Israeli-Arab Conflict

The Israeli-Arab conflict was born with the the Middle East after the end from the British mandate on the Palestine, between the Arab States and the Arab population living in Palestine on the one hand and the Jewish population Sioniste then the State of Israel on the other hand.

Since 1920, whereas the territory was under British control, of the clashes burst in Palestine between Arabs and Jews, those culminating at the time of the Arab revolt of 1936-39 and of the war of 1948, which sees the creation of the State of Israel.

The Israeli-Arab conflict led to 6 wars or armed conflicts (the war of 1948, the crisis of Suez of 1956, the Guerre the Six Day old of 1967, the Guerre of Kippour of 1973, the war of Lebanon of 1982, the second war of Lebanon in 2006). Both Intifada are not regarded as pertaining to the Israeli-Arab conflict. This conflict plays an important role in the situation of the Middle East and focuses the international policy.

Many problems accompany this conflict:

the problems palestienne; in particular that of the Palestinian Taken refuge and their national claims;
the frustration of the Arab world in front of the successive defeats and the Palestinian problem;
the appearance end of the year 1960 of Palestinian groups organized activists perpetrating attacks, taken hostages and diversion of planes throughout the world like in Israel and after 1967 in the occupied territories;
the exacerbation of the Palestinian national feeling born in the years 1920 but ever concretized by the creation of a State;
the control of the holy places of Jerusalem, crowned city of 3 religions monotheists: the Judaism, the Christianity and the Islam;
the control of the drinking water main resource of the area (the basin of the Lake Tibériade).
the instrumentalisation of the conflict by certain Arab countries and Moslems not directly implied, by nonPalestinian activists groups and the whole of the international community at various ends;
not-recognition of the State of Israel and the instability which results from it on the area and the populations Jewish and palestienne;
the focusing of the international policy of several countries around the Israeli-Arab conflict and of the israélo-Palestinian problem.

Chronology

The Israeli-Arab conflict began beginning of the year 1920 when the nationalism Zionist and the Palestinian Nationalisme clashed for the control of Palestine, at the time under British control.

It is initially marked by the protest then the fight against Jewish immigration and by several massacres perpetrated against of the Palestinian Jewish communities in 1920,1929 and 1936. In 1936, the Palestinian Arabs rebel against the British authority and claim their independence but are crushed by the British. At this time also, the Jewish community is reinforced militarily and the Irgoun, a paramilitary force Zionist, carries out against the Arabs of the operations of fatal reprisals.

After the Second world war, it is with the turn of part of the Jewish community, in the chief of the Irgoun and the Lehi to conduct attacks against the British to claim the creation of a Jewish State while the political authorities official, the Jewish Agence militates at the political level and organizes a paramilitary force: the Haganah. At this time, the Palestinian Arabs reorganize painfully.

Following these events and with the international context, the British decide to leave Palestine and give their mandate to UNO. This one charges a board of inquiry then, UNSCOP to find a solution with the problem and recommends the Partage of Palestine which is voted on November 29th, 1947.

It follows from there the following day a particularly bloody civil war, which sees the Arab States taking share with the conflict. Six weeks before the end of the mandate, the Jews launch an offensive which sweep the Palestinian forces and causes the exodus of the Palestinian population. May 14th, the State of Israel is proclaimed and the close Arab States enter officially in war: it is the First war Israeli-Arab. In six months, following the construction of a numerically higher army, more justified, quickly better equipped, the Israelis carry out a series of offensives which show the takeover of 77% of old Palestine agent in what is today the internationally recognized borders of Israel. Another Palestinian exodus is followed from there with close to: 350,000 Palestinian Arabs who are expelled of on their premises, for a total of: 730,000-: 750,000 Taken refuge Palestinian. These refugees are a major point of the Israeli-Arab dispute.

The borders resulting from the agreements of armistice long and are skimped. They do not follow any natural geographical element and separate sometimes the fields from their village. Between 1949 and 1956, they are the subject of infiltrations on behalf of Palestinians who often want to turn over to plow their field or to fly in Jewish establishments but sometimes also to perpetrate attacks and to take their revenge. Israel answers by the force while launching out in a policy of reprisals of which some lead to massacres, as Qibya in 1953.

