Use LEFT and RIGHT arrow keys to navigate between flashcards;
Use UP and DOWN arrow keys to flip the card;
H to show hint;
A reads text to speech;
57 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
|
Aftermath of the 1949 War: |
1. 3 military coups in Syria 2. Egypt and Lebanon's PM's dead 3. Transjordan annexed the West Bank and East Jerusalem 4. Abdullah issued a decree to stop using the word Palestine 5. Abdullah engaged in talks with Israel about peace, but when the Arab League found out, they threatened to expel them, so they stopped 6. Abdullah was assassinated by a Palestinian 7. Ben Gurion first PM 9. Law of the land- any Jews from anywhere can move to Israel |
|
|
Tripartite Declaration |
Uk, US and France issued this in May 1950. It opposed the use of force or threat to solve the Arab Israeli conflict. It guaranteed to armistice borders arrangement and sent 80,000 British troops to the Suez Canal Zone to deter. |
|
|
Free Officers Revolution |
This brought Nasser and the RCC to power in 1952. Their long term objectives were removing the British, reducing the power of the aristocracy, eliminating detrimental foreign interests and getting regional stature. |
|
|
Fedayeen Raids |
Raids done by Palestinians in refugee camps against Israel. The UN established a Mixed Armistice Committee in 1949 to investigate problems. Israel arranged much worse raids in retaliation to send a message. Example- after a raid killed an Israeli mom and two kids, Israel killed over 50 people in the village of Qibya |
|
|
Johnston Plan |
Eric Johnson, a US Presidential envoy, made this plan based on the Tennessee Valley Authority to irrigate the Jordan Valley and redistribute the Jordan River waters. this would allow refugees to resettle and resolve a major issue in the Arab Israeli conflict. Israel refused the plan, which made the US very upset and they suspended aid to Israel for a short time, until Israel pressured them to send more. |
|
|
Anglo Egyptian Accords |
This agreement said the British troops should be evacuated from the Suez Canal base by 1955. This was a victory for Nasser because the legitimacy of the Free Officers and the RCC rested on this. The Egyptian Muslim Brethren were opposed to the accords and tried to assassinate Nasser. Israel also did not like the accords because they removed the 80,000 British buffer between them and their greatest threat. The US pressured Britain to sign the accords because they wanted to lure Egypt towards a pro-West alliance to ward off Soviet expansionism. |
|
|
Lavon Affair |
The Israelis were very concerned about the Anglo-Egyptian accords so they created a spy ring made up of Egyptian Jews. They were told to bomb the American and Egyptian embassy's. Since the Israeli public didn't know about this plan, they thought Nasser had made up accusations and wanted Ben Gurion to do something about it. In response to Fedayeen raids, he launched the Gaza raid, which killed 40 Palestinians and 8 Israelis. Nasser was humiliated by this and started to support the Fedayeen raids. Nasser put many of them on trial. He needed more arms without America, so he turned towards the Soviet Union. |
|
|
Eisenhower Administration |
Eisenhower came to power in 1953 and implemented his New Look Foreign Policy. This was based on the thought that Americans should not suffer worse lives because of the high military profile ordained under NSC-68. He also tried to combat Soviet influence. Dulles, the Secretary of State saw Nasser as the enemy. Because of this, he agreed to the Baghdad Agreement, which was an agreement by Iraq, Iran, Turkey, Pakistan and Britain where they shared economic, political and military goals. Dulles hoped that other Arab States would join the agreement and isolate Nasser, forcing him to go towards the pro West alliance. When Iraq joined, Nasser felt threatened and launched a propaganda campaign. He accused the Arab States of falling into Western imperialism. When the cold war then started, Nasser made an arms deal with the Soviet Union. |
|
|
Aswan Dam Project |
The Eisenhower administration was taken aback by Nasser's development, but instead of pushing him farther away, they worked with Britain to offer to partially fund the project for Egypt. This project was important to Nasser because it would stop the flooding of the Nile River which sometimes caused issued in Egypt and as well provide more fertile lands and more hydroelectric power. Dulles reinstated the Alpha plan along with the offer and send Anderson to negotiate with Nasser and Ben Gurion. Nasser was receptive to the plan, but Ben Gurion rejected it. Since the Anderson commission failed, the US had less incentive to fund the project. Once Nasser recognized Communist China in May, it was the last straw for Dulles and he took back the offer. |
|
|
Suez Canal Crisis 1956 |
