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Arab-Israeli conflict

2007 Schools Wikipedia Selection. Related subjects: Conflict and Peace

                            Arab-Israeli conflict
   Israel and members of the Arab League
        Arab League                              Israel
        Have been at war with Israel             Gaza Strip and West Bank

     Date   Early 20th century-present
   Location Greater Middle East
    Result  Ongoing
                                  Combatants

                                Arab nations

                                            Israel

   Arab-Israeli conflict series

     * History of the Arab-Israeli conflict
     * Views of the Arab-Israeli conflict
     * International law and the Arab-Israeli conflict
     * Arab-Israeli conflict facts, figures, and statistics

   Participants

   Israeli-Palestinian conflict · Israel-Lebanon conflict · Arab League ·
   Soviet Union / Russia · Israel and the United Nations · Iran-Israel
   relations · Israel-United States relations · Boycott of Israel

   Peace treaties and proposals

   Israel-Egypt · Israel-Jordan

                              Arab-Israeli conflict
   Riots (1920) – Jaffa riots (1921) – Riots (1929) – Arab revolt
   (1936–1939) – Arab-Israeli War (1948–1949) – Suez Crisis (1956) –
   Six-Day War (1967) – War of Attrition (1968–1970) – Yom Kippur War
   (1973) – South Lebanon conflict (1978) – Lebanon War (1982) – South
   Lebanon conflict (1982–2000) – First Intifada (1987–1991) – Gulf War
   (1990–1991) – Second Intifada (2000–ongoing) – Lebanon War (2006)

   The Arab-Israeli conflict (Arabic: الصراع العربي الإسرائيلي, Hebrew:
   הסכסוך הישראלי ערבי) spans about a century of political tensions and
   open hostilities. It involves the establishment of the modern State of
   Israel, as well as the establishment and independence of several Arab
   countries at the same time, and the relationship between the Arab
   nations and Israel (see related Israeli-Palestinian conflict).

Scope of the conflict

   Some uses of the term Middle East conflict refer to this matter;
   however, the region has been host to other conflicts not involving
   Israel (see List of conflicts in the Middle East).

   Despite involving a relatively small land area and number of
   casualties, the conflict has been the focus of worldwide media and
   diplomatic attention for decades. Many countries, individuals and
   non-governmental organizations elsewhere in the world feel involved in
   this conflict for reasons such as cultural and religious ties with
   Islam, Arab culture, Christianity, Judaism or Jewish culture, or for
   ideological, human rights, strategic or financial reasons.

   Because Israel is a democracy with a free press, the media have access
   to the conflict which also increases media coverage. Some consider the
   Arab-Israeli conflict a part of (or a precursor to) a wider clash of
   civilizations between the Western World and the Arab or Muslim world.
   Others claim that the religious dimension is a relatively new matter in
   this conflict. This conflict has engendered animosities igniting
   numerous attacks on and by supporters (or perceived supporters) of
   opposing sides in countries throughout the world.

History of the conflict

Beginning-1948

   Jewish immigration into the Land of Israel/ Palestine under the Ottoman
   rule and later under British mandate increased tensions between the
   Jewish population and the Arab population in the region.

   By the end of World War II, the conflict became a major international
   issue. The United Nations, the United States, and the Soviet Union were
   determined to initiate a two-state solution. The UN mandated partition
   was put into effect in 1948, but was rejected by the Palestinians and
   many Arab states.

   Israel declared its independence on May 14, 1948. Almost immediately,
   Egypt, Lebanon, Syria, Transjordan, and Iraq declared war on the
   nascent nation. By the conclusion of the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, Israel
   had greatly expanded its borders, and signed ceasefire agreements with
   all its Arab neighbors.

1949-June 11, 1967

   In 1949, Egypt closed the Straits of Tiran to Israeli shipping, and
   blockaded the Gulf of Aqaba, in contradiction to the terms of the
   Constantinople Convention of 1888. Many argued that this action also
   constituted a violation of the Rhodes armistice agreement. On July 26,
   1956, Egypt nationalized the Suez Canal Company, and closed the canal
   to Israeli shipping.

   Israel responded on October 29, 1956, by invading the Sinai Peninsula
   with British and French support. During the Suez Canal Crisis, Israel
   captured the Gaza Strip and Sinai Peninsula. The United States and the
   United Nations soon pressured it into a ceasefire, which secured open
   shipping in the region, complete Israeli withdrawal from Egyptian
   territory, and the total demilitarization of the Sinai. The United
   Nations Emergency Force (UNEF) was deployed to oversee said
   demilitarization.

