Israel Wars
1948 War of Independence
The 1948 Arab-Israeli War, also known as the Israeli War of Independence, was the first in a series of wars fought between the State of Israel and its Arab neighbors in the long-running Arab-Israeli conflict. For Israeli Jews, the war marks the successful establishment of the Israeli state, but for Palestinian Arabs, it signifies the beginning of the events referred to as "al Nakba" (Arabic: ?????? , "the Catastrophe"), a term used to describe the fleeing or expulsion of hundreds of thousands of Palestinian residents from the newly created state of Israel, and the subsequent Israeli ban on their return.
In 1947, the United Nations had recommended partitioning Palestine into Jewish and Arab states, a plan which Arab leaders rejected. The British mandate over Palestine was due to expire on 15 May 1948, but the Jewish leadership, led by future Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion, declared independence on 14 May. The State of Israel declared itself as an independent nation, and was quickly recognized by the Soviet Union, the United States, and many other countries.
By the end of May, approximately 6,000 Syrian, 4,500 Iraqi, 6-9,000 Transjordanian, 1,000 Lebanese and 5,500 Egyptian troops had invaded the territory of the former British mandate, joining the Palestinian irregulars. The Transjordanians fought only in the areas alloted to the Arab state and in the Corpus Speratum of Jerusalem, while the Syrians, Egyptians, Iraqis and Lebanese invaded the territory alloted to the newly-created State of Israel. By the end of the war Israel had repulsed them, held the territory designated for it and captured about half of the territory designated for the Arab state, as well as part of Jerusalem. The war and the armistice agreements between Israel and its neighbors resulted in the division of the former British mandate into Israel, the Gaza strip held by Egypt and the West Bank held by Jordan.
Yishuv forces
In November 1947, the Haganah was an underground paramilitary force that had existed as a highly organised, national force since the riots of 1920–21, riots of 1929 (also known as the Hebron Massacre), and Great Uprising of 1936–39[29] It had a mobile force, the HISH, which had 2,000 full time fighters (men and women) and 10,000 reservists (all aged between 18 and 25) and an elite unit, the Palmach composed of 2,100 fighters and 1,000 reservists. The reservists trained 3–4 days a month and went back to civilian life the rest of the time. These mobile forces could rely on a garrison force, the HIM (Heil Mishmar, or guard force), composed of people aged more than 25. The Yishuv's total strength was around 35,000 with 15,000 to 18,000 fighters and a garrison force of roughly 20,000.[30] The two clandestine groups Irgun and Lehi had respectively 2,000–4,000 and 500–800 members. There were also several thousand men and women who had served in the British Army in World War II who did not serve in any of the underground militias but would provide valuable military experience during the war.[31]
Few of the units had been trained by December 1947.[32]
In 1946 Ben-Gurion decided that the Yishuv would probably have to defend itself against both the Palestinian Arabs and neighbouring Arab states and accordingly began a "massive, covert arms acquisition campaign in the West". By September 1947 the Haganah had "10,489 rifles, 702 light machine-guns, 2,666 submachine guns, 186 medium machine-guns, 672 two-inch mortars and 92 three-inch mortars" and acquired many more during the first few months of hostilities. The Yishuv also had "a relatively advanced arms producing capacity", that between October 1947 and July 1948 "produced 3 million 9mm bullets, 150,000 mills grenades, 16,000 submachine guns (Sten Guns) and 210 three-inch mortars".[33] Still, however, before the arrival of arms shipments from Czechoslovakia as part of Operation Balak, there was roughly one weapon for every three fighters and even the Palmach armed only two out of every three of its active members. Initially, the Haganah had no heavy machine guns, artillery, armoured vehicles, anti-tank or anti-aircraft weapons.[34]
1949 Armistice Agreements
In 1949, Israel signed separate armistices with Egypt on 24 February, Lebanon on 23 March, Transjordan on 3 April, and Syria on 20 July. Israel was generally able to create its own borders, comprising 78 percent of Mandatory Palestine, 50 percent more than the UN partition proposal allotted it. These cease-fire lines were known afterwards as the "Green Line". The Gaza Strip and the West Bank were occupied by Egypt and Transjordan respectively.
Casualties
Israel lost about 1% of its population in the war: 6,373 of its people. About 4,000 were soldiers and the rest were civilians.
