Arab Israeli Conflict Six Day War Essay Plan PDF

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HSC MODERN HISTORY: ARAB ISRAELI CONFLICT

Assess the consequences of the Six Day War on Arab Israeli Relations The most significant consequence of the 1967 Six Day War on Arab Israeli relations was the creation of the Occupied territories under Israel’s control, establishing Israel as a powerful military force in the Middle East. This changed the nature of Israeli, Palestinian and Arab nationalist movements, most specifically Israel’s nationalist emphasis on religious ideology, Palestinian’s increased calls for self-determination and the defeat of pan-Arab nationalism. This would bring greater attempts at peacemaking between the Arabs and Israelis such as UN Resolution 242, however its effectiveness would be diminished by competing motives. Consequently, greater international involvement in the region by the US and USSR who would supply either side with military arms would exacerbate the violent and turbulent nature of Arab Israeli relations. Israeli’s military dominance from the War in contrast to Arabs defeat would exacerbate the geopolitical imbalance in the region, leading to an intensification of future conflict, most specifically the 1973 War.

Most importantly, the Six Day War led to the creation of the Occupied territories under Israel’s control, allowing Israel to become the dominant military power in the region in comparison to Arab humiliation. This would lead to a recalibration of the geopolitical imbalance, which would impact Arab Israeli relations negatively. Ø The 1967 Six Day War resulted in Israel destroying the Arab forces and capturing the Sinai Peninsula, Gaza Strip from Egypt, East Jerusalem, West Bank from Jordan and the Golan Heights from Syria. Israel now took up three times more space that it had in 1949. This led to the creation of occupied territories as Israeli troops occupied the West Bank, Gaza Sinai and Golan Heights, as well as annexing East Jerusalem. This allowed the Israeli government to create a buffer zone between themselves and Arab neighbours, providing them with strategic depth to protect Israeli cities. This was in comparison to Arab humiliation, who were left defeated and increasingly aggressive towards the Israeli’s, who sought to achieve revenge, leading to further conflict, most specifically the 1973 War o This is supported by Benny Morris, “In six days, the geopolitical balance of the region had been radically subverted” Ø Israel now occupied much of its biblical homelandhome land, which gave them strength and self-confidence as a nation. The Kotel and Temple Mount, the holiest site in Judaism, was against under the control of the Jewish people after nearly 2000 years o On 28 June 1967, Israel formally annexed East Jerusalem, declaring Jerusalem to be the 'undivided capital of Israel' Ø However, the Palestinian problem was now Israel’s problem as 1.3 million Palestinian Arabs now lived under Israeli control. The creation of the Occupied territories meant Israel was now a military conqueror and occupier to which the Palestinians were now its subject people. This would ensure violence and conflict continued, further deepening divisions as the Israel’s would further reinstate their rule over the Palestinians o This is supported by Albert Hourani, “Israel was militarily stronger…this changed the relationship of each of them with the outside world”. The most significant consequence of the Six Day War was the creation of the Occupied Territories under Israel’s control, which would degrade Arab Israeli relations as Israel became the dominant military power in the region.

HSC MODERN HISTORY: ARAB ISRAELI CONFLICT The Six Day War changed the nature of Israeli, Arab and Palestinian nationalist movements, which would further divide Arab-Israeli relations towards an emphasis on the motives of individual national groups. Ø The Six Day War brought the defeat of Pan- Arab nationalism as Israel’s destruction of Arab forces led to the downfall of Nasser who later died in 1970 from a heart attack. The crushing military defeat destroyed the prestige of Arab military power and the secular and socialist governments who supported it as the Arabs would no longer command their own authority. The led to the rise in religious extremists as there was the belief that nationalism had failed due to a deviance from Islamic beliefs. An example of this includes the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt, who used terror as a tactic to achieve their political objective from a dominant political ideology. o This is supported by Michael Oren, “the collapse of secular Pan-Arabism and its replacement by Islamic extremist ideas” Ø In contrast, the Six Day War brought a rise in Palestinian nationalism, particularly since the War demonstrated that the Palestinians could no longer rely on Arab forces to create a Palestinian nation state. With the defeat of the Arabs, this intensified Palestinian calls for a nation state, in which they believed it was up to the Palestinians themselves to assert their own national identity. o This was supported by the formation of the PLO, which became an umbrella organisation to represent all Palestinian organisations and aimed to liberate the Palestinians from their colonial oppressors through armed struggle Ø In addition, the Six Day War changed the nature of Israeli nationalism. With the acquisition of its holy land including the Kotel and Temple Mount, nationalism turned more religious which bordered to the point of zealotry as they saw themselves as superior to all in the region. Israel had finally achieved the land and its objective it had been fighting for o This is supported by Michael B Oren: “Reunited with its biblical homeland in the West Bank, Israel became more 'Jewish', spawning Messianic nationalist groups such as Gush Emunim"- This would ultimately lead to the creation of the settler movement, as the Jews were determined to instil control over the land, in conflict with the Palestinians The consequence of the Six Day War changed the nature of Palestinian, Arab and Israeli nationalist movements negatively impacted Arab Israeli relations, through a deepening of divisions and an intensification of the conflict at hand

