Middle East

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Middle East U.S Support for Israel
By Noorain Zafar Anson Ambreen
Fatima Kim Carter
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The Israeli-Palestinian-Arab Conflict in a
Nutshell

• History's legacy created divisive issues between
  Palestinians and Israelis. Judea, home of the
  Jews in ancient times, was conquered by the
  Romans and renamed Palestine. Palestine was later
  conquered  and inhabited by Arabs for over a
  thousand years. The Zionist movement arose to
  restore the Jews to Israel, largely ignoring the
  existing Arab population. Following the Balfour
  Declaration in 1917, Palestine was granted to
  Britain as a League of Nations mandate to build a
  national home for the Jewish people. This became
  an issue as the Arabs resented the Jews coming in
  to take their land. Led by Grand Mufti Hajj Amin
  El Husseini, they rioted repeatedly and later
  revolted, creating a history of enmity between
  Jews and Arabs in Palestine. Britain stopped
  Jewish immigration to Palestine. Following the
  Holocaust, in which 6 million Jews were killed by
  the Nazis, pressure on Britain increased to
  allow  Jewish immigration  to Palestine.   In
  1947, the UN partitioned the land into Arab and
  Jewish states. The Arabs did not accept the
  partition and war broke out. The Jews won a
  decisive victory, expanded their state and
  created several hundred thousand Palestinian
  refugees. The Arab states refused to recognize
  Israel or make peace with it. Wars broke out in
  1956, 1967, 1973 and 1982, and there were many
  terror raids and Israeli reprisals.

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Growing Tensions
Before War

• Israel accomplished its "Declaration of
  Independence," which proclaims the existence of a
  Jewish state called Israel beginning on May 15,
  1948, at 1200 midnight Palestine time.
• Immediately after which, it gained the support
  of U.S.

• The United States faced growing tensions with
  allies over its support of Israel's military
  campaign to cripple Hezbollah, amid calls for a
  cease-fire to help with the mounting humanitarian
  crisis.
• European allies were particularly alarmed about
  the disproportionately high civilian death toll
  in Lebanon. They were also concerned that the
  U.S. position will increase tensions between the
  Islamic world and the West by fueling militants,
  and would add to the problems of the U.S.-led
  coalition force in Iraq.

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Why did U.S support Israel?

• Political Support
• The US was the first country to recognize Israel,
  only minutes after it was officially created in
  1948, consistent with a 1922 Congressional
  resolution backing the League of Nations mandate
  for a Jewish homeland in Palestine. Since then,
  the two countries have developed a rock-solid
  friendship that does not depend on the parties in
  power either in Washington or Jerusalem. While
  there have certainly been ups and downs, the
  basic bond between the US and Israel, the only
  country in the Middle East that resembles the US
  in its values and democracy, is very strong.
• Economic Support
• In 1951 the US provided the first aid to Israel,
  65 million to help Israel take in Holocaust
  survivors
• There has been economic aid to Israel every year
  since 1949, with the amounts fluctuating,
  generally increasing as the cooperation with
  Israel became closer or in years when Israel was
  forced to fight defensive wars or terrorism from
  1960 until 1985.

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Other Reasons for U.S support for Israel

• In the following decades, Israel and the US
  worked together to counter the greatest threats
  to American interests in the Middle East. These
  threats include the large creations of weapons of
  mass destruction state-sponsored terrorism the
  potential disruption of access to Middle East
  oil and the spread of Islamic extremism.

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FISH BONE
US and the Recognition of Israel
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May 17, 1939 British White Paper on Palestine
1939
May 25, 1939 Senator Harry S. Truman inserts in
the Congressional Record strong disapproval of
the British White Paper on Palestine, saying it
is a dishonorable negation by Britain of her duty.
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Loy Henderson, director of the State
Department's Near East Agency, writes to
Secretary of State James Byrnes that the United
States would lose its moral status in the Middle
East if it supported Jewish goal in Palestine.
The report of the Intergovernment Committee on
Refugees, called the Harrison Report, is
presented to President Truman. The report is very
dangerous of the treatment by Allied forces of
refugees, particularly Jewish refugees, in
Germany.
1945
Senators Robert Wagner of New York and Robert
Taft of Ohio introduce a resolution expressing
support for a Jewish state in Palestine.
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1946
State-War-Navy organize Committee warns that if
the United States uses armed force to support the
accomplishment of the proposal of the report of
the Anglo-American Committee of Inquiry, the
Soviet Union might be able to increase its power
and influence in the Middle East, and United
States access to Middle East oil could be
jeopardized.
On the eve of Yom Kippur, President Truman issues
a statement indicating United States support for
the creation of a "viable Jewish state."
Loy Henderson, director of the State Department's
Near East Agency, warns that the immigration of
Jewish Communists into Palestine will increase
Soviet influence there.
September President Clark Clifford writes to the
President to warn that the Soviet Union wishes to
achieve complete economic, military and political
domination in the Middle East.
October 1946 President Truman writes to King
Saud of Saudi Arabia, informing the king that he
believes "that a national home for the Jewish
people should be established in Palestine."
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1947
The United Nations Special Committee on
Palestine issues its report, which recommends
unanimously (all 11 member states voting in
favor) that Great Britain terminate their mandate
for Palestine and grant it independence at the
earliest possible date and which also recommends
by majority vote (7 of the member nations voting
in favor) that Palestine be partitioned into
Jewish and Arab states. The Joint Chiefs of
Staff argue in a memorandum entitled "The Problem
of Palestine" that the partition of Palestine
into Jewish and Arab states would enable the
Soviet Union to replace the United States and
Great Britain in the region and would endanger
United States access to Middle East oil.
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May 14, 1948 late morning eastern standard
time (late afternoon in Palestine) David
Ben-Gurion, Israel's first prime minister, reads
a "Declaration of Independence," which proclaims
the existence of a Jewish state called Israel
beginning on May 15, 1948, at 1200 midnight
Palestine time (600 p.m., May 14, 1948,eastern
standard time). The British permission for
Palestine end, and the state of Israel comes into
being. The United States recognizes Israel,
The White House issues the following statement
"This Government has been informed that a Jewish
state has been proclaimed in Palestine, and
recognition has been requested by the provisional
government thereof. The United States recognizes
the provisional government as the de facto
authority of the State of Israel." thats the
document!.
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January 31, 1949 The United States recognizes
Israel on a de jure basis.
1949
February 24 to July 20, 1949 Israel signs
armistice agreements with Egypt, Lebanon, Jordan
and Syria.
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Moves toward Peace in the Middle East