Nasser responded to the US taking back their offer by nationalizing the Suez Canal Company. Britain and France were the main share holders in the company, so they were very angry. The US tried to resolve the crisis without force, Dulles created the Suez Canal Users Association made up of maritime nations to mediate. the UN also tried to mediate, but Nasser maintained his position. Israel had been planning a strike against Egypt for over a year and now that Britain and France were made at Nasser it was the perfect time. Britain, France and Israel planned to attack Egypt together. Israel was going to launch the war on its own and Britain and France would then issue an ultimatum to both sides to withdraw from the area. Then the British and french would intervene with their military and take over the canal. This was called the tripartite invasion and the US was not entirely against the objectives, but could not be apart of it so close to an election. Israel attacked in Oct 1956 and the next day, the British and French issued an ultimatum to withdraw 10 miles on each side of the canal to Israel and Egypt. Since Israel had already achieved its objectives, it happily listened. Egypt said no. By the end of the war, Israel had captured almost the entire Sinai. Because Egypt said no, on Nov 5, Britain and France began a bombing campaign. the next day the US and SU passed a ceasefire agreement, and both parties agreed by the 8. Even though Nasser lost a lot of his military, he still considered it a success. for Britain and France it was a disaster. Now there was an open space for influence in the Middle East and the US decided to fill the void. Eisenhower created the Eisenhower doctrine which offered military and economic aid to countries in the Middle East fighting off communism. the Arab states did not receive this doctrine well. |
|
|
Syrian American Crisis |
The Syrians launched the crisis because they discovered a US backed plan to overthrow their regime because they were too close with the Soviets. The Eisenhower admin saw this as an opportunity to get pro-West Arab states together against Syria. However, they did not want to go agains their fellow Arab state.The US then went to Turkey because the Turks did not like the Soviets on their border. the Soviets began threatening the Turks and all of a sudden the world superpowers were facing off. Nasser took the opportunity and sent troops to help Syria. The Eisenhower admin switched gears and started to see Nasser as a helpful ally to fight off Soviet expansionism. |
|
|
NSC Resolution 5820 |
This took place in 1958 and the purpose was to contain soviet influence and protect oil supplies. Now the US saw working with Nasser as essential. As Iraq got closer with the Soviet Union, Nasser moved towards the US. |
|
|
Arab Cold War |
Nasser had a bad year in 1961 because of the Kuwaiti Crisis in June and Syria's secession from the United Arab Republic in September, which had made him look weak. He also had issued a socialist decree. The US wanted to keep Nasser close to help protect Saudi Arabia and ward off the SU. Kennedy sent a letter to 5 Arab leaders promising support for the UN Conciliation Commission to resolve the Palestinian refugee problem and give compensation for lost property. The US also voted against Israel at the UN on a resolution condemning the retaliatory raid against Syria.
|
|
|
Johnson Plan |
Now Kennedy thought the Arab Israeli peace process was possible so he pushed forward a new plan in 1962. The plan allowed for Palestinian refugees to either choose to go back to Israel or to resettle in neighbouring countries with compensation for lost property and resettling costs. The US was convinced that very few would want to go back to Israel, but Israel said even 10% was too many. The US tried to make Israel agree by offering them military aid, specifically the Hawk surface to air missiles they wanted. Israel still said no, and Kennedy's advisors told him to disengage from the plan. Whatever hope was left of it was lost when a pro-Nasserist republican coup d'etat overthrew the monarchy in Yemen. This divided the Arab world between Nationalists and pro Monarchy people. This put the US in a bad position having to choose sides. They chose to send military forces to Saudi Arabia, angering Nasser. |
|
|
Israel's Water Diversion Plan |
The plan was to diverge the Jordan river in 1963. The Arab world looked to Nasser for a response. Nasser gathered 13 heads of state in Cairo in an emergency Arab League Summit meeting. Inter Arab tension was gone for the moment while they focused on Israel. Nasser still did not think they were ready to go to war, especially because half their troops were fighting in Yemen. The most important thing that came out of this meeting was a separate Palestinian representation, the PLO. The PLO had different factions, the largest being al- Fatah. The different factions sometimes fought. Between 1955-56 al Fatah launched fedayeen raids from Syrian and Jordan, especially as the presence of UNEF in Gaza continued. |
|
|
Ba'th Party |
Came to power in Iraq and Syria in 1963. Unit of purpose had been achieved |
