The Middle East Since 1979
Kevin J. Benoy
Opposition to the Egyptian-Israeli Peace
• Arab extremists within and
outside Egypt were appalled
by Sadat’s peace with Israel.
• The headquarters of the
Arab League were pulled
out of Cairo and moved to
Tunis.
• All Arab states except the
Sudan and Morocco
condemned the Treaty –
though Jordan acted more
realistically than they
sounded.
Opposition to the Egyptian-Israeli Peace
• Israel seemed to be
going against the spirit
of the accords.
– In planting new Jewish
settlements on the West
Bank.
– In moving the national
capital from Tel Aviv to
Jerusalem.
– In annexing the Golan
Heights in 1981.
Opposition to the Egyptian-Israeli Peace
• When Sadat gave sanctuary
to the deposed Shah of Iran,
he pleased his American
sponsors but infuriated
Moslem fundamentalists.
• His government was also
accurse of corruption.
• In the end, the Egyptian
leader paid for his various
actions with his life.
• While watching a military
parade, he was gunned
down by some of the
participants.
Opposition to the Egyptian-Israeli Peace
• Sadat was succeeded by
Hosni Mubarak.
• The new Egyptian leader
continued to pursue the
same policies – dogged by
many of the same criticisms
as his predecessor.
• Opposition to the Egyptian
government ran deep in
Egypt, but the country’s
military leaders kept a firm
lid on things for decades to
come.
Lebanon
• After ejection from Jordan,
the PLO moved its
operational headquarters
to Lebanon.
• Its arrival upset the delicate
racial and religious balance
in the country.
• Various Moslem groups
competed with Christians
and Palestinians for control
of parts of the country,
with a weak government
trying to prevent the
country from falling apart.
Lebanon
• In 1975 fighting broke out
between leftist Moslems
and the right wing
Christian Phalange.
• Cease fires were brokered
but didn’t stick.
• In 1976 the Syrians
intervened to restore
order, but they came into
conflict with the PLO as
they did so.
Lebanon
• In 1978, the Israelis
launched a full-scale
invasion of Lebanon, hoping
to cripple the PLO.
• They occupied all of the
country south of the Litani
River, not withdrawing until
after the United Nations
Interim Force in Lebanon
convinced them to hand
things over to the rightwing Christian militias and
leave.
Lebanon
• Peace did not return.
• Israel effectively
partitioned the country
by encouraging the
establishment of an
“Independent Free
Lebanon” in the South.
• The Syrians occupied
the North-East,
including the important
Baka’a Valley.
Lebanon
• In 1982 the Israelis returned in force.
• This time their goal was to destroy the
PLO in Lebanon.
• 6,000 PLO fighters were trapped in
Beirut.
• Eventually US intervention brought a
cease fire and the insertion f a
Western multi-national peacekeeping
force and the evacuation of PLO
fighters from the city.
• In a violation of a cease fire
agreement, Israeli forces and their
Christian allies advanced in Beirut –
more seriously, the advance included
Christian militiamen entering and
killing defenceless Palestinian civilians
in the Sabra and Shatila camps.
Lebanon
• Israeli complicity in the massacres
was clear.
• The Phalangist killers operated
with Israeli equipment,
coordinating events with Israeli
personelle.
• The night sky was illuminated
with Israeli flares to assist the
attack.
• Israel was aware of the actions
but made no attempt to stop it.
• The international community
held Israel indirectly responsible
for the thousands of death and
Israeli Defense Minister Ariel
Sharon was fired as a
consequence.
Lebanon
• Foreign forces withdrew, but
Lebanon’s problems persisted.
• For a time, central government
ceased to exist as local private
armies and militias competed for
control of tiny fiefdoms.
• Sunni Moslems fought Shi’ites,
Druzhe or Christians.
Fundamentalists fought
moderates. Syrian intervention
was frequent while Israelis
worked through the Phalange
and others to eliminate the
omnipresent anti-Israeli guerillas.
• The Israeli invasion led to chaos
and the destruction of what had
been one of the Middle East’s
most prosperous Arab countries.
Lebanon
• In Israel a debate was started
as many found it hard to
justify what had happened.
• Many opposed the invasion,
seeing it as indicative of a
dangerous expansionist
tendency.
• Many sensibly pointed out
that the Lebanese situation
was far too complex to solve
through military action and
that the invasion merely made
political remedies even more
difficult.
The First Gulf War
• This conflict served to
remind us that it is possible
for a Middle Eastern crisis
not to be centered on Israel.
• Iraq’s 1990 gamble, the
occupation of Kuwait, was,
in retrospect, an incredibly
foolish move.
• Mired in debt, Saddam
Hussein tried to swallow the
oil-rich sheikdom to make
Iraq the world’s #2 oil
producer.
