The Arab–Israeli Conflict 1948–1996

The Arab–Israeli Conflict 1948–1996 is one of six Peace and Conflict options in Section III: one 25-mark extended response (choose one of two alternatives), about 1,000 words. The syllabus key features are the origins and development of the conflict, the nature of Israeli and Palestinian nationalism, Israeli and Palestinian responses to the conflict, the impact of the conflict on Israeli and Palestinian communities, attempts at peacemaking, and the role of international involvement.

• Survey: Israeli and Palestinian perspectives on the 1948 war; developments to 1967; political and social issues in 1967.
• War and peace 1967–1979: the Six-Day War; the PLO; the 1973 war; Camp David; the role of the superpowers.
• The territories and Lebanon: Labour and Likud policies on the occupied territories; the settler movement; Israel in Lebanon (1978 and 1982).
• The peace process: the First Intifada (1987); successes and setbacks of the peace process to 1996; public support and opposition; the assassination of Rabin (1995) and the election of Netanyahu (1996).

A note on language

This option is about two peoples with deep and different experiences. Markers reward accurate, balanced writing. Name both perspectives (‘the War of Independence’ and ‘the Nakba’), describe violence by every side precisely, and use neutral terms: ‘the West Bank’, ‘the occupied territories’ (the term used by the UN), ‘settlements’, ‘Palestinian militants’ or the group's name. You can still make a clear judgement — balance means using evidence fairly, not refusing to argue.

• Zionism (from the 1890s): Jewish nationalism, the aim of a Jewish homeland in the Land of Israel. Palestinian Arab nationalism grew under British rule (the Mandate, 1920–48), especially in the revolt of 1936–39.
• The Balfour Declaration (1917) supported ‘a national home for the Jewish people’ while promising to protect the rights of ‘non-Jewish communities’.
• After the Holocaust, pressure grew for a Jewish state. UN General Assembly Resolution 181 (29 November 1947) proposed partition; Jewish leaders accepted, Arab leaders rejected it. Fighting followed.
• Israel declared independence on 14 May 1948; Egypt, Transjordan, Syria, Iraq and Lebanon entered the next day.
• Outcomes: the 1949 armistice lines (the ‘Green Line’); Israel held about 78% of mandatory Palestine; Jordan took the West Bank and East Jerusalem; Egypt the Gaza Strip. About 700,000 Palestinian Arabs fled or were expelled, and most were not allowed to return (UN General Assembly Resolution 194, December 1948, called for return or compensation). UNRWA was set up to support refugees.
• In the following years hundreds of thousands of Jews immigrated to Israel, including many from Arab countries, where their communities came under pressure.

1948–1967: the Suez War (1956), when Israel, Britain and France attacked Egypt, and Israel withdrew from Sinai in 1957; UN forces on the Egyptian border; Nasser's pan-Arabism; the founding of the PLO by the Arab League (1964) and of Fatah (late 1950s).

The Six-Day War (5–10 June 1967)

• Causes: border tension with Syria, Palestinian raids, Soviet reports of Israeli troop build-ups, Nasser's moves in May (troops into Sinai, UNEF asked to leave, the Straits of Tiran closed). Israel launched a pre-emptive strike on 5 June.
• Results: Israel took Sinai and Gaza (from Egypt), the West Bank and East Jerusalem (from Jordan), and the Golan Heights (from Syria). About 250,000–300,000 Palestinians fled or were displaced. About a million Palestinians came under military rule.
• Resolution 242 (November 1967): ‘land for peace’. Khartoum (September 1967): ‘no peace, no recognition, no negotiations’.

The PLO

• Fatah gained prestige at Karameh (March 1968); Arafat became PLO chairman in 1969.
• Black September (1970): the Jordanian army drove the PLO out; it moved to Lebanon.
• International attacks by some factions (aircraft hijackings; the Munich Olympics killings of 11 Israeli athletes, 1972).
• 1974: the ten-point program; the Rabat summit recognised the PLO as the ‘sole legitimate representative’; Arafat addressed the UN General Assembly.

The October War, 1973

• Egypt and Syria attacked on 6 October 1973 (Yom Kippur; Arabs call it the Ramadan or October War). Israel was surprised, then counterattacked across the Suez Canal.
• Superpower involvement: US and Soviet airlifts; a US alert on 24–25 October. Ceasefire: Resolution 338.
• The oil embargo by Arab producers; oil prices roughly quadrupled.
• Kissinger's shuttle diplomacy (1974–75); in Israel, the Agranat inquiry and Golda Meir's resignation (1974).

Camp David

• The Likud victory of 1977 (Menachem Begin); Sadat's visit to Jerusalem (November 1977).
• Camp David Accords (September 1978, hosted by Carter) and the Egypt–Israel peace treaty (March 1979): Sinai returned by April 1982 in exchange for peace and recognition. A framework for Palestinian autonomy was not carried out.
• Egypt was suspended from the Arab League; Sadat was assassinated in October 1981.

