The Six Day War Changed the Middle East: Part I Beginnings of the Conflict

Many are commemorating the 40th anniversary of the Six Day War this week. It indeed, is the cornerstone of the debate. But, like many, probably most, maybe all conflicts have their origins in past colonialism, and pitting two historically subjugated groups against one another. The Israeli/Palestinian conflict is similar, but also unlike any other conflict, however. Passions run deep, to the core and trying to have an honest dialogue about this conflict is nearly impossible. I want to write my thoughts about this crisis probably in two parts. I have read extensively on the subject, but also relied on some writings this week to fill in the gaps. There is no way to capture all of the crisis in a short article, but hopefully I can capture the important aspects of it.

It began much before independence was declared by Israel on May 14, 1948. Its origins lie in the Ottoman Empire that controlled all the lands of the middle east for centuries and Zionism, the migration of Jews to their holy land and the call for a Jewish state there where the Palestinians called home. Many different dates are used, but following the defeat of the Ottoman Empire in World War I the newly imposed League of Nations gave the British and French colonial administration over the region. Completely arbitrary borders were drawn, and three remain today: Iraq (ever heard of that place?), Syria and Lebanon. The final area was the British mandate for Palestine. Much of the land was divided from the Jordan River, east of the region known as Transjordan and now known as the Kingdom of Jordan and to the east the area was known as Palestine. A good book to read on this colonial dividing of the land is Paris 1919.

At that time in 1922, the census declares the population of Palestine consisted of approximately 589,200 Muslims, 83,800 Jews, 71,500 Christians and 7,600 others (I have read most of this group were Armenian). During the time between 1922 and the time of World War II, the area saw a large rise in Jewish immigration, much of them fleeing the persecution of Europe. This lead to violent opposition by Arabs mainly because of the stated goal of a Jewish state that the population felt would lead to the subjugation of the non-Jewish population. Their fear was not unfounded. The founder of modern Zionism, Theodore Herzl wrote about two ways to deal with the non-Jewish population and one was that the population could be motivated to leave if given jobs in other countries, but also he wrote it was possible for harmony between the Jews, Arabs, Christians. This has proved to be nearly impossible, but is the crux of the crisis.

The U.N. Partition Plan

The UN plan partitioned the Palestinian-Jewish state into three sections.

See map.

The country was not continental, Jerusalem and Bethlehem were considered international zones because of the religious significance of the areas to Jews, Muslims and Christians. The Jewish state widely praised the plan while the Arab nations criticized it and on May 14, 1948 Israel declared independence and was attacked from all sides by different, newly formed (after independence from Britain) states. By the end of the 1948 conflict Israel greatly expanded its borders and signed cease fire agreements with all its Arab neighbors. Israel now occupied about 78 percent of mandatory Palestine and was about 50 percent more than the UN partition plan allotted it.

This created a refugee crisis for Palestinian Arabs. About 750,000 refugees (much more today) were created because of the war and the seizing of land. The refugee crisis is disputed as to the cause. Most Palestinians claim that they fled due to Israeli military actions because of the Zionist claim to rid the country of non-Jews. Israeli military documents now back this up. At the same time Jews living in Muslim and Arab nations began fleeing because of mistreatment, close to 900,000 and 2/3 of this population settled in Israel, the rest America.

Though, there was peace local Arab nations refused to recognize Israel. By the end of 1949 only roughly 150,000 Palestinians remained in Israel. Today the term Palestinians refers to Arabs, Christians, Muslims and Druze whose historical roots can be traced to the British mandate of Palestine. Today about 3 million Palestinians live in this area which is divided between Israel, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. There is also a large diaspora of Palestinians all over the middle east the most residing in Jordan.

Palestinians that remained in the state of Israel were granted Israeli citizenship and the right to vote. "But in many respects they were and remain second-class citizens, since Israel defines itself as the state of the Jewish people and Palestinians are non-Jews. Until 1966 most of them were subject to a military government that restricted their movement and other rights (to speech, association and so on). Arabs were not permitted to become full members of the Israeli trade union federation until 1965. About 40 percent of their lands were confiscated by the state and used for development projects that benefited Jews primarily or exclusively. This is a fact that led to much anger around Arab nations and of course the Arab nation anger that Israel did not have the right to exist."

Jews in 1945 were not accepted anywhere including America. President Roosevelt famously let a boat of nearly 1,000 Jews who needed refuge during the war return to Europe where they would most certainly be killed. So, they came in droves to Palestine/Israel. But, this land was occupied by hundreds of thousands of a subjugated Palestinian population. Much happened between 1948 and 1966 that led to the Six Day War.

Look for Part II tomorrow.