BigNerds.com

• Category: Miscellaneous
• Words: 1614
• Pages: 7
• Views: 25
• Popularity Rank: 625

Arab Israeli Conflicts

Since the United Nations partition of Palestine in 1947 and the
establishment of the modern state of Israel in 1948, there have been four
major Arab-Israeli wars (1947-49, 1956, 1967, and 1973) and numerous
intermittent battles. Although Egypt and Israel signed a peace treaty in 1979,
hostility between Israel and the rest of its Arab neighbors, complicated by the
demands of Palestinian Arabs, continued into the 1980s.

THE FIRST PALESTINE WAR (1947-49)
The first war began as a civil conflict between Palestinian Jews and
Arabs following the United Nations recommendation of Nov. 29, 1947, to
partition Palestine, then still under British mandate, into an Arab state and a
Jewish state. Fighting quickly spread as Arab guerrillas attacked Jewish
settlements and communication links to prevent implementation of the UN
plan.
Jewish forces prevented seizure of most settlements, but Arab
guerrillas, supported by the Transjordanian Arab Legion under the command



of British officers, besieged Jerusalem. By April, Haganah, the principal
Jewish military group, seized the offensive, scoring victories against the Arab
Liberation Army in northern Palestine, Jaffa, and Jerusalem. British military
forces withdrew to Haifa; although officially neutral, some commanders
assisted one side or the other.
After the British had departed and the state of Israel had been
established on May 15, 1948, under the guidance of David Bemgurion, the
Palestine Arab forces and foreign volunteers were joined by regular armies of
Transjordan (now the kingdom of Jordan), Iraq, Lebanon, and Syria, with
token support from Saudi Arabia. Efforts by the UN to halt the fighting were
unsuccessful until June 11, when a 4-week truce was declared. When the
Arab states refused to renew the truce, ten more days of fighting...

You must Login to view the entire paper.
If you are not a member yet, Sign Up for free!

• View Full Essay