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Social Education Victoria 20 August, 2010

Social Education Victoria 20 August, 2010. The Arab-Israeli Conflict Dr Benjamin MacQueen, Monash University Lecturer, School of Political and Social Inquiry Deputy Director, Global Terrorism Research Centre. Lecture Overview. The Collapse of the Ottoman Empire

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Social Education Victoria 20 August, 2010

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  1. Social Education Victoria20 August, 2010 The Arab-Israeli Conflict Dr Benjamin MacQueen, Monash University Lecturer, School of Political and Social Inquiry Deputy Director, Global Terrorism Research Centre

  2. Lecture Overview • The Collapse of the Ottoman Empire • Partition of the Ottoman Empire: the State System and the Creation of Israel • Zionism and the Creation of the State of Israel • The 1967 ‘Six Day War’ • The 1973 ‘Yom Kippur War’ • The 1982 Israeli Invasion of Lebanon • The first (1987-1993) and second (2000 ) Palestinian intifadas • Arab-Israeli Peace Processes

  3. The Collapse of the Ottoman Empire • Ottoman decline since the 17th-18th centuries and European economic dominance • The shrinking of the Empire in the 19th and early 20th centuries • From a multi-national Empire to a ‘Turkish-Arab’ Empire by the late 19th century • October 1914, Ottoman Empire joins WWI in an alliance with Germany; Ottoman defeat by Oct. 1918 • British involvement with the Arab uprising • British control of the Persian Gulf and Egypt

  4. Partition of the Ottoman Empire: the State System and the Creation of Israel • False Promises? • The Husayn-McMahon Correspondence • British promises to Arab leaders for independent control over the “greater Syria” with the exception of a coastal strip close to modern-day Lebanon • The Sykes-Picot Agreement • Anglo-French negotiations over division of the Arab territories of the Ottoman Empire between them • The Balfour Declaration • British expression of support for Jewish settlement of and the creation of a Jewish state in the former Ottoman province of Palestine

  5. Text of the Balfour Declaration Promises under the Husayn-McMahon Correspondence Anglo-French division of the region under the Sykes-Picot Agreement

  6. Zionism and the Creation of the State of Israel • What is Zionism? • The reconstitution of Jewish life on a national basis; i.e. a Jewish nation-state focused on the Biblical Holy Land (to become Mandate Palestine) • Response to European anti-Semitism and pressures toward assimilation in ‘host’ countries prior to WWII; impact of the Holocaust and WWII on Zionism • Competing nationalisms in Palestine (Arab-Palestinian and Zionist) and British mismanagement • The UN Partition Plan (UNSCR 181) and Arab rejection • The 1947-48 ‘War for Independence’/al-nakba • The birth of the Palestinian refugee crisis

  7. The 1967 ‘Six Day War’ • Tensions between Israel and the Arab world, particularly Egypt, building since 1956 • Egyptian blockade of Israeli port Elat on the Straits of Tiran, Red Sea, May 1967; Israeli and Arab troop build-up on borders through May 1967 • 5 June, Israel launches an attack, what it terms as ‘anticipatory self-defense’ against Egypt, Syria and Jordan • The Israeli Army and Air Force, within six days, eliminated the bulk of the Egyptian and Syrian Air Forces (before they left the ground) and routed the three Arab armies • By 11 June, it occupied the Gaza Strip and Golan Heights from Egypt, the West Bank of the Jordan River from Jordan and the Golan Heights from Syria; its territory was now six times bigger than pre-1967, with over 1 million new Arab Palestinian, Egyptian and Syrian inhabitants within its new borders • Israel now asserted itself as the dominant military player in the Middle East with the possible exception of the then pro-US Iran • Impacts of UN Resolution 242, 22 Nov. 1967

  8. Changes to regional borders in the wake of the 1967 war

  9. The 1973 ‘Yom Kippur War’ • The waning influence of radical Arab nationalism and the death of Nasser in 1970; the rise of Sadat to power in Egypt • The continued strengthening of the US-Israeli alliance in the context of the Cold War • Israel instigating a ‘settlement’ building program in the new ‘occupied territories’ that contravened the dictates of UN Resolution 242 and subsequent resolutions • The increasing militancy of the PLO since its creation in 1964 and particularly after 1967 • Sadat eager to break the status quo and regain control over the Sinai; the Syrians under Assad also eager to remove Israel from the strategically important Golan Heights region • Surprise Syrian-Egyptian attack launched on 6 Oct. 1973; initial gains in both the Sinai and Golan before Israeli counter attack pushed both armies back • However, the myth of Israeli military invincibility was broken; combined with an Arab oil embargo that shook the global economy, the 1973 war fed into the 1978-79 Camp David Peace Treaty between Egypt and Israel • The conflict also saw Israel further entrench its alliance with the US and further radicalised segments of the PLO who were involved in the Lebanese civil war, a war Israel would become deeply engaged in

  10. The 1982 Israeli Invasion of Lebanon • Lebanese civil war (1975-1990), the PLO presence and the Syrian military occupation of Lebanon • Israeli invasion in 1982 and the role of Defence Minister Ariel Sharon (Sabra and Shatilla) • The siege of Beirut and the Lebanon quagmire • The war in Lebanon, Israel and the creation of Hizbullah

  11. The first (1987-1993) and second (2000 ) Palestinian intifadas • The first intifada • Heightening of Israeli-Palestinian tensions through the 1980s; increased settler activity, Israeli operation “Iron Fist” and Palestinian youth disaffection • Outbreak of hostilities in Jabalia refugee camp spreading through Occupied Territories • Civil disobedience, strikes and violence leading to over 1,100 Palestinian and 160 Israeli deaths • The second (Al Aqsa) intifada • Failure of the 2000 Camp David Summit and the return to power of Ariel Sharon (Sharon’s visit to Al Aqsa mosque) • Increased violence, splitting of Palestinian movement (PA vs. Hamas), settler and Israeli government militancy • Current violence (excluding Gaza conflict) has led to over 6,300 Palestinian deaths, over 1,000 Israeli deaths and close to 70 deaths of foreign nationals

  12. Arab-Israeli Peace Processes • The 1991 Madrid Conference leading to the Oslo Peace Process and the 1993 Oslo Peace Accords (a Palestinian state based on UN Resolutions 242 and 338) • 1997 Hebron Agreement and the 1998 Wye River Accords • The 2000 Camp David Summit • The 2002 Beirut Summit (Saudi Peace Plan) • The 2003 Road Map for Peace • Other approaches: • 2003 Gaza Withdrawal • 2003 Geneva Accord • The Single State Solution and the Elon Peace Plan • The role of the US and the UN

  13. Want to know more? • Bachelor of Arts at Monash University • Politics and International Relations at Monash University • The International Relations of the Middle East • or … email me for more information

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