THE CHRONOLOGY OF ISRAEL-PALESTINE CONFLICT
Part II
May 14, 1948: Birth of the new State of Israel: Even though Arabs protested, the new State of Israel was established on this date. David Ben-Gurion became its first Prime Minister. This was a unilateral decleration under the patronage and all out support from Britain and the U.S even though it was an implanted country while the whole area was under the grip of a civil war.
1948-1949: War between Arab neighbors and Israel: The day after Israel was formed, armed forces from Syria, Iraq, Transjordan and Egypt entered Palestine. This war took place in three phases as follows;
The first phase May 15 to June 10 1948, An Egyptian army of ten thousand men crossed the border near the coast and attacked some isolated Jewish settlements. In the north Syrian forces crossed the border but were resisted by the Jewish settlers and Haganah forces, the latter now formed into Israeli Defense Forces (IDF). Most of the invaders were compelled to withdraw. However the major battle was for Jerusalem. Abdullah of Jordan moved his Arab Legion to defend the Old City, the mostly Arab East Jerusalem. The Israelis on this front could not overpower Arab Legion, although they gained control over West Jerusalem. On June 10, the UN persuaded the warring parties to a ceasefire. The second phase July 9 – 18, 1948: The Israelis tried to widen the corridor leading to Jerusalem taking land allocated to Arabs in 1947 partition plan. They were largely successful. Although Arab Legion held the old city of Jerusalem. In the south Israelis resisted successfully further Egyptian advances. In the north Israel could occupy Nazareth and several Arab towns. A second truce was negotiated in September by the UN. The special UN mediator
from Sweden Count Bernadotte produced a peace plan which featured more land to Arabs in the South and more land to Jews in the north, Jerusalem to be an international city and right of return to all Arab refugees. Bernadotte was assassinated by a gang of militant Zionists called the Stern Gang, so his peace plan did not materialize. In order to maintain international support the Irgun and the Stern Gang were dissolved as they had earned bad reputation for their terrorist activities. Some of their member were incorporated into IDF. The third phase October 15 1948 – January 1949: In mid October Israelis broke the second ceasefire and started pushing Egyptians back on the southern front. They could successfully push the Egyptian army over the border. Under US pressure they agreed to withdraw from Egyptian territory but kept complete control over Negev Desert. A final ceasefire was arranged in 1949 and ended the war completely.
Nakaba: As briefly touched in the part I, the tragic events, loss of lives among Arabs and their flight to different areas as refugees between 1947 to 1949 is known as Nakaba – the disaster.
The Zionist interpretation of Nakaba: The conventional Zionist interpretation is that Jewish military actions after November 1947 were largely defensive. They were designed to protect Jewish settlements and the roads linking them, specially the roads to Jerusalem where there were about 2500 Jews living in the Old City. The Zionist interpretation also maintains that from other cities like Haifa and Jaffa etc, Arabs simply fled following the example of their leaders who themselves fled and also asked the Arab inhabitants to leave.
The Revisionist interpretation of Nakaba: In late 1970s many secret official Israeli government documents were declassified and were made open to scrutiny by historians after about 30 years. Israeli historians Benny Morris and Ilan Pape after examining these documents, challenged the Zionist interpretation. They pointed out that Haganah and the Jewish Agency cooperated with the terrorist attacks by IRGUN and THE STERN GANG by facilitating Arabs’ massacre and thus forcing them to flee. In the coastel cities of Haifa and Jaffa and other smaller towns Jewish armed forces forced Arabs to leave so that the new state of Israel could be predominantly Jewish.The revisionist interpretation of Nakaba is considered by many historians as accurate and objective.
Comparison between Arab and Israeli performance in the war, 1947 and 1949: Israelis had a sense of self-sacrifice and showed unwavering determination to fight for the existence of the State of Israel. The spirit of the people was the result of a determined and inspiring leadership of David Ben-Gurion who led his people with courage against all odds. Arab leaders were far from united and each was after their own interests, often to gain control of a piece of Palestinian territory for themselves. They were ill prepared and not disciplined and had no coordination among their troops.