The exact number of Arab losses is unknown but are estimated at between 5,000 and 15,000 people.[69]
Demographic outcome
On September 16, 1948, the United Nations Mediator in Palestine prepared a progress report for the General Assembly on the state of the war. It estimated the number of Palestinian refugees at around 360,000,[70] The UN would later estimate that the number might be as high as 711,000. The UN Conciliation Commission for Palestine noted in its report, however, that the estimate was "as accurate as circumstances permit", and attributed the higher number to, among other things, "duplication of ration cards, addition of persons who have been displaced from area other than Israel-held areas and of persons who, although not displaced, are destitute."[71] Meanwhile, an escalation in mistreatment of Jews in Arab and Muslim nations caused 758,000-900,000 Jews to flee from those countries as refugees (see Jewish exodus from Arab lands).[72] 600,000 of those resettled in Israel, and most of the remaining settled in Europe and North America.[73][74][75][76] A vast majority of the Jewish refugees in Israel were successfully assimilated. Their Palestinian counterparts were not so fortunate. No Arab country except Jordan has to date assimilated a significant population of Palestinian refugees, nor given them full citizenship, and many rely on economic aid from the UN and Israel for their livelihood.[77][73] It is the position of most Arab governments not to grant citizenship to the descendants of Palestinian refugees born within their borders, even though many have known no other home.[78]
History would produce different accounts as to the reasons behind Palestinian flight from Israel. Historian and former Israeli Foreign Minister Shlomo Ben-Ami argues that during the war "[The] Arab community [was] in a state of terror facing a ruthless Israeli army whose path to victory was paved not only by its exploits against the regular Arab armies, but also by the intimidation and at times atrocities and massacres it perpetrated against the civilian Arab community. A panic-stricken Arab community was uprooted under the impact of massacres that would be carved into the Arabs' monument of grief and hatred".[79]
On the other hand, Shmuel Katz writes in his book Battleground that "the Arab refugees were not driven from Palestine by anyone. The vast majority left, whether of their own free will or at the orders or exhortations of their leaders, always with the same reassurance-that their departure would help in the war against Israel."[80]
Arab Palestinians have staged annual demonstrations and protests on May 15 of each year, one day after the anniversary of Israel's declaration of independence. The popularity and number of participants in these annual al Nakba demonstrations has varied over time, though the increasing anti-Israeli sentiment in the Middle East has tended to increase the attendance in recent years. During the al-Aqsa Intifada after the failure of the Camp David 2000 Summit, the attendance at the demonstrations against Israel increased.
1967 The Six Day War
After a period of relative calm, border incidents between Israel and Syria, Egypt, and Jordan increased during the early 1960s, with Palestinian guerrilla groups actively supported by Syria. In May, 1967, President Nasser, his prestige much eroded through his inaction in the face of Israeli raids, requested the withdrawal of UN forces from Egyptian territory, mobilized units in the Sinai, and closed the Gulf of Aqaba to Israel. Israel (which had no UN forces stationed on its territory) responded by mobilizing.
The escalation of threats and provocations continued until June 5, 1967, when Israel launched a massive air assault that crippled Arab air capability. With air superiority protecting its ground forces, Israel controlled the Sinai peninsula within three days and then concentrated on the Jordanian frontier, capturing Jerusalem's Old City (subsequently annexed), and on the Syrian border, gaining the strategic Golan Heights. The war, which ended on June 10, is known as the Six-Day War.
The Suez Canal was closed by the war, and Israel declared that it would not give up Jerusalem and that it would hold the other captured territories until significant progress had been made in Arab-Israeli relations. The end of active, conventional fighting was followed by frequent artillery duels along the frontiers and by clashes between Israelis and Palestinian guerrillas.
The Yom Kippur War
(6 October 1973 to 26 October 1973) (Milchemet Yom HaKipurim)
The Yom Kippur war was fought between Israel and a coalition of Arab states led by Egypt and Syria, beginning with a surprise joint attack by Egypt and Syria on Yom Kippur. It started when Egypt and Syria crossed the cease-fire lines in the Sinai and Golan Heights, respectively, which had been captured by Israel in 1967 during the Six-Day War.
The Egyptians and Syrians advanced during the first 24–48 hours, after which momentum began to swing in Israel's favour. By the second week of the war, the Syrians had been pushed entirely out of the Golan Heights. In the Sinai to the south, the Israelis struck at the "seam" between two invading Egyptian armies, crossed the Suez Canal (where the old ceasefire line had been), and cut off the Egyptian third army just as a United Nations cease-fire came into effect.
The war had far-reaching implications for many nations. The Arab World, which had been humiliated by the lopsided defeat of the Egyptian-Syrian-Jordanian alliance during the Six-Day War, felt psychologically vindicated by its string of victories early in the conflict, despite the endstate. This vindication paved the way for the peace process that followed, as well as liberalizations such as Egypt's infitah policy. The Camp David Accords, which came soon after, led to normalized relations between Egypt and Israel—the first time any Arab country had recognized the Israeli state. Egypt, which had already been drifting away from the Soviet Union, then left the Soviet sphere of influence entirely.
