The Middle East: Conflict, Crisis and Change (Chapter 3) Flashcards
1
Q
What was the Cairo Conference of 1964 and what was agreed?
A
- A conference of Arab states organised by Nasser to show his leadership
- As Israel’s plans to divert the River Jordan for their agriculture was a point of contention, the Headwater Diversion Plan was drawn up to divert sources flowing into Israel
- The Palestinian Liberation Organisation was set up, along with the PLA to unite their support of Palestine against Israel
Nassers leadership of the Arab world was further reinforced here
2
Q
What were the impacts of the Cairo Conference on Israel?
A
- They were not worried about invasion as the IDF were militarily superior, there were UN peacekeeping troops and the PLA never had many soldiers
- The Head Water Diversion plan did cause tension however, with Israel airstrikes on Syria in 1967 after they had begun to build a canal in 1965, becoming a cause of the 6 day war
3
Q
What was the impact of Fatah on Israeli-Arab relations?
A
- A group formed in 1959 called Fatah led by Yasser Arafat rejected the PLO completely
- Fatah believed in using violence directed towards Israel to destroy the state and knew they could not rely on other Arab states to do it for them
- They operated out of Jordan, Lebanon and Syria, attacking Israeli villages and infrastructure
- Syria funded them with money and arms
- Every one of their attacks was met with harsh reprisals meaning Lebanon and Jordan did not support their activities
- This led to very poor relations and high tensions as Israel wanted to stop the raids and disdained Syria for funding them
- They did not operate out of Gaza due to the presence of UN peacekeeping forces
- Egypt and Syria made a treaty to support eachother if attacked due to increasing tensions
4
Q
What was the Samu incident of 1966?
A
- An Israeli patrol car drove over a landmine near the Jordan border, killing multiple
- Despite King Husseins attempts at reducing tensions, Israel sent in 600 troops to raid a West Bank settlement called Samu
- A Jordan force of 100 came across them and a battle ensued killing many, while Samu was completely destroyed
5
Q
What were the consequences of the Samu incident?
A
- Eshkol, the Israeli prime-minister at the time, was condemned, and the USA was angry that they had ruined relations with Jordan
- Israel-Arab, especially Israel-Jordan relations plummeted such as how King Hussein, trying not to look weak, started criticising Israel and calling for revenge though he could not afford a war
6
Q
What was the dogfight of 1967?
A
- An Israeli tractor inside of a DMZ of fertile land near the sea of galilee was fired on by Syrian troops from the cliffs of Golan Heights
- The Israelis sent jets to take down Syrian positions, with the Syrians sending jets of their own though losing 6 while the Israelis lost none
- This was a blow to Syrian pride and further increased tensions
7
Q
What were the series of events which led to tensions reaching an all time high, triggering the 6 day war?
A
- Israeli-Syrian relations had reached an all-time low due to the dogfight and their support of the Fatah raids
- The USSR miscommunicated to Egypt that Israel was planning on attacking Syria, causing Nasser to start a propaganda campaign against Israel and demand they give up land and let Palestinians return home as he wanted to avoid looking weak and exhibit leadership, especially as he had a pact with Syria
- He closed the Straits of Tiran to Israel
- Nasser told the UN troops in Egypt to leave, which they did, with him then putting troops in Sinai
- Israel was now convinced that the Arab states were about to launch a joint attack on them if they did not comply with his demands
8
Q
How did Israel react to Nasser’s apparent ultimatum before the 6 day war?
A
- Instead of submitting, Eshkol put Israel on military alert
- He was not going to comply, and needed the Straits of Tiran to be reopened
- While the US were not going to support them, they voiced their approval of an Israeli attack on the Arab states to reopen the Straits of Tiran
- In secret, on June 4, they planned to attack
9
Q
What were the events of the 6 day war (1967)?
A
- On 5 June, Israel attacked Egypt, invading Gaza and destroying most of its aircraft and airfields, then doing the same to Jordan and Syria and achieving total air superiority
- Egypt then invaded Sinai with tanks on 6 June, reaching the Suez Canal by 7 June, with Egypt accepting a ceasefire on 8 June
- Meanwhile, Israel attacked East Jerusalem on 6 June, achieving control by 7 June and control of the whole West Bank by 8 June despite Jordanian and UN calls for a ceasefire (which they accepted after achieving control)
- Then they focused on the north on 9 June, and by 10 June Golan Heights had been captured and Syria had accepted a ceasefire
10
Q
What were the reasons for Israeli victory in the 6 day war?
It was staggering: Israel lost 779 while about 20000 Arab soldiers were killed
A
- It was a pre-emptive strike, so Israel had the element of suprise and were able to strategically planned
- Their achievement of air superiority early on was crucial to aiding their land invasions
- The IDF were better trained than the Arab armies and highly motivated, being equipped with high quality weapons from the USA
- The Arabs were also poorly co-ordinated, they agreed truces at different times etc. - If Egypt had tried to retake Sinai when Israel were attacking Syria they may have succeeded but had limited info so did not
11
Q
What was the effects of the 6 day war on Egypt?
A
- Its military was crippled and its leader humiliated
- Gaza and Sinai lost
- The Suez Canal was blocked with debris, and with Israeli troops on the other side neither side could send ships through
- By 1970, a war of attrition along the Suez Canal had started, causing 1.5 million Egyptians to evacuate
- The USSR heavily supplied Egypt with things such as SAM missiles, while the USA provided Israel with aid meaning the war was escalating dangerously until a temporary ceacefire was agreed in August 1970
- Overall it was very costly for both sides and Egypt needed to get the canal back open
12
Q
What were the effects of the 6 day war on Israel?
A
- They had gained Gaza, Sinai, the West Bank, Golan Heights, and importantly East Jerusalem
- They had captured lots of military equipment and crippled their enemies militaries
- They faced a decision with what to do with the land: It was illegal to forcefully annex another terriority, would ruin their reputation, military occupation would be expensive, there were 1 million Arabs in the captured area and land for peace seemed to best action
- However they needed to extra land and resources, East Jerusalem was of huge importance and the territories acted as a buffer zone
13
Q
What did Israel decide to do with the captured land after the 6 day war?
A
- They completely annexed East Jerusalem
- They decided to put the other land under military control and have them be occupied territories
- This meant they could stop the Fedayeen raids and make use of the natural resources, however it was expensive, especially the war of attrition with Egypt
14
Q
What was UN Resolution 242 and its reception?
A
- The UN called for Israel to withdraw from their captured territories in exchange for Arab states recognising its right to exist
- While Israel said it was prepared to negotiate, the Arab states rejected it as they did not believe Israel had the right to any land
- At an Arab conference, they decided there would be ‘No peace, no negotiations and no recognition’ with Israel until they gave up all land
15
Q
What were the effects of the 6 day war on Palestinians?
A
- 1 million found themselves under military control, with many forced to leave
- 300000 emmigrated from the West Bank to Jordan, where they stayed in makeshift camps in poor conditions
- They were not allowed to become citizens as the Arab States argued it was Israel’s responsbility to accomodate them, which made things even worse
- Consequently, many joined guerilla movements such as Fatah whose headquarters were now in Jordan
