Conflict in the Middle East between 1948 and 1978

The role of the Middle East has been very crucial to the United States, especially after WWII. The U.S. had three strategic goals in the Middle East and consistently followed them throughout various events that unfolded in the region. First, with the emergence of the cold war between the Soviet Union and the U.S., policymakers began to recognize the importance of the Middle East as a strategic area in containing Soviet influence. This also coincides with the U.S. becoming increasingly wary of Arab nationalism and the threat it posed to U.S. influence. Secondly, the emergence of the new Israeli state in 1948 further deepened U.S. policy and involvement in the region while also creating friction between the U.S. and Arab states which were

Each superpower wanted to increase their sphere of influence in the region as they sought to gain strategic and geographical advantages as well as safeguarding their economic and resource interests, especially with regard to the supply of oil. Both superpowers fuelled the regional conflict by providing Middle Eastern countries with financial and military assistance in an attempt to align these states politically and promote their respective interests. However, the Cold War superpowers were not the direct cause of the conflict, which sprang from diverse religious beliefs and nationalism.

Much of the tension and terrorism between the Middle East and the United States can be traced back to the twentieth century. In the early 1920s oil became very essential to the United States, therefore the U.S. invested in the Middle East oil industry. Since both sides of the world were connected through this investment, the Middle East was more exposed to western society. “As Western ideas spread through the region, many Muslims feared that their traditional values and beliefs were being weakened” (Appleby, 1032). In order to continue following the traditional Muslim religious laws, Muslim movements were created to overthrow pro-Western governments in the Middle East. Even though Muslims believed that terrorism is the opposite of their faith, they supported these movements and were called fundamentalist militants. In 1947 the United Nations divided Palestine into two sections in order to give the Jews land that they can call ‘home’. One section was called Israel, and the other section was to become a Palestine state. This was the beginning of a military war; the Palestinians wanted their own nation therefore they began planning raids and terrorist attacks against their neighbor Israel. The United States gave aid to Israel, and immediately became Muslim target.

The 1948 War set the stage for long-term conflict in the Middle East, because even after Israel defeated Egypt, Syria, Jordan, and Lebanon, the surrounding Arab

Despite current misconceptions of the tensions between Muslims and Jews, the current political conflict began in the early 20th century. The Palestinians, both muslims and christians, lived in peace for centuries. Control of the city had historically, since 637 AD, been under Muslim control with guarantee of Christians’ safety, right to property, and right to practice religion. The collapse of the Ottoman Empire led to European nations colonizing many of its former lands, and the British gained control of Palestine. Social and political issues prompted European jews to flee from political unrest from their homes in Europe, and migrate to Palestine. Seeing the influx of Jews as a European colonial movement, the Arabs fought back. The British couldn’t control the violence, and in 1947 the United Nations (UN) voted to split the land into two countries. The continued political unrest in the Middle East is the cause of United States involvement.

Since the middle east had rich oil the Soviet Union and western powers fought for territory and influence. The Soviet Union tried to control the countries Iran and Turkey, but the U.S. won them over by giving them military help and financial aid. But the Arab nations betrayed the U.S. trust by helping Israel their enemy. The Soviet Union saw that and saw that as an opportunity to take the Arab countries.

In 1978, during Jimmy Carter’s administration, he was trying to fix the war between egypt and israel. The war broke out in 1948 and it wasn’t going well. The Us offered the defacto recognition of israel provisional goverment , during the war united states couldnt do anything because the stayed in arms embargo. The un sparked a conflict with the jewish, arab groups within palestine. In the first three wars israel always defeated the egyptians

The Arab-Israeli conflict, initiated over one-hundred years ago and still continuing, has confounded both policy-makers and citizens; despite the best efforts of foreign leaders, only one substantial accord has materialized in the decades of negotiations: the Israel-Egypt peace treaty of 1979. Before one undertakes to understand such a complex topic as the Israel-Egypt peace treaty, however, a broad knowledge of the historical background of the two countries involved is essential to understanding the motivations and aspirations of both parties, which in turn will shed light on the peace treaty itself. Foreign policy can’t be viewed in a vacuum; rather, each country must be viewed as a nation with legitimate historical and political

