Arab-Israeli Wars

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Arab-Israeli Wars

• Lsn 36
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  .ppt.

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ID SIG

• Camp David Accords, Golan Heights, Israel,
  Nasser, OPEC, PLO, preemptive strike, Sadat,
  Sharon, Sinai, Six Day War, Suez Canal, unity of
  command, Yom Kippur War, War of Israeli
  Independence

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Importance of the Middle East during the Cold War

• Colonial legacies
• Oil reserves
• Islamic, Jewish, Christian religious roots
• Location on the southern flank of the Soviet
  Union
• Soviet and American client states
• Presence of advanced weapons
• Suez Canal as a vital link between the Red and
  Mediterranean Seas

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Creation of Israel

• Jews had long hoped to establish an independent
  state in Palestine based on the covenant between
  Yahweh and Abraham (Genesis 177-8)
• Arabs rejected this desire with equal passion
• After the European anti-Semitism of the 1930s and
  the Holocaust of World War II, Jews increasingly
  began migrating to Palestine

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Creation of Israel

• Following World War I and the dismantling of the
  Ottoman Empire, the League of Nations mandate
  gave Great Britain control of Palestine
• After World War II, the British concluded they
  could no longer control the escalating violence
  between Arabs and Jews and turned the problem
  over to the United Nations
• In November 1947, the UN voted to partition
  Palestine

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Creation of Israel

• British forces withdrew and on May 14, 1948 the
  Jews proclaimed the establishment of the state of
  Israel
• The next day the Arabs attacked

David Ben-Guiron, first prime minister of Israel,
declares Israels independence
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War of Israeli Independence (1948)

• At first the Egyptian air force struck Tel Aviv
• Soon after that forces from Egypt, Transjordan,
  Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, and Saudi Arabia all
  attacked
• Most analysts felt the more numerous and better
  equipped Arabs would overwhelm the Israelis easily

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War of Israeli Independence (1948)

• Instead the Israelis fought with great courage
  and skill
• The Arabs on the other hand frittered away their
  numerical advantage with uncoordinated attacks
• The war turned into a series of disorganized
  clashes among small units
• After four weeks of fighting, both sides accepted
  a UN-sponsored ceasefire

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Abdel Nasser

• In spite of the ceasefire, tensions remained high
• They increased after 1954 when General Abdel
  Nasser, a bold Arab nationalist, gained control
  of the Egyptian government
• Nasser first tried to acquire weapons from the
  West but when that failed he turned to the Soviet
  Union
• The USSR began indirectly supplying Egypt with
  weapons through Czechoslovakia
• France became upset with Egypts providing
  weapons to insurgents in Algeria so France began
  supplying Israel

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Suez Canal (1956)

• On July 27, 1956, Nasser unexpectedly
  nationalized the Suez Canal Zone, hoping to end
  the British presence there
• The British and the French decided to intervene
  militarily and Israel joined them in attacking
  Egypt

Between 1859 and 1869, the British constructed
the Suez Canal. In 1882 the British army occupied
Egypt to ensure the safety of the canal which was
crucial to British communications with India
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Suez Canal (1956)

• On Oct 28 Israel called up its reserves and then
  conducted a daring airborne landing deep inside
  the Sinai east of Milta Pass
• At the same time a small force of Israeli
  infantry and tanks drove across the desert and
  linked up with the paratroopers on Oct 30

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Suez Canal (1956)

• In the north the Israelis bypassed the strong
  Egyptian defenses at Abu Agelia and attacked them
  from the rear
• In the south the Israelis attacked Sharm
  el-Sheikh, the strategic point at the mouth of
  the Gulf of Aquaba
• On Oct 31, British and French bombers began
  attacking Egyptian airfields and destroyed most
  of the Egyptian air force

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Suez Canal (1956)

• Nasser began fearing his forces would be cut off
  in the Sinai and ordered a withdraw
• The Israelis continued to advance and halted
  about 15 km east of the Suez Canal
• The British and French landed one and a half
  infantry divisions near the northern mouth of the
  canal on Nov 6 and started advancing down the
  canal

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Suez Canal (1956)

• Soon after they began moving, the British and
  French accepted a UN ceasefire
• It was a decisive Israeli, French, and British
  victory
• Nonetheless, the US, and then the USSR, began
  demanding the Israelis relinquish the captured
  Egyptian territory
• Both the US and Russia were concerned about the
  explosiveness of the situation
• One Soviet diplomat wrote President Eisenhower,
  If this war is not curbed, it can develop into
  a third world war.

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Suez Canal (1956)

• In the face of this international pressure,
  Israel had no choice but to withdraw
• The intervention also cost the British and the
  French much of their influence in the region
• Eisenhower announced the Eisenhower Doctrine
  saying, The existing vacuum in the Middle East
  must be filled by the United States before it is
  filled by Russia.

