ISRAEL-ARAB CONFLICTS (PART 1) : ISRAEL’S MANY WARS

 

ISRAEL-ARAB CONFLICTS (PART 1)

ISRAEL’S MANY WARS

The Declaration of the Establishment of the sovereign State of Israel took place on 14 May 1948.

It put an end to the British Mandate at midnight that day.

The event is celebrated annually in Israel as Independence Day.

Upon its declaration of independence, Israel became almost immediately embroiled in conflicts with its five neighboring Arab states.

Israel has fought various wars with its Arab states neighbors. Two major Palestinian Arab uprisings are known as the First Intifada and the Second Intifada. There are also series of other armed engagements constituting what is referred to as the Arab–Israeli conflict.

Israel’s history of wars and large-scale military operations has gone unabated till today save for a few     scattered truces, ceasefires and armistices.

The Arab-Israeli War of 1948

The first Arab-Israeli war (1948–49) began when Israel declared itself an independent state following the United Nations' partition of Palestine. Protesting this move, five Arab countries—Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, and Syria—attacked Israel. The conflict ended with Israel gaining considerable territory.

A set of agreements were signed between Israel, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, and Syria, called the 1949 Armistice Agreements, which established the armistice lines between Israel and its neighbors, also known as the Green Line.

Palestinian Fedayeen Insurgency

The Palestinian Fedayeen insurgency was an armed cross-border conflict, which peaked between 1949 and 1956, involving Israel and Palestinian militants, mainly based in the Gaza Strip, under the nominal control, of the All-Palestine Protectorate – a Palestinian client-state of Egypt declared in October 1948, which became the focal point of the Palestinian Fedayeen activity.

Palestinian Fedayeen are militants or guerrillas of a nationalist orientation from among the Palestinian people. Palestinians consider the Fedayeen to be freedom fighters, while Israelis consider them to be terrorists.

Palestinian attacks and reprisal operations were carried out by the Israel Defense Forces during the 1950s and 1960s.

The policy of the reprisal operations was exceptional due to Israel's declared aim of getting a high 'blood cost' among the enemy side which was considered necessary to deter them from committing future attacks.

During this period, United Nations reports indicate that Israel launched more than seventeen raids on Egyptian territory and 31 attacks on Arab towns or military forces.

 The insurgency was crushed by the Israeli military under the orders of then Defense Minister, Ariel Sharon.

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Suez Crisis (October 1956)

The Suez Crisis of 1956, in which the Egyptian Government seized control of the Suez Canal from the British and French owned company that managed it, had important consequences for U.S. relations with both Middle Eastern countries and European allies.

A military attack on Egypt by Britain, France, and Israel, began on 29 October 1956, with the intention to occupy the Sinai Peninsula and to take over the Suez Canal.

Although the Israeli invasion of the Sinai was successful, the United States and USSR forced it to retreat. Even so, Israel managed to re-open the Straits of Tiran and pacified its southern border.

The first emergency special session of the United Nations General Assembly was convened on 1 November and ended on 10 November 1956 resolving the Suez Crisis by creating the United Nations Emergency Force (UNEF) to provide an international presence between the belligerents in the Canal Zone.

Six-Day War (June 1967)

The Six-Day War occurred at a time of heightened tension between Israel and its neighbouring Arab countries. After a series of back-and-forth military strikes, it was spurred on further by Soviet intelligence reports that indicated Israel was planning a military campaign against Syria.

Israel all but secured victory by establishing air superiority, but fierce fighting continued for several more days. The ground war in Egypt began on June 5. In concert with the air strikes, Israeli tanks and infantry stormed across the border and into the Sinai Peninsula and the Gaza Strip.

In the six days, Israel defeated three Arab armies, gained territory four times its original size, and became the preeminent military power in the region. The war transformed Israel from a nation that perceived itself as fighting for survival into an occupier and regional powerhouse.

The new territory was nicknamed “the purple line”.

War of Attrition (1967–1970)

The War of involved fighting between the Israeli military and forces of the Egyptian Republic, the USSR, Jordan, Syria, and the Palestine Liberation Organization from 1967 to 1970. It was initiated by the Egyptians as a way of recapturing the Sinai from the Israelis, who had been in control of the territory since the mid-1967 Six-Day War.

The war ended with a ceasefire signed between the countries in 1970 with frontiers remaining in the same place as when the war began.

The Yom Kippur War (October 1973)

The Yom Kippur War, also known as the Ramadan War, the October War, the 1973 Arab–Israeli War, or the Fourth Arab–Israeli War, was an armed conflict fought from 6 to 25 October 1973, between Israel and a coalition of Arab states led by Egypt and Syria.

The war was aimed at recapturing part of the territories which they lost to the Israelis back in the Six-Day War.

It caught the Israeli military off guard as they were starting to observe Yom Kippur, which is the holiest day in Judaism. Hence the name Yom Kippur War.

