History Paper 1 Review Guide

Lots of thanks to Faisal Chaudhry who put this guide together and released it so that everybody could benefit from it!

Last Years of the British Mandate and British Withdrawal

• Following WWI, Jordan, Israel, and Iraq were placed under British control
• The British had promised both the Jews (Balfour Declaration 1917) and Arabs (Hussein Letters 1915) independent states = trouble!
  • Both the Arabs and Jews felt betrayed by the British from the start
  • The Jews were angry about immigration limits, and the Arabs were angry about increased immigration (from 1/10 of population in 1917 to 1/3 in 1947)
  • The (later) White Paper and Peel Commission didn’t help
• Both the Arabs and Jews started to take things into their own hands
  • Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, al-Husseini, called for violence against the British and Jews
  • The Haganah (becoming the IDF) and radical Irgun and LEHI were formed
• Significance of WWII on Arabs and Jews
  • Jews fought with British, gaining valuable military experience
  • Grand Mufti supported Hitler, even going and visiting him
  • The Holocaust did not change overall British policy of limiting immigration
• 3 Factors which led to British withdrawal – weakened British morale
  • King David Hotel Bombing in 1946: by Irgun, aimed at British military HQ in Palestine
    • Historiography: Irgun warned British about attack, or didn’t
  • The Exodus Affair in 1947: Boat carrying Holocaust survivors was sent back to Germany
  • Hanging of 2 British soldiers in 1947: by Irgun

UNSCOP Partition Plan

• United Nations Special Committee on Palestine
• British approached the UN in 1947 to end the mandate and find a way out of the mess
• Recommended a two-state solution based on population and land ownership
  • Jerusalem was to become an internationally policed zone
  • The Jewish Agency accepted the plan because of the international support for a Jewish state even through it didn’t include a Jewish-held Jerusalem
  • The Arab leaders boycotted UNSCOP and rejected its recommendations because the Jews would receive ½ of the land with 1/3 of the population
• The UNSCOP plan was accepted by the UN General Assembly in 1947

Outbreak of Civil War

• The British announced they would withdraw in May 1948; this, combined with the acceptance of the UNSCOP plan, triggered the civil war
• The Jews soon went on the offensive, capturing roads and villages in the future Arab state
  • Haganah’s Plan D called for expelling as many Arabs as possible from the Jewish state
  • By May 1948, over 200,000 Arabs had fled what became Israel
• The Irgun and LEHI killed 100-250 Arab civilians in the Deir Yassin Massacre in 1948
  • 10,000s of Arabs fled in response to this, hurting the Arab cause

Establishment of Israel and the Arab Response (1948 War)

• State of Israel declared on May 14, 1948 – Arab states attack the next day
• After a month of fighting, a UN truce allowed Israel to re-group and buy weapons and aircraft from Czechoslovakia, in spite of a UN embargo
  • After the truce ended, Israel gained all of northern Palestine, a corridor to Jerusalem and West Jerusalem, and re-gained the Negev from Egypt
  • Israel controlled 75% of Palestine and 50% of the Arab state proposed by UNSCOP
• Historiography: How did Israel defeat all the Arabs?
  • Orthodox: David vs Goliath; Israel won because of its passion, zeal, etc.
  • Revisionist: Arabs had many weaknesses (military imbalance, disunified leadership, conflicting war aims, and King Jordan illicitly supported Israel) allowing Israel to win
• Result of war: no independent Palestinian state

Palestinian Diaspora

• More than 75% of Palestinian Arabs had become refugees by the end of the 1948 War
  • Most ended up in the West Bank, Gaza, or Jordan
  • The issue of the “Right of Return” became a huge issue to resolve
  • The 1967 War provided another flood of refugees
• Many Palestinians fled thinking it would be temporary (ie they would return after the violence ended), were terrified of Israeli attacks, or were told to get out of the way by Arab armies
• Historiography: Was the Diaspora a deliberate policy of Israel to force the Arabs out?
  • Zionist: simply a by-product of war and Arab aggression; any forced expulsions were for security reasons only; the refugees are treated poorly for propaganda purposes
  • Arab/Revisionist: Plan D called for ethnic cleansing
  • Synthesis: blames Arab and Jewish leaders’ attempts to control the situation and unplanned events, like the hysteria following Deir Yassin
• Before the 1948 War ended, Israel’s official policy was that the Arabs could not return
  • During the war, 10,00s of Arabs were forced to leave villages of the future Jewish state
• The UN passed Resolution 194 calling on Israel to accept Arab refugees; Israel refused to comply

Jewish Immigration

• Many of the new Jewish immigrants were settled into the newly empty Arab villages
  • It was soon clear Israel had no intent on honoring any Arab claim to lost property
• New laws encouraged and enabled thousands of Jews to emigrate to Israel
  • Almost 600,000 Arab Jews emigrated from Arab nations to Israel by 1972
  • Nearly 600,000 European Jews, many Holocaust survivors, immigrated by 1970
  • Between 1948 and 1973, Israel’s population grew to over 3 million from 700,000
• Tensions between Ashkenazic/European Jews and Sephardic/Arab Jews grew over the years
  • European Jews felt superior, and dominated Israeli society for decades (Labor Party)
  • Arab Jews have grown more powerful, but continue to be suspicious of Arabs (Likud)

Economic Development of Israel

• Jewish immigration has allowed Israel to become an industrial and economic power in its region
• From the start, Israel has been dependent on foreign aid because of the lack of raw materials and huge defense spending
  • The US provided huge loans to finance development in the 1950s
  • West Germany paid reparations for its part in the Holocaust
• Israel’s National Water Carrier Project is one of its greatest national achievements
  • It provides water to the Negev, a desert spanning half of Israel
  • Draws water from the Jordan River, which also supplies water to Jordan, Syria, Lebanon
  • Despite the Arab nations’ objections, Israel has continued this project