Jewish immigration

Many factors supported the blossoming of the conflict in Palestine:

the Antisémitisme which reigned in Europe at the 19th century (particularly in Poland and Russia, where massacres of Jews are repeated, but also in France with the Affaire Dreyfus) involved the birth of the Sionisme (Jewish nationalist movement which preaches the return to Sion, i.e. in Jerusalem, for there ressusciter the State of Israel antique, whose Jews had been driven out). Also, of the Jewish philantropes (inter alia, Sir Isaac Montefiore, which one can still see the mill that it made build, close to Jerusalem) to the Turkish Sultan of the time grounds, often uncultivated, sources of diseases (marsh) bought to outline the future Jewish territory. To also announce the role of the American JOINT (organization/" leveur" funds (fund raiser)), aiming at buying new grounds with the Turks, occupying Palestine until 1918. The journalist Theodore Herzl played a determining role in the development of this movement, thanks to his book the State Juif . This movement also extended to the Moslem countries, where the situation of the Jews, considered as subjects of second zone (" Dhimmi s"), was sometimes precarious. The movement Zionist related to only part of the Jews, those which saw in the Judaism a nation. As for the other Jews, they regard the Judaïsme as a religion, and their native land (France, Germany, the United Kingdom, etc) like their only fatherland, however without forgetting the constant reference to Jerusalem and Israel " historique" (i.e. old Kingdoms of Juda and Israel).

the Balfour Declaration of 1917 which, during the First World War, promises the creation of a “Jewish national Hearth” in Palestine. This concept which did not imply necessarily a State was extremely vague. But it supposed necessarily the possibility for the Jews of finding asylum there.

the disintegration of the Ottoman Empire. Combined central powers during the First World War, this empire was overcome and, in accordance with the secret agreements Sykes-Barb of 1916, the France and the the United Kingdom divided the skins of the Ottoman Empire. The United Kingdom obtained Palestine, France obtained Syria-Lebanon, etc

One can see in these three factors the origins of the Israeli-Arab conflict. Indeed, the agreements of 1916 were going to allow the United Kingdom and France to extend their colonial empires to the Middle East, in 1920, by the various peace treaties. Moreover, in accordance with the Balfour declaration of 1917, the Jews started to immigrate in greater number in Palestine, especially in the years 1930 because of the policy Antisémite of Hitler.

The United Kingdom, was charged to settle this question since it accepted the Palestinian mandate of the Société of the Nations (SDN), to enable him to apply the Balfour declaration, to the national Hearth. But it then had to face on the one hand with the Jewish Zionism and thus with the immigration of the Zionists and on the other hand to the will of independence of the Arabs of Palestine (indeed one mentioned already, in the Charter of the Company of the Nations, the self-determination of the people). If the first serious clashes between the Yichouv (Jewish community established in Palestine, including/understanding as well the new arrivals as the Jews installed of very long time around Jerusalem, Jaffa and Safed) and the villagers Arab burst since 1920, under the English mandate, a certain number of initiatives between Juifs and Arabs hatch in order to find a working arrangement . Thus, the Arab rich person families damascenes or jérusalémites hardly hesitate, in general, to sell their grounds with the organizations Zionists (in particular KKL), while the sovereign of Transjordanie starts negotiations with the Jewish Agency.

The problem becomes so complex after the Second world war, following the “Shoah”, that the United Kingdom did not manage to solve it and entrusted in 1947 the Palestinian question to the political Committee of the United Nations - the Palestinian question is not besides without mentioning the contemporary problem of the independence and the partition of the Indies. Following an investigation in Palestine and in the camps, UNO adopted in 1947 a plan of division of Palestine in two independent States, one Juif and the other Arab, and a territory of Jerusalem under control of UNO. The Jewish Agency accepted the plan of division, but this one was rejected by the Arab States. Also, in 1948, at the end of the British mandate, when Israel proclaimed its independence, this country was immediately attacked by several Arab States, which involved the Israeli-Arab Guerre of 1948.

May 15th, 1948: reflection of a Jewish company which was organized during the mandate, obtained all the functions of State except sovereignty. Other side: Arab population without national conscience, and claim of the Egypt and the the West Bank to take possession of the grounds of Palestine.

“National hearth” in the State of Israel

For the period agent the Jewish population was organized in Yichouv in Palestine.

1922 : creation of the Jewish Agency for Palestine which becomes one of the principal bodies of Jewish Palestine, it is a potential government.
1935 : this agency is elected. David Ben Gourion is the president. He will be Prime Minister for the provisional government. In parallel, Yichouv creates schools, hospitals, a trade union and a whole social structure is created. Adhesion with 80% of the workers to this trade union. Many companies, establishment of an economic system without real contacts with the Arab company.
In the years 1930: creation of a semi-clandestine armed force which counts: 45,000 men in 1947. Structuring of all the bodies necessary to the viability of a State during the British mandate.

Dislocation of Palestine in 1948

A mobilization takes form in the mandate to fight against the idea of a Jewish national hearth in Palestine. This mobilization is done especially within associations islamo-Christian women.

The reactions compared to the British mandate are very different within the Jewish population. The populations request from the Société Nations (SDN) “the formation of a national government among those which resided in Palestine since before the war, Moslems, Christians, and Jews. ” the SDN refuses.

