The Middle East in the 20th Century

The Middle East: Part OneThe Middle East: Part OneThe Creation of the State of Israel and the Origins of Mid East Nationalism

The Creation of the State of Israel and the Origins of Mid East Nationalism

J. Marshall 2007

At a glance…At a glance…PART 1•The region - getting oriented•The origins of Zionism and Arab nationalism•The Paris 1919 mandate system•Inter-war tensionsPART 2•The four Arab-Israeli wars•Camp David and after

References•Handbook pp. 164 - 172•Global Forces pp. 212 - 219, 224 - 231•Old Text pp. pp. 216, 219 - 220, 288 – 294

Lebanon

Israel

EgyptSaudi Arabia

Jordan

IraqSyria

1. The Region

Suez Canal

Gulf of Suez

Gulf of Aqaba

Dead Sea

Sea of Galilee/Lake Tiberias

Black Sea

Caspian Sea

Persian Gulf

Aegean Sea

Red S

ea

Mediterranean Sea

Saudi Arabia

EgyptLe

b.Mediterranean Sea

Red Sea

Suez C

anal

Isra

el

Jord

an

Iraq

Syria

11

22

33

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UU

XX VV

WW

YYZZMediterranean Sea

Red Sea

Canal

Egypt

Saudi Arabia

Jordan

Syria

Iraq

IsraelLebanonWest Bank

a) Example of a Provincial Question:

1. In 1922, which of the following numbered countries was confirmed by the League of Nations to be a French mandate?

1234

1 4

Answer = (Syria) = c see teacher notes at foot of slide

3

2

2. Zionist Movement

• Difference between religion and culture: People of the Jewish religion are of many cultures.

• History of persecution - pogroms

• Ancient Israel vs. a homeland vs. a state

Anti-Jewish feelings were manifested in a variety of ways:

• Limited rights

• Discrimination in government postsex. Dreyfus Affair, France

• Scapegoating

• Pogroms

• Violence against person and/or property

• A widespread pogrom was carried out in Russia in 1905. What else occurred in Russia in that year?

AncientIsrael

Theodor Herzl (father of modern Israel)

led the first Zionist Congress of the WZO.

"At Basel I founded the Jewish State...Perhaps in five years, and certainly in fifty, everyone will know it.”

Sept 3, 1897, Basel, Switzerland.

Flag of the 1923 Congress

He was right, almost down to

the day!

But Where?

• Some Zionists insisted on Palestine as a homeland - others were less definite.

• What if self-determination dislocates another group?

• Madagascar was one turn-of-the-century suggestion.

At their fist meeting Balfour asked Weizmann why the homeland must be Palestine:

"Anything else would be idolatry. "Mr. Balfour, supposing I were to offer you Paris instead of London, would you take it?"

"But Dr. Weizmann, we have London."

"That is true, but we had Jerusalem when London was a marsh."

Arthur Balfour: 1917 Balfour Report

• Chiam Weizmann lobbied and was given a written guarantee of a Jewish National Home in Palestine.

• Is that a separate state or something within a mixed-population Palestine?

Churchill White Paper: 1922Churchill White Paper: 1922 Redefined British interpretation of a Jewish National Home:

•Palestine will not be “as Jewish as England is English”, but rather “a center in which Jewish people as a whole may take, on grounds of religion and race, an interest and a pride.”

•confirmed the right of Jewish immigration BUT stipulated that this should not exceed the economic absorptive capacity of the country

= a natural limit

Can both groups be satisfied?Can both groups be satisfied?

Weizmann and King Feisal, 1918

3. Arab Nationalism

• The Arabs are tribal and cannot be seen as a homogeneous group.

• Western powers have made some dubious moves.• Inter-tribal competition has hindered efforts at united

action.• A longstanding history in Palestine before the

dislocation of the Palestinian Arabs has caused tension with the Zionists (later, the Israelis).

• The Arab League and other organizations have been created to help Arab nationalists meet their aspirations.

1915-16 MacMahon Letters

Britain promised independence in the Arab world if there was a revolt against the Turks.

BUT:

• Precise borders of a future Arab state are not agreed (Britain did wish not to prejudice the interests of her ally, France).

• Palestine was not mentioned by name and its inclusion in the Arab area remains a source of some dispute amongst historians.

Sykes-Picot, 1916 = Brit/Fr sell-out

• What would be done with the Ottoman Empire after the war?

• Feisal and the Arabs were guaranteed self-determination by MacMahon and others

So-what: Arab mistrust of the

“imperialists” is born.

• Later, Feisal is given Iraq and his lazy bother is given Transjordan; the brother ended up being the most successful.