On October 6, 1973 Egyptian and Syrian forces launched an attack on Israel to regain land won by Israel during a previous war. Knowing that military forces would be preoccupied with their holy holiday, the two armies attacked Israel. Other Arab nations contributed to the fighting or the supplying of weapons in a later time. Israel asked The United States for help numerous times but the Nixon administration was hesitant to offer immediate aid. Many factors had to be considered before The US could come to a decision. With the Cold War still being fought during this time the US wanted to negotiate a peaceful end with the Soviet Union, who was backing the Egyptians with military supplies. The Soviets agreed to a negotiation but the Egyptians did not, which seemed to

The Great Power involvement in the Middle East politics often creates and contributes to more conflicts and wars. The Middle East, a region described by Victor Israelyan as ‘one of sharp confrontation between the two superpowers unavoidably fell victim to such pressures.

Back in 1948 when Israel was founded, World War II was over, and the Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union was just beginning. This paved the way for the United States to make a strategic move that has shaped the course of American policy to this day. In order to attempt to keep communism from spreading to the volatile region that is the Middle East, the United States created an unwritten alliance with the only country in the Middle East that was willing to do so: Israel. Fast forward to present day and the Cold War is no longer relevant to the purpose of “special relationship” between the US and Israel, but many new benefits have arisen that make the alliance worth maintaining. Critics of the alliance cite the idea that Israel receives more in aid than the United States get in return in benefits and that having Israel as an ally is more of a burden than it is worth. The three main categories in which the United States receives benefits from its alliance with Israel are political, economic, and military. Although critics of the United States’ alliance with Israel believe it is much too burdensome, the political, economic, and military benefits outweigh the negatives and make maintaining the alliance valuable in the future.

From the 17th to the 20th centuries, imperialism served a mode of global exploration and expansion of economic, political and religious influence. Glory was at stake; the opportunity to expound upon their influence on the balance of power galvanized most of Europe to explore and colonize Central Europe, Africa, Asia, and the Middle East. In the period of European imperialism, imperialism served as conveyer of status and power in world affairs; the more imperialist territory, a more powerful nation state. Arbitrary boundaries and imperialist expansion into the unknown earth continued until the end of World War II. This disintegration of imperial empires came to be because of the mission of World War II and the weakness of the imperial power post-war. As John Green says, “In part, the Allies were fighting to stop Nazi imperialism. The Allied defeat of the Nazis discredited the whole of an empire for the future”(Crash Course). The Allies could not reasonably defeat a permutation of an imperialist empire and then expect its colonies to return to a system of imperialist empires. As well, the power of the major imperial states (Britain, France, Japan) diminished after World War II, so their ability to upkeep their territorial control lessened. Therefore, Central Europe, Africa, Asia, and the Middle East broke off from direct territorial control into independent states. What this means for modern day policy is that imperialist empires are no longer a goal of nation states.

The Yom Kippur War also demonstrated that the Arabs could also hurt Israel’s Western allies too (Ross, 1996, p. 47). Arabs states put an embargo on oil to the United States and Western Europe (Ross, 1996, p.47). There was a new weapon that could be used to draw the attention of the superpowers to the conflict. Oil had a devastating effect when its prices were doubled and its production was cut into half causing world-wide economic and political problems (Ross, 1996, p. 67). The United States began to place pressure on the Israel to make concessions with Arabs (Blumberg, 1998, p.123).

The conflict between Israel and Palestine is just one of the many facets that have shaped modern day politics in the Middle East. It is a conflict rooted in generations of violence, discrimination and prejudice that is complicated by a history older than any of the modern day superpowers. Ever since the creation of the state of Israel by the 1947 UN partition of Palestine

the conflict in the middle east between 1948-1973 was not purely fuelled by the interest and concerns of the superpowers but rather of a series of conflictual incidents, aswell as the main wars that took place from the years from 1948-1967 such as the: 1948 War, The Six Day War of 1967 and the Yom Kippur war of 1973. But although the conflict was not fuelled by the superpowers, the influence of the superpowers and the reach of the superpowers into the Middle East was evident in the years both prior and following 1978. But even despite the influence and interests of the superpowers between and including 1948-1967 being undeniably evident, the extent of this influence cannot be said to have “fuelled the conflict”.