.

1 Nasser gained in prestige. He became a hero throughout the Arab world. 2 The Soviet Union was admired by the Arabs for supporting Nasser. Soviet influence in Arab world increased. 3 Israel soon won the support of America back. 4 Success of Israeli forces proved how formidable Israel was as an enemy. No one prepared in the Arab world to go to war against Israel for the next few years.

1) Nasser thought he could threaten Israel without danger of retaliation. 2) Ben Gurion left office and was replaced by Levi Eshkol who was seen as weak. 3) This made Nasser think he could bully Eshkol and encouraged him to threaten war. 4) May 1967 there was a high level of tension on the Israeli Syrian border. Caused problems for Nasser. 5) He knew he had to support Syria his Arab ally if he didn’t hed be seen as a coward by fellow Arabs. 6) Nasser increased threats against Israel. He talked tough to stop Israel attacking Syria. 7) Nasser sums up situation “The Jews threaten War. We tell them, Welcome. We are ready for war.” 8) This was bluff. Publicly the Israelis called for the Egyptians to pull back, privately they planned to attack Egypt. 9) Nasser’s behavior and speech was very aggressive 10) Israel was determined to fight 11) The US was not going to stop the Israelis from attacking.

1) War began 5^th June 1967 2) Israeli air force destroyed Egyptian air force. 3) Egyptians taken by surprise, their planes were destroyed before they even took off. 4) Jordanians and Syrians fought with Egypt. 5) The Israelis then destroyed Syrian and Jordanian planes. 6) Before end of day 1 400 Arab planes lost only 19 Israeli. 7) Air superiority gave Israel overwhelming advantage 8) Now Israeli soldiers occupied the Egyptian Sinai Peninsula 9) By 7^th June all of Jerusalem was under Jewish control for 1^st time in 2000 years. 10) The West Bank fell to Israeli forces. 11) On 9^th June Israelis attacked Golan Heights. Israelis victorious. 12) On 10^TH June Israelis agreed ceasefire, the war ended.

1) War was a tremendous triumph for Israel. 2) Israelis no longer frightened and pessimistic about the future. 3) They were relieved and delighted by success of their armed forces. 4) They now held East Jerusalem which contained the Western Wall seen by Jews as the remains of the Ancient Jewish temple. 5) Resolution 242 came into place saying that a) Israel should withdraw from conquered territories b) All states involved in this war should now renounce war and realise the right of region to live in peace.

1) Little progress towards peaceful solution of dispute between Israel and Arab World after 1967. 2) There was a skirmish between the powers in 1969 and Israel kept mounting the tension by organising air raids deep into Egyptian territory. 3) This was called the WAR OF ATTRITION 1969-1970 4) Ended in 1970 the same year that Nasser died. 5) Nasser replaced by SADDAT who was more prepared to negotiate with Israelis. 6) Saddat initially was ready to offer Peace. He wanted Israel out of Sinai and to re-open the Suez canal. 7) 1971 Saddat gave speech offering Israel permanent peace. 8) However, Israel didn’t trust Sadat and felt it would remain strong if it held the land captured in 1967. 9) Sadat built up Egypts armed forces with Aid from Soviet Union. He was opting for war and wanted to break the uneasy stalemate of the last 6 years. 10) He had new missiles powerful surface to air and wanted to use them. 11) Sadat became aggressive and Israel did little to stop him.

- War began 6 October 1973. - This was the day of a Jewish religious holiday Yom Kippur. - Egyptian and Syrian forces launched surprise attack on Israel - Egyptians launched massive artillery attack on Israeli positions on Suez Canal. - A few minutes later 8000 Egyptians attacked Israeli defences - Israelis were soon overrun - Egyptians shot down lots of Israeli aircraft. - Israeli also did badly on the Syrian front where they were outnumbered and unprepared. - Israelis lacked the resources to repel the invasion. - Israel lost 50 aircraft and hundreds of tanks in first 3 days of battle. BUT THEN TIDE TURNED _ After an initial shock the Israelis counterattacked. . By 10^th October the Syrians were driven back - 11^th October Israelis were in Syria itself - Israelis re-established their position in the Golan Heights. - The defeat of Syria meant that Israel could concentrate on just putting their resources into the Egyptian front. - Then Israelis won a massive battle in the Sinai desert. Egypt lost 260 tanks. Israel 10 tanks - Israeli troops surrounded the Egyptian 3^rd army and crossed the Suez Canal. - The Israelis wanted to push on and destroy the Egyptian forces but were stopped by the US government. The War finished on 26^th October 1973.

A) Another victory for the Israelis - B) However. Their reputation of invincibility was destroyed because they had so much damage inflicted on them in the first part of the war. - C) World opinion changed 1967 -1973. By 1973 much more of the world was on the Arab side not the Israeli - D) During the war rich Arab oil producing countries placed a ban on supplying countries which had helped Israel. - E) Arab countries also dramatically increased the price of oil this meant that countries like the USA looked to solve problems in the Middle East even more closely.

After WW2 and the HOLOCAUST both Superpowers got more involved in the conflict. The USA felt much sympathy with the Jews after they endured the atrocities of the Holocaust 1938-1945. American public opinion, because many Jews lived in the USA, was very pro Jewish. The USA agreed with, and had much sympathy for, the aims of Zionism. The USA allied with Israel and supplied them with arms especially fighter aircraft and ammunition. The USA supported and helped the Israelis in THE FIRST ARAB ISRAELI CONFLICT, however they were angry at Britain and Frances actions in the Suez Crisis and refused to support them. The support of the Americans was won back by the Israelis by the end of the Suez Crisis. The US didn’t stop the Israelis attacking in the Six Day War so supported Israeli aggression. They did the same in the Yom Kippur War. Without US support the Israelis wouldn’t have been the force they were, US support for Israel much more significant than Soviet support for Arabs.

Initially sympathized and supported Jews, but then their support went to the Arabs during first Arab- Israeli war. Soviets admired by Arab world for supporting Nasser and Egyptians during the Suez Crisis of 1956. The Soviets then helped the Palestinians in the Six Day War 1967 and the Yom Kippur War of 1973 with arms and ammunition. The Soviet support and aid was not as effective as the American support and didn’t have as much impact as the American support.