The Arab populations refuse then any participation in the institutions agents because if not would be a legitimation of this hearth. Refusal of an equivalent Arab agency, boycott of an advisory counsel elected to negotiate at the United Kingdom. Acceptance only of a Mufti, religious figure, with the head of a supreme Moslem council with Jerusalem. 1936: Arab high committee chaired by this mufti (Amin Al-Husseini), who will end up being combined with the Nazi Germany. The Arab mobilizations do not aim to create a national movement, contrary to the Jewish populations. The situation is the different also because there is no national identity, therefore mobilization structure above all around traditional solidarity, not around the idea of a future State. Cleavages between notable as rival clans, between notable rural and urban, noncommunication enters the notable ones and the popular masses. Even when there are political parties, they do nothing but cover these traditional cleavages. In the middle of the years 1930, there is a toughening of the mobilization; starting from the campaigns there is an important rebellion of the countryside of Galileo under the direction of a local leader: Aldine Izz Al-Qassam. The revolt is not done in the name of an national identity, but in the name of Islam, revolts rural and popular. The mobilization gains then the cities, and there is a call to the general strike until the suspension of Jewish immigration. The existing political structure supports these strikes, then calls with its stop. Call in agreement with the sovereigns of the adjoining countries (Transjordanie, Iraq, Saudi Arabia), for will to spare the force agent (to make confidence with the the United Kingdom, in the Years 1940 during the Second world war). The fight is an Arab political struggle for the Palestine and not a Palestinian fight. May 15th, 1948: the Arab populations in Palestine refuse this unilateral decision, from where creation of a government of all Palestine under the direction of the mufti. This government calls upon the Arab States, because does not have structures nor of army. The armed forces of the Arab Ligue cross the borders as of the shortly after the creation of Israel. The Egypt seeks to make sure control of the territories close to its borders, especially the coastal territories. The Transjordanie wants to seize the the West Bank and even of Jerusalem. What it is necessary to retain of all these elements it is that as of the first conflict, the Palestinian population is reduced to a simple auxiliary force, captive of the Arabs. Military failure of the Arab League and bilateral signature of convention of armistice. The Palestine is then divided into three:

the Gaza Strip managed by the Egypt which controls the government of all the Palestine,

Israel,

the the West Bank and Jerusalem-Is are annexed in 1950 by the king of Jordan. This following a vote notable Palestinian. It fills an administrative vacuum and offers Jordanian nationality to the Palestinians in Jordan. Agreements in the absence of the Palestinians. Arabisation of the conflict, Israeli-Arab conflict. Question of Palestine in term of refugees, of which 65% go in camps of the West Bank and Gaza, and the others leave in Syria, with the Lebanon and in Transjordanie. The release of the Palestine becomes an element of mobilization of crowd, becomes a myth around the destruction of Israel. There was not of Palestine thus its release, it is the release of the territory. Destruction of Israel for release of Palestine. 1958: creation of the United Arab Republic (RAU), to amalgamate Egypt, Syria and the Northern Yemen. The large mufti of Jerusalem launches a campaign for the integration of Palestine in the RAU. He pushes the Arab League in the reconstitution of the Palestinian identity. Iraq answers by proposing the introduction of a Palestinian republic Gaza and the West Bank and an army of release of Palestine. This positioning worries Nasser and will push so that the top of the Arab League accepts the establishment of a Palestinian entity in 1963 and in 1964: role in Liberation organization of Palestine to Jerusalem (PLO). Will of Egypt to compete with Iraqi creations. The PLO does not have any popular base, it is the product of the play Arab, not Palestinian. The Arabs of Palestine are not apathetic but are rather engaged in parties pro-Arabic, not for the release of Palestine. The mobilization passes by the Arabism. 1965: a clandestine movement asserts an operation commando against Israel. This movement is the armed wing of the Fatah, founded with the Kuwait in 1959 by Palestinians from Egypt, attracted by the prosperity of the oil countries. They are either of the workers of higher category, or of lawyers, therefore they are integrated economically into the Kuwait, which will feel their political marginalisation. They are the first movements and they are outside the Palestine. The mobilization around the Palestinian movements of fight will be done especially after the defeat of 1967. It is the Guerre the Six Day old: the Hebrew State occupies part of the Egypt, Syria, the the West Bank, Gaza and Jerusalem-Is. Total defeat of the Arab modes. Crisis of legitimacy because do not manage to counter the Israeli offensives. Years 1960: strong increase in the combatants because frustration. Mobilizing euphoria, expansion of the groups, multiplication of the scissions in the groups. It is necessary that the movements in favor of the Palestine unify. He is chosen an integration of the various groups in the PLO. 1968: PLO becomes the hat of the groups, place of stake and balance between the various groups. Conflict balance. In the PLO, the Fatah plays a part of referee then of implementation political carried out by the PLO. Therefore, the PLO is not a homogeneous organization, but it is the hat various organizations in permanent conflict. The PLO adopts a charter with its creation: right of the Palestinian people to exert his right to self-determination and its sovereignty. 1969: adopt a program which insists on the free society and democratic in Palestine, in coexistence between Christians, Jews and Moslems. For the first time, one speaks about the Palestinian people, therefore a specific project is disengaged from the Arab countries. A new Palestinian community supposes the possibility of taking again possession of Palestinian space: resumption of possession symbolic system above all, without requirement in territorial term, rather return to a golden age. Space is abstract, without concrete claim of the territories. Claim of the elimination of the Jewish State. As the movement developed apart from the historical borders of the Palestine, there is a strong dichotomy between the interior and outside. The PLO is very badly represented inside until the middle of the years 1970. Moreover, the PLO hesitates to assert the the West Bank clearly, because it would be a requirement towards the Jordan, from where conflicts between Palestinians of over there and Jordanian capacity. Lastly, one keeps the idea of the arabity of the Palestine and it is necessary to be constant by all the Arab emotional dash and the Arab masses. Paradoxical situation for the PLO which wants to keep its autonomy, to direct the fight for the Palestinians but which remains dependant on the Arab countries, their support and the Arab territories. 1974 should be awaited so that an Arab top recognizes the PLO like the only one representing of the Palestinian people. The structuring of the Palestinian identity was carried out on a negative mode, and because it was victim of a colonization.

