Conflict in the Middle East: 2.3

Question 1

Who was Anwar Sadat and what were the reactions of the Egyptian public towards him ?

Answer 1

• Nasser’s successor as the Egyptian president
  [] lacked the same charisma as Nasser and was unknown outside of Egypt
  [] often the butt of racist jokes due to being part Sudanese

Question 2

What were Sadat’s main aims as Egyptian president and how did he plan to achieve them ?

Answer 2

• restore Egyptian economy and rebuild after the War of Attrition
  [] cutting down on military expenditure (sent home the million soldiers on standby in case of Israeli attack)
  [] reopening Suez Canal (first had to regain Sinai from Israel)

Question 3

Describe Sadat’s efforts to negotiate the return of Sinai from Israel

Answer 3

• offered peace in return for Sinai to Golda Meir (rejected)
• expelled 15 000 Soviet advisors in hopes to please the USA and thus force Israel to negotiate (failed)
• by late 1972, began preparations for war with Syria in secret
  [] wanted to make Israel feel as if it was not invincible, and thus encourage them to negotiate for the return of Sinai - no mention of destroying Israel or anything further than threatening it

Question 4

Describe Israel’s actions in the occupied territories (the West Bank, Gaza, Golan Heights and Jerusalem) from 1970-72 (include details about military control)

Answer 4

• military control:
  [] built Bar Lev Line (high sand wall along Suez Canal, forts, bunkers, mines and barbed wire put in place) in Sinai to prevent Egyptian attacks
  [] defences and ban of Syrian refugees implemented in the Golan Heights to defend against Syrian attack
• Jerusalem:
  [] Arab neighbourhoods, buildings etc. destroyed (inhabitants compensated monetarily and then evicted)
• West Bank + Gaza:
  [] Palestinians given the right to govern themselves, run local affairs and work in Israel if they had the right documents
  [] IDF roadblocks, checkpoints and military bases used to control the movement of Palestinians
  [] Palestinians considered “threats” to security were jailed without trial and had their homes/land demolished/confiscated and given to Jews
• Golan Heights:
  [] Israeli farms set up due to fertile land and water supplies
  [] 1971, ski resort opened on Mount Hebron (encouraged tourism to boost the economy)

Question 5

Why did Israel feel secure after 1972 ?

Answer 5

• occupied territories provided economic boosts as well as added security from Arab attacks
• since the Munich Massacre, public sympathy was on their side
• US aid for Israel pouring in
• Egypt expelled the Soviets and Israel believed it would take years for Arabs to rebuild their armed forces so attack seemed unlikely

Question 6

Describe the key warning signs of the Yom Kippur War that Israel ignored and the significance of this ignorance

Answer 6

• Egyptian + Syrian troops had been massing on borders for weeks prior
  [] however, concealed their intentions by withdrawing every evening, and lowered Israeli guard
  [] Egyptians even sunbathed next to the Suez Canal during the day to lull Israel into a false sense of security
• King Hussein warned Israel about an attack on the 6th of October, and the Israeli Chief of Staff was also told by Mossad about an impending attack in mere hours
  [] Golda Meir refused to mobilise troops BECAUSE SHE WANTED ISRAEL TO APPEAR AS A VICTIM, NOT AN AGGRESSOR - VITAL FOR WORLD SYMPATHY
  [] Meir may have been sceptical about the warnings also, since there had been several false alarms by this point

Question 7

Give a timeline detailing the events of the Yom Kippur War, 6 October 1973 - 25 October 1973

