Arab-Israeli Conflict
Suez Canal Crisis 1956
War with Egypt
Changes in Egypt
• Israel’s victory had effects throughout the Arab world.
• The victory discredited many of the region’s leaders, and young nationalist
leaders came to power in places such as Egypt.
A New Government
Farouk Discredited
• 1922, Egypt gained
formal independence
from Great Britain
• Egyptian King Farouk
I strongly pro-British,
seen as dependent
on Britain for power
• Many believed
corruption in palace,
parliament, army
contributed to defeat
• Egypt’s loss in first
Arab-Israeli war
discredited Farouk,
leaders of Egypt’s
parliament
• Gap between rich,
poor in post
independence
government also
angered many
Egyptians
• However British
troops occupied Suez
Canal Zone
• 1936 treaty allowed
Britain to defend
Egypt if attacked
Growing Anger
Nasser
• Out of dissatisfaction came 1952 military coup led by 34-year old colonel
Gamal Abdel Nasser; forced King Farouk out of power
• Nasser, followers abolished monarchy, created single government party,
undertook ambitious land reform program to gain support among poor
Suez Crisis
• Nasser became most important figure in Arab world after confrontation with
Britain, France, Israel over Suez Canal
• Suez Crisis had roots in politics of the Cold War
• After Nasser came to power, refused to join Baghdad Pact, U.S.-led alliance
against communism in Middle East
Growing Crisis
Dealing Arms
• Nasser requested western countries sell him arms; they refused
• Turned to Soviet-controlled Czechoslovakia, signed arms deal
• U.S., Britain responded by refusing to loan Egypt money to build Aswan Dam
Nationalizing the Canal
• Nasser enraged that funding denied for building dam on Nile River
• Decided to nationalize, take control of, Suez Canal, which was owned by
international company controlled by Britain, France
Growing Hostility
• Nasser’s action celebrated as act of defiance by people in Arab world
• British, French outraged by seizure of property
• Hostility also growing between Egypt, Israel
Pan-Arabism
Attack on Egypt
• October 1956, Britain, France,
Israel launched coordinated
attack on Egypt
• Militarily defeated Egyptian
forces
• U.S. did not support actions,
which created tensions with
Soviet Union; pressured Britain,
France, Israel to withdraw,
which they did
Nasser Popular in Arab World
• Countries withdrew; Egypt left
in control of Suez Canal
• Suez Crisis had become great
victory for Nasser
• Nasser promoted PanArabism, or Arab unity
• Brought Egypt, Syria together
as United Arab Republic, but
Syria withdrew two years later
Arab-Israeli War of 1956
• USSR signs arms agreement with Egypt in
1955.
• Israelis feel threatened by arms build up and
launch pre-emptive strike against Egypt.
– Attack and seize the Sinai and Gaza Strip.
• Relinquished in 1957.
• French and British retake Suez Canal which
Egypt had seized several months earlier.
• UN establishes peace keeping force in Sinai that
is still in place today.
Egypt
• Her military was angry at being defeated by Israel
and sought revenge.
• Egypt closed the Suez Canal and the Gulf of
Aqaba to Israeli ships in 1949, and continued to
try to strangle Israeli trade this way.
• She supported Arab Palestinians in the Gaza
strip and enabled them to launch attacks into
Israel.
The Suez Canal- closed to Israeli
ships, important for oil.
Petrol shortages caused by the Canal
closure caused problems in the West.
Suez Crisis of 1956
• Egyptian President Nasser ordered the seizure
of the Suez Canal in 1956
• Britain, France, and Israel conduct a joint
military attack against Egypt
• US and USSR condemn the attack, all forces
withdraw from Egypt by March of 1957
• Nasser becomes a Pan-Arab hero, Israel
viewed as an agent for Western aggression
The Suez Campaign : A test of might for the young nation of Israel.
Israel expands at Egyptian
expense.
But the United Nations is called
in by the USA to stop the war.
The USA found itself unable to support Britain and France. With Soviet (USSR)
support the United Nations was allowed to act.
Watchful of the Soviet advance into Hungary the USA couldn’t take a moral
defence of Hungary and allow its own allies to walk into Egypt. Cold War
brinkmanship took precedence over the Middle East.
The USA put financial pressure on Britain to quit . Saudi Arabia meanwhile cut
back Britain’s oil supplies.
