Arab-Israeli Conflict and its impacts on International relations - Research Paper Example

?Arab-Israeli Conflict and its impacts on International relations The Arab–Israeli conflict refers to the series of military conflicts that happened and other political frictions that still exist between certain Middle-East Asian and North African states and the state of Israel. Although, this conflict has historical origins, dating back to early 19th century, the major flare-ups happened after 1945, with what starting as an ethnic conflict between Palestinian Jews and Arabs, turning into conflict between states. This ethnic conflict evolved into a conflict between Israel and Arab League countries, only after the creation of Israel as a country in 1948. When the UN resolution in 1947 favored the partition of Palestine into two separate states for the Jews and the Arabs, the conflict between them heightened and in the midst of that crisis, Jews declared the independence of Israel. That action immediately led to the first military conflict between Israel and few Arab countries, followed by a series of major Wars as well as minor conflicts between them throughout the second part of the 20th century. Among these conflicts, the Suez Crisis and the Six Day War were considered to be the important wars, because those wars not only impacted the geographical ‘make-up’ of the area but also impacted the international relations of various countries. That is, the international relations of the involved Arab states, Israel as well as then superpowers, United States and Soviet Union underwent changes, with alignments and realignments happening. USA and Soviet Union played ‘major’ roles in impacting or even ‘dictating’ many countries’ international relations in that period. Because of that role, equations between them, as well as their relations with the Arab states and Israel evolved maximally due to the Arab-Israeli conflicts impacting the International relations from 1945. Although, during the First Arab-Israeli conflict, USA and Soviet Union sided with Israel, realignment started happening before the Suez crisis and during the Six Day War, with Soviet Union siding with the Arab states, while USA supported Israel and also tried its best to maintain its neutral stance. This paper will discuss how Arab-Israeli conflicts reached the crescendo during the Suez Crisis and the Six Day War impacting the international relations of not only the involved countries but also other major countries. Genesis of the Conflict Before the World War I (1914-1918), the present day territories of Israel and Palestine were under the control of the Turkish Ottoman Empire.1 However, with the Arabs feeling discriminated under Turkish control, they fought and drove out the Ottomans with the aid of the British, who were against the Ottomans for their support of Germany. British elicited the support of the Arabs to fight against the Ottomans by promising to give them, the conquered land. In 1916, the British Commissioner in Egypt, Sir Henry McMahon gave a promise to the Arab leadership that in the aftermath of the war, former Ottoman provinces can be given to them. “I am empowered in the name of the Government of Great Britain to give the following assurances…Great Britain is prepared to recognise and support the independence of the Arabs in all the regions within the limits demanded by the Sherif of Mecca.”2 However, in 1917, the British Foreign Minister Arthur Balfour gave another commitment to the leading Zionist leader, Lord Rothschild that Britain is committed to “the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people”, which came to be referred as the as the Balfour Declaration. 3 When the British got the territories through the League of Nations in the aftermath of the First World War, they minimally allocated the territories to the Arabs, and kept Palestine under their control.4 This mixed stance of the British continued for years to come. During these years, there was heightened inflow of the Jews into these territories. The Jewish Immigration to the Holy Land, which was going on since the 1880s accentuated just before the Second War because of the persecution of the European Jews by the Nazis and subsequent Holocaust.5 This increased inflow created discontent among the Arabs. Subsequently, clashes occurred between the two parties due to their inherent hostility and also due to other social confrontations. The violence undermined efforts at Arab-Jewish cooperation and led to mutual reproach and hate mindset, as Arab political resistance to Jews included anti-Semitic policies and rhetoric6. As the situation grew more violent and graver, and with British soldiers also becoming victims of the conflict, the British government decided to hand over the responsibility of this emerging crisis to the newly formed United Nations (UN). In May 1947, the UN established a committee, the UNSCOP (United Nations Special Committee on Palestine). After doing a five weeks tour, the committee recommended the creation of a partitioned state of Palestine or “Two State