SECR

ET

Russia was

advised

Col T. E. Lawrence

1920 before League approval

4. The Mandate Years

• Jewish immigration

• Pressure on the land

• Inter-group rivalry/conflict

• Haganah (Irgun)

• Jewish support of the British war effort

Palestine was Divided in 1922Palestine was Divided in 1922

• Palestine included the small area to the West.

•Transjordan included the West Bank and lands east of the River Jordan

• 80% Transjordan

• 20% Palestine

Jewish settlers posed a problem (self-determination)

• In another attempt to appease the Arabs, the British restricted Jewish immigration in March 1938 to 3,000 for the following 6-month period. Consequently, Jewish immigration fell from its record high of 66,000 in 1935 to a little more than 14,000 in 1938. The Arabs were not pacified by the concession and continued their attacks. By the end of the year, nearly 300 Jews had been killed and more than 600 wounded.

• The Zionists persistently and naively clung to the belief that the Arabs would eventually accept their presence in Palestine, and recognize the benefits that Jewish settlement was bringing to the country. In 1934, Ben Gurion told Palestinian nationalist Musa Alami that the Zionists were bringing "a blessing to the Arabs of Palestine" and that they had no good reason to oppose Jewish settlement.

• Alami replied: "I would prefer that the country remain impoverished and barren for another hundred years, until we ourselves are able to develop it on our own."

The Haganah “defence:”

not officially recognized, but the UK cooperated.

Arab Revolts 1936-1938Arab general strike refocused Arab

violence towards Jews

Armoured Jewish bus

Wingate’s Special Night Squads:British Regulars and Haganah Volunteers where used to put down the Arab revolts (often very violently).

40 Arabs hanged

De-armed the Arabs (helped Israel in ’48)

5000 Arab, 400 Jewish, 200 British deaths

The force was highly successful in bringing attacks by Arab guerillas on the pipeline of the Iraqi Petroleum Company to a halt.

Irgun (ETZEL)

• Violent arm or Haganah - example: bombed the King Davd Hotel in Jerusalem in 1946 killing almost 100 Britons).

• Warning to ETZEL in 1947 to cool it! Why would David Ben Gurion want to rope in ETZEL?

Who really owned the land?• Even in 1947, most

land was Arab-owned.

• But, the proportion of population had shifted significantly in favour of the Jews since 1922.

Part Two:5. Creation of Israel

• Zionist lobby - Chiam Weizmann was a successful chemist for the Allied war effort in 1914.

• Western Holocaust guilt + lobbying.• Palestinian Zionist support for UK in WW2.• For UK partition as a means of relieving

regional tension in Palestine.

“Haganah” ? aboard Exodus, 1947

WHAT ARE THESE DPs SAYING ABOUT BRITISH IMMIGRATION POLICIES AFTER THE WAR?

Aboard Runnymede Park

Why did the Brits want out?

• acts of violence committed by some or all of the Jewish military organizations undermined British resolve to remain in the region.

• Haganah's operation of illegal immigration which became a source of considerable embarrassment to the British government.

• dire post-war economic situation forced withdrawl from considerable portions of her Empire including India.

• Britain's now depended on US$, which gave US leverage over Palestine. US Jewish opinion rallied to the Zionist cause: Truman, was seeking public support in both Congressional and Presidential elections -- and was therefore responsive to the Jewish lobby.

Weizmann and Truman, 1948 The USA was the first nation to recognize the new State of Israel.

1947 - United Nations Special Committee on Palestine (UNSCOP):• April, 1947 British refer Palestine question to the U.N. • Recommended partitioning Palestine into a Jewish an Arab state (Jerusalem to be an international city). • Adopted 29th November, 1947 (Resolution 181: voted 33 to 13; 10 abstained). • In a rather unusual moment of history, the USA and the USSR supported the resolution (the Russians wanted the UK out of Palestine) whilst

Britain abstained, promising only to evacuate her troops by August 1948 (the British departed three months earlier on May 14).

1947 Resolution 181 Voting:

33 For

10 Abstain 13 Against

1947 Resolution 181 Voting:

33 For

10 Abstain 13 Against

BUT remember: The Arab

States rejected the

Resolution!

Resolution 181Resolution 181

The planned partition: what happened in India in 1947 after partition?

Israeli War of IndependenceFirst Arab-Israeli War

Palestinian War • After David Ben Gurion declared Israel’s

creation, the Arab world reacted by invading in an effort to destroy the self-proclaimed nation.

• The USSR supported Israel with arms.

• Ironically, the Arabs’ desire to isolate the Jews during the Mandate years helped the latter to become more economically independent.

6. 1948-1949 War

David Ben Gurion, 1948

Israeli Problem #1 = Depth

• The Jordanian artillery could cross Israel.

• You can’t withdraw into the sea!

