The Arab/Israeli Wars
UN Partition Plan and the War of Independence
 After the British handed Palestine over to the UN, it was split into two sections
 However, Palestinians and Arabs across the world were offended by this
 The leader of the Arab league said “I declare Jihad, my Moslem Brothers! Murder the Jews! Murder them
all!”
 In 1948, Arab armies from Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Egypt, Syria and Lebanon all attacked the Jewish portion of
Palestine
 However, the Jews formed their own army and defeated all the Arabs
 The Jews won because they were more experienced (many fought in WW2), more motivated (fighting for
their homes), better weapons (bought/supplied from US and Britain)
 During and after the war over 700,000 Palestinians left (or were forced from) their homes and became
refugees
 The new country of Israel was formed
The Fedayeen Raids, Suez Canal, Six Day War & Yom Kippur War
 The Arabs never gave up their struggle to get Palestine back
 Although the war was over, the Arabs continued to attack Israel through a terrorist organization called the
Fedayeen
 Israel responded by helping France and England attack Egypt in 1956
 In 1967, Russia spread rumors that Egypt was going to attack Israel
 Israel believed it and attacked Egypt first, crushing the Egyptian Army in only 6 days
 In 1973, Egypt and Syria launched a surprise attack on Israel on Yom Kippur (a Jewish Holiday)
 Israel was taken by surprise and it seemed that Israel was going to be destroyed
 However, at the last moment, when Israel was near defeat, the United States stepped in and sent over new
advanced weapons (tanks, airplanes etc) and helped Israel win the war
 This was the last Arab/Israeli war
What did the Arabs learn after four humiliating defeats?
 Israel is too strong to attack directly
 Israel was created and is supported by US money and weapons
 The US will never let Israel fall
 Lesson 1: The US is our enemy
 Lesson 2: Israel must be attacked indirectly (terrorism)
 Since then, there has been almost constant terrorism against Israel
What about all the Palestinian Refugees?
 Most Arab nations refused to accept Palestinian refugees in their countries
 The Arabs claim that doing this is like admitting that these people will never go home
 Jews claim that the Arabs do this intentionally so that the world can feel sympathy for the Palestinian people
Whose fault is it?
 The British: they promised the land to both people and then abandoned it
 The Jews: They came into a place where people already lived, they used terrorist tactics first, they kicked out
the Palestinians
 The Arabs: Much of the Land the Jews took was unoccupied or undeveloped, the Arabs didn’t accept the
Partition plan, the Arabs attacked first, the Arabs refused to solve the refugee problem