This picture is of a top secret report released in Israel six and a half hours before the war. The report assessed the threat of war to be low. It is known as the greatest intelligence failure in the history of the Israeli Intelligence Community.
On Yom Kippur is one of, if not the holiest day, for all Jews. Even secular Jews fast, abstain from any use of fire, electricity, engines, communications, (maybe not you Filson), and all road traffic disappears. Many soldiers leave military facilities for home during the holiday and Israel is most vulnerable, especially with much of its army demobilized. The war also coincided with the Muslim holiday of Ramadan, meaning that many of the Muslim soldiers were also fasting. Many others believe that the attack on Yom Kippur surprisingly helped Israel to easily recruit reserves from their homes and synagogues, because the nature of the Yom Kippur holiday meant that roads and communication would be largely open, to help organize and mobilize the military.
Arab states involved:
Besides Egypt, Jordan, Syria, and Iraq, several other Arab nations were involved in this war, providing additional weapons and financing. The amount of support is uncertain.
Saudi Arabia and Kuwait gave financial aid and sent some token forces to join in the battle. Morocco sent three brigades to the front lines; the Palestinians sent troops as well. Pakistan sent sixteen pilots.
From 1971 to 1973, Muammar al-Qaddafi of Libya sent Mirage fighters and gave Egypt around $1 billion to arm for war. Algeria sent squadrons of fighters and bombers, armored brigades, and dozens of tanks. Tunisia sent over 1,000 soldiers, who worked with Egyptian forces in the Nile delta, and Sudan sent 3,500 soldiers.
Uganda radio reported that Idi Amin sent Ugandan soldiers to fight against Israel. Cuba also sent approximately 1,500 troops including tank and helicopter crews who reportedly also engaged in combat operations against the IDF.
Long-term Worldwide and Israeli effects of the war
The peace discussion at the end of the war was the first time that Arab and Israeli officials met for direct public discussions since the aftermath of the 1948 war. On a tactical level, the end of the war saw Israel with territorial gains in the Golan heights and the encirclement of the Egyptian third army. It has to be noted that the Arab side succeeded in surprising Israel and worldwide intelligence agencies both strategically and tactically.
The war had a stunning effect on the population in Israel. Following their victory in the Six-Day War, the Israeli military had become complacent. Israel believed that it had military supremacy in the region, but suffered a terrible surprise attack. However, in time, they began to realize what an astounding, almost unprecedented, turnaround they had achieved: Israel’s casualty rate was high. Per capita, Israel suffered three times as many casualties in 3 weeks of fighting as the United States did during almost a decade of fighting in Vietnam. In response to U.S. support of Israel, the Arab members of OPEC, led by Saudi Arabia, decided to reduce oil production by 5% per month on October 17. On October 19, President Nixon authorized a major allocation of arms supplies and $2.2 billion in appropriations for Israel. In response, Saudi Arabia declared an embargo against the United States, later joined by other oil exporters and extended against the Netherlands and other states, causing the 1973 energy crisis.
The First Intifada
(1987 - 1993)
The first intifada is a “mass Palestinian uprising against Israeli rule” that began in Jabalia refugee camp and quickly spread throughout Gaza, the West Bank and East Jerusalem.
Palestinian actions took a number of forms, including civil disobedience, general strikes, boycotts on Israeli products, graffiti, and barricades, but it was the stone-throwing demonstrations by youth against the heavily-armed Israeli Defense Forces that brought the intifada international renown.
Over the course of the first intifada, an estimated 1,100 Palestinians were killed by Israeli soldiers and settlers. Palestinians killed 160 Israelis and an additional 1,000 Palestinians as alleged collaborators, though fewer than half of the latter had actually maintained contact with the Israeli authorities.
The context and causes for this event are heavily disputed.
Most accounts point to a growing sense of frustration among Palestinians, particularly on the West Bank, but also in Gaza, at the lack of progress in finding a durable resolution for their humanitarian and nationalistic claims after the establishment of Israel in 1948 and the Six-Day War in 1967. The Palestine Liberation Organization had failed to make any significant headway against Israel since the 1960s, and in 1982, had been forced to establish its offices in Tunis.
