The truth behind the Arab-Israeli War
Even though almost one century of conflict had passed, we had got used to
witness the several disputes between Israelis and the Arab people, but not
everyone knows the truth behind their mutual hatred.
Background
Going back to the end of the Second World War, we can find thousands of Jews
spread across Europe who had just survived the Holocaust. Due to the
circumstances, the UN took action in the case and began to plan the
establishment of an Israeli nation in Palestine's lands. This idea was also
supported by Britain since the early 20th century through the declaration of
Balfour.
As a result, on November 29, 1947, the General Assembly of the United
Nations adopted Resolution 181, proclaiming the Partition of Palestine and the
establishment of two nations, one Arab for Palestinians and other Jewish for the
Israelis, while Jerusalem remained in control of the international forces.
The agreement of the State of Israel brought nothing worse than the madness
of his Arab neighbors, generating a non-stop war between the Arabs and the
Jews. None of the members of the Arab League were satisfied with the Partition
Plan. Therefore, on May 15, 1948, in complete violation of the agreement, the
Arab forces began their invasion into the Israeli territories, and the First Arab-
Israeli war began.
First Arab-Israeli War (1948)
The Arab-Israeli war of 1948 is known as the “Independence War” for most
Jews, meanwhile, for many Palestine-Arabs, it referred also as the beginning of
the “Nakba” (catastrophe in Arabic). Furthermore, the so-called Independence
War prolonged between May 15, 1948, and January 6, 1949, yet some of the
disputes were interrupted and ceased due to different agreements and
ceasefires agreed upon the United Nations’ Security Council.
The protest movements and riots started to spread rapidly over the Arab
territory. At the same time, along the withdraw of the British forces in several
sectors, clashes between the two estates arose for the control over these
zones.
The military bases of the Arab troops
that invaded Israel were composed by:
the Palestinians forces, made up by
two two paramilitary organizations:
Níyaday and Fútuwa, along other
countries’ forces, such as the Arab
Legion of Transjordan, Iraq, Syria and
Lebanon, which contributed with a
crucial amount of soldiers and
weapons. These Arab nations created
an Arab Liberation Army that
combined were almost 400,000
soldiers in total.
On the other hand, the Israeli troops
had their main base in Haganah, a
Jewish protection organization that joined the British forces during the Second
World War. This organization, through the construction of regular military
structures and the procurement of heavy weaponry, became an authentic army,
which accomplishes to mobilize approximately 30,000 men.
The main weak points of the Jewish side were its insufficient number of troops,
the enormous number of fronts to battle with, and its limited equipment. This
inferiority shown by the Israelis was repaid with the greater level of coalification
of its men, as well as the great admirable unification of its command, which was
much better than the quarrels that caused the dissociation of the Arab forces.
After all, against all odds, Israel managed to survive and even got to occupy a
larger portion of Palestine. The United Nations portrayed a significant role in the
cessation of this conflict. The Israeli triumph was partly due to their bold
resistance and the fact that the Arabs weren´t distributed correctly and were
poorly equipped.
One of the most tragic consequences of the war was the social situation if the
Arabs-Palestinians who were still living inside the recently established nation of
Israel. After the annihilation of almost a million Arabs made done by the Jewish
terrorist groups, thousands of Arabs ran away to the neighbor Arab countries,
where they settled in miserable refugee camps.
Therefore, Jerusalem was divided between Israel and Jordan, and despite the
commitment of the “Big Three” to maintain the frontiers with Israel, the Arab
states didn’t consider the cease-fire as a permanent aspect; this was only the
first stage of their attack to destroy Israel and redeem Palestine again.
Six-Day War (1967)
The Six-Day War, also known in the Arab histography as the “War of June
1967”, took place between June 5 and 10, 1967, where the country of Israel
fought against the neighbor estates of Egypt, Jordan, and Syria. Additionally,
other Arab nations, such as Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Morocco, Tunisia, and
Argelia contributed as well with troops and weapons.
In the middle of the 1960s, the
tension around the frontiers
started to rise, along with the
intervention of airstrikes and
battle tanks. Within the first
half of 1967, the territorial
confrontations occurred
almost every day, until, on
May 19, Nasser demanded
the withdrawal of the UN
interposition forces. He was
preparing for an imminent conflict, mobilizing almost 80,000 men and signing a
pact with Iraq and Jordan, and, after 4 days, himself announced the blocking for
the Israeli ships at the Akaba gulf, which Israel identified as causes of the
conflict.
On the morning of June 5, 1967, Israel forces sent an air attack against the
Egyptian air forces. The surprise strike startled the Egyptian pilots. In just a few
hours, they had destroyed almost 85% of their air forces.
Showing an aerial dominance to protect their ground forces, Israel was able to
manage the Sinai Peninsula in no more than 3 days. Then, looking back at
Jerusalem, Israel confronted Jordan and gained control of the Western Bank
and the Old City before Jordan’s agreement.
After all, a ceasefire was accepted on June 8, after the Israelis had their eyes
upon the strategic Syrian Golan Heights, which they occupied and, on June 10,
Syria agreed with the conclusion of this war.