Labour and Likud

• The settler movement: Gush Emunim (1974), religious nationalists. Settlements grew from a few thousand settlers in the mid-1970s to more than 100,000 in the West Bank and Gaza by the early 1990s (not counting East Jerusalem). The UN Security Council and most states regard settlements as contrary to international law; Israel disputes this.
• Life under occupation: military rule, land confiscation, restrictions on movement and building, arrests; also work in Israel and economic ties.

Lebanon

• 1978: Operation Litani after a PLO attack; UNIFIL deployed (Resolution 425).
• 1982: Operation Peace for Galilee (from 6 June); siege of Beirut; the PLO evacuated to Tunis (August). The Sabra and Shatila massacre (September 1982) by Lebanese Phalangist militiamen; the Kahan Commission found Defence Minister Sharon personally responsible for ignoring the danger, and he resigned as defence minister. Large protests in Israel.
• Israel kept a ‘security zone’ in southern Lebanon until 2000; Hezbollah emerged in the 1980s.

The First Intifada (from December 1987)

• Causes: twenty years of occupation, settlements, a young population with few prospects, the PLO's distance in Tunis, the neglect of Arab states; the trigger was a traffic accident in Gaza (8 December 1987).
• Methods: mass demonstrations, strikes, boycotts, refusal to pay taxes, stone-throwing; organised by the Unified National Leadership of the Uprising. Hamas was founded in December 1987.
• Israeli response: troops, curfews, arrests, deportations, closures. By 1993 more than 1,000 Palestinians and over 150 Israelis had been killed.
• Effects: international attention; Jordan gave up its claim to the West Bank (1988); the PLO's 1988 declaration of a Palestinian state, acceptance of Resolution 242 and renunciation of terrorism.

From Madrid to Oslo

• The end of the Cold War and the Gulf War (1991); the PLO's support for Iraq cost it Gulf funding.
• Madrid Conference (October 1991): the first open, direct talks between Israel and Syria, Lebanon and a joint Jordanian–Palestinian delegation (Egypt had already negotiated directly in 1977–79).
• Rabin elected in 1992. Secret talks in Norway led to mutual recognition and the Declaration of Principles (13 September 1993).
• Gaza–Jericho Agreement (May 1994); Arafat returned; the Palestinian Authority. Israel–Jordan peace treaty (26 October 1994). Nobel Peace Prize for Rabin, Peres and Arafat (1994). Oslo II (September 1995): Areas A, B and C.
• Core issues postponed to final-status talks: Jerusalem, refugees, borders, settlements, security.

Setbacks, 1994–1996

• The Hebron massacre (February 1994): an Israeli settler killed 29 Palestinian worshippers.
• Suicide bombings by Hamas and Islamic Jihad from 1994, and in February–March 1996.
• The assassination of Rabin (4 November 1995) by Yigal Amir, an Israeli opponent of Oslo.
• Netanyahu, a critic of Oslo, won the first direct election for prime minister (May 1996). Clashes over the opening of a tunnel near the Temple Mount/Haram al-Sharif (September 1996).
• Support and opposition on both sides: many welcomed the process; opponents included Israeli religious nationalists and parties of the right, and Palestinian Islamist and leftist groups.

Interpretations earn credit when they support your argument; you do not need to name historians to reach the top band.

Worked example (not a bank question). _‘Assess the impact of the conflict on Israeli society between 1967 and 1996.’_

1. Thesis: the conflict shaped Israeli society profoundly — its politics, its security culture and its national debate over the territories — and by the 1990s divided it as much as it united it.
2. Security and the army: conscription, the 1973 shock, terrorism and its effects on daily life.
3. Politics: the rise of Likud (1977), Labour–Likud rivalry, unity governments.
4. The territories: settlement, religious nationalism, the peace movement (e.g. Peace Now, 1978; protests after Sabra and Shatila).
5. The 1990s: Oslo, the bombings, Rabin's assassination, 1996.
6. Conclusion with a clear assessment.

• Using only one side's narrative or loaded language.
• Mixing up Resolutions 181 (1947), 242 (1967) and 338 (1973).
• Mixing up 1973's names (Yom Kippur / Ramadan / October War) and its outcome: Israel won militarily, but the war changed the politics.
• Saying Israeli soldiers carried out the Sabra and Shatila killings; it was the Phalangist militia, and the inquiry examined Israel's indirect responsibility.
• Thinking Oslo created a Palestinian state.
• Forgetting the 1996 endpoint (Netanyahu's election).

• Use precise terms: Zionism, Palestinian nationalism, partition, refugees, occupation, settlements, land for peace, Intifada, interim agreement, final status.
• When asked about ‘responses’ or ‘impact’, cover both Israeli and Palestinian communities.
• Show cause and consequence across turning points: 1948 → 1967 → 1973 → 1979 → 1982 → 1987 → 1993 → 1995–96.
• Keep figures precise and hedged where they are estimates: about 700,000 refugees in 1948; about 250,000–300,000 displaced in 1967.

• The Cold War 1945–1991: superpower rivalry shaped the wars of 1967 and 1973.
• Conflict in the Gulf 1980–2011: the Gulf War of 1991 changed the regional balance and led to Madrid.
• Iran 1945–1989 and The Changing World Order 1945–2011 cover other parts of the modern Middle East and the USA's role after 1991.