Suez Crisis of 1956

• Long-term Causes:
  • Nasser, the Egyptian president, viewed himself as the leader of Arab nationalism, putting himself on the track towards confrontation with Britain and France
  • The West feared growing Soviet influence in the region, especially in Egypt
  • In 1953, Israel raided an Egyptian village killing dozens, adding to the deteriorating relationship between the two
    • Nasser began supporting the Fedayeen in response
  • After the US refused to supply him with arms, Nasser bought heavy weaponry from Czechoslovakia in 1955
• Short-term Causes:
  • In 1956, the US cut off funding to Nasser’s Aswan Dam project and said they would no longer provide any loans to Egypt
    • At the time, the Suez did not provide much revenue to the state, so Nasser nationalized it to fund his Dam project
    • He offered to reimburse all the current owners using the profits from the Dam
• By September 1956, Britain and France had agreed something had to be done
  • Israel planned to attack Egypt, followed by Nasser’s refusal to vacate the Suez Canal zone; after that, Britain and France planned to take over the zone for ‘security’ reasons
  • Eisenhower was furious at the news of the attack, and threatened economic sanctions against Britain and France if they did not withdraw from the region
• Consequences of the Crisis:
  • Britain and France’s influence in the region was replaced by the US and the USSR
  • A UN force was placed in the Sinai as a buffer between Israel and Egypt
  • The Canal was placed under Nasser’s control, and the Aswan Dam project continued

Arabism and Zionism

• Zionism is the nationalistic Jewish movement to establish an independent state in Palestine
  • First proposed by Theodor Herzl in 1890s due to suppression of Jews in Europe
• Arabism is the secular movement towards political unity between Arab countries
  • Rose in response to British colonialism after WWI
  • Nasser, and later al-Asaad, were viewed as the leaders of Arabism

Emergence of PLO

• After the 1967 War, Palestinians saw the chance for an independent state
  • Arafat took control of the PLO, and began to unify it into a political and military organization, hoping to find support in other Arab nations
• In 1971, the PLO was forced to leave Jordan for Lebanon after creating internal conflict
  • Known as “Black September”, with over 3000 Palestinians killed
• In 1972, radical groups associated with the PLO took Israeli Olympians hostage
  • Known as the “Munich Massacre” with all 9 hostages killed

Six Day War of 1967

• Short-term cause: Soviets tell Egyptians that Israelis are massing on Syrian border
• Long-term causes: growth of Arab nationalism and confidence
  • The Arabs believed they had defeated the West in 1956, so wanted to finish Israel
  • The PLO also began to grow stronger, increasing its Fedayeen attacks
  • Syria and Egypt signed a mutual defense treaty
• Course: Nasser first demanded a withdrawal of UN forces in the Sinai
  • He also closed the Straits of Tiran and the Suez Canal to Israeli shipping
  • Before declaring war, Israel ensured it had international backing
    • After gaining US backing, Israel launched a pre-emptive strike, wiping out the Arab air force, and basically winning the war before it started
    • Like before, the Arabs were also unable to unify their military leadership
• Consequences: a huge victory for Israel and huge defeat for Nasser/Arabs
  • Israel destroyed its enemies’ armies and gained the Sinai and all of Palestine
  • Nasser lost his credibility as an Arab leader and the Arab nations became divided
    • They did agree to “no peace, no recognition, and no negotiations” regarding Israel in Khartoum – was followed for the next decade
  • The USSR’s goals in the region were weakened, though it continued to support Nasser
  • The US and USSR came up with UN Resolution 242, which called for withdrawal of Israel from occupied territories and a solution to the suddenly larger problem of Arab refugees
    • Despite this, nothing was accomplished and Israel held onto the land

October War of 1973

• Causes: Sadat tried to negotiate with Israel, only to be rebuffed
  • Egypt was an economic disaster because of the 1967 War, so Sadat wanted to lower military spending and boost the economy by solving the Arab-Israeli problem
    • He attempted to talk to Israel, was unsuccessful, so concluded war was the only solution for peace
    • He also grew closer to the US, a prerequisite towards gaining peace
    • Relations between Egypt and Israel were already weak due to the War of Attrition following the War of 1967
  • Other Arab leaders believed that the US was preoccupied with Vietnam and the Cold War, so would not support Israel in a new war
  • Israel didn’t see a war coming because it viewed Egypt as weak and the Arabs divided
• Course: despite the Arabs’ surprise attack, little land was actually conquered
  • OPEC also cut global exports by 25%, triggering an oil crisis
  • The US and USSR crafted a UN ceasefire
• Consequences: viewed as an Arab victory even though little was accomplished
  • Sadat gained credibility and was viewed as someone Israel could negotiate with
  • The Arab nations became unified again under the flag of oil – they realized the huge impact that oil embargos could play in the future
  • Israel’s leaders resigned, and the hardliner Rabin took power

Camp David Peace Agreement

• In 1977, Sadat suddenly declared he would visit Israel if it meant a peace treaty
• Later that month, he traveled to Jerusalem to meet with Rabin and Begin’s government
  • The talks let to nothing, but were significant in that an Arab leader visited Israel
• Carter, trying to revive the peace process, invited Sadat and Begin to the US in 1978
  • Concluded in the Camp David Peace Agreement which called for a resolution to the Palestine problem, withdrawal of Israeli forces from Egypt, opening of the Suez Canal and Gulf of Aqaba to Israel, and Egyptian recognition of Israel
  • Did not solve and barely approached the rest of the Occupied Territories
• Sadat was branded as a traitor in the Arab world, and was assassinated in 1979 due to the treaty

Schulze Reading Questions, Chapters 2-5, are great for the wars.