Israel (country)

B

Independence and War

On May 14, 1948, when the British mandate over Palestine expired, Jewish authorities declared the establishment of the State of Israel. The declaration recalled the religious and spiritual connections of the Jewish people to the land of Israel, without mention of specific boundaries; guaranteed “freedom of religion and conscience, of language, education, and culture”; provided a framework for a democratic Jewish state founded on liberty, justice, and peace; and called for peaceful relations with Arab neighbors. The state declared itself open for Jewish immigration. A provisional government was established, with Jewish Agency chairman David Ben-Gurion as prime minister and former Jewish Agency president Chaim Weizmann as president. The United States and the USSR, along with many other states, quickly recognized the new government.

The Arab League declared war on the new state, and Egypt, Transjordan (now Jordan), Syria, Lebanon, and Iraq announced that their armies would enter the area to restore order. The newly established Israel Defense Forces (IDF), formed from prestate defense organizations, successfully repelled Arab forces. Fighting continued into early 1949, when Israel and each of the bordering states signed truce agreements that established the borders of the new state. Iraq, which shared no borders with Israel, did not sign any agreements.

The agreements left Israel in control of territory beyond what the partition plan allocated to it. Portions of territory that the UN plan had allocated to Palestinian Arabs came under Egyptian and Jordanian control (Egypt took over Gaza Strip, and Jordan gained control of the West Bank). Jerusalem was divided between Israel and Jordan. Several hundred thousand Arabs fled or were expelled from Israel. These refugees, totaling about 700,000 people, ended up in the Gaza Strip, the West Bank, and in neighboring Arab states. Of the original Arab population in Palestine only about 160,000 remained in the territory that was now Israel. Permanent peace negotiations were supposed to follow the armistice agreements but did not. The Arabs refused to recognize or negotiate with Israel. Decades after the war, IDF archives were opened to Israeli historians who discovered that there was a concerted military campaign to drive Palestinian Arabs from the new state of Israel so that it would have an overwhelming Jewish majority. The “compulsory transfer,” which was authorized by Israel’s first leader David Ben-Gurion, began before the outbreak of the 1948-1949 Arab-Israeli War. See also Palestine, Modern.

C

The Postwar Period

With the end of hostilities, Israel soon moved to function as a regular state. In elections in early 1949, Israelis chose the first Knesset, which replaced the provisional government. The Zionist labor party Mapai emerged as the largest party in the Knesset, and Ben-Gurion, its leader, formed a coalition government with religious and centrist parties. Ben-Gurion and Weizmann retained their positions as prime minister and president. Israel became the 59th member of the UN in May 1949.

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Israel affirmed the right of every Jew to live in Israel and promoted unrestricted immigration by drafting the Law of Return in 1950. In the first four months of independence, about 50,000 immigrants, mainly Holocaust survivors, arrived in Israel. By the end of 1951 about 687,000 had arrived—including more than 300,000 refugees from Arab lands such as Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, and Libya—doubling the Jewish population. Meanwhile a small number of Arabs returned to Israel to be reunited with family members who had chosen to remain in the country, bringing the total Arab population to about 167,000.

This mass immigration compounded the economic strain caused by the 1948-1949 war. The government was hard-pressed to feed, house, and find employment for the new immigrants. It implemented austerity programs and accepted substantial aid from abroad, particularly from the United States and Jewish communities worldwide. In 1952, after bitter political controversy, Israel negotiated agreements providing reparation payments from the West German government to the state and to individual victims as partial restitution for Nazi theft of Jewish property during World War II. The massive amount of aid made it possible for Israel to maintain a strong army while initiating economic and social development projects, including many new agricultural settlements for recent immigrants.

Israeli politics remained relatively stable through the 1950s. Ben-Gurion remained prime minister until 1953, when he temporarily retired from politics to work on a kibbutz in the Negev to serve as an example to Israeli youth. He returned to the post of prime minister in 1955. Weizmann died in 1952 and was replaced by Itzhak Ben-Zvi, a veteran Mapai leader, who served until his death in 1963.