The 1973 war ended in an Israeli victory, but at great cost to the United States.

The Arab forces were defeated by Israel and there were no significant territorial changes.

Palestinian insurgency in South Lebanon (1971–1982)

The Palestinian Liberation Organization relocated to South Lebanon from Jordan and stage attacks on the Galilee and as a base for international operations. In 1978, Israel launches Operation Litani – the first Israeli large-scale invasion of Lebanon, which was carried out by the Israel Defense Forces in order to expel PLO forces from the territory. Continuing ground and rocket attacks, and Israeli retaliations, eventually escalated into the 1982 War.

The Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) was based in Lebanon for a significant period of time (1960s-1982), using their set-up in the country to expand as an organization, gathering support and maintaining their armed struggle with Israel.

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1982 Lebanon War (1982)

It began on 6 June 1982, when the Israel Defense Forces invaded southern Lebanon to expel the PLO from the territory. The Government of Israel ordered the invasion as a response to the assassination attempt against Israel's ambassador to the United Kingdom, Shlomo Argov, by the Abu Nidal Organization and due to the constant terror attacks on northern Israel made by the Palestinian guerrilla organizations which resided in Lebanon. The war resulted in the expulsion of the PLO from Lebanon and created an Israeli Security Zone in southern Lebanon.

South Lebanon conflict (1985–2000)

Nearly 15 years of warfare between the Israel Defense Forces and its Lebanese Christian proxy militias against Lebanese Muslim guerrilla, led by Iranian-backed Hezbollah, within what was defined by Israelis as the "Security Zone" in South Lebanon. The South Lebanon conflict, designated by Israel as the Security Zone in Lebanon Campaign, was a protracted armed conflict that took place in southern Lebanon,

The first intifada 

The first intifada began on 9 December 1987, in the Jabalia refugee camp after an Israeli Defense Forces' (IDF) truck collided with a civilian car, killing four.

The proximate causes of the first intifada were intensified Israeli land expropriation and settlement construction in the West Bank and Gaza Strip after the electoral victory of the right-wing Likud party in 1977; increasing Israeli repression in response to heightened Palestinian protests following the Israeli

The Second Intifada (2000–2005)

The second Intifada was the second Palestinian uprising, a period of intensified violence, which began in late September 2000.

This Second Intifada, also known as the Al-Aqsa Intifada, lasted from 28th September 2000 to 8th February 2005. This second mass resistance movement against the Israeli occupation was sparked by then-candidate for Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's visit to the Al-Aqsa Mosque.

2006 Lebanon War (summer 2006)

It began as a military operation in response to the abduction of two Israeli reserve soldiers by the Hezbollah. The operation gradually strengthened, to become a wider confrontation. The principal participants were Hezbollah paramilitary forces and the Israeli military. The conflict started on 12 July 2006 and continued until a United Nations-brokered ceasefire went into effect on 14 August 2006, though it formally ended on 8 September 2006, when Israel lifted its naval blockade of Lebanon. The war resulted in a stalemate.

Gaza War or Operation Cast Lead (December 2008 – January 2009)

Three-week armed conflict between Israel and Hamas during the winter of 2008–2009. In an escalation of the ongoing Israeli–Palestinian conflict, Israel responded to ongoing rocket fire from the Gaza Strip with military force in an action titled "Operation Cast Lead". Israel opened the attack with a surprise air strike on 27 December 2008. Israel's stated aim was to stop such rocket fire from and the import of arms into Gaza. Israeli forces attacked military and civilian targets, police stations, and government buildings in the opening assault. Israel declared an end to the conflict on 18 January and completed its withdrawal on 21 January 2009.

2012 Israeli operation in the Gaza Strip or Operation Pillar of Defense (November 2012)

In November 2012, the Israel Defense Forces launched Operation Pillar of Defense which was an eight-day campaign in the Hamas-governed Gaza Strip, which began on 14 November 2012 with the killing of Ahmed Jabari, chief of the Gaza military wing of Hamas by an Israeli airstrike. It targeted Hamas and Islamic Jihad terrorist leadership and rocket launching and storage sites.

2014 Gaza War or Operation Protective Edge (July–August 2014)

Military offensive on the Gaza Strip as a response to the collapse of American-sponsored peace talks, attempts by rival Palestinian factions to form a coalition government, the kidnapping and murder of three Israeli teenagers, the subsequent kidnapping and murder of a Palestinian teenager, and increased rocket attacks on Israel by Hamas militants.

Syrian Civil War and the Iran–Israel conflict during the Syrian civil war.

In the 2021 Israel–Palestine crisis or Operation Guardian of the Walls (May 2021) there were riots between Jews and Arabs in Israeli cities. Also Hamas in Gaza sent military rockets into Israel and Iron Dome intercepted most dangerous rockets. Israel attacked targets in Gaza.

.........PART 2: What happened on 7th October?