|
|
Egyptian Syrian Pact (Pre-1967 war) |
Nov, 1966,Egypt and Syria agreed to support each other during the war. 9 days after they signed it, Israel struck the village of Samu and 18 Jordanians died. Hundreds of other buildings were destroyed in response to Fedayeen raids from Jordan. This was condemned by the international community. |
|
|
Syrian Israeli Air Battle |
April 1967, resulted in 6 MiGs being shot down. There was pressure on Nasser to do something. This concerned the SU, so they launched a disinformation campaign in May to take the heat off Nasser, they said there was massive Israeli movement along the Syrian border. The reason for launching it was to compel Nasser to do something to take the heat off Syria. Nasser acted as if this information was true, allowing Israel to test their new military doctrine. |
|
|
UNEF |
Nasser was still being criticized for hiding behind dUNEF. He had requested a partial withdraw from the area, but the UN said they would either do a full withdrawal or nothing. In may he demanded a full withdrawal. |
|
|
Levi Eshkol as PM and Pre 1967 War |
Levi Eshkol renounced the use of aggression from Israel. He drew back to the May 14 borders. Despite this, Nasser was still under pressure to do more. He moved troops to Sharm el Sheikh and closed the Gulf of Aqaba to Israeli ships or other ships carrying things for Israel. To Israel this was a declaration of war. The US condemned the closing of the Gulf, saying it was an international waterway that must stay open. Nasser thought that he could now survive and initial attack by Israel and then wait for the superpowers to come and save them, he thought the USSR was fully behind him by now. King Hussein of Jordan visited Cairo and they signed the Treaty of Joint Defence, Israel was now surrounded. Israel formed a national unity government on May 1st. They knew they had to start the war soon because they heard Egypt was sending their PM to Washington. |
|
|
1967 War (6 day war) |
Israel threw its entire air force at Egypt and destroyed almost all of theirs. Within 6 days, they had captured the Sinai Peninsula from Egypt, the West Bank and East Jerusalem from Jordan and the Golan Heights from Syria. They had grown their territory 3 times since 1949. |
|
|
USS Liberty |
The USS Liberty was an American Intelligence gathering ship that was attacked by the Israelis during the war. They killed 34 Americans and wounded 164. The Israelis apologized and said they mistook the ship for an enemy ship. They offered compensation to the families. Some say that they did it on purpose because they did not want the US to find out that they were planning to take the Golan Heights, in case they tried to stop Israel. |
|
|
Aftermath of the 1967 War |
Nasserism had essentially come to an end. Some Arabs thought that they had lost the war due to the fact that they had strayed away from the Quran. Their new goal was to take back the Occupied Territories and destroy Israel. |
|
|
UN Resolution 242 |
This resolution that was adopted unanimously by the UN was based on President Johnson's 5 principles for peace formula. The resolution was essentially based on the land for peace formula but it did not stipulate how much land would be returned. there were many different interpretations of this, like the Balfour Declaration. |
|
|
Black September |
The PLO had become a state within a state in Jordan. They did not like king Hussein because they thought he was willing to negotiate away Palestinian land and rights and they wanted him gone. The PFLP hijacked 4 passenger planes, they let all the passengers go but blew up the planes on live TV. King Hussein was mad because they undermined his authority and he started the Jordanian Civil War which the Palestinians call Black September.3000 were killed, mostly Palestinians. Israel was concerned about the fate of King Hussein because the did not want a worse king coming into power. The US assured Israel that they would support them from an Egyptian attack if they engaged Syria.The commander of the Syrian air force knew how serious Israel was and disobeyed orders to launch an air strike in Jordan because he knew if Israel intervened it would lead to more Syrian losses. The PLO was further expelled from Jordan and moved to Beirut. Because of this relocation and new wing of Fatah emerged that called themselves Black September. They led terrorist attacks. In 1970 at the Olympic Games in Munich, they took 11 Israeli athletes hostage. In an attempt to rescue them, all 11 were killed. |
|
|
The War of Attrition |
Fighting between Israel, Jordan, Egypt and the PLO after the 1967 war. There were raids along the suez canal until the ceasefire in 1970. Nothing had been done to help the conflict since the 1967 war and Nasser thought military intervention was needed to get back the Sinai. Egypt's economy had been really bad since the war because they relied heavily on tourism, which had been down, Suez Canal Tolls, which were closed and their oil, which Israel now had in the Sinai. |