President Eisenhower was upset by the Israeli,
French, and British actions surrounding the Suez
Crisis
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The Six Day War (1967)

• A fragile peace lasted until May 1967 when the
  Soviet Union informed Nasser (incorrectly as it
  turned out) that Israel was massing forces for a
  strike against Syria
• Nasser responded to this report by mobilizing his
  reserves and moving troops into the Sinai
• He also pressured the UN to withdraw its
  peacekeeping forces from the Sinai and soon
  occupied Sharm el-Sheikh

Nasser and Soviet premier Khrushchev
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The Six Day War (1967)

• With Sharm el-Sheikh in his control, Nasser cut
  off Israeli shipping through the Gulf of Aquaba
• To correct previous problems, the Arabs tried to
  establish unity of command under Egyptian control
• In reality there was no true unity of command of
  the diverse forces

King Hussein of Jordan and Nasser signing a
mutual defense treaty
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The Six Day War (1967)

• Israel realized the serious situation, mobilized
  its reserves, and launched a preemptive air
  strike on June 5
• The strike hit eleven Egyptian airfields and in a
  matter of hours destroyed most of the Egyptian
  air force
• Then Israel turned its attention to the other
  Arab countries
• By the evening of the second day of the strike,
  Israel had destroyed over 400 Arab aircraft and
  lost only 26 of its own

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The Six Day War (1967)

• Israel then used its central position to defeat
  first the Egyptians and the Jordanians, and then
  the Syrians
• Israel attacked through the Sinai and reached the
  Suez Canal, captured Jerusalem, and seized the
  Golan Heights
• On June 10 a UN ceasefire went into effect

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The Six Day War (1967)

• Controlling the Golan Heights, the West Bank, and
  the Sinai gave Israel depth in its defense that
  it had never had before
• Its highly skilled and coordinated air and ground
  attacks were in stark contrast to the tentative
  and piecemeal Arab efforts

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The Six Day War (1967)

• However the stunning Israeli success increased
  superpower involvement in the region as the US
  increased its diplomatic support for Israel and
  Russia began directly shipping weapons to Arab
  states rather than funneling them through
  Czechoslovakia
• Arab frustration and tensions also gave rise to
  more activity of the Palestinian Liberation
  Organization which increasingly used terrorist
  tactics against the Israelis

In 1969 Yasser Arafat became chairman of the PLO
executive committee
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The Yom Kippur War (1973)

• In 1970 Nasser died and Anwar Sadat became
  president of Egypt
• Sadat was more moderate than Nasser but that
  still didnt keep him from going to war with
  Israel
• However, Sadats objective was not the decisive
  defeat of Israel
• Sadat instead sought a limited military victory
  designed to gain larger political objectives

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The Yom Kippur War (1973)

• Sadat had greatly improved Egypts military in
  terms of weapons and quality of soldiers
• He also improved coordination with Syria and
  Jordan
• Sadats plan was to fight a set-piece battle in
  which superior Arab numbers would wear down the
  Israelis

Anwar Sadat
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The Yom Kippur War (1973)

• Egypt attacked along the entire front of the Suez
  Canal on Saturday, Oct 6, both the Jewish Sabbath
  as well as the holy Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur)
• Syria simultaneously attacked in the Golan
  Heights
• By Oct 9 the Egyptians had bridgeheads 10 to 12
  km across the canal
• There they halted, established a strong air
  defense umbrella, and waited for the Israeli
  counterattack

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The Yom Kippur War (1973)

• The Israelis attacked with three armored brigades
  without infantry or artillery support
• The Egyptians were able to defeat these with
  their Russian Sagger antitank missiles

Israeli tank driving by wounded soldiers
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The Yom Kippur War (1973)

• On Oct 14 the Egyptians attacked out of their
  bridgeheads
• The Egyptians penetrated about 15 to 18
  kilometers but diluted their effort by attacking
  in six major thrusts
• They also suffered from moving outside of their
  protective air defense umbrella
• Moreover the Israelis benefited from newly
  arrived TOW antitank missiles from the US
• The Egyptians lost 200 tanks

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The Yom Kippur War (1973)

• With the tide of the battle turning, Israel went
  on the offensive
• Brigadier General Ariel Sharon cleared a corridor
  through the Egyptian defenses to the east bank of
  the canal and Israeli divisions began crossing
  the canal
• Israel was also experiencing success in the Golan
  Heights and captured Mount Hermon on the north
  end of the heights but could not advance further
  into Syria

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The Yom Kippur War (1973)

• As an Israeli victory became apparent, both the
  US and the USSR called for a ceasefire
• Russia, fearing the complete destruction of Arab
  forces threatened to act unilaterally and to
  send troops to enforce a ceasefire
• US forces worldwide were placed on alert
• On Oct 24, the Israelis reluctantly agreed to a
  ceasefire

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The Yom Kippur War (1973)

• Israel won the war but Egypt won the peace
• Sadat had had enough battlefield success to
  achieve his strategic objective of destroying the
  aura of Israeli invincibility
• The conflict also showed the political and
  economic power of the Organization of Petroleum
  Exporting Countries (OPEC)
• To punish the US for supporting Israel, OPEC shut
  off the flow of oil to the US

Gas lines during the oil embargo
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The Yom Kippur War (1973)

• The superpowers realized how serious the volatile
  Middle East situation had become and could not
  afford to let things get worse
• The Camp David Accords of 1978 normalized
  relations between Egypt and Israel and resulted
  in the signing of a peace treaty in 1979

The Multinational Force and Observers, of which
the US is a participant, is the peacekeeping
force that helps supervise the Israel-Egypt peace
agreement
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Continued Violence

• However the Israel-Egypt peace treaty did not
  solve the longterm problem or end the violence
• The PLO has increased in influence and terrorist
  activity
• The PLO and Hezbollah paramilitary forces became
  increasingly active in Lebanon where a civil war
  broke out in 1975
• In 1978, 1982, and 2006 Israel attacked Lebanon

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Beirut Bombing

• On Sept 29, 1982, US military forces were
  inserted in Lebanon as part of a multinational
  peacekeeping force
• The Marines were first welcomed but steadily
  became perceived as being pro-Israeli
• The violence culminated on October 23, 1983 with
  a terrorist bombing that claimed the lives of 241
  service members

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Continuing Issues

• Oil
• In 2005 Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad
  stated that Israel should be wiped out from the
  map
• Palestinian self government and statehood
• Terrorism
• Desert Storm and the Iraq War

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Next

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