An Israeli was stabbed to death on 6 December 1987 while shopping in Gaza and tensions heightened. On 8 December, four Palestinian refugees from the Jabalya camp were killed in a traffic accident in Gaza, rioting broke out in Jabalya. An 18-year old Palestinian named Hatem al-Sisi was killed by Israeli soldiers during these riots after throwing stones, the net effect of which was the sparking of further riots.
Palestinians and their supporters assert that the Intifada was a protest of Israel's brutal repression which included extra-judicial killings, mass detentions, house demolitions, deportations etc. Rapid birth rates and the limited allocation of land to new building or agriculture amidst land scarcity contributed to the increasing density of population in the Palestinian territories. Unemployment was growing. While income from service labor in Israel benefited the Palestinian economy, even those with a university education were hard pressed to find employment.
Others point out that Palestinians felt abandoned by their Arab allies and the PLO had failed to successfully challenge Israel and establish a Palestinian state in its stead as promised. However, it did manage to block the Israeli attempts to call for a puppet election inside the territories (beginning with 1974), and as it seemed to many of them, they would spend the rest of their lives as second class citizens, without full political rights.
Outcome, Israeli and worldwide effects
By the time the Oslo Accords were signed in 1993, 1,162 Palestinians (241 of them children, some of whom took an active role in the violence) has been killed by Israelis and 160 Israelis (5 of them children) had been killed by Palestinians. In addition, approximately 1,000 Palestinians had been killed by Palestinians as alleged collaborators, though only 40-45% of those killed had maintained contacts with Israeli authorities.
In the first thirteen months of the intifada, 332 Palestinians and 12 Israelis had been killed. This initially high fatality rate on the Palestinian side was due largely to the Israel Defense Force's inexperience in pacification and crowd control. Often when facing demonstrators IDF soldiers had no riot control munitions, and would shoot unarmed demonstrators with live fire.
The Intifada was never a military endeavor in either a conventional or guerrilla sense. The PLO (which had limited control of the situation) never expected the uprising to make any direct gains against the Israeli state, as it was a grassroots, mass movement and not their venture. However, the Intifada did produce a number of results the Palestinians considered positive:
- By engaging the Israelis directly, rather than relying on the authority or the assistance of neighbouring Arab states, the Palestinians were able to globally cement their identity as a separate nation worthy of self-determination.
- The harsh Israeli countermeasures (particularly during the earlier years of the Intifada) resulted in international attention returning to the plight of the Palestinians, as prisoners in their own land.
- The intifada also dealt a heavy economic blow to Israel. The Bank of Israel estimated it cost the country $650 million in lost exports, largely through successful Palestinian boycotts and the creation of local microindustries. The impact on the services sector, including the important Israeli tourist industry, was notably bad.
- The uprising can be linked to the Madrid Conference of 1991, and thereby to the return of the Palestinian Liberation Organisation from their Tunisian exile. Although the negotiations failed to fulfill their potential, it is notable that prior to the first Intifada, it was doubtful whether there would ever be a Palestinian state. After the Oslo accords, an independent Palestine of some sort, at some time in the future seemed relatively certain.
Ultimately, Israel was successful in containing the uprising. The Palestinians' force was inferior in relation to the well equipped and trained Israel Defense Forces. However, the Intifada pinpointed numerous problems with the IDF's conduct in the operative and tactical fields, as well as the general problem of Israel's prolonged control of the West Bank and Gaza strip. These problems were noticed and widely criticized, both in international forums (in particular, when humanitarian questions were at stake), but also in Israeli public opinion, in which the Intifada had caused a split:
Check the timeline...
The Gulf War
(16 January 1991 – 28 February 1991)
The Gulf War or the Persian Gulf War was a conflict between Iraq and a coalition force of approximately 30 nations led by the United States (US) and authorized by the United Nations (UN) in order to liberate Kuwait. ISRAEL WAS ASKED TO STAY OUT OF THE CONFLICT.
The war developed out of the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait on August 2, 1990. The aggression was met with immediate economic sanctions by the UN against Iraq. The international armed intervention began in January 1991, resulting in a decisive victory for the coalition forces, which drove Iraqi forces out of Kuwait with minimal coalition deaths. Aerial and ground combat was confined to Iraq, Kuwait and bordering areas of Saudi Arabia. Iraq also launched missiles against targets in Saudi Arabia and Israel.
Operation Desert Storm was the U.S. name of the air and land operations and is often used to refer to the conflict.
Israel remained officially neutral despite rocket attacks on Israeli civilians. Iraq launched missile attacks on Israel in the hopes of drawing Israel into the war and drawing other Arab states out of it. This strategy proved ineffective. Israel did not join the coalition and remained neutral.
|