|
|
The Rogers Plan |
Rogers made a plan in 1969 based on Resolution 242: Israeli withdrawal to the pre-1967 borders. he wanted the 2 superpowers to broker the deal, but Kissinger did not want Soviet involvement. Israel refused to participate in any international conference and refused to withdraw to the pre-1967 borders. Sadat wanted to end the diplomatic stalemate, so he expelled 15,000-20,000 Soviet troops from Egypt. He knew the USSR would not support him in engaging in another war against Israel or trying to regain the Sinai. Israel thought Egypt would never go to war without the Soviet Union. |
|
|
The October/ Yom Kippur War |
Syria and Egypt launched a war against Israel, backed by the Saudi's. Israel was caught off guard. Egypt had limited objectives in mind, they did not try and defeat Israel or take back to Sinai Peninsula, they just wanted to force Israel into peace talks. Egypt attacked Israel from the Suez Canal, Syria attacked Israel from the Golan Heights at the same time. Also, Saudi Arabia was ready to use oil agains the USA if it had to. Israel launched a counter attack on Oct 8 that lasted until the 10. They were successful against Syria but stalled against Egypt. The problem for Syria was that they said Egypt never told them they had limited objectives in mind. When Syria first attacked Israel they managed to push Israel back across parts of the Golan but Israel then got Syria back across the purple line. This prompted the Soviets to send a massive airlift to Syria. Golda Meir begged the US to send them arms, but Kissinger thought the US could win without their arms. The US did not want Israel to have another huge victory and humiliate the Arab World, they wanted a small victory so that peace talks would start. But when the US heard that the USSR sent Egypt and Syria an airlift of arms and when Israel threatened to use nuclear weapons, they sent Israel a massive airlift on Oct 14. On Oct 16, Israel crossed the Suez Canal and on the 18 the USSR sent Sadat satellite photos to show him his position. He then told them to work towards a ceasefire. |
|
|
Oil Embargo |
On Oct 19 the Arab members of OPEC called for an oil embargo to any nation supplying Israel. This caused a major global economic crisis. Because of this crisis and because the Soviets realized their entire position in the Middle East would be ruined if Israel destroyed the Egyptian Third Army, they worked with the US on UN Resolution 338. It called for an immediate ceasefire and a return to the pre war lines in return for peace. With US pressure, Israel ceased fire on Oct 25, ending the 1973 war. |
|
|
Sinai 1/ Kilometer 101 |
Kissinger wanted to move quickly after Res 338 because he knew the cease fire could be broken quickly. On Nov 11 in a tent in the Sinai, at kilometre 101 from Cairo, he negotiated an agreement between Israel and Egypt to return to the Oct ceasefire lines. Medical supplies and food was arranged for the Egyptian Third Army. This was the first official document signed between Israel and an Arab state since 1949. This wasn't enough for Kissinger, the then arranged for a conference in Geneva in December. Jordan and Egypt agreed to go, but Syria did not and talks broke down after one day. After this, Israel and Egypt decided to negotiate on their own without superpower involvement. Kissinger also wanted to make an agreement between Israel and Syria. The Syrian Israeli Disengagement Agreement said that Israel would give back part of the Golan they captured in 1967 to allow the UN to send people as a buffer between the two countries. As well Assad agreed to stop Fedayeen raids into Israel from the Golan. This agreement has held up to this day. |
|
|
1974 Arab League Summit |
Agreed that the PLO were the main representatives of the Palestinian people. Arafat addressed the UN General Assembly in 1974. He tended to accept the 2 state solution, while the Israelis did not. They thought the Palestinians already had a state called Jordan, or that they would just launch attacks from within the state. Because of this disagreement, they moved on to a new disengagement agreement called Sinai 2. |
|
|
Sinai 2 |
Rabin was not willing to give back the oil fields in the Sinai. Progress was slow and the US threatened to suspend aid to Israel. An agreement was made that Israel would pull back in the Sinai beyond Giddi and Milta passes in return for a more formal buffer between the two countries. The UN would supervise this and the US would monitor it through early warning systems. Egypt also got the Abu oil field back and non military cargo of Israel's was allowed to go down the Suez Canal. USA offered Israel more aid and promised to help Egypt build up their economy to help them agree to the deal. Israel demanded that the US not recognize or negotiate with the PLO until they recognize Israel, accept Res 338 and 242 and renounce terrorism. This agreement was criticized by Arab groups and some US groups. |
