The First Arab-Israeli War

Energy Crisis (1970’s) states that the crisis officially began when the “Organization of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries (OAPEC) reduced their petroleum production and proclaimed an embargo on oil shipments to the United States and the Netherlands, the main supporters of Israel.” They did

In fact, early on into his first term, Nixon visited China to discuss Sino-US relations and world affairs.To start off, the monolouge of the trip stated that “The U.S. side stated: Peace in Asia and peace in the world requires efforts both to reduce immediate tensions and to eliminate the basic causes of conflict.” This was supportive to the idea that the US wanted to avoid conflict with China at all costs. Furthermore, the US did not want to appease the Chinese to just achieve peace; they had clear demands of their own that needed to be met. The capitalist victory over communism in Indochina, was one of these goals. This was stressed by the US in the monologue of President Nixon’s trip to China as well: “The United States stressed that the peoples of Indochina should be allowed to determine their destiny without outside intervention; its constant primary objective has been a negotiated solution.” It is to the United States’ preference that the vietcong and North Vietnamese forces be cut off from Chinese supplies. To achieve this, the United States made their demands before a conflict arose to ensure that an ignored threat did not become

In 1960’s America was becoming divided at home and struggling to understand the America’s intervention in foreign nations especially South Vietnam. When Nixon took office he wanted to quiet the protests, he wanted to get America out of Vietnam and focus on the falling economy at home. Thus Nixon purposed a period of relaxation with the Soviet Union. “ Nixon and Kissinger hoped that such a relationship, which they deemed détente would lessen the threat of nuclear war, encourage the Soviets to pressure North Vietnam into a peace settlement.” (Gillon p. 1114) “ President Nixon and Henry Kissinger wanted to abandon the costly pursuit of weapons superiority and instead focus on peaceful economic competition.” (Gillon p.1114)

In the article, “Nixon's Second Term: Policy Prospects in the Middle East,” Malcolm Kerr discusses Richard Nixon’s first presidency, Nixon’s current state in his second term as commander in chief, and gives a hypothesis about what Nixon would do for the remainder of his term as President. I thoroughly enjoyed this article because often when you think about Nixon, you automatically think about the Watergate scandal and Nixon’s resignation from presidency. This article was written only months prior to the scandal surfacing, so it gives a neat perspective on the sentiments towards Nixon that is different than most post-scandal articles do.

People all over the U.S were wondering why they were doing this and one of the causes was when the U.S made a deal with Israel to gather oil from Asia and what Israel wanted was to attack but behind that scheme it turned out that the U.S was supporting Israel during the

The seeds of the Oil crisis are planted in the late 40s when the State of Israel is created and many of the Arab inhabitants don’t like it. Then, to pour salt on an open wound, Nixon supports Israel after it is attacked by Egypt and Syria with the aid of the Soviet Union. This is not because Nixon had anything against the Arabs per se, but rather Nixon’s anti-communism sentiment. In retaliation, OAPEC, slows and even declares a restriction

Oftentimes, a deciding factor for a president’s reputation is his involvement in foreign affairs. Though Richard Nixon’s terms have been deservedly cast into a bad light, historians still quarrel about his international policy. Interestingly enough, the very traits which made him so despised as a public officer—his paranoia, lying, backstabbing, distrust, opacity, etc.—these traits made him an fascinating figure on the global stage. Instituting a policy coined “détente,” he sought separate peaces with the Soviet Union and China so as to subversively convert these communist foes into allies. He also wished to bring “peace with honor” to the Vietnam War through a practice nicknamed “Vietnamization.” To accomplish these two tasks, Nixon consolidated them under a single goal: the reduction of military spending. To accomplish that goal, President Richard Nixon relied on the dirty tactics he knew best and almost succeeded. The problem? His dirty tactics got in the way.