D

The Suez Crisis

The lack of comprehensive peace settlements between Israel and the bordering states after the 1949 armistice agreements caused continual tensions in the region. The Arab states continued to regard the establishment of Israel as an injustice and sustained a political and economic boycott on the new state. Egypt refused Israel access to the Suez Canal, which connects the Mediterranean Sea with the Red Sea, and in 1951 Egypt blockaded the Strait of Tiran, Israel’s only direct access to the Red Sea. Palestinians from the West Bank and the Gaza Strip began raiding Israeli communities near the borders. Israel held Jordan and Egypt responsible for these attacks and launched retaliatory raids. Further conflicts arose over control of demilitarized zones along the border and over Israeli use of water from the Jordan River—which borders Israel, Jordan, and the West Bank—for domestic development. Syria soon became involved as well.

In February 1955 Israel launched a raid against an Egyptian army base in the Gaza Strip. In response Gamal Abdel Nasser of Egypt organized further Palestinian guerrilla operations against Israel, and he intensified military buildup. In September Egypt concluded an arms deal with the Communist government of Czechoslovakia (acting for the USSR). Israel found these developments, along with Nasser’s emergence as the leader of a new Arab nationalist movement, threatening and began to prepare for war. In July 1956 Egypt nationalized the Suez Canal, transferring ownership of the company that controlled its daily operations from British and French shareholders to the Egyptian government. Through secret negotiations with Britain and France, who sought to regain control of the canal and topple the Nasser regime, Israel planned a military offensive against Egypt.

In October 1956 Israel invaded the Gaza Strip and the Sinai Peninsula, quickly capturing these areas and advancing toward the Suez Canal. As planned in the meetings with Israel, the British and the French issued an ultimatum demanding withdrawal of both Israeli and Egyptian forces from the canal. When Nasser refused, British and French forces bombed Egyptian bases. The United States and the USSR demanded an immediate cease-fire, and a UN resolution soon forced the British, French, and Israelis to withdraw from Egyptian territory. The United Nations Emergency Force (UNEF) stationed troops on the frontier between Israel and Egypt, which helped ensure quiet along the border for the next decade. The Egyptian government reopened the canal, and Israel gained access to the Strait of Tiran. However, no comprehensive Arab-Israeli peace talks followed the Suez Crisis, and sporadic border incidents continued.

In a period of relative peace in the decade after the 1956 war, Israel’s economy developed rapidly. Industrial and agricultural development allowed the government to end its austerity measures, unemployment almost disappeared, and living standards gradually improved. Exports doubled and the gross domestic product increased dramatically. Israel now manufactured previously imported items such as paper, tires, radios, and refrigerators. The most rapid growth occurred in the manufacture of metals, machinery, chemicals, and electronics. Farms began to grow a larger variety of crops for the food-processing industry and fresh produce for export. To handle the increased volume of trade, a deep-water port was built on the Mediterranean coast at Ashdod.

Foreign relations expanded steadily. Israel developed ties with the United States, the British Commonwealth countries, most Western European nations, and nearly all the countries of Latin America and Africa. Hundreds of Israeli experts and specialists shared their knowledge and experience with people in other developing countries in Africa, Asia, and Latin America. Israel strengthened its military and political cooperation with France, the United States agreed to supply Israel with arms in 1962, and West Germany continued to provide economic and military aid. In 1965 Israel exchanged ambassadors with West Germany, a move that had been delayed because of bitter memories of the Holocaust.

Ben-Gurion resigned as prime minister in 1963 and was succeeded by his minister of finance, Levi Eshkol. Two years later Ben-Gurion formed a new opposition party, Rafi, to distance himself and his followers from the old guard of Mapai. Many prominent members of Mapai, including Moshe Dayan and Shimon Peres, joined the new party.

E

The Six-Day War

Unresolved issues from previous conflicts caused continual tension between Israel and the Arabs, which flared up yet again in the mid-1960s. Israeli and Syrian efforts to divert water from the Jordan River and disputes over the use of the demilitarized zone between the two nations led to numerous border incidents. In 1964 the Arab League created the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) to promote Palestinian nationalist activities and sought to coordinate Arab military efforts. In 1965 Palestinians began armed attacks against Israel; Israel responded with raids against Syria and Jordan. Border incidents became progressively more serious, inspiring nationalistic fervor throughout the Arab world. In May 1967 Nasser called for the removal of UN forces from the Suez Canal region. He also organized a military alliance with Syria, Jordan, and Iraq and moved Egyptian troops and equipment into the Sinai Peninsula. In addition, Nasser closed the Strait of Tiran to Israeli shipping.

