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History of the Arab-Israeli Conflict

r a break, a newly revitalized Israel gained the upper hand. UN attempts to intervene were hampered by opposition from IsraelÆs two key allies (at that moment): the United States and the Soviet Union (Peretz 42). The Arabs also were hampered by Jordan, which seemed more interested in dividing up Palestine than in defeating Israel. By the end of 1948, Israel had conquered 2,000 square miles beyond its original partition amount and had advanced into EgyptÆs Sinai Peninsula. Defeated, the Arabs agreed to a cease-fire, and, in 1949, each Arab country (except Iraq) signed a separate armistice agreement with Israel.

Later research (Flapan 55-79) has indicated that the Arabs had reason to mistrust Jordan. Technically, according to the UN mandate, the state of Palestine existed side-by-side with Israel. That never happened, however. The Palestinians entered the war with 4,300 square miles of land, hoping to reclaim their country. They left the war with nothing, swallowed up by Jordan, whose leader had made a secret deal with Israel.

Indeed, better than anyone, the Palestinians recognized that if forced to choose between war and peace, they stood little chance of winning the former. Clearly, some Palestinian leaders were virulently hostile, none more so than mufti of Jerusalem who called for an all-out war. Furthermore, no one doubts that the Palestinian people opposed the partition. However, the vast majority of Palestinians did not take up arms in the war and preferred peace. Even Israeli Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion admitted that the Palestinians did not want to fight. As Flapan (73) writes, ôThe Palestinians, then, neither wanted nor believed in war.ö This would not be the last time that the Palestinians would suffer at the hands of their Arab ôallies.ö

The dispossession of the Palestinians actually had begun earlier, though, on November 29, 1947, when the United Nations passed the partition resolution. F...

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History of the Arab-Israeli Conflict. (1969, December 31). In LotsofEssays.com. Retrieved 09:43, March 28, 2024, from https://www.lotsofessays.com/viewpaper/1712890.html