The Six Day War brought attempts at peacemaking between the Israeli’s and the Arab’s. However, these would be diminished by conflicting motives and an inability to cooperate. Ø Following the 1967 War, the Israeli’s brought attempts at peace making on 19 June 1967 in which the Israeli Government offered to exchange the Sinai Peninsula and Golan Heights for permanent peace treaties with Egypt and Syria. With Arab’s humiliation and increased discontent to the Israeli Government, the Arab states rejected Israeli’s proposal at the September 1967 Arab Summit through ‘Three No’s of Khartoum’, in which the Arab states called for “no peace with Israel, no recognition of Israel, no negotiations with it” Ø This was subsequently followed by UN Resolution 242, which called for permanent peace based on the withdrawal of Israeli armed forces from territories occupied in the recent conflict and respect for the right of every state to live in peace and security. As Egypt and

HSC MODERN HISTORY: ARAB ISRAELI CONFLICT Jordan accepted the Resolution, effectively recognising Israeli’s right to exist, this brought the first peace measure in the region to which the ‘land for peace’ formula would be used in subsequent peace discussions o However, differing perspectives of either side towards the resolution would limit its effectiveness in pursuing peace in the future, leading to further conflict between Arab-Israeli relations. It was not until 1979 that the first peace treaty was signed between an Arab state, that being Egypt, and Israel Ø This was seen with the War of Attrition of 1969-70, in which Nasser ordered the resumption of artillery attacks on Israeli outposts rather than accepting the political stalemate A consequence of the Six Day War was an attempt at peacemaking to try and improve Arab Israeli relations, however conflicting motives would undermine its ability to achieve enduring peace or reconcile the warring nations.

The Six Day War brought increased international involvement into the region which would antagonise Arab-Israeli relations through the deployment of increased arms to intensify the ferocity of the conflict. Ø Subsequent international involvement in the region would further deepen Arab-Israeli division and change the nature of the conflict. Israel’s victory of the Six Day War marked a turning point in US-Israeli relations as the US saw Israel’s military capacity as a strategic strength in their war against the USSR. Therefore, the US played a key role in resupplying arms to Israel to increase their military capacity and strength, ensuring it was supplied with the latest weaponry including tanks, and missiles. Ø This was countered by the USSR’s supply of arms to the Arab states, to ensure military capacity against the Israeli’s. Consequently, the ‘proxy war’ in the Middle East became a texting ground for the US and USSR’s latest technology. However, the supply of arms only increased the ferocity and intensity of the conflict. Each side could conduct more destructive military strikes, causing more damage and casualties. Ø This would change the nature of Arab-Israeli relations since rather meeting with diplomacy, violence and military strength became the main form of interaction between the two nation states. This would further undermine the ability to achieve peace, leading to further conflict, most specifically the 1973 War. The speed at which either state was able to rearm after 1967, especially the Arab states, meant they were ready to fight another war sooner, then if there hadn’t been international involvement A consequence of the Six Day War was an increase in international involvement, which would further antagonise Arab-Israeli relations and compromise any attempts of diplomacy and peace. The Six Day War had grave consequences for Arab Israeli relations, the most significant being the creation of the occupied territories under Israel’s control. In comparison to Arab humiliation, this increased Israel’s military dominance and led to the recalibration of the geopolitical imbalance within the region, towards further conflict such as the 1973 War. This further changed the nature of Arab, Palestinian and Israeli nationalist movements as each prioritised their own national motives. This would consequently bring attempts at peace making however conflicting motives would undermine its effectiveness to pursue long term peace. In addition, the influence of international involvement by the US and USSR would further antagonise Arab Israeli relations by increasing military strength on both sides through the resupply of arms....