The First Gulf War
• The gamble failed when the USA
and other countries refused to
accept the occupation.
• Kuwait appealed for help and
help it received.
• The end of the Cold War gave the
US considerable flexibility, since
its European forces were free for
redeployment.
• President Bush also collected
many political debts as he
patched together a coalition of
Allied forces including Britain,
France, Italy and Saudi Arabia, as
well as a number of other Arab
countries, including even old
nemesis Syria and a number of
other countries from around the
world.
The First Gulf War
• US military might and
Saudi petrodollars
brought a huge military
build-up in the area.
• Lack of opposition to the
alliance at the UN
resulted in international
sanction for action.
• The Iraqis were isolated,
with only Jordan and
South Yemen sympathetic
– but not willing to help.
The First Gulf War
• There was no doubt
about the result.
• A 2nd rank military power
fought a 1st rank one,
with many allies.
• Iraq was soundly thrashed
and even the unleashing
of SCUD missiles against
Israel, with the intention
of splitting off America’s
Arab allies, failed.
The First Gulf War
• Iraq may have been on
the verge of having
nuclear weapons at the
time of the war, but it
dared not use them.
• Hussein even held back
from using chemical
weapons in his SCUD
attack on Israel.
• He must have been
worried that Israel might
employ its own nuclear
arsenal in response.
The First Gulf War
• After a prolonged bombing
campaign, the Allies finally launched
their attack.
• It was an anti-climax as Iraqi forces
scrambled to surrender.
• Hussein salvaged his best forces, the
Republican Guard, and left his
regular forces to face the brunt of
the attack.
• In a war covered extensively by
media, the largest operation
remained cloaked in secrecy for
months. As the Iraqis fled Kuwait,
their vehicles were tracked and
destroyed by Allied planes and
attack helicopters. The outcome
was gruesome and deemed unfit for
Western cameras by the American
military command.
The First Gulf War Aftermath
• Kuwaiti independence was
restored.
• Before leaving, Saddam
ordered that the Kuwaiti oil
fields be set alight. It took
months to put out the fires.
• The cease fire that ended
the war left Iraq beaten, but
with Saddam still in power.
• Rebellions set in motion by
allied promises of help were
brutally suppressed.
First Gulf War Aftermath
• President George Bush
ended the war once his
political ends were met.
• Iraq remained a
troublesome country, but
economic and military
sanctions meant it posed
little military threat to its
neighbours.
• Saddam posed a much
more significant threat to
his internal opponents –
both Shia Moslems and
Kurds.
First Gulf War Aftermath
• Though Israel played only
a passive role in the
conflict – as a target for
several SCUD missiles – its
restraint was hugely
important in holding the
alliance together.
• The cost of this passivity
was significant US military
help – including Patriot
anti-missile systems.
The First Intifada (1987-1993)
• The plight of Palestinians
remains central to the
ongoing Arab-Israeli
struggle.
• In 1987, Palestinian
emotions boiled over
when an incident in which
a Palestinian knifed an
Israeli was followed by an
Israeli military transporter
running into a crowd,
killing 4. Palestinians did
not think it an accident.
The First Intifada (1987-1993)
• Civil disobedience –
strikes, boycotts, and
non-payment of taxes
began, but so too did
violent resistance.
• Stone throwing youths
met live fire from the
IDF (Israeli Defense
Force).
• Over 1,000 Palestinians
and 164 Israelis died.
The First Intifada (1987-1993)
• Palestinian anger was a
reaction to the lack of
attention given to their
problems and to Israeli
harshness – bulldozing of
homes, settlements built in
the West Bank, detentions,
extra-judicial killings and the
like.
• The lack of job opportunities
for educated Palestinian youth
was especially galling. Only
1/8 of Palestinians with
degrees could get work related
to their training.
Madrid Conference & Talks to 1993
• The First Gulf War created
an atmosphere conducive
to working for a real
settlement.
• Israeli wartime restraint
convinced many that they
were interested in ending
conflict.
• Starting at Madrid in 1991
– Palestinians and Israelis
committed to making the
necessary effort.
Oslo Accords
• Secret talks between Israel
and the PLO finally bore fruit.
• A framework for future talks
toward a general settlement
was agreed.
• The IDF would withdraw from
much of the West Bank and
Gaza Strip, allowing for the
formation of a Palestinian
state, to be phased in several
stages.
• The PLO would renounce
violence.
The Oslo Accords
• Israel’s right-wingers
rejected the agreement.
• The Left supported it.
• It passed in the Knesset by
61-50, with 8 abstentions.
• The Palestinians also split.
Fatah (who negotiated it)
supported it, but Hamas
and the Popular Front for
the Liberation of Palestine
rejected it, as they rejected
Israel’s right to exist.
