History of Arab-Israeli Relations & Tensions

Arab-Israeli relations are influenced by problems between the two groups extending back centuries, and the creation of the state of Israel in 1948 today remains a sore point in the Arab world. In the Middle East, the Israelis are the minority population and are surrounded by Arab nations. Among the points of contention between Arabs and Israelis are Israeli actions with regard to the Palestinians, the discovery and development of oil in the Arab countries, and shifts in the world geo-political situation. The Middle East holds a place of particular strategic importance, and the tensions existing there impinge on relations between nations outside the region.

Friedman provides a sketch of the history of tensions in the Middle East and refers back to their roots in the Middle Ages and to the various authoritarian dynasties that have maintained these tensions through the centuries. It is with World War I that the modern state structure in the Middle East began, and it is with World War I and its aftermath that the tensions around Palestine and in Beirut begin in earnest. Friedman notes how the boundaries of the Arab states were imposed artificially from above and how vested interests soon took hold to make these boundaries work. Since that time, the forces that have warred have included those tending toward modernization against those fighting to retain traditions, and Friedman finds that these forces in particular have come to be of vital importance in modern Arab state

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shelled Israeli settlements and also laid mines and carried on a minor war of attrition along the frontier. On February 1, 1960, the Israeli Defense Forces carried out a reprisal raid against Syrian posts in Khirbet Tawfiq on the Sea of Galilee. However, the Syrians continued to attack fishing boats on the lake, to shell villages in the Huleh Valley, and to fire on agricultural workers in the demilitarized zone along the frontier (Herzog 145-146). It was during this period that different Arab groups formed for the purpose of countering Israeli actions and to push for the destruction of the state of Israel. The Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) was formed in 1965 (Herzog 146-147). The groundwork had been laid in 1964 at the first Arab summit meeting to give the Palestinians an organization of their own, but in fact the emerging organization was under the control of Egypt. Egyptian President Gamel Abdel Nasser kept the organization away from guerrilla actions against Israel because he, more than any other Arab leader, had reason to respect Israel's power after his experience in 1956. There was support for his position--a secret study commissioned during the 1964 Arab summit showed that it would take the Arabs at least u

Category: Foreign - H