Despite that all their plans were accomplished without any mistakes; the Israeli
victory can also be attributed to the negligence and the lack of sufficient
formation and organization of its enemies. Surprisingly, the Six-Day War is yet
being studied due to the unlikely victory of the Jewish nation, which achieved to
overcome more than three nations and even quadruplicate its territorial size.
The war, yet, didn’t lead to achieving any peace in the Middle East. The
humiliating defeat enraged again the Arab nations and deepened its
determination on retrieving their nation’s pride which was destroyed by Israel.
Even though the UN was able to regulate a cease-fire in 1967, mutual hatred
was still standing.
Present: looking for peace
For now, almost 70 years have passed since the first war and yet the tension
between the Jewish and Arabs don’t cease, not only affecting its habitants, but
also all the Middle East as well as the rest of the world. Even though several
logical and comprehensive solutions had come up for an agreement, but none
of them had made the big step for achieving peace.
Regardless of what has been achieved so far, some progress towards peace is
still something achievable. However, even some efforts from both nations are
needed if we want to reach an end to this war.
Twilight Strategy (2012). Arab-Israeli war. Retrieved on November 6, 2019 from
https://twilightstrategy.com/2012/01/16/arab-israeli-war/
Teach Mideast (2019). Primer in the Arab-Israeli Conflict. Retrieved on
November 6, 2019 from http://teachmideast.org/articles/primer-arab-israeli-
conflict/
https://embassies.gov.il/santiago/NewsAndEvents/Pages/Resolucion-181.aspx
https://www.aljazeera.com/archive/2003/12/2008410115114656999.html
https://www.ecured.cu/Primera_guerra_%C3%A1rabe-israel%C3%AD_(1948-
1949)
https://historiageneral.com/2009/05/06/la-guerra-de-los-seis-dias/
https://www.usip.org/publications/2019/08/current-situation-israel-palestinian-
territories-and-arab-israeli-conflict
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-39960461
Indo-Pakistani conflict: A non-ending War
For decades, the land of Kashmir has been a harshly disputed land between its
two powerful neighbors, India and Pakistan. Nonetheless, what is Kashmir
exactly? It makes up a region in the northwestern Indian subcontinent, which is
surrounded by China from the Northeast, by Pakistan in the West, and India in
the South. This place has a total area of approximately 85,000 square miles and
a population of 14 million habitants, who had lived in a real battlefield every day.
Historical Background
First of all, the origin of the Indo-Pakistani conflict starts in both nations’ shared
colonial past. For almost three centuries, Britain had an established regime in
practically all the Indian subcontinent, composed directly by the British
government.
Over time, with the manifestation of World War I and II, the crown's control over
its colonies weakened, and the expansion of nationalist movements began to
threaten its mandate.
As an outcome of the Second World War, the British Parliament decided to
cease its rule in India by 1948.
In historical terms, Britain had recognized the Muslim population in India as a
minority, which fueled a flourishing Muslim separatist movement. Additionally,
Mohammad Ali Jinnah, a well-known politician who led the Muslim League of
India, started demanding an independent estate for the Muslim population who
habited in India.
At the same time, the religious situation in India was aggravating, leading to
massive incidents and riots, leaving thousands dead. Thus, British and Indian
leaders came out with the Partition Plan of the subcontinent of India,
considering the two main religions in this area.
Therefore, in 1947, the Partition of India took place, splitting British India into
two different nations, India and Pakistan, which became a Muslim country. Due
to the division of both nations, millions of civilians were forced to move across
the Radcliffe Line between the two recently formed nations.
Both governments were unable to deal with migrations of such huge numbers of
migrants, due to the displacement of people on both sides. Consequently,
massive religious violence and slaughter occurred on the frontier, generating
thousands of bloody massacres enormous amounts of refugees in both
countries.
As a result of the Partition, tough tensions began to rise between the two
recently established estates and its citizens, provoking the first Indo-Pakistani
conflict.
First Indo-Pakistani war
The First Indo-Pakistani war, also known as the First Kashmir War, was fought
between India and Pakistan, from October 1947 until December 1948.
Surprisingly, despite that Kashmir's leader was a Hindu Maharaja, Sikhs and
Hindus made up the minorities compared to the Muslim population. However,
he was forced to choose between joining India and Pakistan, the Maharaja was
unable to decide.
Both states applied a significant degree of pressure to gain control over
Kashmir. Curiously, though Kashmir was a majority Muslim, most Kashmiris
would prefer to join the Indian estate or becoming an independent nation, rather
than enrolling in Pakistan.
Liberation of Bangladesh
Kargil War
Present
https://www.nationalgeographic.com/culture/2019/03/kashmir-conflict-how-did-
it-start/
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/1399992/A-brief-history-of-the-Kashmir-
conflict.html
https://publicaciones.defensa.gob.es/media/downloadable/files/links/c/o/conflict
o_india_pakistan.pdf
https://twilightstrategy.com/2012/03/19/indo-pakistani-war/
https://www.worldatlas.com/articles/indo-pakistan-wars-1947-1965-1971-
1999.html
