Theme III: Arab-Israeli Conflict Flashcards

Flashcards covering key vocabulary and concepts from the lecture notes on the Arab-Israeli Conflict.

Arab-Israeli Conflict

The bitter struggle between the Arabs and Israelis represents one of the most intractable and protracted conflicts of modern history, repeatedly defying any attempts at resolution.

Jewish immigrants and their descendants

Guided by the nationalist ideology of Zionism, collided with the Palestinian Arab majority inhabiting the land, whose nationalist sentiments developed in response to the arrival of Zionism upon their shores.

Zionism

Emerged in the late 19th century as a political reaction to the twin challenges of rampant European anti-Semitism as well as the exclusion of Jews from various national communities that were developing there.

The First Zionist Congress: Basle Declaration, August 1897

The aim of Zionism is to create for the Jewish people a home in Palestine secured by public law.

Balfour Declaration

Views with favour the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people and will use their best endeavours to facilitate the achievement of this object

Arab Revolt of 1936-39

A nationalist uprising by Palestinian Arabs against British colonial rule, focused on a demand for independence and opposition to mass Jewish immigration.

Zionist settlement/Land purchases

Led to economic marginalisation and dispossession of the Palestinian Arabs, and this served to compound difficulties between the two peoples.

Jewish religious claims

Emphasized the divine covenant between God and the Jewish people, in which the Land of Israel (Eretz Yisrael) was promised as their ancestral homeland.

Temple Mount (Haram al-Sharif, the Noble Sanctuary)

Marks the site of the great Dome of the Rock and al-Aqsa mosques, which hold immense significance in Islamic tradition.

British Policy (1939 White Paper)

Britain's commitment to the Jews ended in 1939 as she switched to a pro-Arab position to secure the oil of the Middle East as well as communications to Asia with the threat of World War II looming.A new policy limited Jewish immigration and affirmed their minority status.

UN Special Committee on Palestine (UNSCOP) Recommendations

The partition of Palestine between the Arabs and Jews; An economic union joining the two proposed states; The internationalisation of Jerusalem i.e., Jerusalem was to be turned into an international city.

UN Resolution 181

Partitioning Palestine into Jewish and Arab states.

Arab societies, in the context of Arab nationalism, viewed Israel

Israel was predominantly viewed as a Jewish reincarnation of the medieval anti-Islam Crusader state; Seen as a beachhead for Western imperialism, it was thus a neo-colonial and illegitimate regime that threatened the Arab world

UN Security Council (UNSC)

Appointed a mediator, Count Folke Bernadotte to manage the conflict. The management of the conflict resulted in armistice agreements but did not achieve a solution to the conflict.

UNTSO

Was called upon by the UNSC to supervise the Arab-Israeli armistice agreements. These agreements were essentially the basis for an uneasy truce until the next crisis. However, as they were meant as the first step to a full peace settlement, the borders delineated were provisional and reinforced the Israeli view that they were still technically at war with their neighbours, and Israel existed in a continual state of tension.

Tripartite Agreement (May 1950)

Guaranteed the territorial status quo that had been determined by the 1949 Arab–Israeli Armistice Agreements. The US, Britain and France pledged to maintain peace and stability in the Middle East and reject the use or the threat of force. They also pledged to act within and outside the United Nations to prevent violations of the frontiers or armistice lines.

‘Al-Nakba’ or ‘Catastrophe’

With the dispersion of around 750,000 Palestinians to the Jordanian-controlled West Bank, the Egyptian-controlled Gaza strip and surrounding Arab states, the Palestinian refugee problem was born.

Arab-Israeli Armistice Agreements

The temporary ceasefires signed between Israel and its neighbors in 1949.

‘infiltration’ by the disinherited Palestinians

Some crossed the 1949 armistice line to reclaim their property by harvesting crops or carrying away moveable property. Others did so to commit acts of sabotage and terror against their Israeli oppressors.

Border tensions between Israel and the surrounding Arab states

Initiated by an Israeli raid on an Egyptian military post in Gaza that left 38 soldiers dead and about 40 wounded, leading to a chain of events that would lead to the Suez Crisis.

US Pressure on Britain, France, and Israel

Eisenhower was furious when he discovered Britain and France had colluded with Israel to invade Egypt. This contravened the Tripartite Agreement and destabilised the Middle East, creating an opening for Soviet influence to enter the Arab world.

Soviet Sabre-Rattling in Support of Egypt

Issued a statement condemning the Suez invasion and threatening military intervention to defend Egypt’s sovereignty.

UN Security Council (UNSC)

Provoked vetoes from both the British and French that called for Israel’s immediate withdrawal as well as non-interference from other UN members.

UN General Assembly (UNGA) Resolution 997

Called for a ceasefire, withdrawal of forces, and the reopening of the Suez Canal.

UN General Assembly (UNGA) Resolution 998

Authorised the Secretary-General to set up an “emergency international United Nations Force to secure and supervise the cessation of hostilities.”

UNGA Resolution 1000

Recommended that the composition of the Force should be taken from member-states “other than those having permanent membership in the Security Council”, thereby reinforcing the principle of neutrality.

UNEF I

Egypt withdrew consent to the force’s presence amidst high Arab-Israeli tensions that would lead to the momentous 1967 Six Day War.

UN Secretary-General (UNSG)

Is the head of the UN Secretariat and serves as the UN’s chief administrative officer and international diplomat.

Nasser’s Reaction to Suez Crisis

Exploited this to raise his and Egypt’s political standing in the Arab world, by pursuing pan-Arab unity to resist what he regarded as a Western-Israeli conspiracy against Arab self-determination.

Eisenhower Doctrine’

Pledged that the US would use armed force to help any Middle Eastern country that requested support against communism.

PLO

Proposed a ‘mini-state’ solution in the West Bank and Gaza in July 1974, and in October, the Arab states acknowledged it in effect as a government in exile.

UN Security Council Resolution 242

Established the concept of ‘land for peace’, calling for Israel’s withdrawal from the territory it occupied in 1967 in exchange for peace with her Arab neighbours.

Occupied Territories

The territories conquered by Israel in the Six-Day War

Kissinger, with the support of President Richard Nixon

Sought to initiate a peace process between the Arabs and Israelis, but aimed to use this to undermine the Soviet position in the region.

Camp David Accords

the normalisation of relations between Egypt and Israel in return for a complete Israeli withdrawal from the Sinai Peninsula; the signing of a bilateral peace treaty within 3 months; and transitional arrangements in the West Bank and Gaza Strip for not more than 5 years, to provide full Palestinian autonomy for eventual self- government

UNSC Resolution 338

Calls upon all parties to the present fighting to cease all firing and terminate all military activity immediately reiterates the call for a cease-fire, and its implementation in 12 hours