Solution”, which partitioned Palestine into separate states and territories among the Jews as well as the Arabs.7 “The partition plan gave 56.47% of Palestine to the Jewish state and 43.53% to the Arab state, with an international enclave around Jerusalem”8. This “Two State Solution” was passed by the UN General Assembly through the resolution 181, with 33 countries voting in favor of it, while 13 voting against it with 10 abstentions.9 The Arab states under the auspices of the Arab League voted against it and were not in favor of the partition, as they felt that giving Jews the land because of the Nazi atrocities in the Second World War, robs their sovereignty over ‘their’ land. With conflicts worsening, Britain decided to terminate its Palestine mandate and depart from there on May 15 1948.10 A day before that departure, on 14 May 1948 the Jews announced the formation and sovereignty of the country of Israel, without clearly specifying its borders.11 This unilateral step of the Israel was totally opposed by the Arab states. Hence, the next day, the Arab League through the armies of Egypt, Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, as well as Iraq entered the territories that were partitioned according to the UN resolution. Israel through its nascent Israeli Defense Force impeded the advance and blocked them from occupying the supposed Arab state.12 Because of this action, Israel was able to garner more territories, thus extending its boundaries way beyond the ones mandated by the UNSCOP partition. The Arab states for their part occupied the area, which came to be called the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. The creation of Israel and the immediate invasion of the Arab states only ‘seeded’ the Arab-Israeli conflicts. “When the new nation of Israel was proclaimed, five of the Arab States-Egypt, Syria, Iraq, Transjordan and Lebanon-immediately invaded, initiating half a century of Arab-Israeli conflicts”.13 Even at the outset, this initial conflict led to the realignment of the countries, thereby making impact on international relations. That is, the creation of Israel acted as the main ‘catalyst’ for all the Arab countries to align under the Arab or Muslim identity. Although, Arab League was formed in 1945 in Cairo, Egypt to foster cooperation between the Arab states, its first major coordinative action was in the aftermath of the creation of the Israel state.14 This alignment of the Arab states as a counterpoint to Israel is continuing even now. The position of United States also evolved during this initial conflict, with Israel being created mainly due to the pressure of the Zionist Lobby in the USA.15 Thus, USA ‘naturally’ aligned with Israel, and the Soviet Union for its part also backed Israel, with pragmatism taking precedence over its anti-Zionism ideology.16 That is, Soviet Union under Joseph Stalin, in spite of their anti-Zionist foreign policy, favored the formation of Israel, as they hoped that the socialist state of Israel could accelerate the decline of British authority in the Middle East.17 In that direction, Soviet Union became the first country to grant de jure recognition to the Jewish state.18 Although, both USA and Soviet Union sided with Israel during this initial conflict, the emerging Cold War and other factors made the Soviet Union to switch sides in favor of the Arabs, and that was visible during the second major conflict of Suez Crisis. Suez Crisis Suez Crisis, which is also termed as the Second Arab-Israeli War, happened in the year 1956, with Egypt and the Arab states on one side and Israel, Britain and France on the other side.19 In 1956, Egypt under Gamal Abdel Nasser barred the Israel’s ships from using the Straits of Tiran and also blockaded the Gulf of Aqaba, which was against the tenets of the Constantinople Convention of 1888.20 It went further by nationalizing the Suez Canal Company, thereby closing the canal for the Israeli ships. These aggressive measures by Egypt and its newly developed ties with the Soviet Union were viewed negatively by Israel, Britain and France. Even before the eventual attack of the combined forces against the Egypt, realignment of relations between the key international players got initiated. That is, although majority of the Western countries and Soviet Union supported creation of Israel and its stance in the First Arab-Israeli conflict, there was some realignment before the Suez crisis.21 Certain countries particularly Soviet Union started siding with the Arab states due to its increasing rivalry with Britain and more importantly with USA, as the signs of Cold War between them started to emerge. Before the crisis, United States attempted to woo Egyptian president Nasser into an alliance, considering Egypt’s strategic location in the Middle-East and also due to oil.22 When the American Secretary of State, John Foster Dulles, asked Egypt in 1953 to join in a Western alliance against the Soviet Union setting aside its differences with Britain, Nasser responded by stating “They have never attacked us. They have never occupied