Conflict in the Middle East: 1.2

Question 1

Give a timeline of the aftermath of the 1948-49 war from 1948 to 1952 (no details necessary)

Answer 1

• 1948: 700 000 Palestinians flee the country
  [] no Palestinian state anymore so would just be under control of Israelis
• 1949: UNWRA founded to help Palestinian refugees, and IDF remodelled
• 1950: Israeli Law of Return passed
• 1951: 700 000 Jews migrated by this time
• 1952: Reparations Agreement between Israel and West Germany

Question 2

Describe the Palestinian view on the Palestinian right to return to Israel (formerly the Palestinian state and Palestine itself)

Answer 2

• HAD RIGHT TO RETURN because:
  [] didn’t leave of their own will or under orders from Arab leaders
  [] the Israeli goal was to expel all Palestinians and had started this even before the war (Plan Dalet)
  [] Israelis achieved their goal using violence, underhand tactics and deliberately-caused panic
• all of this meant that the way in which the Palestinians had lost their agreed state was massively unfair and so they should be allowed to return to their rightful lands

Question 3

Describe the Israeli view on the Palestinian right to return to Israel (formerly the Palestinian state and Palestine itself)

Answer 3

• DIDN’T HAVE RIGHT TO RETURN because:
  [] argued that Palestinians weren’t forced out; either left of their own volition or were told to leave by overconfident Arab leaders who promised quick return (untrue, as later shown by reports of the Israeli forces occupying and expelling the Arab population of villages in Israeli territory)
  [] Palestinians and Arabs began the conflict that resulted in the loss of the Palestinian state, not Israelis
  [] couldn’t allow Palestinians back inside Israel after the war as they may be a security threat and plot to revolt (ISRAELI PROPAGANDA AGAINST PALESTINIANS, MAKING THEM LOOK DANGEROUS INSTEAD OF SIMPLY WANTING THEIR LAND BACK SUPPLIED SUPPORT FOR ISRAEL INSTREAD OF THE PALESTINIANS; LINGERING SYMPATHY FROM THE HOLOCAUST ALSO ADDED TO THIS SO NOTHING MUCH WAS DONE TO RE-ESTABLISH A PALESTINIAN STATE AS FIRST AGREED BY THE PARTITION PLAN)

Question 4

What was the Arab League’s advice regarding Palestinian refugees in Arab nations’ refugee camps, and what were the responses of these Arab nations (+ significance) ?

Answer 4

• advice = not to give citizenship to any Palestinian refugees
  [] would protect the Palestinian identity and right to return to their homelands by not having citizenship of another country
  [] HOWEVER, meant that Palestinians could do little profitable work and couldn’t buy property for adequate living conditions because of this
• most states apart from Jordan complied
  [] made the West Bank and Jordan the most popular place for Palestinian refugees to go
  [] demonstrated Jordan’s care for the Palestinians themselves instead of simply viewing them from a political perspective from one interpretation of events

Question 5

Describe conditions in the Gazan refugee camps (+ significance)

Answer 5

• crowded
• water shortages
• poor sanitation
• collapse of local economy
  [] media coverage of the poor conditions most likely garnered at least a little sympathy for Palestinians and their loss of their state as formerly agreed by the UN Resolution 181
  [] would have made Egypt anxious to solve the Palestinian problem at least once due to the toll taken on the local areas

Question 6

Describe the Feyadeen raids and the Israeli reprisals after the 48-49 war (until 1953) and their significance

Answer 6

• Feyadeen raids began as Palestinian refugees trying to return home to collect possessions or harvest crops
  [] eventually turned into attacks on the Israelis
• between 1950 and 1953, 153 Israelis were killed by Feyadeen raids in total
  [] SHIFTED SYMPATHY TOWARDS ISRAELIS AND ALLOWED PROPAGANDA AGAINST THE PALESTINIANS AS TERRORISTS
  [] despite this, Israel always retaliated fiercely, like in October 1953 when Israeli forces attacked Qibya in the West Bank, killing 69 villagers for the deaths of 3 Israelis
  [] attacks like the above tended to portray the Israelis as overly violent, HOWEVER, media tended to covey this as an honourable means of defending the newly established Israeli nation from attacks that may spiral into bigger invasions, keeping sympathy with the Israelis
• meant that Jordan clamped down on Feyadeen raids in 1954 to prevent Israeli reprisals doing damage to Jordanian territory and citizens, however, Gaza’s Feyadeen (under Egypt) were given much more free reign due to Egypt’s strong hatred of Israel

Question 7

Describe the impact of the 1948-49 war for Israelis

Answer 7

• 6000 deaths BUT had remained triumphant
  [] these deaths in the fight to establish Israel could be used as a point of pride and a way to forge a national spirit + identity centred around past persecution and the determination to protect what they saw as their rightful lands
• captured extra 50% of proposed Arab state during the war, whilst Arab nations like Jordan and Egypt took the other 50%
• new Israeli state was very fertile, easy to defend and had access to Jerusalem (though the West Bank’s borders were very close to Jerusalem)
• surrounded by hostile Arab states and constant Palestinian raids from Feyadeen and later Fatah - viewed as terrorist attacks by Zionists and pro-Israel people
  [] made defence a first priority for Israel