|
|
The Likud Party |
They came to power for the first time in 1977. Menachem Begin was the PM. His policy was to only have direct 1-1 negotiations with Arab States, to keep parts of the Occupied Territories and to not divide Jerusalem. He saw the PLO as a terrorist organization and would not negotiate with them. |
|
|
Sadat's Visit to Israel |
He visited Jerusalem in 1977. In front of the Knesset he implicitly recognized Israel. He hoped to show the way for peace so that other Arab States would follow. Begin did not want to make peace. Israel wanted little US intervention and Sadat wanted the US to mediate. |
|
|
Camp David Summit |
In June 1978 Israel invaded Lebanon to clear out PLO positions. This was embarrassing for Sadat because the Arab States had warned him that if he tried to make peace with Israel, the IDF would target other states. President Carter invited Begin and Sadat to the Camp David Summit. There were 13 days of negotiations and many breaking points. Sadat was in a weaker bargaining position than Begin. In the end, 2 frameworks were signed called the Camp David Accords. The first was called A Framework for the Conclusion of a Peace Treaty Between Egypt and Israel and talked about Egyptian Israeli issues and a phased Israeli withdrawal from the rest of the Sinai in return for normal economic, political and cultural relations. The second was called a Framework for Peace in the Middle East and was based off of Resolution 242. The US promised a lot of aid to both Egypt and Israel in order to make the deal. Sadat was assassinated in 1981 during a parade. Israel completed its withdrawal from the Sinai in 1982. |
|
|
Lebanon |
If Lebanon had been situated somewhere else, they may have been able to resolve their issue without a civil war, but because they are situated between Israel and Syria they were brought into the Arab Israeli conflict. Lebanon had a democratic confessional political system by appointment (Shiite, Maronite, Druze e.t.c). In the late 1960's leftist movements wanted to de-confessionalize the political system. The movements created the Lebanese National Movement and the PLO supported them. Even though the Cairo agreement of 1969 was supposed to limit the areas in Lebanon where the PLO could operate called Fatahland, they managed to still take over cities, villages and towns. The initial phase of the civil war began April 175 which pitted the Christian Phalange against the PLO. They fought for two months. Asad wanted stability in Lebanon because now that Egypt was out of the conflict, he was worried Israel would turn towards Syria. Syria supported the PLO. In response the Phalange and other Maronite groups formed the Lebanese Front. Their military wing, The Lebanese Forces attacked Palestinian refugee camps to try and eliminate the PLO. At this point Asad switched sides and began to support the Maronites because he was worried that if they got too weak, Israel would intervene and support them. By the summer of 1967 both Israel and Syria were supporting the Maronites. Both parties agreed to a cease fire in Oct 1967 arranged by the Arab League. |
|
|
1982 Israeli Invasion |
Begin adopted a hard line foreign policy. He wanted to eliminate the terrorist attacks by the PLO. In June 1978 Israel launched Operation Litani to try and clear out the PLO position in southern Lebanon. The mission was neither a complete success or failure. As part of the resolution to this mini war, the UN agreed to send peace keeping units to buffer between Israel and the PLO. In the 3 years after Operation Litani, the PLO raids and Israeli reprisals increased. Israel shot down 2 helicopters over the Bekaa Valley in response to Syria setting up SAM-6 sites there. In June 1982, Israel launched Operation Peace for Galilee and invaded Lebanon. The invasion was in response to Israel thinking the PLO had tried to assassinate the Israeli ambassador to London, but in reality it had been an anti-Arafat group that had tried to. Sharon, Defence minister became close with Phalange leader Gemayel. In Aug 1982, he become the president of Lebanon giving Israel a friendly neighbour. Also in 1982, Israel expanded its operation all the way to Beirut. Asad saw Israel's objectives as a threat and wanted to stop them. In 1982 France and the US established the Multinational Force, not a UN force. The MNF wanted to remove the rest of the PLO fighters and protect the refugee camps. By Sept, the PLO fighters had been removed and went to Tunisia. The MNF then withdrew to their ships. |
|
|
The Reagan Plan |
The Reagan Admin supported Israel and also wanted to minimize the PLO. Reagan came up with a plan for Palestinian self government and autonomy (not statehood) in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. He also called for a freeze on Jewish settlement, neither of which Begin was willing to agree to. The PLO and Arab states also rejected the plan. |
|
|
The Fez Plan |