our territory. They have never had a base here. But the British have been here for seventy years”.23 These words of Nasser gave a hint regarding how Egypt and the Arab states favored the backing of Soviet Union, than the Western powers. The Soviet Union under the leadership of Nikita Khrushchev for its part took the initiative to bring the so-called “Third World” including the Islamic countries under its fold, and thereby strengthen its position in relation to USA.24 It undertook both diplomatic and military related steps. For example, it sanctioned the sale of arms from Czechoslovakia to Egypt prior to the Suez Crisis. Egypt’s procured large quantity of Soviet weaponry including “530 armored vehicles, including 230 tanks, 500 pieces of artillery, 150 MiG-15 jet fighters, 50 Ilyushin 11-28 twin-jet bombers, many hundreds of transport vehicles, submarines.”25 Apart from this in-direct support of the Soviet Union, Egypt was able to strengthen its already existing relationship with Arab countries including Jordan and Syria, despite the steps taken by British to create a wedge.26 Britain had good relationship with both Iraq and Jordan, the two Hashemite kingdoms in the Middle East, and tried to create an Eastern Arab bloc to isolate Egypt.27 However, Egypt after creating an alliance with Saudi Arabia, on the basis of Saudi Arabia’s opposition to the Hashemites, also brought in Jordan by sponsoring demonstrations in Amman against the British.28 On the other hand, the European powers of Britain and France understanding the growing influence of Nasser and how their commercial interests could be compromised by the nationalization of the Suez Canal, joined hands with the intention to seize the Suez Canal and overthrow Nasser. Britain did not favor Nasser due to his anti-British activities including his arms purchases from Soviet, while France was angered by Egypt’s support to the Algerian rebels in Algerian independence struggle.29 Israel was motivated to attack Egypt due to the earlier mentioned shipping blockades and the building of weaponry by Egypt. United States took an unbiased stance in the initial stages, and opened up the diplomatic channels to prevent the imminent attack by the Britain, France and Israel on Egypt. However, “The British and French reluctantly agreed to pursue the diplomatic avenue but viewed it as merely an attempt to buy time, during which they continued their military preparations.”30 In addition, America had a secret plan called “Plan Omega” under which Nasser has to be brought down through covert means as a long term target, and not immediately through military action.31 Thus, America was not in favor of the military actions, and when the conflict began, it along with UN played a major role in actualizing a ceasefire agreement. It used both political and economic pressure on Britain, France and Israel to withdraw the troops.32 Although, these three countries had military success in the offensive, there was sizable international opposition. Thus, USA using the threat of economic sanctions against Israel and cut down of IMF funds to France and Britain was able to achieve the withdrawal.33 Soviet Union for its part also claimed credit for the withdrawal of forces from Egypt. That is, Nikita Khrushchev claimed that his threat of launching rocket attacks on Britain, France and Israel if they fail to withdraw from Egypt, only worked towards the ceasefire and withdrawal. Khrushchev stated in his memoirs, “The governments of England and France knew perfectly well that Eisenhower's speech condemning their aggression was just a gesture for the sake of public appearances. But when we delivered our own stern warning to the three aggressors, they knew we weren't playing games with public opinion. They took us seriously.”34 This aggressive tactic or overture on the part of the Soviet Union garnered good support for it in the Egypt and the Arab world. Thus, the Second Arab-Israeli War in the form of Suez crisis impacted the international relations of not only the involved states but that of USA and Soviet Union. That is, although there was dissent in the form of Iraq, the Arab nations were able to set aside their differences, and coordinate in their conflict against Israel. The Israel for its part, got able allies in the form of Britain and France during the conflict, and it was able to achieve its objective of removing the shipping blockades and decimation of the Egypt’s weaponry. Before, during and in the aftermath of the crisis, Soviet Union started moving towards the Arab World, due to its changing international equations with USA and other European powers. USA was also able to get favorable response from the Arab world due to its initiatives in bringing the war to the end. Thus, it is clear that this conflict led to major realignment of international relations between the countries, and led to further impacts on their relationships with other countries, when the Third Arab-Israeli Conflict happened in 1967. Six day War The Six-Day War, also the Third Arab-Israeli War, took place from June 5 to