Middle East Israel and Palestine 1945-56

1. History 12 Ms Leslie Middle EastIsrael and Palestine1945-56

2. After WWI – A British and French Mandate • After WWII – Oil reserves an important factor, UK and France still have involvement in the area. • Israelis and Arabs driven by extreme nationalism - both have aggressive foreign policies

3. Fragmentation • Islam had expanded as a unified political entity • Fragmented along racial lines (Arab, Turk and Persian.) • Since then it’s the goal to unite the Islamic Nations • This has been delayed by European presence.

4. 1946 - France gave Syria and Lebanon independence • Britain to deal with Palestine soon after

5. In a 1931 Islamic conference in Jerusalem the participants announced ‘The Arab lands are a complete and indivisible whole… all efforts are to be directed towards their complete independence in their entirety and unified.’

6. Arab League • Created in 1945 • was a first step toward this goal, uniting Egypt, Syria, Jordan, Iraq, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia and Yemen • By 1980 it had 20 members, but internal divisions prevented real political unification of its parts – despite several efforts to achieve integration. • Britain help create it in hopes of Arab Unity

7. Arab League Membership

8. Pan-Arabism Goal of uniting the Arab Nations Led by Egyptian leader, Gamal Abdel Nasser, Not much happened, A lot of tension between those who are nationalistic and those who want to co-operate internationally.

9. Zionism • In conflict with Pan-Arabism • Jews have wanted to establish a homeland since the Diasporia • Late 19th century there have been Jewish communal farming communities called Kibbutzim in Palestine. In what is now Tel Aviv. • 1914 there are 40 kibbutzim • Swelling Jewish population causes tension

10. After WWI, Jews and Arabs had both been promised their own national homeland • These 2 promises are conflicting and won’t work

11. 1922 – the Nationalist Wafd Party declared independence for Egypt. • British troops remain in the Suez Canal Zone • 1932 Iraq gets independence • Palestine more difficult with the Arabs and Jews fighting over the same land. • Hitler’s Jewish policy caused a serge of Jewish Immigration to the area • This caused violence

12. 1918 – Palestine 7% Jewish • 1939 – 38 % Jewish • 1937- Britain has a plan to divide the area into 3 regions – 1 Jewish – 1 Arabian and 1 mixed. • This was met with universal condemnation • 1939 – British tried to placate the Arabs by restricting Jewish immigration • WWII – everyone gets along due to the common enemy of Hitler.

13. Arab League after WWII • To resist the creation of a Jewish State. • Sabotaged oil lines • Jews also resort to violence – Irgun Zwei Leumi and the Stern Gang used terrorist tactics to force the British to act (national Military Organizations)

14. Truman sees the escalating violence in the area and tried to get Attlee to relax the Jewish immigration restrictions – he refuses • 1946- A wave of Jewish terrorism swept Palestine, with the blowing up of communication facilities and the King David Hotel in Jerusalem, killing nearly 100 people. • Illegal Jewish immigration was stepped up

16. The British were in an intolerable position, and in 1947 announced that there were going to give up trying to handle the problem themselves and passed it on to the UN • Zionists were upset that they were not honouring the 1917 Balfour Declaration and Palestinians were promised a separate state after WWI

17. UN Proposal • The UNSCOP (UN Special Commission of Palestine) recommended a separate Jewish and Arab state • The Jewish state would be under UN trusteeship • Expanded the Jewish zone into the Negev desert to the south; giving them access to the sea in the South. • Jews liked the proposal, Arabs did not • It passed in the UN anyways, with the support of USA and USSR

18. Palestine sank in to anarchy British had to try to keep the peace and make sure the Jews did not grab more land illegally

19. May 14, 1948, David Ben-Gurion announced the formation of the Jewish State of Israel • On the following day, Israel was invaded by its Arab neighbours. • The USA asked the UK to stay and help… UK refused

20. 1948 Palestinian war • From the southwest, the Egyptians advanced from Gaza. • From the East came Jordan’s Arab Legion • Syria and Iraq also took part in the war. • The British trained and equipped Jewish defense force, the Haganah resisted desperately.