PLO
The Palestinians (Arabs) set up a more efficient
organisation to promote itself in 1964- with the
assistance of the Arab League (all the Arab
nations).
This was the PLO – or Palestinian Liberation
Organisation, based originally on the West Bank
Flag of the PLO-Palestinian
Liberation Organisation.
By Arabs the PLO were seen as
freedom fighters.
By Jewish settlers the PLO were seen
as terrorists.
Yasser Arafat- leader of the
PLO from 1968 onwards.
Es Samu
• 1966 some Israeli soldiers were killed by a road-side
bomb.
• Israel blamed the newly formed PLO for this terrorist
outrage and mobilised a large force of men and tanks.
• The target was a Palestinian refugee camp at Es Samu
thought to harbour terrorists.This camp was on
Jordanian land.
• The IDF attacked the camp, and also Jordanian soldiers
who were nearby, before withdrawing.
Israeli tank of 1967 Samu raid.
Six Day War 1967
The Arab-Israeli Conflict
The Arab-Israeli conflict that began in 1948 has continued through the years.
In 1967 and again in 1973, war erupted. Six years after the 1973 war, Egypt
and Israel singed a peace agreement, but unrest among Palestinian Arabs in
Israel remained a major problem.
War in 1967, 1973
• 1967, Egypt
demanded UN
remove troops from
Gaza, Sinai
Peninsula
• Egyptian troops
moved into Sinai to
close off Gulf of
Aqaba, Israel’s route
to Red Sea
Israeli Attacks
Six-Day War
• Israel expected largescale Arab attack,
decided to strike first
• Launched air strikes
against Egypt, Syria,
Jordan; destroyed
most of airplanes on
ground
• Ground troops moved
in, defeated Arabs
• In Six-Day War Israel
took control of Golan
Heights, Sinai
Peninsula, Gaza
Strip, West Bank,
East Jerusalem
• Took control of land in
West Bank, Gaza
with large Palestinian
population
June/Six Day War
• Nasser, equipped with Soviet supplies,
convinces Arab allies that they are ready to
confront Israel (Bluff?)
• May, 1967: Arabs invade Sinai and block Israeli
shipping
• Israel unleashes massive air attack (June 5th)
• Defeats Arab enemies in six days (June 11th)Occupies Golan Heights
• Nasser Humiliated
1967 War
 Israel believes neighbors are preparing for war
 Egypt requests withdrawal of UN in May 1967 and denies
Israel access to the Red Sea by closing Straits of Tiran
 Jordan and Egypt sign mutual defense agreement
 Continued terrorist attacks from Syria’s Golan Heights region
 Israeli surprise attack against Egypt on June 5, 1967
 Also attacks Syria, Jordan
 Within six days Israel defeats Egypt, Syria, Jordan
Takes control of West Bank , Gaza Strip
 Control of all of Jerusalem
 Control of Sinai (from Egypt)
 Control of Golan Heights (from Syria)

Six Day War
5-10 June 1967
Egypt, Jordan, and Syria begin military
mobilization.
Israel launches surprise pre-emptive strike.

Destroys most of Egyptian Air Force on the ground.


Knocked out 350 aircraft in first three hours.
Armored forces supported by air and infantry quickly
take Sinai, Golan Heights, West Bank (including Arab
portion of Jerusalem, and Gaza.

Destroyed over 200 Arab tanks in two days.
UN arranges cease-fire, but terms did not specify
exactly what land Israel was required to give up.
Forces.
Israel
264,000 men
Egypt
100,000 men
Jordan
55,000 men
Syria
75,000 men
Map of war zone.
Syrian forces ready here
The Sinai Desert.
Main Egyptian forces
dug in here.
Jordanian forces
ready here
The Six Day War
• In 1967, after a month of
escalating tension Israel
attacked Syria and Egypt.
In six days both Arab armies
were crushed as was the
army of Jordan which
attempted to come to their
aid.
• At the war’s end Israel
occupied all of Palestine,
the Syrian Golan Heights
and the Egyptian Sinai
Peninsular.
1960s
– Result: app. 800,000 Palestinians are displaced
(PALESTINIAN REFUGEES)
– Yasser Arafat founds the Palestinian Liberation
Organization (PLO) 1964
• Six-Day War (Jun 5–11, 1967)
– Israel acquires West Bank, Gaza Strip, and the Golan
Heights – OCCUPIED TERRITORIES
• Fighting causes many Palestinians to flee into neighboring
Arab countries, especially from the Golan Heights
• OC’s under martial law – not represented by MP’s
Israel before and after the six-day war 1967.