During this time the United States had supported Iraq. The Western powers also supported Iraq, helping Saddam with the creation of chemical, biological, and nuclear weapons. Although, in 1981 Israel attacked and destroyed a nuclear reactor in which Saddam had hoped to make a bomb. In 1988, both countries eventually agreed to peace. The results of the war were catastrophic with a total of about one million Iraqi and Iranian casualties. Only two years later, Hussein started a war with Kuwait on false claims that it had stolen from Iraq's oilfields. Another one of Hussein's false claims was that he stated Kuwait was Iraq's Nineteenth province. With this said, the first Gulf War was started in 1990 (Eugene 4)

Eisenhower’s view that the way to prevent the spread of communism to the Middle East was by promoting stability in the region between both the Western powers and the Arab powers went on to guide his policy towards the Middle East. Eisenhower’s goals for US involvement in the Middle East “reflected the president’s own cold war ideology and included promoting regional stability, guaranteeing the free flow of Middle Eastern oil to Western Europe, supporting Arab nationalism and Israeli independence, improving relationships with the Arab states, hastening the decline of European empires, maintaining the solidarity of the Western alliance, and avoiding an arms race between Israel and its Arab neighbors, with the United States and Russia the principal arms suppliers” (Ambrose 328-329). The President’s commitment to these goals of maintaining relationships and containing communism accounts for many of the trends that would characterize Eisenhower’s conduct in the Middle East. Among these trends were: Eisenhower’s reliance on frequent-but-informal consultations with a small number of appointees; his tendency to try and delay the inevitable for as long as possible as to allow for planning; his hesitation towards nearly any action, whether it be to take action or to cease taking action; his encouragement for vagueness and secrecy pertaining to the Crisis; and finally, his ability to firmly and effectively communicate his full executive power. Eisenhower’s

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

It is valuable because Kissinger illustrates his views with intimate portraits of world leaders he encountered during his term. As Nixon’s foreign policy partner, he provides readers with first-hand observations on secret negotiations and great events. Its content reveals esoteric details about the implementation of Vietnamization and the negotiations of the Paris Peace Accords. This is shown as Kissinger recalls, “In a memorandum I sent to Nixon dated September 10, 1969...I addressed the risks of Vietnamization [...] Nixon...asked me to implement this assignment.” (Kissinger 682) However, the book is limited by Kissinger’s fascination with Nixon. In describing Nixon’s decision to undertake sole responsibility of the war as “an honorable-indeed, a highly moral and intellectually correct - decision,”(Kissinger 700) Kissinger venerates Nixon’s courage but deemphasizes the results of his decision. His opinions hinder his ability to objectively judge his efforts and produce a nonpartisan view on the effectiveness of America’s foreign policy during the Vietnam War era.

“Eisenhower hoped that the recent Anglo-U.S. offer to fund construction of the Aswan Dam might win Nasser’s cooperation and that Israel’s insecurity stemming from the Soviet-Egyptian arms deal would force the Jewish state to negotiate” (Hahn 190)

On October 10th, United States Deputy Secretary noted, “The Arabs are fighting better now than they did in 1967. The conflict dealt a blow to two myths, that of Israel’s inevitable military superiority and that of the Arab’s perennial Inferiority. The U.S. is trying to keep the Soviets out of the situation while maintaining our own position in the Arab world.” United States officials knew that the Egyptians, Syrians, and Israelis would be looking for ways in which to resupply their dwindling military resources in an effort to continue their war efforts. With Soviet influence in the Middle East, while not at its peak, a fear of potential communist-puppet states spread throughout the State department. With McCarthyism creating a deep-seated fear of communism, potential action by the United States was seen by various Arabic states and the Israelis.

The Arab-Israeli Conflict The Arab Israeli conflict has gone on for many years. There have been many wars, terrorist attacks and peace treaties between Israel and the Arab countries. Through war and Treaties Israel has gained and lost alot of land. There have been 4 major wars between Israel and The Arab countries, as well as terrorist attacks.

During the time of 1948 and 1956 there were two major events that happened with regards to the Middle East crisis. The 1st major event that happened was the War of Liberation. The 2nd was the Suez crises. The War of Liberation was fought between the Arab states surrounding Palestine and newly formed Israel. While some countries like the US had officially recognised the State of Israel, which had caused the Arabs to become anti west, Jordan, Syria and Egypt immediately