Israel consolidated the

territory in the partition, but still had long borders

to defend

7. Suez War 1956

• Nasser takes control in 1952 coup

• Nationalizes the Canal Zone in 1956

• UK/Fr make secret deal with Israel

• When the Europeans enter Zone the US pushes them out.

• First use of UN peacekeepers = UNEF1

• Shows Israel can take the Sinai

Sinai Desert

IDF Sherman Tank in the Sinai

8. Six Day War, 1967• Expulsion of UNEF1• Nasser stated publicly that he would destroy Israel -

Israel attacks first!• The Egyptians feared losing leadership to the

Syrians = posturing.• The Israelis knew they had to fight a maneuvering

campaign, not a static war of attrition (Napoleon’s doctrine of fighting from the centre).

• Importance of the air war.• Nassar lies to Hussein over Israeli air losses.• Syria doesn’t commit its Republican Guard in Golan

________ kicks the Israelis out of Aqaba: Where are the Straits of Tiran?

?

AQABA

Alliance: Hussein and Nasser, May 1967: months later during the 6 Day War, Nasser would deliberately mislead Jordan

about Israeli air losses

The Israeli Foreign Secretary seeks the USA position in case of war.

L. B. J.

• Egyptian Army T-55 tank: many were captured by the IDF and used against the Egyptians in the Yom Kippur War.

The IDF with their British 1950’s Centurion Tanks (sold to Israel so Britian could afford new Centurion tanks).

The Six Day War tank battles rivaled those at Kursk!

Israeli guarding Egyptian POWs

Min of Defense

Moshe Dayan and Gen Yitschak Rabin, in

Jerusalem’s Old City

Note the cool eye patch on Dayan

USA 6th Fleet moved east from western Med; USSR Black Sea

Fleet left for Med.

OOPS!OOPS!

• USS Liberty (Int Ship) mistaken for Egyptian El Quseir

Friendly fire: earlier the USN had told the Israelis no US ship was within 100 miles - the day before the Israelis had bombed their own tanks. This PT boat + air attack = many USN deaths - USA officially accepts Israeli apology + 13Mil$ payment for compensation.

FOG OF WAR? Many Americans didn’t buy it.FOG OF WAR? Many Americans didn’t buy it.

League of Arab States

Golan Heights:

1. Remember, this is where it all started: the

Israelis were taking water from the Sea of Galilee to

the Negev. 2. Syria was diverting the tributaries to eliminate the source. Also high ground is strategically important!

The ancient Nimrod Fortress attests to the region’s strategic importance.

View from a Syrian Golan bunker towards Israel

IDF in the Old City

• IDF Paratroopers at the Western Wall - Jerusalem is religiously significant to all regional religious groups.

• Can you name them?• 1 Muslim• 2 Jewish• 3 Christian• 4. Druse

The Victory for The Victory for Israel = Israel = DepthDepth• Gaza

• Golan

• West Bank

9. Yom Kippur War, 1973

• Surprise attack catches IDF unprepared.• After the first week, the IDF is able to reverse

the initial Arab forces’ gains.• Stalemate after a month of fighting.• Huge political repercussions for Israeli

leaders, although 1967 gains are mostly held.• Ushers in the 1974 fuel shortage - prices

double!

1973 IDF check point: this is no longer a UN check point as the sign

says: after Yom Kippur = UNEF2

Federation of Arab Republics

• Short-lived (1972-1977)

• Egypt and Syria are in competition to see who can lead in the region.

1 2

3

David Dado Elazar, IDF Chief of Staff (Warned of attack)

= fall guy

• Agranat Commission, 1974

• Gen Eli Ziera, Chief of Intelligence - said no worries prior to attack

P.M. Golda Meir(with Nixon, 1969)

Also resigned after Yom Kippur

West Bank settlements

must be defended = a loss of depth.

What if settlers won’t listen to the

government?

10. The 1970s

• Terror attacks

• Land for Peace

Munich, 1972

11 Israeli athletes + 1 German cop + terrorists

Entebbe, Uganda, 1976

2-State Option?

Land for peace?

1979Camp David: Sadat and Begin

11. The 80’s

Anwar Sadat Anwar Sadat signs peace for land deal with the Israelis and is the first Arab leader to recognize Israel(gradual withdrawal from the Sinai)

US Marine Barracks, Beirut 1982: 241 dead

beforeafter

Pres Bush Sr

Suicide bombers

1. London assassination attempt by PLO = 2. reprisal by IDF in Lebanon = 3. reprisal rocket attack on Haifa apartment by PLO

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What is the attitude of many What is the attitude of many Arabs?Arabs?

Madrid, 1991 = led to the second Arab nation recognizing Israel

King HusseinP.M. Yitzhak Rabin

Madrid led to the 1993 Oslo Accords

Yitzhak Rabin Yasser Arafat

End