In turn the Arabs gathered in Fez, Morocco. Their plan was based on Res 242 and called for Israeli withdrawal from the occupied territories in return for peace. Israel rejected it. |
|
|
Gemayel Assassination |
Gemayel was killed likely by Syrians or Palestinians. Israel sent its forces back to Beirut to try and maintain stability. Instead, the Phalange retaliated and attacked 2 Palestinian refugee camps. They killed tons of helpless citizens. Israel set up the Kahan Commission to investigate and they found that Israel was indirectly responsible for the massacre because they turned a blind eye to it. Sharon was forced to resign and Begin eventually was too. The MNF were still anchored on the coast and they felt obliged to return. The longer the MNF were there, the more Syria saw them as a pro-Maronite, pro-Israeli force. Reagan brokered the Israeli-Lebanon accord in 1983 which appeared to Syria as an operation agains them. To try and stop the negotiations leading up to the accord, the US embassy and US marine headquarters in Beirut were bombed. Israeli society was split open because they saw this as a war of choice. |
|
|
Hezbollah |
The most important repercussion of the war was the alienation of the Shiite community in Lebanon. They used to welcome Israeli invasions because they gave them liberation from the PLO, but now Israel was being seen as an occupier not a liberator. During this time, the Shiite community allowed for the formation of the Shiite Islamic Republic of Iran who became Hezbollah. Hezbollah allied with Syria and Iran. |
|
|
The First Intifada |
The Likud party had been damaged by the current events like the Kahan commission and Begin's resignation. This led to neither the Likud or Labour party gaining a majority in the elections of 1984. They established a national unity government, where Peres and Shamir rotated being PM.The first issue they needed to work on was the economy. Peres wanted to look towards Jordan but Shamir said no. The intifada was popular uprisings in the West Bank and Gaza by Palestinians against Israelis. 3 Israelis were killed by Fatah squad 17 in Sept 1985 and in retaliation Israel bombed the PLO headquarters in Tunis. In Dec 1987, the IDF were in a road accident in Gaza that killed 4 Palestinians and wounded others. This was followed by anti Israel demonstrations. There were new radical forces in the territories emerging, Hamas in 1988 and the Islamic Jihad in 1986. A younger generation of Palestinians living the OT took over the intifada. For the first time ever the world began to feel more sympathetic for the Palestinian people. |
|
|
PLO Resucitated |
Arafat and the PLO were given a new life by the intifada. Arafat now knew he needed to support the 2 state solution so the PLO could begin to negotiate. He needed to meet the USA's terms. In Nov 1988 the Palestinian National Council adopted Resolutions 242 and 338, recognized Israel's right to exist and condemned terrorism. Arafat addressed the UNGA in Geneva and they voted 130-2 (USA and Israel) to censure Israeli activity in the Occupied territories. After this the US agreed to meet with the PLO and the US embassy in Tunis sponsored meetings between them. Nothing could come of them unless Israel was willing to join and they were not. Shamir had continued building settlements after the US pressed for a freeze. Shamir offered up his own plan for Palestinian autonomy. |
|
|
The Second Gulf War |
In Aug 1990 Saddam Hussein's Iraq invaded Kuwait. The US formed a UN led coalition to liberate Kuwait. The reason Iraq invaded Kuwait was because there was lucrative oil fields Iraq wanted, so they could accumulate 21% of the worlds oil. They also had territorial issues with Kuwait and owed them debt. The US wanted to liberate Kuwait because they did not want Iraq to have that much oil and they did not like that they threatened their ally, Saudi Arabia. The coalition was called Operation Desert Storm. After this the US made a policy of dual containment toward Iraq and Iran. Syria and Egypt also joined the coalition. The Palestinians lost the good will they had gotten from the intifada. Iran launched squd missiles into Israel. The US pressured Israel not to retaliate. They offered them 3 million to cover the damages and 10 billion in loan to get Soviet Jews to Israel. |
|
|
Madrid Peace Process |
Following the 1991 US victory over Iran, they wanted to help solve the Arab Israeli conflict. Syria knew it had to work towards peace and had even fixed its relationship with Egypt. Discussions were held and then super delegates held negotiations in Washington. Israel demanded that the PLO were not involved. They also continued to build settlements, angering the US who threatened to hold up their 10 Billion in loan. In 1992 Rabin was elected PM and his government saw Syria as more important than the PLO. They thought that if Syria worked towards peace, it would marginalize the PLO and other Arab countries would follow. The Golan also had less settlements and less religious significance. Syria wanted Israel to go back to the 1967 borders but Israel wanted to return to the 1923 borders between British and French mandates. Rabin was upset with Asad's hesitancy and he gave the green light for the Oslo Channel. It was discovered that Israel and the PLO had been meeting in secret and Israel had renounced their law to not talk to the PLO. They saw Arafat as a helpful partner. There were 11 rounds of negotiations and in the end they signed the Declaration of Principles- the Oslo Accords. |