June 10, 1967, involving Israel on one side and on the other side, the Arab states including Egypt, Syria, the neighboring states of Egypt, then known as United Arab Republic, as well as informal groups like PLO (Palestine Liberation Front).35 Although, there were immediate causes for this conflict, when viewed in an overall manner, it was the end-result of the accumulation of angst and hatred between Israel and the Arab States starting from the First conflict in 1948. This was validated by Stoll (2011), who stated, “As in the case of many international clashes, the 1967 war, or the Six Day War, was built on the foundations of previous conflicts,” particularly the 1948 Israeli-Arab war and 1956 Suez Crisis.36 As that war fought in a bitter manner and caused dangerous repercussions on both sides, it had lasting effects on the ‘psyche’ of both the groups and thus became the first notable long-term cause for the Six Day War. Apart from this long term cause, there were immediate provocations, and that resulted in more coordination among the Arab states, leading to impacts in their international relations, and importantly also led USA and Soviet Union to ‘define’ their international relations in a more prominent manner. Israel and the Arab states entered warpath in 1960s, after tensions between Israel and Syria started over an irrigation project. Israel was on the verge of completing an irrigation project that involved diverting water from the Jordan River into the Negev Desert. But Syria as counter measure began a similar project that would have virtually dried the river bed at the Israeli location.37 Both countries took military actions. This small flare up engulfed the whole region in 1967, when Egypt, a military partner of Syria blocked the movement of Israeli ships at the Strait of Tiran. “An action that Israel since the 1956 War had stressed would be tantamount to a declaration of war.”38 That is, since the end of the Suez Crisis in 1956, United Nations Emergency Force (UNEF) was stationed on the Egypt-Israel borders to maintain the status quo.39 With no such force on the Israel-Syria border, there were continuous minor conflicts between both countries’ forces, with the situation heightening mainly after the above mentioned irrigation project incident. At the same time only, Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) and its main group El-Fatah emerged and started indulging in guerrilla activities against the Israeli forces. “The movement’s leader, Yasser Arafat, directed multiple border attacks against Israel in the years immediately preceding the Six Day War, contributing enormously to escalating tensions.”40 Due to the regular occurrence of these activities, the Israeli forces reacted with increasingly violent retaliation, and so there was “marked contrast between the quiet along the Egyptian border and the confrontation situation in other sectors.”41 It was at this time, the strengthening of relations between the Arab states got initiated with Egypt and Syria signing a mutual defense pact, partly encouraged by the Soviet Union. At the outset, Egypt was not in good terms with Syria due to is defection from the United Arab Republic (UAR) in 1961 and also viewed Syria as a ‘loose cannon’, who can provoke war with Israel. Even then, it went ahead with the agreement as it offered Nasser an opportunity to strengthen his claim to the leadership in the Arab World.42 Egypt under Nasser had this twin goal of gaining leadership of the Arab World even while eliminating the threat of Israel.43 The Soviet Union also played a part in the actualization of this agreement, as the agreement was encouraged, if not actually engineered, by the Soviet Union, thus strengthening its pro-Arab stance.44 On the same lines, Egypt’s relationship with other key player, Jordan got settled, after initial friction. That is, when the Israeli Defense Force (IDF) attacked Jordanian controlled city of as-Samu, as a retribution for the guerrilla attacks, Egypt did not come to the aid of Jordanian Units.45 Because of which Jordan's Prime Minister, Wasfi al-Tall criticized Nasser of “hiding behind the UNEF skirts”.46 However, when Nasser closed the Strait of Tiran against the Israelis, rapprochement occurred between them, with Jordan entering into an agreement with Egypt, and promising to contribute to the Arab forces. In addition, when Jordan understood that the Arab-Israeli war is on the horizon, it asked Iraq to dispatch an expeditionary force to help defend it.47 However, when it understood that help from Iraq is not forthcoming, Jordan King Hussein took the initiative and flew to Cairo to meet Nasser, which resulted in the signing of the military pact. Under this pact, each side will regard an armed attack on one side or its force, as an attack on both sides, and during military operations, the Jordanian armed forces would come under Egyptian command.48 In addition, following this signing of the pact, the earlier hesitant Iraqi President Arif also decided to send the forces to Jordan. With these realignments of the Arab states, other