• Although bloody wars seemed to be raging all over
  the post-cold war world, there were breakthroughs
  toward peace. The U.S played an important role in
  several peace efforts in the Middle East.
• The following are two examples how U.S helped in
  creating peace terms between Middle East
  countries

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Israeli-PLO Agreement

• Of all the conflicts in the Middle East, the
  Arab-Israeli conflict has been the most enduring
  and difficult.
• Brief History When Israel was created from
  British-occupied Palestine in 1948, Palestinian
  Arabs had been forced to move to the West Bank of
  Jordan River. This area soon came under the
  control of Jordan, however. With the support of
  Arab leaders, in 1964 some of these displaced
  people formed the Palestinian Liberation
  Organization (PLO) to work toward the elimination
  of Israel and the creation of an independent Arab
  Palestine.

• Fearing attack by its Arab neighbors, in 1967
  Israel seized the Gaza Strip from Egypt and
  Jordanian territory west of the River Jordan,
  including Jordans part of Jerusalem, the
  capital. For 20 years after 1967 war, Arabs and
  Israelis-occupied territories. Then in 1987 the
  Palestinians in both areas began an uprising.
  Finally in 1991 the U.S helped start Israeli-Arab
  peace-talks. Peace talks continued after
  President Clinton took office.
• The peace talks proceeded until September 13
  1993, when the Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak
  Rabin and the PLO leader Yasir Arafat reached an
  agreement. The PLO. signed the Oslo Declaration
  of Principles, renouncing violence and
  recognizing the right of Israel to exist. In
  return, Israel allowed the PLO to enter the West
  Bank and Gaza Strip, and Palestinians gained
  control of most of the population of these areas.

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Peace between Israel and Jordan

• President Clinton also helped to work out a peace
  agreement between Israel and Jordan.
• In July 1994, Israel Prime Minister Rabin and
  Jordans King Hussein signed a historic peace
  treaty officially ending their state of war that
  had existed between their countries for half a
  century now. The treaty also set up a framework
  for cooperation in the environmental protection,
  tourism, and trade.

Did this peace continue?

• Not for long ,as there was a growing opposition
  to the peace plan. Palestinian leaders contended
  that growing Israeli settlements on the West Bank
  violated the spirit of the agreement. On the
  other hand, Israelis feared that a fully
  independent Palestinian state would be a threat
  to their nation.
• Israeli leaders drew away from the agreement when
  the militant Palestinian groups attacked Israelis
  settlements.
• In November 1995, an Israeli who opposed his
  governments policy with the Palestinians
  assassinated Prime Minister Rabin.
• A series of terrorists attacks further rocked
  Israel, and the 1996 election of a more
  conservative prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu,
  signaled a shift toward a harder line in
  negotiations with the Palestinians.

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Relations Today

• High priorities in the foreign policy of Israel
  include seeking an end to hostilities with Arab
  forces, against which it has fought six wars
  since 1948 and gaining wide acceptance as a
  sovereign state with an important international
  role.
• The State of Israel joined the United Nations on
  May 11, 1949. Today, Israel has diplomatic
  relations with 161 states. It is notable as a
  probable nuclear power, though has refused to
  confirm or deny the existence of a nuclear
  weapons arsenal.
• The relations between Israel and the United
  States have evolved from an initial United States
  policy of sympathy and support for the creation
  of a Jewish state in 1948 (It was the first
  country to recognize the establishment of the
  State) to an unusual partnership that links
  Israel with the United States trying to balance
  competing interests in the Middle East region.
  The United States has been considered Israel's
  most powerful and supportive ally for almost 60
  years.
• Following the US invasion of Iraq in 2003,
  diplomats have been discussing the possibility of
  improved relations between Israel and Iraq.
  However, then-Iraqi PM Iyad Allawi said in 2004
  that Iraq would not establish ties with Israel.
• In 2005, Saudi Arabia announced the end of its
  ban on Israeli goods and services, mostly due to
  its application to the World Trade Organization,
  where one member country cannot have a total ban
  on another. However, as of summer 2006 Saudi
  boycott was not cancelled
• Although the Soviet Union initially sought to
  develop close ties with Israel, Soviet-Israeli
  relations worsened in the 1950s as Moscow turned
  to Egypt and Syria as its primary allies in the
  Middle East. The Soviet Union and the other
  communist states of Eastern Europe (except
  Romania) broke diplomatic relations with Israel
  in the 1967 Six-Day War. However, those relations
  were restored by 1991.
• Relations between Israel and Iran have alternated
  from close political alliances between the two
  states during the era of the Pahlavi dynasty to
  hostility following the rise to power of
  Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. Currently, the
  countries do not have diplomatic relations with
  each other.

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Thank You For Your Time!