The Middle East: Conflict, Crisis and Change (Chapter 3)

Question 1

What was the Cairo Conference of 1964 and what was agreed?

Answer 1

• 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

Question 2

What were the impacts of the Cairo Conference on Israel?

Answer 2

• 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

Question 3

What was the impact of Fatah on Israeli-Arab relations?

Answer 3

• 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

Question 4

What was the Samu incident of 1966?

Answer 4

• 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

Question 5

What were the consequences of the Samu incident?

Answer 5

• 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

Question 6

What was the dogfight of 1967?

Answer 6

• 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

Question 7

What were the series of events which led to tensions reaching an all time high, triggering the 6 day war?

Answer 7

• 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

Question 8

How did Israel react to Nasser’s apparent ultimatum before the 6 day war?

Answer 8

• 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

Question 9

What were the events of the 6 day war (1967)?

Answer 9

• 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

Question 10

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

Answer 10

• 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

Question 11

What was the effects of the 6 day war on Egypt?

Answer 11

• 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

Question 12

What were the effects of the 6 day war on Israel?

Answer 12

• 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

Question 13

What did Israel decide to do with the captured land after the 6 day war?

Answer 13

• 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

Question 14

What was UN Resolution 242 and its reception?

Answer 14

• 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

Question 15

What were the effects of the 6 day war on Palestinians?

Answer 15

• 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

Question 16

What was Palestinian terroism like following the 6 day war?

Answer 16

• They knew they could not rely on Arab states, and since there were many more refugees the number of recruits and attacks grew
• It was divided: Groups like Fatah wanted to force Israel to leave by attacking their occupied territories, whilst new groups like the PFLP believed international terroist action was key to attract attention, especially since Fatah’s attacks were always met with reprisals
• An incident where a Fatah mine blew up an Israeli schoolbus and Israeli retaliated by sending 15000 troops to raid Karameh in Jordan resulted in Fatah growing and Arafat becoming chairman of the PLO despite the technical Israeli victory
• In contrast, the PFLP headed by Habash carried out their famous Dawsons Field Hijacking in 1970 where they hijacked 4 planes in Jordan and held Jewish hostages in demand for PLFP prisoner releases

Question 17

What was Black September (1970)?

Answer 17

• The PLO, headed by Arafat, effectively controlled a state within a state in Jordan by 1970 and King Hussein saw it as a threat to his power
• Furious about the airplane hijackings (especially since they were planes of Western countries), he decided to sieze control of Palestinian bases and was back in control of his country by 1971 with the PLO expelled to Beirut

Question 18

What was the Munich Massacre (1972)

Answer 18

• A group called the Black September Organisation emerged following Black Setpember
• At the Olympic Games in Munich, they siezed control of apartments in the Olympic village, taking 9 athletes hostage and demanding the release of 200 Palestinian prisoners
• Despite negotiation attempts, a German police raid ended with all 9 athletes being killed, with the terroists being killed or taken prisoner

Question 19

What was the impact of Palestinian terroism in the late 60s and early 70s on Israel?

Answer 19

• International sympathy for Israel increased
• However it failed to change policy, with the Prime Minister at the time, Golda Meir, ordered attacks on Syria and Lebanon and starting Operation Wrath of God which allowed Mossad to assasinate those responsible for attacks
• These reprisals failed, as Palestinian groups received many more recruits and much sympathy after one of them was killed

Question 20

What were the causes of the Yom Kippur War?

Answer 20

• In 1970, Nasser died and was replaced by Anwar Sadat
• Sadat wanted to rebuild Egypt domestically and needed to cut military spending to do this so therefore needed the Suez Canal to be reopened and for there to be peace with Egypt
• He offered peace for Sinai with Golda Meir but this was rejected
• Due to his failing popularity, he felt the only solution was to launch a co-ordinated attack on Israel with Syria to make them realise they were not invincible so they might accept his offer

Question 21

What were the initial events of the Yom Kippur War (1973) before Israel started to take back land?

Answer 21

• On Yom Kippur, when everything was closed and Israeli soldiers were at home, Egypt launched an attack on Sinai, bombing the Bar Lev Line, blasting it open and then crossing the canal with makeshift bridges and 23000 troops
• The Egyptians also had Soviet SAM missiles so Israel could not achieve air superioriy
• At the same time as the Egyptians, Syria with a huge army invaded Golan Heights and threatened Israel’s heartland
• The radio silence of Yom Kippur was lifted and it took 72 hours for Israel to fully mobilise

Question 22

What were the final events of the Yom Kippur War (1973) from when Israel started to take back land?

Answer 22

• The mobilised Israelis immeadiately took back Golan Heights which they did in 4 days and were threatening Damascus
• Hoping to take pressure off of Syria, Sadat pushed into Egypt past the protection of SAM missiles, where they lost 260 tanks and had to retreat back to the canal where they took up defensive positions
• Israel, armed with US weapons pushed through the center of these positions and over the Suez Canal using an inflatable bridge, where they were now threatening Cairo and cutting off the supplies to the Egyptians still on the East Bank of the canal
• After the UN called for a ceasefire which Israel did not listen to, the Soviets threatened to step in on behalf of Egypt and the USA put pressure on Israel as it was threatened by Arab states with the oil weapon causing Israel to finally stop

Sadat’s original plan was only to take a small section of Sinai beyond the Suez Canal

Question 23

What were the impacts of The Yom Kippur War on Egypt and Israel?

Answer 23

• Despite Israel gaining land in Egypt and Syria (which they soon gave back) they had lost many troops and suffered a blow to their pride
• The Egyptians had lost even more militarily and the Suez Canal was still unusable, however they had overrun the Bar Lev line, hugely increasing their confidence and Arab pride
• Egypt was now in a stronger position to offer peace for land to stop the war of attrition on the Suez Canal which restarted after the war
• The USA also now needed peace in the Middle East to ensure a constant supply of oil and also wanted to avoid a war with the USSR, so therefore now had reason to put pressure on Israel to negotiate with Egypt