|
|
The Oslo Accord |
There were 2 documents in this. The first recognized Israeli Palestinian mutual recognition. In it Palestine recognized Israel's right to exist, denounced terrorism and committed itself to removing clauses that wanted to destroy Israel. Israel also recognized the PLO as a partner. The 2nd was called the Declaration of Principles and it talked about Palestinian autonomy. The Palestinians hoped this would lead to their own land, but Rabin did not want Palestinian sovereignty and he refused to divide Jerusalem. The plan had three stages. The first was called the Gaza-Jericho phase and outlined Israeli withdrawal from Gaza and the West Bank town of Jericho. Israel continued to re-deploy and not withdraw. The 2nd phase was negotiations that would start in 1995 and last no more than 3 years. The 3rd phase talked about Palestinian autonomy, borders, Jewish settlements, Jerusalem and refugees. There was no guarantee this would lead to autonomy. Arafat hoped the US would pressure Israel. Rabin was also facing pressure from Jewish Orthodox parties who were against negotiations. In 1994 in Hebron a Jewish ultranationalist massacred 28 Palestinians. Hamas then led suicide bombings. In May, the Israelis completed their withdrawal from Gaza and Jericho. Israel wanted to negotiate with Jordan and a peace agreement was signed. Israel also recognized Jordans special role of administering the Temple mount. |
|
|
Oslo 2 and Rabin's Assassination |
A final agreement on these issues was signed Sept 1995. They dealt with police power, water, land, movement, security etc. There was a 3 staged approach for re-deployment from the West Bank and the turn over to Palestinian authority to some degree. Area A was 3% of the West Bank and had all the major population centres in it except Hebron. This would be turned over to Palestinian authority. Area B was 24% of the West Bank and would have joint Israeli Palestinian authority. Area c was 73% and would remain under Israeli authority. Following the re-deployment an intense political atmosphere was in Israel. This heightened when Rabin was assassinated by an Israeli. Peres replaced him. |
|
|
Palestinian Legislative Election |
In Jan 1996 there was elections that got a huge turnout. Arafat became PM and Fatah won a majority. Hamas, DFLP, PFLP boycotted the elections. Hamas launched suicide bombings into Israel killing 59 in response to Israel assassinating one of their leaders. Even though Arafat condemned the killings, Peres suspended peace talks. Hezbollah continued to attack Israel in the North and further their operation against Israel in Lebanon, while Hamas attacked Jerusalem. Arafat supported Hezbollah because he wanted to pressure Israel to negotiate with him. Peres had called for early elections in May and now that the peace process was dissolving, he launched operation grapes of wrath. |
|
|
Operation Grapes of Wrath |
In April 1996 Israel launched operation grapes of wrath against Lebanese civilians and infrastructure. This led to Netanyahu becoming the next PM. Netanyahu and Arafat met to negotiate settlements regarding Hebron, a city that was holy to both Arabs and Jews. |
|
|
Wye River Accords |
In 1998 this was an agreement to withdraw from an additional 13% of the West Bank, while restating the land for peace principle. This split the Likud party and Israel backed out of the agreement due to opposition. This led to Barak becoming PM in 1999. |
|
|
Camp David Summit 2 |
Barak's government was made up of the Shas party, the NRP and Natan Sharansky's party. They all opposed talking with the PA. When Barak accepted the invite to Camp David, they all left the coalition, giving him a minority government. Barak, Arafat and Clinton met in July 2000. Two major issues derailed the agreement: the Palestinian refugees right of return and sovereignty over east Jerusalem. Israel was willing to give back 93% of the West Bank and Gaza to Palestinian authority, more than any other PM has offered. There were also talks over more liberal interpretations of the borders of East Jerusalem. The Jordan Valley would remain under Israel's control for 12 years due to security reasons. Arafat really wanted Israel to return to the June 4 borders. There was also the issue of 3.7 million refugees, which Israel would not allow to return. Because of these issues the peace talks failed, but Arafat went back to Palestine a hero.Clinton blamed Arafat for the failure, but he had been in a weaker bargaining position.
