The Middle East

• Most of the Middle East had been mandated to Britain/France after WWI
• After WWII, the Middle East has its oil reserves established, thus making it internationally important
• The Holocaust had made the creation of a Jewish homeland certainty
• By the 1950s, the USA and the USSR were very involved and interested in the area

Nationalism: Israelis and the Arabs – Mutual hatred for each other

• Israelis practiced an aggressive foreign policy – strike first mentality
• There were serious religious differences: the territory in question contained many of the holy places and shrines of both Judaic and Islamic religions

Britain and the Creation of Israel:

• Important because of the Suez Canal
• Britain held Palestine as a Mandate
• The Arab League was formed in 1945: Egypt, Iraq, Transjordan, Syria, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia and Yemen, they turned against the British because of Jewish support
• Violence broke out to grab land between Arab and Jewish guerrillas in 1948
• May 14, 1948, the Jews led by David Ben Gurion proclaimed the state of Israel, and war broke out.

UN and the Arab-Israeli Conflict

1947

• Arab-Israeli conflicts have presented the United Nations with some of its most difficult peace keeping problems. In 1947, the General Assembly approved a plan to divide Palestine into a Jewish state and an Arab state and to make Jerusalem an international city under UN control. Jerusalem is a holy city for Jews, Christians, and Muslims.
• About 90 percent of all Arabs are Muslims. The Arab countries opposed the UN plan, which went into effect in 1948
• The population of the new nation of Israel included many resentful Palestinian Arabs. Many of them fled to nearby Arab countries, where they became refugees.
• On May 14 1948, the United Kingdom relinquished its mandate over Palestine. The state of Israel was proclaimed. On the following day, the Palestinians, together with the armies of Syria, Lebanon, Egypt and Jordan, opened hostilities against the new state.
• In 1949, these four countries and Israel signed armistice agreements.
• The United Nations Truce Supervision Organization (UNTSO) assisted the parties in complying with the provisions of these agreements. However, border incidents still continued.

The Palestinian War: 1948

• The Arab League invaded Israel: Israel defeated them easily
• This created a refugee problem with 1 million homeless Palestinians.
• This also began the formation of terrorist groups who would attack Israel from outside countries
• Israel would practice on going reprisals against states harboring terrorists

The Suez War: 1956

• Nasser, in 1954 becomes Prime Minister of Egypt, he was an extreme nationalist
• Cold War competition plays a role in the construction of the Aswan Dam
• The USA said they would finance the project, but Egypt them signed an arms deal with Czechoslovakia (USSR), so the USA pulled out financial support. Nasser also had recognized Red China in 1956, which the USA would not do.
• This pushed Israel into a client relationship with the USA
• The USSR now said they would help finance the Aswan Dam
• 1956: Nasser Nationalizes the Suez Canal (takes it over for Egypt)
• Israel attacks across the Sinai Desert: this attack was part of a secret deal with Britain and France. The deal sent Israel to attack first, Britain and France then began bombing Egyptian military targets followed by an invasion.
• USA response: The USA was outraged by the British/French actions, probably because the USA was not consulted, and they were supposed to be allies.
• The USA forced the French and British to pull out, and had the United Nations act as peacekeepers in the region.
• Israel won 1) The Gaza Strip (the UN would be stationed there, this took away terrorist land) and 2) the Israeli economy flourished.
• Significance: Un deployment of Peacekeeping troops – Britain and France were discredited internationally – the Aswan Dam and Suez Canal was an arena for superpower competition.

Terrorism: The PLO

• PLO – Palestine Liberation Organization – mounted attacks from its bases in Syria, Jordan and Lebanon – Usually from the Golan Heights in Syria
• PLO leader – Yasser Arafat
• Following the nationalization of the Suez Canal announced by Egypt on July 26 1956, Israeli forces invaded Sinai, while British troops landed at Suez at the end of October. On November 4, 1956, the General Assembly, meeting in a special session, called for a cease fire and created the first peace-keeping force, the United Nations Emergency Force (UNEF), which supervised the progressive withdrawal of the Israeli, British and French troops, patrolled the demarcation line between Egypt and Israel, and brought relative quiet to the area.

The 6-Day War: 1967

• Nasser kicked out the UN force from the Sinai desert in 1967
• He then mobilized his forces, and closed off the Strait of Trian (Israel needed it)
• Israel strikes first knowing what was going to happen – Israel leader is Dayan
• Israel again wins big and gets:
• • The whole Sinai
  • Jerusalem and the West Bank and Golan Heights

This secured strong frontiers against terrorist attacks, but they would have to occupy these areas

The Cold War gets involved when the USSR threatened to get involved; the USA pressured Israel to stop attacks in order to avert WW III.