   On May 19, 1967, Egypt expelled UNEF observers, and deployed 100,000
   soldiers in the Sinai Peninsula. It then closed the straits of Tiran to
   Israeli shipping, catapulting the region back to the pre-1956 status
   quo. On May 30, 1967, Jordan entered into the mutual defense pact
   between Egypt and Syria. President Nasser declared: "Our basic
   objective is the destruction of Israel. The Arab people want to fight."

   In response, on June 5 Israel sent almost all of its planes on a
   preemptive mission in Egypt. The Israeli Air Force (AIF) destroyed most
   of the surprised Egyptian Air Force, then turned east to pulverize the
   Jordanian, Syrian and Iraqi air forces. This strike was the crucial
   element in Israel's victory in the Six-Day War.

June 12, 1967-1973

   In the summer of 1967, Arab leaders met in Khartoum in response to the
   war, to discuss the Arab position toward Israel. They reached consensus
   that there should be:
     * No recognition of the State of Israel.
     * No peace with Israel.
     * No negotiations with Israel.

   In 1969, Egypt initiated the War of Attrition, with the goal of
   exhausting Israel into surrendering the Sinai Peninsula. The war ended
   following Nasser's death in 1970.

   On October 6, 1973, Syria and Egypt attacked Israel on Yom Kippur,
   overwhelming the surprised Israeli military. The Yom Kippur War
   accomodated indirect confrontation between the US and the Soviet Union.
   When Israel had turned the tide of war, the USSR threatened military
   intervention. The United States, wary of nuclear war, secured a
   ceasefire on October 25.

1974-2000

   Egypt

   Following the Camp David Accords of the late 1970s, Israel and Egypt
   signed a peace treaty in March, 1979. Under its terms, the Sinai
   Peninsula returned to Egyptian hands, and the Gaza Strip remained under
   Israeli control, to be included in a future Palestinian state.

   Jordan

   In October, 1994, Israel and Jordan signed a peace agreement, which
   stipulated mutual cooperation, an end of hostilities, and a resolution
   of other unsorted issues.

   Iraq

   In June, 1981, Israel successfully attacked and destroyed newly built
   Iraqi nuclear facilities in Operation Opera.

   During the Gulf War, Iraq fired 39 missiles into Israel, in the hopes
   of uniting the Arab world against the coalition which sought to
   liberate Kuwait. At the behest of the United States, Israel did not
   respond to this attack in order to prevent a greater outbreak of war.

   Lebanon

   In 1970, following an extended civil war, King Hussein expelled the PLO
   from Jordan. The PLO resettled in Lebanon, whence it staged raids into
   Israel. In 1981, Syria, allied with the PLO, positioned missiles in
   Lebanon. In June, 1982, Israel invaded Lebanon. Within two months, the
   PLO agreed to withdraw thence.

   In March, 1983, Israel and Lebanon signed a ceasefire agreement.
   However, Syria pressured President Amin Gemayel into nullifying the
   truce in March, 1984. By 1985, Israeli forces had mostly withdrawn from
   Lebanon, and Israel completed its withdrawal in May 2000, leaving
   behind a power vacuum which Syria and Hezbollah soon filled.

   Palestinians

   In 1987, the First Intifada began. The PLO was excluded from
   negotiations to resolve it until it recognized Israel and renounced
   terrorism the following year. In 1993, Israel and the PLO signed the
   Oslo Accords, and their Declaration of Principles, which, together with
   the Road map for peace, have been loosely used as the guidelines for
   Israeli-Palestinian relations since.

2000-present

   As a response to the al-Aqsa Intifada,in which hundreds of Israeli
   civilians were killed, Israel raided terrorist facilities in major
   urban centers in the West Bank in 2002. Violence again swept through
   the region. Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon began a policy of
   unilateral withdrawal from the Gaza Strip in 2003. This policy was
   fully implemented in August, 2005.

   In July, 2006, Hezbollah fighters attacked an Israeli convoy,
   kidnapping two soldiers and killing eight others, and setting off the
   2006 Lebanon War. A UN-sponsored ceasefire went into effect on August
   14, 2006, officially ending the conflict.

   Some has argued that the charge of antisemitism is being misused as a
   way to silence critisism of Israel. After Jimmy Carter published his
   book Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid he was labelled an antisemite.
   Retrieved from " http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arab-Israeli_conflict"
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   with only minor checks and changes (see www.wikipedia.org for details
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