|
|
|
The Second Intifada- Al- Aqsa |
In Sept 2000, Sharon visited the temple mount accompanied by 1000 policemen. This combined with the failure of the Camp David Summit 2 caused Palestinian demonstrations. Over the next few weeks 18 Palestinians were killed by police trying to stop the riots. By the end of the year a more violent intifada erupted, likely because of the frustration of the Palestinian people who thought they were close to getting their own state. Clinton convened a summit meeting at Sharm el Sheikh with Barak and Arafat which led to the creation of the Mitchell Committee. They were sent to investigate the situation. They denied claims that Arafat was behind the intifada. Many agreed because there was actually evidence Arafat had tried to stop the violence, only 1 Israeli had died from terrorism in the past year. It was unclear why Sharon had gone on this visit because it was clear it would cause issues. Possibly he thought it would help him win the next elections. |
|
|
Clinton Plan |
Clinton came up with a plan that Israel would withdraw from 95% of the west bank and all of Gaza. Palestinians would be compensated with 1-3% of existing Israeli territory in the Negev. Israel would complete its withdrawal over the next 3 years. Arab neighbourhoods in East Jerusalem would be the capital of the Palestinian state.The temple mount would be divided between them. In Nov 2000 Barak accepted this plan, Arafat neither rejected or accepted it. He wanted more negotiations. Taba Talks in Jan 2001 occurred but neither Arafat or Barak were there.
|
|
|
2000's Random things |
- 2001-2002 lots of suicide attacks killing Israelis, Israel retaliated - By 2004, 3000 Palestinians and 1000 Israelis had been killed - Israel broke off ties with Arafat - March 2009 on Passover 29 Israelis were killed, Israel then launched operation defensive shield and took back parts of the Occupied Terrotories |
|
|
Roadmap |
After Bush's speech in 2002, the US supported discussion groups called Quartet, which included people from the US, EU, Russia and the UN. Their plan was called roadmap and was a 3 phased approach to the problem. The first phase was focused on ending violence and the preparation for statehood and would take 6 months. The second phase was a transitional period, focused on creating an independent state that would also take 6 months. This stage needed Arafat to leave and democracy to come in. The third stage was 2 years of negotiations regarding a permanent solution and the core issues. Sharon hinted that he was willing to give the Palestinians a state in return for peace, but the Likud party opposed him. |
|
|
Hamas Elections |
In Jan 2006, Hamas was allowed to be part of the elections in Palestine for the first time. They won 74 out of 132 seats which was a shock. The US said Hamas should recognize Israel, renounce violence and agree to all the previous Palestinian- Israeli agreements. Israel pressured Hamas by withholding tax payments and international aid. Hamas refused to recognize Israel. |
|
|
2nd Lebanese War |
In July 2006, Hezbollah carried out attacks against Israel, killing 8 soldiers. There was a massive Israeli airforce retaliation. In total 159 Israelis died and over 1070 Lebanese died. Israel was unable to defeat Hezbollah. The IDF relied too much on air force and not enough of ground force. There was a ceasefire in August. |