Arab positions

The Palestinians exile themselves much in the Arab countries. These States accept them like refugees. They are afraid which these populations involve of economic and political imbalances, and thus separately the Jordan, these States confine the refugees in camps in precarious situations. The liberation movements of the Palestine implement of the guerilla against Israel starting from the Arab States. Palestinian resistance built its military bases, in addition to the constitution of State in the State, therefore the Palestinians have more evil to be made accept by the countries hosts which fear reprisals of Israel.

September 1970: the king of Jordan drives out the Palestinian combatants after fatal combat. This black September carries an hard blow to the Palestinian resistance which must be folded up on Lebanon. That poses the problem of who represents the Palestinians of Jordan: the PLO or the king?

Evolution in 1974: decisions by the PLO to found an independent authority, main road and fighting on all the portions of the Palestinian territory which will be released. It is thus the appearance of the national authority. First step towards the claim of a Palestinian State, without fixing the borders for as much (thus still vague project). But it is clear that the PLO fights for the recognition of a political sovereignty on the occupied territories by Israel. The PLO is recognized like the single legitimate representative of the Palestinian people. Therefore, the bloody conflict is an element moreover in the precision of the Palestinian claim. The combatants folded up with the Lebanon are taken with the trap of theLebanese one. There is a military structuring with the Lebanon more one embryo of organized national company. The Palestinian company is framed more and more, there are unions, organizations, there is a Palestinian national bottom, workshops of production, management of cells of mutual aid to the families of combatants, management of hospital. These various structures are necessary to the constitution of a future Palestinian State to the Lebanon. All the more possible as they have a liberty of action and that the PLO profits from the oil manna. The Lebanese official structures are low, and Community fractionation is strong. The PLO benefits from these limits of the Lebanese State to ensure its development. In the second time, the Lebanon proves to be a trap, because the combatants are taken in the internal conflicts in Lebanon. The Palestinian question contributed to radicalize and precipitate the confrontations Lebanese.

In 1969 in 1973, the Lebanon was confronted with resistant Palestinian. Bursting of the war and the coalition palestino-islamo progressist which faces the Christian line militia. The PLO is combined of Syria but reversal of Syria thus the PLO is found taken between Israel and Syria.

1982: invasion of the Lebanon by the Israeli army to break the Palestinian structures. The Palestinians lose their advantage on the Lebanese territory and are enlisés in a conflict different from the conflict with Israel. It is the end of the Palestinian presence in Lebanon and destruction of their infrastructures. As they were not already present any more in the West Bank, there is no more Palestinian presence at the borders. The staff of the PLO moves away to be established with Tunis. The rupture is even larger between the elite of resistance and the Palestinian population. There exist internal conflicts with the PLO: a positioning to continue the armed struggle; and another positioning to seek a political solution. The political solution must pass by the bringing together with the Arab countries like the Egypt and the Jordan. It would be a flashback for the others.

Today the Palestinian Authority, under the presidency of Mahmoud Abbas and following Yasser Arafat, its 1st president elected in 1996, work for the creation of a Palestinian State. May 25th, 2006, he announces the behavior of a referendum in this direction.

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