Arab- Israel Conflict with Major Wars Fought (With special reference to the War of Attrition)

Abstract

The research study is based upon the actual cause of conflict underlying between the Arabs as Palestinians for the land of Palestine and Jews as Israelis for the land of Israel. The research focuses on the historical background of both Palestine and Jews with different periods crossed by them when they were invaded in different courses of time. The concept of Zionism (the reuniting of Jewish people in Palestine) was started in 1890s by Theodor Herzl who advocated re-establishing a Jewish state in Palestine would match "a people without a land with a land without a people." The first legal basis for establishing a Jewish state in Palestine came forward with Balfour Declaration which stated "the establishment in Palestine of a National Home for the Jewish people." The task of Balfour Declaration was forwarded to British Mandate for Palestine in 1922 which was further supported by Peel Commission in 1937, with the Partition Plan for Arabs and Jewsh. The question of Palestine went to United Nations when British Mandate for Palestine terminated on 15 May, 1947 unable to solve the problem. The UN came with the Partition Plan, 1947 with each state comprising three major sections, linked by extra-territorial cross roads. Jews welcomed the plan but when Arab Palestinians rejected, there started Civil War in Mandatory Palestine. The Civil War turned into inter-state war when in 14 May 1948, independent state, Israel was established. Four major wars as War of Independence(1948),Sinai War(1956),Six Day War(1967),Yom Kippur War(1973) and the War of Attrition(1968-70) which occurred with tremendous loss of human life and property on both sides. Israel, though quantitively inferior, had no territorial loss, instead gained much than separated in the Partition Plan. War of Attrition became the strategy of inferior military force like Egypt(situation after Six Day War) to keep continuous engagement with enemy as retaliation followed by offensive defense to boost up the moral of own troops and finally liberation, launching initiative into the enemy territory. This type of war proved great success against Israel which had great speed and maneuverability in comparision to the Arab States. The research also proves that military war is not the immediate tool of solving the conflict and can prove fatal on both sides where as political dialogue can open the door for conflict resolution and lead to permanent peace process. This was seen after the Camp David Accords and the Oslo Accords. Likewise, this research also clearly depicts how terrorist activities jeopardize the complete peace process. The research study is based upon descriptive, explanatory and to some extent analytical as its conclusion. It clearly states the history of Jews and Palestine right from the beginning, their conflict for identity and existence leading to wars, the peace process and the jeopardization of the present peace process by the terrorist attacks. Thus, this research facilitates complete study on Arab-Israel conflict and its aftermath till date.