Answer 7

• 6 October
  [] Golda Meir ignored warnings about an Egyptian-Syrian attack
  [] Yom Kippur (all devices, radio etc. off and people at home or in synagogue)
  [] 2pm, Egyptian air force bomb Israeli airfields, the Sinai army base and Egyptian artillery bombed the Bar Lev Line
  [] the sand wall broken in 70 places with high pressure water cannons, then temporary bridges built over the Canal by Egyptian engineers
  [] by 4:30pm, 23 000 troops in Sinai - MASSIVE EGYPTIAN MILITARY VICTORY; MORALE HIGH
  [] Israeli air force that tried to help IDF troops in Sinai were shot down by the Egyptian’s Soviet-built SAM-3 missiles, and Israeli tanks stopped by Soviet-built anti-tank missiles (around half of the IDF tanks in total destroyed)
• 6 October (again)
  [] 2pm, SAME TIME AS EGYPTIAN ATTACK, Syria invaded Golan Heights and took Israel by surprise (had minimal tanks and troops stationed in the GHs against 1200 Syrian tanks and 60 000 Syrian troops)
  [] by 8pm, Syrian forces overran Israeli defences and their tanks raced past Israeli bunkers towards the edge of the Golan Heights, threatening Israeli heartland
  [] by motorcycle, Israeli soldiers made aware of the attack, usual radio silence of Yom Kippur lifted, mobilisation of troops in total for Israel took 72h
• 8 October (night)
  [] Israeli tanks attacked the Syrians in the Golan Heights
  [] Syrians had Soviet night-vision technology so had the advantage at night
• 10 October
  [] Israeli tanks proved superior and pushed the Syrians back into Syria, then threatened Damascus
  [] Assad (the Syrian president) asked Sadat to step up his own attack to take the pressure off of the Syrian troops
  [] Sadat went against the advice of his generals and ordered the Egyptian troops to advice like Assad had asked (WENT PAST THE COVER OF THE SAM-3 MISSILES AND WERE NOW OPEN TO ATTACK VIA THE ISRAELI AIR FORCE)
  [] massive tank battle in Sinai: 260 Egyptian tanks were destroyed compared to the Israeli 20 lost
  [] 100 000 Egyptian troops forced to retreat back to the Canal and take up defensive positions there
• 15 October
  [] US military aid/supplies for Israel arrived
  [] Israelis controlled small gap of land between Egyptian armies in Sinai; during this, General Ariel Sharon ordered 750 Israeli paratroopers to sneak over the Suez
• 16 October
  [] 50 IDF tanks floated over the Canal on inflatable rafts
  [] movile bridge moved towards the Suez by Israeli tanks
• 19 October
  [] Israeli bridge put in place; Israeli tanks and troops crossed over the Canal
  [] destroyed SAM-3 missile sites so that Israeli planes could be used (even captured some of these missiles)
  [] cut off one Egyptian army in Sinai from escape
• 23 October
  [] cut-off army had only 4 days of provisions left so Sadat agreed to UN call for ceasefire
  [] Israel ignored this and pushed into Egypt to capture more land
  [] controlled both banks of the Suez Canal after the War because of this
  [] USSR threatened the USA to push Israel to agree to ceasefire, or else would send troops to help Egypt
  [] USA went on nuclear alert at this threat - USSR stepped down as a result so that nothing got out of hand
  [] instead, Arab nations used the OPEC oil weapon to pressure the USA into stopping Israel - cut production of oil worldwide by 25% as well, causing a significant rise in oil prices and crashing the world’s economy
• war ended 25 October as a result of US pressure on Israel to agree to peace

Question 8

Describe the use and impacts of the “OPEC oil weapon” from late October 1973 to 1974

Answer 8

• placed an embargo on oil for the US and cut production for worldwide sale by 25% as well to force government leaders to take the Middle Eastern issue more seriously and to find a solution
• caused a massive economic crisis, especially for the US as had to buy oil from other countries who bought it from the Middle East first
• Western countries began searching for more oil sources as a result of realising the power that the Middle East had over the entire world’s economy simply by refusing oil sale (as much)

Question 9

Describe the key reasons why Israel survived the Yom Kippur War, October 1973

Answer 9

• IDF:
  [] tanks + equipment were superior to Soviet equipment (massive propaganda point for US over Soviets in Cold War)
  [] soldiers extremely motivated as needed to protect the survival of their homeland
  [] soldiers extremely well trained
• US aid:
  [] even though arrived on the 15th of October, a couple weeks into the war, still helped greatly
  [] $2.2 billion of aid in military equipment sent
• Luck/poor Arab decisions:
  [] lucky that the Syrians didn’t immediately push to the River Jordan and gave Israel time to get organised and mobilise
  [] lucky that Sadat ignored his generals and so lost the 15 mile Sinai strip and was vulnerable to air-strikes

Question 10

Describe the aftermath of the Yom Kippur War for Israel

Answer 10

• massive victory
• gained Syrian and Egyptian land
• gained control over both the east (Sinai side) and west (Egypt side) banks of the Suez Canal and prevented Egypt from taking its toll money
• showed off military strength
• HOWEVER lost 9500 men
• only survived due to Arab tactical errors and US aid
• Golda Meir and Moshe Dayan heavily criticised due to their lack of preparation and ignorance of warning signs; forced to step down the next year due to the social pressure

Question 11

Describe the aftermath of the Yom Kippur War for the USA

Answer 11

• almost went into nuclear war
• economic crisis due to the oil weapon
• realised it NEEDED Middle Eastern peace for its own security both in terms of the Cold War and its economy
• got to show off military superiority in terms of weapons and military vehicles in contrast to Soviets’ - propaganda against USSR in the Cold War

Question 12

Describe the aftermath of the Yom Kippur War for Egypt

Answer 12

• 30 000 casualties
• lost a lot of equipment and land to the Israelis
  [] Soviets were annoyed with Sadat for wasting so much equipment and ignoring the advice of his generals that would have prevented that
• Suez Canal still blocked and under greater Israeli control; unable to collect toll money to improve economy
  [] Sadat had failed his ambition in his presidency to improve Egypt economically, to cut back on military expenditure AND to regain Sinai - not great reception in Egypt
• HOWEVER overunning the Bar Lev Line and using Soviet missiles to do mass damage was a huge win for the Egyptian military, encouraged Arab pride
  [] successfully threatened Israel and made it remember it wasn’t invincible
  [] Sadat in a better place to negotiate the return of Sinai (peace for land offer)

Question 13

Describe the aftermath of the Yom Kippur War for Syria

Answer 13

• lost land
• big military victory for the Syrians initially, especially as the Syrian military was generally regarded as poor by the Israelis
• Palestinians who fought with the Syrians however now overlooked in favour of focus on Israeli-Egyptian relations; Palestinian cause buried in the media again BUT OPEC oil weapon encouraged more focus again later

Question 14

its the good luck card !! say hi :3

Answer 14

hallo ^^