21. Divided and poorly equipped, the Arabs had little success. • The war ended by February 1949, the Jews had successfully driven the Egyptians out, but faced a stalemate in the East, having lost much of Jerusalem.

22. Outcome of the War • Loss of a Palestinian homeland • Egypt gets the Gaza Strip • Jordan holds the West Bank • 1 million Palestinian refugees • These refugees for terrorist groups and attack Israel from neighbouring countries • Arabs in the new Israeli state find themselves second-class citizens

23. Israel declared itself a Jewish homeland opening its borders to Jews from any nation.

24. 1956 - Suez Crisis • Factors: • Arab-Israeli dispute, • Arab nationalism • European imperialism • cold was politics.

25. Nasser, who came to power in 1954, sought to unite Arabs in the cause of pan-Arabism and Palestinian liberation. • organized guerilla groups called the fedayeen (self-sacrificers) to launch terrorist attacks against Israel. • blocked the Gulf of Aqaba, cutting off trade to the Israeli port of Eilat.

27. Anti-European sentiment • fostered nationalist opposition to the British presence in the Suez Canal Zone. • Britain should abandon its base in Suez when the 1936 agreement expired in 1956. • angered the French by encouraging Arab Nationalism in Algeria

28. Late 1955 – signs arms deal with Czechosolvakia for russian arms • Tanks, planes and small arms. • 1956 – America pulls their $56 million from the Aswan Dam project Dam to provide power and controlling the Nile Floods

29. Nasser nationalizes the Suez Canal so he can toll it to make money for the Aswan Dam. • Also takes funding from the USSR • Britain and France now convinced Nasser is creating a pro-communist, anti-western, pan-Arab • Threats to the flow of oil supplies to Europe are intolerable.

30. UK, France and Israel have a secret agreement to bring down the Egyptian leader. • Oct, 29, 1956, Israel seized the Gaza Strip and drove through the Sinai peninsula

31. UK and France demanded a ceasefire, which Nasser refused, so the they invaded the Suez Canal Zone • USA proposed a cease fire in the UN Security Council, and UK and France Veto it. • Oct 31 – UK and French bombers attack Egyptian airbases • Nov 5 – Anglo-French forces in Port Said

33. Nasser called for UN help and also blocked the canal by sinking block-ships in it. The USSR when further, threatening nuclear attacks on the aggressor nations. Though the Americans made it known that they would not tolerate and attack on Paris or London, the Israelis were given no such assurance

34. The Suez Crisis came at the same time as the Hungarian Uprising – creating a distraction • Both USA and USSR were united in calling an end to Anglo-French aggression in the area

35. UN wanted to place peace-keepers in the Israeli-Egyptian frontier to reduce the fedayeen threat. • This allows the aggressors to withdraw with out losing face • Israelis destroy Egyptian military installations in the Gaza Strip and Sinai on their way home

36. Outcome for Nasser • He’s a Hero in the Arab world • Pan-Arabism given a huge boost • 1958 – Syria joins Egypt to become the United Arab Republic – doesn’t last 1958-61

37. Outcome for Britain and France • Reduction of oil shipments = gasoline rationing • Pro-British Premier of Iraq is murdered in 1958 • French position in Algeria was further undermined and independence was achieved in 1962 • No longer a powerful influence in the area

38. Outcome for USSR • it had a client state in the Middle East, compensating it for its loss of influence in Iran after the end of WWII.

39. Outcome for Israel • Freed the Port of Eliat • Took the Gaza strip • UN guaranteed to stop Egyptian threats to Israeli shipping in the Straits of Tiran • Better security = better economy.

40. Significance to the Cold War • First time UN deployed peace keeping troops – a Canadian idea, Lester B Pearson proposed it. • Britain and France discredited • USA and USSR now influential in the area • End 