Casualties
Dead
Wounded
Israel
1,029
2,400
Egypt
11,500
20,000
Jordan
700
2,500
Syria
2,500
5,000
Results
•
Israel had restored its image as an independent and strong nation.
•
Israel was now three times bigger than it had been in 1966.
•
The pan-Arab ideas of Nasser had taken a huge knock.
•
Israel now had the security risk of an extra 1 million Arab people inside its
own borders. About 1/3 million Arabs fled to Jordan- where they were easy
prey to PLO recruiters.
•
Israel was now easier to defend against outside aggression having wide
deserts and mountains just inside its borders.
•
The status of the new territories was problematic. Should the residents get
citizen status?Could you have an Israeli/Arab Palestinian? Did Israel really
want all the land- especially that with inherent ownership problems (eg the
Gaza Strip)?
•
Israel launched a huge settlement plan- to occupy the land won with people
loyal to Israel.
Palestinian Refugees
More refugees
Many Arabs fled
from Israel. This
is a refugee camp
in Syria.
The people here
would harbour
grudges about
their lost homes
for years to come.
The words of the
PLO would be
very persuasive
for them.
How would you feel if you had lost your home in a war?
United Nations Resolution 242
• ‘Land for peace’ This was the idea that Israel might give
back some of the captured land if the Arabs agreed to
drop ownership claims to other parts of the region and
their threats of war against Israel.
• Arguments over this would, unfortunately, lead to future
wars. The basic questions of ownership were still not
resolved.
• For now Israel was celebrating. Gamal Nasser was
fuming, however, and thinking of ways to retreive his
reputation.
The Khartoum Resolution1967
• The Arab leaders of the Arab league met in this
city to discuss what to do next with Israel.
• They had been badly beaten in the Six Day War.
• The Palestinian issue was still unresolved.
• They decided to have:
– No recognition of the State of Israel.
– No peace with Israel.
– No negotiations with Israel.
Perspectives on and Aftermath
of 1967 War
Palestinian and Arab
Nations
• West Bank and Gaza Strip
• Land gained is a buffer
become known as “Occupied
zone to deter future attacks
Territories”
– Begin to build settlements in
West Bank, Gaza Strip and
• Some will accept Israel at preGolan Heights
1967 War borders.
• Unified Jerusalem under
• Palestinian Liberation
Israeli control
Organization (PLO) later
begins to use terrorism to
attract attention to its cause of
an independent state.
Israeli
Reflection
• Write for three minutes about BOTH of the
following questions.
– If you were Israeli, how might you feel about the
1967 war and its outcome?
– If you were Palestinian, how might you feel
about the 1967 war and its outcome?
‘Black September’ 1968
• In Syria some army units called ‘The Palestinian Liberation
Army’(PLA) had been equipping.
• The US, meanwhile, promised aid to King Hussein of Jordan, and
even Israel flew threatening missions over Syria to stop her
supporting the PLO with the PLA.
• The death of Gamal Nasser (September 1968) took real authority
away from the Palestinians. Without his support they had to stop the
conflict.
• Yasser Arafat , leader of the PLO, immediately began looking for
new sponsors for the Palestinian cause. The Palestinians called this
time ‘Black September’ because their cause, for a while, looked lost.
Greater Israel---Late 1960s and
Early 1970s
• Following the 1967 war the UNSC passed
resolution 242 which reaffirmed “the
inadmissibility of the acquistion of territory
by war.”
• Israel ignored the resolution and began
settling the occupied territories, and went
on to annex the Syrian Golan Heights and
East Jerusalem.
• Israel’s refusal to return captured territory
led to the 1969-70 War of Attrition and the
1973 Yom Kippur War.
• Moshe Dayan, confident in Israel’s military
prowess announced, “There is no more
Palestine. Finished!”
International Terrorism in the
late 1960s and into the 1970s
• Following the 1967 war
Palestinian militant groups
used international terrorism to
bring attention to their cause.
• George Habash, leader of the
PFLP justified such acts as
“For decades world attention
has neither been for or against
the Palestinians. It simply
ignored us. At least the world
is talking about us now.”
• Many Palestinian actions
however, like the 1978 Coast
Road Massacre or the murder
of 22 children in the 1974
Ma’alot School Massacre, were
unjustified and unjustifiable.