Anwar Sadat – becomes leader of Egypt in 1970, and broke off Soviet relationships. Did this because Muslim countries had problems dealing with atheist countries like the USSR

The Yom Kippur War: 1973

• Egypt helped by Syria and Iraq again attacked Israel
• Israel knew it was coming, but had taken heat for the strike first policy of the 6-day war
• Arabs had initial success, but by the end of the war, there was no change in territory
• One result was the raising of oil prices by OPEC countries (Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries)

Camp David Accords: 1979

• USA president: Jimmy Carter, Egypt: Sadat, Israel: Begin
• USA brokered peace talks between Egypt and Israel
• Peace treaty ended Egyptian / Israeli conflicts, tried to work on refugee problems, but Egypt was them kicked out of OPEC, and the conflicts to follow would be Arab vs. Israeli, not Egypt vs. Israel.
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Conflict in Lebanon:

• Independent from France as of 1945
• 500,000 Palestinian refugees lived in the South
• Israel would invade from time to time to stop terrorists
• 1982 a multi-national force established to keep the peace
• Terrorism continued, 200 USA Marines were killed as a result of a terrorist car bombing of the US Embassy
• In 1987 the PLO withdrew, but still terrorist, and hostage takings

IN 1993 and 1995, Israel and the PLO signed agreements that led to the withdrawal of Israeli troops from the Gaza Strip and most cities and towns of the West Bank by early 1996. As the Israelis withdrew, Palestinians became the governing authorities in these areas. Israel also recognized the PLO as the representative of the Palestinian people. IN 1994, Jordan and Israel signed a declaration that marked the end of a state of war that had technically existed between them since 1958. In 1996, Palestinians in the Gaza Strip and Palestinian-controlled parts of the West bank elected a president and legislature to make laws and administer these areas.

The Resurgence of Islam

Iran

• Islamic Fundamentalism: a return to the basic tenets of the Islamic religion and a rejection of western materialism
• In 1948 Iran became independent
• The Shaw gained power in 1953, he had western inclinations, his land reform acts were said to be against Islamic religion
• In 1964 the Ayatollah Khomeini, the leader of the Shiites was expelled, went to Paris until 1979
• In 1975 Iran became a one party state, and the Shaw used repression tactics on the people
• Strikes and riots forced the Shaw to flee in 1979 to the USA where he died
• In Feb. 1979, the Ayatollah returned to begin the Islamic fundamentalist revolution
• He held the American embassy staff hostage for over a year
• Jimmy Carter tried a rescue attempt, but it failed. Iran was mad at the Shaw being given shelter, and that the USA had frozen many of Iran’s money because of the revolution
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Iran – Iraq War: 1980-1988

• Saddam Hussein, the leader of Iraq, feared the spread of the fundamentalist revolution, which would affect his power
• Both countries had claims over various parts of land (Shatt-al-Arab – a waterway to the Euphrates and Tigris rivers), but the war was mainly about religion
• The world was interested because of the oil reserves
• Oil tankers were threatened by mines in the Persian Gulf
• The USA supported Saddam because they were anti-Iran
• The war broke out and lasted for 8 years, neither side won, the UN brokered a formal peace in 1990
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The Persian Gulf War: 1990-1991

• In August 1990, the Iraqi government ordered it troops to invade Kuwait. Saddam made historical claims to the land and its oil and he had the strongest army in the area
• Led by President George Bush (USA) and the United Nations, trade sanctions were put on Iraq, cutting off her oil trade.
• The UN ordered Saddam to remove troops by January 15, 1991, if not the UN would use military force
• A coalition was formed, led by the USA and Britain with 30 other countries including many Arab nations like Saudi Arabia
• The Saudis, Syrians and Egyptians all feared Saddam’s future intentions.
• The USA made sure Israel kept out of things, because of old Arab and Israeli problems/ If Saddam could get Israel into the war, them some of the coalition Arab countries might join Saddam
• America promised to defend Israel from Saddam’s Scud Missiles by using the Patriot missile, which could shoot down the Scud in the air.
• Operation Desert Storm: Began with bombing Baghdad with Stealth bomber technology
• On Feb 4 1991, a short 4 day ground offensive began and drive the Iraqi army out of Kuwait
• Iraq lost 90,000 troops, but still kept the bulk of its army intact
• President Bush called for a cease fire

Issues after the Gulf War

• Saddam had tried to develop nuclear weapons before, and had biological and poison gas weapons
• He had used them against the Kurds (a minority group within his own country)
• Saddam trying to get Israel into the war to break the coalition
• The coalition may never have existed if the USSR was not near collapse
• Mistake: the coalition did not remove Saddam from power! This allowed Saddam to continue to be a pain and repress his own people. The west has had to continually intervene in Iraq to help the Kurds and the UN has repeated problems with weapons inspections, Saddam keeps playing little games.
• Sanctions continue to this day, which has really on hurt the Iraqi people, not Saddam.