2. METODOLOGÍA
2.2. Ensayos al material base
After the breakup of the union between Egypt and Syria in 1961, Gamal Abdel Nasser worked to keep his country’s leadership role in the Arab world. He faced a difficult choice when tension arose along Israel’s border with Syria and Jordan in the late 1960s. If Nasser supported his Arab neighbors, he risked war with a powerful Israeli military. If he held back, he risked his leadership standing.
In May 1967 Nasser made his choice. He demanded the withdrawal of UN troops that had been policing the Egyptian-Israeli border since the end of the Suez Crisis in 1956. He also blockaded the Gulf of Aqaba to cut Israel’s direct sea route to Africa and Asia. In mid-May Egyptian troops began mobilizing in large numbers near Israel’s southern border. Syrian forces mobilized along the Golan Heights at Israel’s northern frontier.
The Six-Day War. Realizing the danger of delay, Israel launched an attack, on June 5, 1967. In six days of fighting, Israel captured the Sinai Peninsula and the Gaza Strip from Egypt. Driving back Syrian and Iraqi armies on its northern border, Israel seized the Golan Heights from Syria. It pushed back invading Jordanian forces and took the entire West Bank of the Jordan River from Jordan. Israel also captured East Jerusalem, which had been occupied by Jordan since the 1948 war.
The events of the Six-Day War radically changed Middle Eastern politics. Many displaced Palestinians lost faith in the Arab governments’ ability to recapture what had
The Main Idea
Bitter ethnic, religious, and political disputes continued to disrupt peace throughout the Middle East.
899 AFRICA AND THE MIDDLE EAST SINCE 1945
been Palestine. They began to rely on their own guerrilla organization, the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), led by Yasir Arafat.The United States and the Soviet Union realized that they might be drawn into an Arab-Israeli conflict. Both therefore actively sought peace in the Middle East. Egypt, Syria, and Jordan wished to regain lost territory. Mutual suspicions and fears, however, doomed peace efforts.
Egypt under Sadat. When Nasser died in September 1970,Anwar Sadat succeeded him. Under Sadat’s leadership, Egypt and Syria began a war against Israel on October 6, 1973, the Jewish holy day of Yom Kippur. The attack caught Israeli prime minister
Golda Meir and her military off guard. At first the Arabs pushed Israeli troops back. Then Israel rallied to cross the Suez Canal and occupy Egyptian land.
All sides had reason to seek a settlement. U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger used shuttle diplomacy—trips back and forth between Egypt and Syria—to obtain an agreement. He eventually achieved two, one between Israel and Egypt and one between Israel and Syria. Then moves toward peace stalled.
In November 1977, however, Sadat surprised the world. He went to Israel to speak in person to the Israeli parliament and to then Israeli prime minister Menachem Begin. In his speech, Sadat explained that peace must be won by all:
“
It is not my battle alone. Nor is it the battle of the leader- ship in Israel alone. It is the battle of all and every citizen in all our territories, whose right it is to live in peace. It is the commitment of conscience and responsibility in the hearts of millions.”
Anwar Sadat, In Search of Identity: An Autobiography Supported by the United States, many months of delicate negotiations followed. In September 1978 U.S. president Jimmy Carter invited the two leaders to Camp David, the presidential retreat in Maryland. Sadat and Begin eventually agreed on the framework for a peace settlement. The Camp David Accordswere followed by a peace treaty signed by Egypt and Israel in March 1979.Many people doubted that this breakthrough would end the Arab-Israeli confrontation. Palestinian terrorist attacks and calls by the Palestinian leadership for Israel’s demise continued. As a result, Israelis resisted any idea of a Palestinian state. Sadat’s opponents claimed that he sold out the Palestinians to regain Egyptian terri- tory. In 1981 peace hopes dimmed when Sadat was assassinated.
The conflict continues. The Camp David Accords established peace on Israel’s western border, but they did not address the problem of Palestinian refugees in neighboring countries or Israel’s occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip. From bases in Lebanon the PLO launched guerrilla attacks on northern Israel. Israel retaliated by invading Lebanon in 1982. For two months Israel bombed Lebanon’s capital, Beirut, where the PLO had its headquarters. After a settlement the PLO with- drew its forces to Tunisia. However, the Israeli invasion was not successful politically, and resulted in enormous suffering by Palestinians and Lebanese. It actually strengthened the PLO’s standing among Palestinians and intensified an already bitter civil war in Lebanon. Although the Palestinians were exiled to Tunisia, they were not removed as a political force. Because many Israelis had opposed the invasion, it also caused a deep split within Israeli society.