The Palestinian diaspora: 1947 – 1949: More than half of the Arab population of Palestine was displaced ; over 700,000 out of 1.35 million, during these two years. Most of these refugees went to West Bank and Gaza, the areas which were not incorporated in the new State of Israel. The remaining went to Jordan, Syria and Lebanon. Some to UAE and a small number especially affluent and educated to Europe and the US. Palestinians in the West Bank came under Jordan which controlled the land on both sides of Jordan river. The refugees in Gaza came under Egyptian military rule. In Gaza and West Bank refugees were politically restricted and not allowed to form independent Palestinian organizations. Today there are over 5 million UN registered Palestinian refugees, mostly descendents of those who were made homeless between 1947 to 1949. From July of 1948 it became official Israeli policy to oppose the return of refugees to their homes. Israeli position is that Palestinians were not expelled but voluntarily left. The UN disagreed and in December 1948 passed Resolution 194 which recognized refugees’ right to return.
The Arabs in Israel: After flight of Palestinians came to an end, only about 155,000 Arabs remained in the new State of Israel. This was for Israeli government an acceptable and manageable number. They are now citizens of Israel and constitute about 15% of total Israel population.
United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA): December 1948. It was established to support the refugees in the camps of the West Bank , Gaza and other Arab states by providing them food, shelter, clothing and health needs etc
Reemergence of Palestinian Nationalism.
After Nakaba, from 1949 until 1960 Palestinians were faced with coping with the hard conditions of refugee life. Initially they were living in tents in camps. Over time tents were replaced with huts and later concrete buildings; schools were established. But most refugees remained poor and unemployed. In these camps Palestinian nationalism gradually emerged and started gathering momentum but did not gain strength until 1960. The period between 1949 to 1960 is called therefore “Lost Years”.
Following nationalistic movements came into existence: 1. Movement for Arab nationalism (MAN), founded in Lebanon in 1952. 2. President Gamal Abdel Nasserof Egypt. He was seen and admired as the undisputed leader of Arabs who could unite them against Israel. 3. Scattered small groups who united Palestinians with nationalist feelings into clusters from 1950 to early 1960, some of them even carried out attacks inside Israel. 4. Fatah: formally established in1959 though originated among Palestinian students in Cairo in early 1950s. Yaseser Arafat a student and one of the group, reorganized the Palestinian Students’ Union and emerged as the leader of Fatah. Arafat and his close associate Salah Khalaf moved to Kuwait after graduation where they made contacts with other Palestinian activists, built up a network of supporters and committed the organization to liberate Palestine by armed struggle. Many Palestinians, especially the young men responded to Fatah’s call and volunteered to lay down their lives for the cause. They were called Fedayeen.
Jewish immigration and building the State of Israel: In 1948 newly created State of Israel had a population of 750,000 of which more than 80% were Jews. Within four years the population doubled due to continuous immigration. In 1950 the ‘Law of Return’ gave any Jew in the world the right to become a citizen of Israel. Some of the early immigrants were survivors of Holocaust 120,000 of them, mostly from Poland and some from other European countries. These are called Ashkenazis. The new state then launched a campaign to persuade the Jews living in the Middle Eastern countries . Many who were Arabic speaking, had prospered and had lived there for centuries. They did not subscribe to Zionism nor wanted to move. However two forces supported their immigration, one was the intense campaign by the State of Israel to bring them and second, in the aftermath of Nakaba a severe backlash and hatred against Jews among Muslims, made the living in Muslim countries dangerous and insecure. Jews who moved from neighboring Arab countries are called Mizrahi Jews as opposed to Sephardic Jews who are those already living in Palestine in perfect harmony with Arabs before creation of Israel. During this period Israel was built with dedication, commitment and discipline. The high level of education and skills among immigrants especially from Europe played a major role. But at the same time great financial help from abroad especially from the Zionist group in the U.S. and reparation money from Germany also gave a boost. The army also played a very constructive role in building the State. Two years of military service was made compulsory. Israel in relatively short time became richer, stronger and highly developed.