Arab or Islamic states including Kuwait, Algeria, etc decided to send troops join the Arab forces against the Israel.49 Although these Arab states had some frictions in their relations, they were able to realign and re-establish their relationship, with the impeding War against the Israel acting as the catalyst. It was during that time, Nasser received the false intelligence reports from the Soviet Union that forces of Israel are being amassed on the Syrian border. “On May 13, 1967 a Soviet parliamentary delegation, on a visit to Cairo, informed the Egyptian leaders of the concentration of thirteen Israeli brigades along the Syrian border in preparation for an assault within a few days.”50 It was false report because no such amassment took place, and even Nasser knew it, but “interpreted the report to mean Soviet encouragement of an Egyptian move against Israel”51 Here again, it is clear that Soviet Union aligned more with the Arab forces, and even provoked them to act against Israel and defeat it, so it can strengthen its position in the Middle-East area vis-a-vis USA. Egypt asked for the withdrawal of the UNEP forces from its border and closed the Strait of Tiran for Israeli Shipping. Then UN Secretary-General U Thant proposed to the Israel that the UNEF force should be deployed on their side of the border. Israel rejected that proposal despite USA’s pressure.52 Initially, USA tried to play a mediatory role between the two sides particularly trying to reopen the Strait of Tiran for Israeli use.53 However, this initiative in the month of June did not evoke positive response from both sides. When it came to the actual war, although USA tried to maintain a balanced position, it maximally sided with Israel, thus making the major move in its international relations with Israel and thereby the Arab States, the impacts of which continues to exist even today. “The Six Day War was of far greater significance in consolidating the ‘special relationship’ between Israel and the world’s greatest superpower”54 USA under President Lyndon Johnson first criticized Egypt for putting the blockade on the Strait of Tiran, and pronounced the act as ‘illegal’ and ‘potentially dangerous to the cause of peace’, even sending the elements of the US Sixth Fleet to the eastern Mediterranean to pressurize Egypt.55 However, when the War started, it gave assurance to the Arab states that it was on their side. For example, “it seems that the US sent the USS Liberty to spy” on Israelis to provide intelligence to the Egyptian military and thereby convince a skeptical “Egypt that, despite their siding with the Soviets and their aggression against Israel, the US was really on their side”.56 This US spying using USS Liberty created some friction between it and Israel, with Israel even attacking the ship. However, that issue did not blow into a major one, as both sides accepted that it was an unintentional mistake due to a friendly fire. However, the bottom line is, although USA assuaged the Arab States, it maximally sided with Israel and supported it through words and actions. The crucial moment came when US President Johnson reassured the Israeli Foreign Minister Abba Eban that “Israel will not be alone unless it decides to be alone” and when Eban further questioned him by asking, ‘Your policy is that if Israel is attacked you will intervene to stop it?’ The President simply nodded.57 Apart from this tacit support, when Soviet Union threatened to intervene in the war in favor of the Arab states, if Israel advances to the Syrian Capital of Damascus, Johnson ordered the Sixth fleet to move towards the Syrian coast.58 That was a major initiative by USA in support of Israel because that worked as a deterrent “on what proved to be the final day of the war, June 10th, which concluded on American terms – a ‘ceasefire in place’ – allowing Israel to remain in the occupied territories.”59 Israel massive pre-emptive air strikes on the Arab air bases, destroying majority of their fighter jets and its ground movement, ended in defeat for the Arab states. Importantly, it culminated with Israel occupying the Sinai Peninsula, the Gaza Strip, the West Bank, eastern Jerusalem, and the Golan Heights.60 Due to these captures, Israel's geographical reach “grew to at least 300 kilometers in the south, 60 kilometers in the east and 20 kilometers of extremely rugged terrain in the north”.61 This tripling of its landmass also optimized its strategic depth, as it “dramatically reduced its vulnerability to Arab attack”, which proved to be useful in the Yom Kippur War, which happened six years later.62 With this consolidation of relation with Israel, USA's international relations with the Arab countries suffered, and there began a trust deficit, which is continuing even now. Egyptians were of the opinion that Israel was able to carry successful airstrikes against air bases mainly due to the intelligence provided by the Americans. Nasser further felt that USA has “trapped them with a set of political and diplomatic tricks” and took pro-Israel actions with the intention