Israelis also disagreed on how to handle the territories acquired during the Six-Day War. Since the 1970s Israelis had been establishing settlements in these zones. Palestinians living there demonstrated against the settlements. In December 1987 they
Golda Meir immigrated to Palestine as a young woman. She was a leader of the Zionist movement in the 1920s. By 1946 she had established herself as one of the leaders of the Jewish Agency. Meir signed Israel’s Declaration of Indepen- dence. In 1956 she became the nation’s foreign minister and in 1969 was elected as its first female prime minister. During her time as leader, she tried to form lasting peace agreements with Arab countries. The out- break of the Yom Kippur War in 1973 put an end to her efforts.
What kind of role did Golda Meir play in founding Israel?
Golda Meir (1898–1978)
go.hrw.com
KEYWORD: Holt Researcher FreeFind:Golda Meir
After reading more about Golda Meir on the Holt Researcher, write a diary entry by her explaining her feelings about the peace
process.
900 CHAPTER 33
began a violent uprising called the intifada(Arabic for “shaking”). Young Palestinians threw rocks, bottles, and homemade weapons at army patrols and other Israeli authorities. The Israeli army responded with arms. In the first year alone, the intifada claimed more than 300 Pales- tinian lives. Another 20,000 were wounded; almost 12,000 were imprisoned. Although some Israelis supported these harsh measures, others believed that the Israelis should withdraw from the occupied zones and exchange land for a peace settlement with the Palestinians.
Moves toward peace. Despite the continuing intifada, a growing Israeli peace movement and the Israeli election of 1992 shifted the situation. Yitzhak Rabin (rah·BEEN), a
former army chief who had led Israeli forces in the Six- Day War, became prime minister. Rabin authorized secret negotiations with Palestinian leaders.
After negotiations in Oslo, Norway, during 1993, Israeli foreign minister Shimon Peres met with PLO Chairman Arafat. Israel agreed to Palestinian self- government in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. The PLO officially recognized Israel’s right to exist. On September 13, 1993, Rabin, Peres, and Arafat met in Washington, D.C., to sign a preliminary agreement.
Extremists on both sides opposed parts of the peace process. Many Israelis who had settled on the West Bank feared violence at the hands of the self-governing Pales- tinian Authority. In 1994 a radical Israeli settler killed 29 Palestinians in the West Bank city of Hebron. At the same time, a radical Palestinian organization known as Hamas launched a terrorist campaign within Israel.
An Israeli radical opposed to giving land to Pales- tinians assassinated Rabin in 1995, further disrupting the peace plans. In 2001 Israeli military leader Ariel Sharon was elected prime minister. His reputation for harsh treatment of Palestinians in previous wars, how- ever, led to more Palestinian violence, which Israeli troops met in return. In April 2003, the United States, Russia, the European Union, and the United Nations presented a joint peace plan to the Israelis and Palestini- ans. Nicknamed the “road map,” the plan spells out steps for the two sides to take to work toward a final peace set- tlement. Although both sides have pledged to follow the plan, each continues to blame the other for a lack of progress. In the meantime Palestinian suicide bombers continue to blow themselves up in Israel in an effort to kill Israelis. Israeli security forces respond by targeting sus- pected terrorists for assassination.
READING CHECK: Making Generalizations What are the major reasons why efforts to bring about an Arab-Israeli peace failed?
✔
| | | | | | || | | | | | | | | | | | | | 34°E 32°E 32°N 28°N Beirut Damascus Jerusalem Gaza Haifa Tel Aviv Deir Yassin Amman Bethlehem Beersheba Elat Suez Cairo EGYPT SAUDI ARABIA JORDAN I S R A E L SYRIA LEBANON NEGEV GAZA STRIP WEST BANK GOLAN HEIGHTS Sinai Peninsula Jorda n R . Suez Canal Nil e Riv e r Nile Delta G u lf o f Su ez Gu lf of ‘Aq ab a RED SEA MEDITERRANEAN SEA DEAD SEA SEA OF GALILEELambert Conformal Conic Projection
0 50 100 Miles
0 50 100 Kilometers
N W E
S
Jewish state under 1947 UN partition plan for Palestine
Acquired by Israel in 1948 War of Independence Israeli conquests in the Six-Day War of 1967 Israeli conquests returned to Egypt, 1967–1982 Areas partially under Palestinian self-rule, 2003 National
boundary Nationalcapital Othercity Israel, 1947–2003
Interpreting Maps Since the formation of the state of Israel, Jews and Arabs have fought many wars for control of the region.
■Skills Assessment: 1.Places and Regions What region captured by Israel is now again part of Egypt?2.Drawing Conclusions What other reason, in addition to its religious significance, might Palestinians have had for objecting to the UN partition that gave Israel the land it now occupies?
901 AFRICA AND THE MIDDLE EAST SINCE 1945