Arab Israeli conflict in 1950s and 1960s: The conflict after the defeat of 1948-49 widened to involve Arab states who felt humiliated. Arab masses then removed their leaders in Syria, Egypt and Iraq. There was Arab anger and a desire to avenge. Ben Gurion, surrounded by hostile Arab countries further increased military power and was ready to hit Arabs with disproportionate force in response to Plaestinian attacks by Fedayeen. In October 1953 after
killing of an Israeli woman and her two children by a grenade attack, Israeli military entered the West Bank village of Qibya and killed 69 of its inhabitants majority of them women and children.
The Suez War 1956: Israel attacked an Egyptian military post in Gaza in 1955 under the name “Operation Black Arrow” and killed38 Egyptian soldiers. This raid and the one on Qibya were led by Ariel Sharon. Humiliated, President Nasser decided to boost up country’s military forces and decided to buy weapons from Czechoslovakia, an ally of Soviet Union, as the US and the Western allies of Israel would not do anything to support Egypt. US and Britain decied to teach Nasser a lesson. They canceled their loans to Egypt for the building of Aswan Dam a huge irrigation and hydroelectric project that Egypt was in dire need of. Nasser then stunned the West by nationalizing the Anglo-French owned Suez Canal. In response The British and French conspired with Israel to invade Egypt. Israelis did invade Egypt and advanced across Sinai Peninsula toward Suez and the British and French bombed Egyptian air fields. But huge international pressure led to invasion being called off. For Nasser it was a political victory.
The Six Day War of 1967: Tension started building up on Syria-Israel border in 1966-67. Nasser somewhat puffed up by his recent political victory on Suez and being extremely popular among Arab countries, took several steps to impress Arab public opinion. One of those was the closure of the Straits of Tiran which cut off Israeli shipping from the Red Sea, the Indian ocean and the Far East. A week later he called on Israel to give up the land taken in the war of 1948-49. The next day King Husain of Jordan signed a defense treaty with Egypt. These actions provoked Israel into launching a preemptive strike. At dawn on the morning of June 5, 1967 Israel carried out air strikes that wiped out nearly all of the air force of Egypt, Syria and Jordan. Within days Israel was able to take control of Sinai Desert from Egypt and Golan Heights from Syria. In addition, for Palestinians what was most devastating was that Israel also seized Gaza from Egypt and West Bank from Jordan. It was a total victory for Israel which now was not eager to have any peace with its Arab neighbors.
Resolution 242: In November 1967, the UN Security Council unanimously passed Resolution 242 which was mainly based on recognition of two principles for establishing permanent peace in the region;
1. Withdrawal of Israeli armed forces from the occupied territories and move to pre 1967 boundaries.
2. Respect for the right of every state in the area to live in peace within secure and recognized boundaries free fro threats or acts of force.
The Resolution gave Arabs their land back and assured Israel peace and security. Egypt and Jordan accepted the Resolution, but Syria did not. Israel resisted in the beginning but accepted later in May 1968.
References:
1. ‘The Hundred Years’ War on Palestine’: A history of settler-colonialism and resistance, by Rashid Khalidi
2. ‘The End of the Peace Process’ : Oslo and after, by Edward W. Said
3. ‘The Shortest History of Israel And Palestine’: From Zionism to Intifadas and the struggle for peace, by Michael Scott-Baumann
4. ‘Palestine and the Arab Israeli Conflict’: A history with documents, by Charles D. Smith
5. ‘The Truth About Camp David’: The untold story of the collapse of the peace process, by Clayton E. Swisher