of destroying the “revolutionary regimes which had refused to be a part of the Western sphere of influence”.63 This orientation of USA towards Israel created ill-will among the Arab states, with many states in the region including Egypt, Syria, Algeria and also Iraq breaking their diplomatic relations in the aftermath of the War for some time. They “shunned relations with the USA and sought for strategic alliance with the Soviet Union,” although the prestige of the Soviet Union were damaged due to the Arab loss.6465 Thus, it is clear that the Six Day War not only brought the Arab States together, but also moved them appreciably towards the Soviet Union, while on the other side, Israel and United States strengthened their relations, leading to major changes in the international relations of those countries. Yom Kippur War This realignment of relationship between the various states, which were directly or indirectly involved in the Six Day War, become more clear in the subsequent Arab-Israeli conflicts including Yom Kippur War. This war between Israel and the Arab states led by Egypt and Syria took place from October 6 to 25 in 1973.66 Then Egyptian President Anwar Sadat and Syrian President Hafiz-al-Assad wanted war with Israel mainly to win back the lost land of the Six day war.67 However, this time, Jordan did not support this initiative. Jordanian leader, King Hussein held the dissenting belief among the Arabs. He believed or feared that there will be more loss of Jordanian territory, if Israel were able to repulse the Arab’s attack plans and launch a counter offensive.68 Jordan did not send its forces for the initial attack, and had to send an expeditionary force into Syria later on due to domestic pressure.69 Thus, in that war, some cracks appeared in the Arab unity, although there were no major realignments. When it came to USA and Soviet Union, both the countries continued their stance, which evolved during the Six Day War. Soviet Union threatened to get involved in the war on the Arabs’ side, after Israel attacked its assets in Syria and also sunk Soviet merchant ship Ilya Mechnikov.70 However, that position was based on the Americans’ ability to restrain Israel from taking any arbitrary actions. USA continued its support to Israel, however as the war coincided with the critical moments of the Watergate scandal, then President Richard Nixon was not actively involved, with Henry Kissinger playing a major role. The main belief of Kissinger was Israel should avoid pre-emptive strikes.71 The European nations remained non-aligned and did not support Israel due to threats from the Arab countries in the form of oil embargo and trade boycott. After the war, the one major change that impacted the international relations was the USA’s initiation of mediation and peace talks. The Camp David Accords was a major event as it facilitated the return of Sinai to Egypt and also somewhat normalized the relations between the Arab states and Israel.72 This mediatory role of USA found favor among the Arab States, and with Israel also acting under USA’s pressure, the Arab States started drifting away from the Soviet Union towards the USA. Even now, it is USA, which plays a major mediatory role in this conflict, which has evolved into a conflict between Israel and Palestine Nationalists groups. That, after the Israeli gains in the Six Day War and Yom Kippur War and due to the initiation of the peace processes, Pan-Arabism started to decline with Palestinian nationalism and thereby Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) coming into prominence. Although the Arab countries still favor the recovery of Palestinian territories, they are not directly involved. Likewise, due to the disintegration of Soviet Union, Russia also minimized its role in the conflict. Conclusion From this analysis of the Arab-Israeli conflict and the key Wars that took place as part of this conflict, it is clear that the conflict made major impacts on the international relations of many countries. Starting as an ethnic conflict between Jews and the Arabs, it evolved into a major conflict due to the involvement of various Arab countries, European countries and importantly USA and erstwhile Soviet Union. All these countries’ direct and indirect involvement impacted their international relations with other countries, leading alignment and realignments. The current Israel-Palestine crisis is still a major issue, as minor conflicts continue to erupt, due to Israeli forces’ aggressive actions and also due to Palestine radicals’ detrimental actions. Although, no permanent solutions to this conflict appears in sight, due to the constructive actions of the international players, no major conflict on the scale of the previous wars, had happened recently. But, still uneasy peace prevails. Bibliography BBC, A History of Conflict, [Online] Available from: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/shared/spl/hi/middle_east/03/v3_ip_timeline/html/1947.stm (accessed on March 28, 2012) Brands, H. W. 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