Question 8

Describe the creation of the IDF (Israeli Defence Force)

Answer 8

• initially just comprised of the Haganah
  [] eventually the Lehi and Irgun were absorbed into the IDF as well - meant that extremist tactics were welcomed in the IDF to an extent
• had small core of professional soldiers, and a wider force of conscripted troops (18 year olds served for 18-30 months then were listed as reserve troops that could be called upon at any time)
• received the largest portion of government finances
• bought French arms and made their own as well due to the US embargo (out of fear that if sold to Israel, Arabs would start buying weapons and re-arming too)

Question 9

What is the name of the Israeli secret service and when was it established ?

Answer 9

• Mossad
• 1949

Question 10

What was the Law of Return and when was it passed ?

Answer 10

• 1950
• right for any Jew globally to immigrate and become a citizen of Israel simply due to being Jewish
• by 1951, the population of Israel had almost doubled, meaning a doubling in available conscripted and reserve troops, a growth in the economy and growth in political importance, all of which helped to stabilise Israel’s existence

Question 11

Describe the state of many Jewish immigrants to Israel after 1950 upon arrival and the significance of this

Answer 11

• traumatised
  [] Israelis could use this trauma to build a national identity surrounding the history of Jewish persecution and the new age of safety promised by the new Jewish homeland
• poor
  [] had few possessions and were desperate, hoping that Israel was a safe place of prosperity
  [] this desperation helped to form a national identity in some respects, as many were dedicated to the country and wanted to start anew
  [] hurt Israel economically in terms of providing aid to these immigrants however
• spoke many different languages
  [] was difficult to form community without a common language

Question 12

Describe how Israel coped with global immigration

Answer 12

• early conditions were harsh due to such a sudden intake of immigrants; many lived in “tent cities” with one having 56 people per toilet available
  [] Operations “Magic Carpet” and “Ezra and Nehemiah” from 1949-51 where Jews in Yemen and Iraq who were expelled/endangered by anti-Semitic riots were airlifted to Israel increased the volume of new Israelis suddenly
• high focus on assimilation of new migrants into Israel through forging community based on religion (the one thing all Israeli citizens had in common)
• students all taught in Hebrew to ensure a national language was created (solidarity and national identity)
• kibbutzim (communal farms like Yad Mordechai) were encouraged
  [] made people live and work in close proximity, forging community and a national spirit
• ancient and recent Jewish history like the Holocaust and the mass-suicide at Masda so Roman Jews wouldn’t have to submit to the Romans taught and emphasised to forge a national identity centred around religion and persecution to keep global sympathy with Israel and maintain the sense of fighting for the defence of one’s existence and rights when war broke out (and thus maintaining the Israeli commitment)
• everyone made to serve in the IDF, forming community again

Question 13

Describe US aid to Israel after 1949

Answer 13

• provided $300 million by 1960 for food/aid etc.
• only sold arms after 1960 because prior to this, had feared that US support of Israel militarily would encourage Arab states to re-arm also
  [] the US was also worried about Cold War tensions, and taking the side of Israel to the point of arming them (at least early on, before the USSR gained Egyptian and Arab support in the late 50s) could have swayed all the Arab nations towards supporting the USSR and communists
  [] in the same vein, the US withheld $75 million worth of aid after the Israeli reprisal on Qibya in 1953
• many US Zionists raised significant amounts of money for Israel, including from Hollywood directors like Otto Preminger

Question 14

Describe West German aid to Israel after the 1948-49 war

Answer 14

• David Ben-Gurion signed Reparations Agreement with West Germany
  [] played on international sympathies and national German remorse for the Holocaust to negotiate the agreement
• West Germany to provide $845 million over 14 years as compensation for the damages to Jewish life and property in WW2
  [] HELPED TO AVOID THE COMPLETE ECONOMIC COLLAPSE OF ISRAEL IN ITS EARLY YEARS, AS THE COUNTRY HAD PREVIOUSLY RELIED ON RATIONING SYSTEMS AND AUSTERITY (gov. policies to reduce spending)

Question 15

Describe Egyptian-Israeli relations including trade, use of the Suez Canal, Feyadeen raids and the use of the Straits of Tiran and Gulf of Aqaba after the 1948-49 war

Answer 15

• overall = extremely tense and tensions continued to rise
• Egypt searched all ships through the Suez Canal and confiscated any goods likely to be sold or bought from Israel
• 1951 onwards, stopped foreign ships travelling through the Straits of Tiran and the Gulf of Aqaba towards Israel’s port Eliat
  [] essentially nullified most of Israel’s trade, contributing to its near-economic collapse
• did nothing to stop Gaza’s Feyadeen
  [] VERY crucial point of tension