Within this essay I am going to discuss both the principle of the conflict between Israel and the surrounding Arab states, between 1948 and 1973, and the consequences that were a direct result of this conflict.
To create some context for this essay I will first discuss the atrial root from which this conflict stems from, the Modern Zionist movement, Zionism being a movement for the re-establishment of a Jewish nation (Oxford University Press, n.d.), was born as a part of the latter 19th century (Smith, 1988, p. 25), which rejected British efforts to accommodate the Jewish people in British East Africa, laying claim to instead British Mandate of Palestine as inherently the Land of Israel, citing religious and historical connections with the region (Bard, n.d.).
However, the problem with this conflict, was exacerbated by the then British government having to accommodate both the Jewish and Palestinian peoples, this is exemplified by Britain’s eventual handing over of conflict mediation to the recently established United Nations in 1947 (Bunton, 2014, p. 1). While this information does not sit in the correct time frame for this question, I do believe that it sets a pertinent under-tone for the events that occur between 1948 and 1973 coupled with the then recent holocaust during the Second World War, gives a greater context to the causes and consequences of the conflict.
It is also relevant to mention that prior to this conflict occurring, that the Arabs and Jews had a peaceful and stable co-existence with in the region, under the Ottoman Empire, prior to any European intervention (Slater, 2002).
Causes
Two of the leading causes of conflict between Israel and the Arab States was a rise of both Arab nationalism and Zionism, both these movements at their heart promote the “emancipation and self-determination” of their respective peoples, these movements, at the time, encapsulated the “identity, nationhood, history, religion and culture” (Schulze, 1999, p. 1).
Arab Nationalism rose from the shared a shared system of beliefs through Islam and that of a shared language and history. (Levenson, 2012). The form of modern Arab nationalism, present at the time, from my perspective was a cumulative result of the British and French colonialism exerting influence on the area, resulting in the building of tensions in the region, against the foreign interference of Western states and the United Nations (Aziz, 1956, p. 36), the interference from the United Nations to try a carve up the area in order to settle the disputes of the Palestinians and Jews, through UN Resolution 181. I hypnotise that this may have further angered the Arabs state, due to the UN and western states being seen as pro-Israel, this belief could be supported by the approximate 57% of the total land mass available being given to the new Jewish state, even though the Arab population made the majority of the population in the British Mandate (BBC News, 2001). However, it is fair to believe that the UN had respectable intentions to settle both the Palestinians and Jews in to two states, however this plan ultimately destabilised the region further, this is due to what I believe was clear Arab disapproval of the UN Partition Plan, with at the time all member states of the Middle-East voting against the resolution (SOURCE). While it is my belief that Arab Nationalism was a pivotal factor in the causing of the conflict in the region, this is for without this common ideology, nationalism, the populations of Palestine and the surrounding states, would remain as more secluded communities, unorganised as a result the various conflicts in which the Arab states engaged with Israel would not have occurred.
I also believe that without, Western Influence in the region that this situation would have never would have reached the crisis point at which it was.
Alternatively, Zionism originated from the biblical promise of land to the Israelites through Abraham, as the founder of the covenant-the special relationship of God and the Jewish people (Levenson, 2012) (As per the Jewish interpretation) in the Book of Genesis, with the borders of the land being vaguely set in the Book of Exodus. Now however, modern Zionism arose from rise of anti-Semitism across the European continent, set against the back drop of the Second World War and the Holocaust-one of the world’s deadliest events for the Jewish community. The rise in fear in European Jewish communities combined with belief that “the Jewish people constituted a nation” (Schulze, 1999, p. 1), saw the rapid growth of Zionism as a movement, in addition it was believed that the concept of integration was not being favourable within the a Jewish community as a “nationhood needed to be affirmed; assimilation was rejected” (Schulze, 1999, p. 1). It is explained that anti-Semitism could “only be overcome by physical separation from Europe and by self-determination” (Schulze, 1999, p. 1) calling for the consolidation of Jews within their own nation state, linking to original Zionism due to the significant religious and historical links to that the Jewish people had to the British Mandate of Palestine, my perception of this is that the Zionist felt that because of their claims they had a right to Palestine. The problem this creates is that both Arab nationalist and Zionist are two diverse groups, both with a strong ideological identity that appear to be incompatible with each other as well as strong connections to the British Mandate, this incompatibility of the different ideologies is the primary catalyst for the conflict, as its possible to speculate that both these ideals cannot co-exist peacefully, as without Zionism, the Jewish people wouldn’t of had, any call to create their own state.