The Oslo Accords
• Mutual distrust was a
problem.
• Israel expected it to end
attacks by Palestinians – but
Fatah could not enforce
this.
• Arabs expected Jewish
building in the West Bank to
end, but although no new
settlements were added,
there was considerable
expansion of existing ones.
The Oslo Accords
• In 2001 Benjammin
Netanyahu was caught
on camera stating that
he interpreted the
agreement to include
Israeli security forces
continuing to operate
throughout the West
Bank – clearly not what
the Palestinians
believed.
Cave of the Patriarchs Massacre
• The Cave of the Patriarchs is
a site holy to Moslems and
Jews, with each
worshipping in a separate
area.
• On February 25, 1994,
Baruch Goldstein, an
American born Jew and
member of the radical
orthodox Kach group,
entered the cave dressed in
military fatigues and
carrying a gun.
Cave of the Patriarchs Massacre
• Goldstein, who had
previously desecrated the
Moslem area by pouring
acid on its carpets, now
blocked the exit and fired
into the praying crowd,
killing 29 and wounding 125
before being overwhelmed
and killed by the survivors.
Palestinians claimed that 3
Israeli guards also opened
fire.
Reaction to the Massacre
• An overwhelming majority of
Israeli Jews condemned the
massacre, but Arab anger grew
as many felt the inquiry was
whitewashing things by
blaming Baruch alone – how
could one man do such
damage alone?
• Hamas set off the first
successful suicide bombing in
Israel itself after the event and
rioting occurred widely and
resulting in Arab and Jewish
deaths.
Reaction to the Massacre
• From 1996 to 1999,
Netanyahu declared a
tit-for-tat policy of hard
retaliation for any
attacks on Jews.
• Agreements with
Palestinians were made
– but only if Israeli
security was
guaranteed.
Camp David Meeting, 2000
• Bill Clinton hosted a
meeting where Ehud Bahrak
offered 95% of West Bank
territory, all of Gaza and
jurisdiction over East
Jerusalem in return for 69
Jewish settlements on the
West Bank.
• This was not enough for
Arafat, who thought the
Israeli offer insincere.
• He walked out.
2nd Intifada – the Al Aqsa Intifada
2000-2005
• Rioting followed Ariel
Sharon’s visiting Temple
Mount.
• Arafat’s anger on
leaving the Camp David
talks was reflected in
the streets.
• In the initial violence 47
Palestinians were killed
and 1885 wounded. 5
Israelis died.
The 2nd Intifada
• Horrific events angered
both sides in October,
2000.
• Israeli troops used both
rubber bullets and live
ammunition against
Palestinian rockthrowing teens.
The 2nd Intifada
• On October 12, two Israeli
reservists entered Ramallah and
sought refuge in the police
station after facing hostile
Palestinians.
• Rumours spread that they were
undercover Israeli agents.
• A mob stormed the police
building and the men were
beaten, stabbed and
disembowelled.
• The killings were filmed by an
Italian TV crew and broadcast to
the world.
The 2nd Intifada
• One atrocity after another
was committed – each an act
of retaliation in a never
ending circle of violence.
• The violence did not subside
until late 2004 or even 2005.
• New Palestinian leader
Mohammed Abbas pledged to
end Arab violence.
• Israeli leader Sharon agreed to
free 900 Palestinian prisoners.
Road Map for Peace
• The US, the European Union,
Russia and the UN outlined
principles in 2002-03 that might
serve as a framework to end the
conflict.
• It involved the establishment of a
Palestinian state in the West
Bank and Gaza.
• The PLO would have to control
Arab violence against Jews and
Israel would have to dismantle
West Bank settlements.
• To this day, neither have
managed to do so
Road Map for Peace
• Compounding the problem has
been the Palestinian schism.
• Fatah won elections in the West
Bank, but in Gaza the more radical
Hamas won control.
• There are, effectively, two
Palestinian areas that oppose each
other.
• Both are often in conflict with the
IDF – especially in Gaza, from
where Palestinian rocket attacks
on Israel are launched – resulting
in Israeli retaliation – in the
bulldozing of suspected terrorist
homes and in retaliatory bombing.
Prospects for the Future
• The Israeli-Palestinian
dispute must be resolved if
there is to be peace in the
Middle East.
• The framework for peace –
the two state solution – is in
place.
• However, both sides need
to work harder to make
peace stick – and both need
to honour their word when
agreements are met.
Prospects for the Future
• Renewed war at the state
level is not an option.
• Israel is a nuclear armed
state, with a delivery system
capable of hitting any
potential adversary.
• Only a negotiated
settlement can eliminate
the potential for
Armageddon.
finis