After efforts at mediation by the UN and the Western powers failed, Israel launched a preemptive military strike against Egypt in early June. Jordan, Syria, and Iraq joined the fighting against Israel. The Egyptian air force was destroyed on the ground within hours of the start of the Six-Day War, and Israeli forces quickly seized the Gaza Strip and the Sinai Peninsula. Israel also took East Jerusalem and the West Bank from Jordan and the Golan Heights from Syria. Many Arabs fled these areas, which became known as the Occupied Territories. Israel placed the 1 million who remained under military administration. The USSR, which had supported the Arab alliance, and its allies immediately severed diplomatic relations with Israel.

In November 1967 the UN Security Council adopted Resolution 242, which called for Israeli withdrawal from territories occupied in the recent conflict in return for Arab recognition of Israel’s independence, peace, and secure borders. Although neither side met these demands, the trade of “land for peace” has been the central concept of all subsequent peace efforts.

Although Israel’s victory inaugurated another period of economic growth and prosperity, it also politically polarized citizens into two groups: those who favored withdrawal from the Occupied Territories and peace with the Arabs, and those who sought Jewish settlement and annexation. Others favored positions in between, and most supported the annexation of East Jerusalem; the government formally united both parts of Jerusalem a few days after the war ended. Despite the merger of Mapai and other labor parties to form the Israel Labor Party in 1968, as well as the election of its secretary general, Golda Meir, as prime minister in 1969, the party’s dominance gradually broke down from failure to reach a consensus on the peace issue. The controversy also led in 1973 to the formation of Likud, a coalition of parties opposed to Israel’s withdrawal from the Occupied Territories.

In 1969 President Nasser of Egypt launched the War of Attrition against Israel along the Suez Canal in an effort to continue the conflict and wear down the enemy. The USSR provided Egypt with advanced military equipment, advisers, and pilots. Israel responded with air and artillery attacks against Egypt. The conflict was ended by a cease-fire sponsored by the United States in August 1970, but there was no substantial movement toward peace.

F

The War of 1973

Nasser died in 1970; soon after, newly elected Egyptian president Anwar al-Sadat attempted to regain the Sinai Peninsula from Israel through diplomatic means. Negotiations to resolve the dispute failed, and on October 6, 1973, Egyptian and Syrian military forces launched a surprise attack on Israeli positions along the Suez Canal and in the Golan Heights. Despite initial Egyptian and Syrian advances, Israel pushed Syria back beyond the 1967 cease-fire line and crossed the Suez Canal to take a portion of its west bank in Egypt. During the fighting, the USSR supplied arms to Egypt and Syria, and the United States provided arms to Israel. The Arab-Israeli War of 1973 (called the Yom Kippur War by Israel and the Ramadan War by Arabs) ended with a cease-fire in late October. Israel suffered heavy losses in the fighting despite its ultimate military successes. Parliamentary elections were postponed until December. The Labor Party remained in power, and Golda Meir retained her position as prime minister.

Traveling back and forth between the countries in a process known as shuttle diplomacy, U.S. secretary of state Henry Kissinger helped negotiate a military disengagement between Israeli and Egyptian forces in January 1974 and another between Israel and Syria in May. Kissinger arranged a second agreement between Egypt and Israel in 1975. A tense but relatively peaceful stalemate resulted. Israel agreed to withdraw from the canal zone, and Israel and Syria returned to the 1967 cease-fire boundaries.

The costly war caused increased unrest in Israel and growing criticism of the country’s leaders. The government appointed a commission of Supreme Court justices, the state comptroller, and two former military chiefs to investigate Israel’s lack of preparedness for the Arab strike. The commission’s report was highly critical of the military. Meir resigned following the report in the spring of 1974 and was replaced by Yitzhak Rabin, a member of her cabinet. Economic problems and turmoil within the Labor Party undermined Rabin’s tenure. The 1977 Knesset elections brought the Likud bloc to power and Menachem Begin to the office of prime minister, ending almost three decades of Labor Party dominance. Begin attracted strong support from Sephardic Jews who resented the treatment they had received under the Labor establishment.

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