The Arab Israeli Conflict, arms race, WMDs and attempts at arms control.

The Arab Israeli Conflict in essence begins long before the 1957 war which fostered
the grounds for relations between Arab states and Israel to worsen. In reality Israelis
have had confrontations with Arabs long before this. (Tower of Babylon) etc. But for
the purposes of this presentation we shall be focusing on how relations worsened
from 1945 onwards to this present day.
Firstly it is important to note that the Arab Israeli conflict does also include Palestine
as well as the other neighbouring Arab states, notably Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria
and Saudi Arabia. Each and every one of these countries politically has reacted
differently to the rise of the Israeli state, sometimes harbouring healthy relations and
sometimes harbouring unhealthy relations. In this presentation I shall be outlining the
reasons for these tensions and solved issues concerning these tensions.
Israeli Egyptian tensions from their birth; (The 1956 Suez Sinai campaign).
Primarily because of Nassers rise to power in 1952, Egypt as a state politically
attained much more legitimacy and Nasser was welcomed by the international arena,
especially the US, who trained Egyptian soldiers and send international aid. Both
Israel and the west and welcomed the arrival of Nasser and his ambitions for socio-
economic reforms. Israel respected this new leader because he had entered in
peace negotiations as early as 1949 where he had expressed a desire to reach a
peace settlement (these peace talks had continued in secret until 1958).
However it is interesting to note that when Palestine suffered at the hands of Israelis
(e.g The Qibya incident) it was often relations between Arab states that were
tarnished. During the 1950s infiltrations on the Gaza strip were increasing, Egyptian
efforts to reduce the number of infiltrations were unsuccessful, interestingly enough
Israel saw the sabotage to be largely the fault of the Egyptians and evidence
suggests that the Egyptians only supported sabotages from 1955 onwards. And
more interestingly - it was Israeli Egyptians and Israelites who attempted to sabotage
an Anglo-American property in Egypt so as to encourage a British military presence
in the region- this attempt failed and further exacerbated pressures between Egypt
and Israel. This was the Lavon affair (code named Operation Susannah). For
Nasser and for Israel the turning point in these already precarious relations was the
1955 Gaza raid (28
th
February) in which 38 Egyptian soldiers were killed. The raid
was intended as a message from Ben Gurion to Nasser, and Nasser understood the
massage. Nasser responded by with the Czech arms deal and the closure of the
Straits of Tiran acted as the main catalyst for the 1956 seven day war.



However despite these shaky relations, it is true that war is often preferred by people
in power as a viable solution. However when the countries involved are in a
stalemate, peaceful solutions must be found. The following conflict which broke out
between the two nations was the 1973 October war, this conflict offered fresh
opportunities for a peaceful solution to be found, partly because of the Uss
involvement through Secutary of state Henry KISSINGERS INVOLVEMENT in aiding a
peaceful solution to be sought, and partly because of willingness of President
Anwaar Sadat, Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin to take the this risk.


Anti- Colonial phase (1917-48)
Four Arab-Israeli wars (1948-73)
Has appeared form its inception onwards , in various forms, ani colonial , irredentist,
anti annexation, movement against second settler colonisation.




















References

SCHULZE KIRSTEN E, The Arab-Israeli Conflict, 1999, Pearson Education Limited,
Essex.
Amos Oz, How to Cure a fanatic.
1. Prepare a 1 page presentation handout, including a bibliography (list of work
consulted).
2. Submit your presentation handout 1 day before the actual presentation.
Presentation handouts should be submitted electronically through the blackboard
VLE. Presenters will NOT have to print out hard copies of their handout.
3. Submit by email to the module tutor 1 core reading on your presentation. This
should be done 2 days before the actual presentation.
4. Use PowerPoint for your presentation. Please consider (i) fond size (ii) colouring
(iii) number of slides when preparing the PowerPoint presentation.
5. Write a 300-word self-assessment (word document) on your presentation. The
self-assessment should be sent by email to the module tutor no later than 2 days
after the presentation
6. Rely entirely on academic sources (peer reviewed articles, books, chapters) for
your presentation. The only internet sources you will be allowed to use/cite include:
newspaper articles and information taken from government, international agency,
NGO etc. websites. Failure to do so will be penalised.
7. After the presentation, students should make an appointment with the class tutor
to discuss their presentation. During the feedback session, students will receive their
grade, and a detailed comment on their presentation. They will also receive the peer
evaluations from their classmates.
8. NOTE: Failure to fully comply with the presentation requirements listed above will
result in the deduction of 2 points from the presentation grade.