What were the short term causes of the Israeli-Arab War of 1948?

Answer 1

On May 14, 1948, the last British troops pulled out of Palestine as prominent members of the future Israeli government, such as David Ben-Gurion, met at the Balfour Declaration** to declare Israel a brand new state. Shortly afterwards, armies from Egypt, Transjordan, Syria, Lebanon, and other Arab royalist nations set out from their homelands to quash the new state. However, members of the Israeli Army were better trained than their opponents. In addition, the Arab nations' supply lines were overextended wheras Israel's were more organized and had a central command. The conflict culminated in Israel occupying the entire former mandate, aside from the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. In 1949, the conflict came to an official end but the humiliated Arab nations swore to avenge their losses. The anger of the Arab nations would result in three additional wars along with much Arab-supported Palestinian unrest of which would split Lebanon into a bitter civil war in the late 1970s.

======================================

**Another contributor offered one minor correction:

The "Balfour Declaration" was not a meeting, and didn't happen in 1948.

It was a letter from the British Foreign Secretary Arthur James Balfour to the

Zionist Federation of Great Britain and Ireland, dated November 2, 1917.

The letter reflected the position of the British Cabinet, as agreed upon in

a meeting on October 31, 1917. In the letter, the Secretary wrote: "His Majesty's government view with favour the establishment in Palestineof a national home for the Jewish People, and will use their best endeavours

to facilitate the achievement of this object, it being clearly understood that

nothing shall be done which may prejudice the civil and religious rights of

existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine, or the rights and political

status enjoyed by Jews in any other country."

The letter further stated that the Declaration is a sign of "sympathy with Jewish

Zionist aspirations."

The "Balfour Declaration" was later incorporated into the Sèvres peace treaty

with Turkey and the Mandate for Palestine. The original document is kept at the

British Library.

The anniversary of the declaration, 2 November, is widely commemorated in Israel

and among Jews in the Diaspora as Balfour Day. The day is also still observed as a

day of mourning in some Arab countries.

Answer 2

Answer 1

There are several Arab-Israeli Wars which each have their own causes. Additionally, the Conflict in General has a number of root causes. Please find a number of Related Questions below relating to this varied issues.

A basic line-up is below:

There are numerous Conflicts and Quasi-Conflicts in the Arab Israeli Conflict.

Arab-Israeli War of 1947-1949

Neutral Name: Arab-Israeli War of 1948

Israeli Name: Israeli War of Independence

Arab Name: Nakba (Great Catastrophe)

Cause: Jews intended to establish a Jewish State in the borders granted by UN Resolution 181 and the Arabs did not intend for such a state to exist.

Arab-Israeli War of 1956

Neutral Name: Suez Crisis

Israeli Name: Sinai War

Arab Name: The War of Tripartite Aggression

Cause: Egypt blocked Israeli shipping through the Suez Canal when it nationalized the canal. This nationalization also caught the ire of the British and the French who joined Israel in the fight.

Arab-Israeli War of 1967

Neutral Name, Israeli Name, and Arab Name: Six-Day War

Cause: Egypt blocked the Israeli outlet to the Red Sea, the Straits of Tiran in violation of international law. Israel attacked Egypt to regain control. Israel also retaliated against Jordan and Syria once those countries began attacking Israel.

Arab-Israeli War of 1967-1970

Neutral Name, Israeli Name, and Arab Name: War of Attrition

Cause: Egyptians tried to weaken Israeli resolve to hold the Sinai Peninsula by attacking Israeli positions in a way that would not merit a full-scale retaliation.

Arab-Israeli War of 1973

Neutral Name: Arab-Israeli War of 1973

Israeli Name: Yom Kippur War

Arab Name: Ramadan War, October War

Cause: Egypt and Syria wished to regain lands lost in the Arab-Israeli War of 1967.

Lebanese Civil War 1975-1982 (Israeli involvement from 1981-1982)

Neutral Name: Lebanese Civil War

Israeli Name: First Lebanon War

Arab Name: Lebanese Civil War

Cause: The War was primarily not an Israeli conflict, but an internal Lebanese struggle. However, militants from Lebanon attacked Israel in 1981 and 1982, prompting an Israeli military response.

Palestinian Intifadas (Uprisings) of 1987-1993 and 2000-2005

Neutral Name, Israeli Name, and Arab Name: First & Second Intifadas

Cause: Palestinian dissatisfaction with the Israeli Martial Law in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

2006 Lebanon War

Neutral Name: 2006 Lebanon War, Israel-Hezbollah War

Israeli Name: Second Lebanon War, War with Hezbollah

Arab Name: July War, Israeli-Invasion of Lebanon

Cause: Hezbollah conducted a cross-border raid and absconded with two Israeli soldiers. Israel entered Lebanon to pursue Hezbollah.

Gazan War of 2008-2009

Neutral Name: Gazan War of 2008-2009

Israeli Name: Operation Cast Lead

Arab Name: Gaza Massacre

Cause: Hamas fired rockets into Israel, prompting an Israeli attack on Hamas militants in Gaza.

Gazan War of 2012

Neutral Name: Gazan War of 2012

Israeli Name: Operation Pillar of Cloud/Pillar of Defense

Arab Name: Operation Stones of Shale

Cause: Hamas fired rockets into Israel, prompting an Israeli attack on Hamas militants in Gaza.

Answer 2

Arab obsession with the idea of destroying the State of Israel and their stubborn conviction that Jews can not live on their native land in Palestine as it was conquered by Muslims and hence became "the land of Kslam".

Answer 3

Answer 1

The reason why the Yom Kippur war took place are because the Egyptians wanted their lost land back from Israel and after Israel rejected Sadat's peace initiative which proposed a full with drawl by Israel to the pre-67 borders in exchange for a non-belligerency pact, Sadat said he would declare war if Israel did not give back the land, which Israel did not. Thus a war occurred.

Answer 2

" The Arab countries attacked because they thought that Israel wouldn't be able to defend itself during one of the most holy Jewish holidays." a misleading explanation of the complex Middle East.

1. Egypt attacked on Yom Kippur, 1973 to recover Egyptian pride from the previous 1967 debacle and to re-establish Egypt as a Middle East POWER.

2. Syria joined in this attack to recover the very strategic, very important Golan Heights lost by Syrian the previous 1967 war.

3. The plan to attack Israel on Yom Kippur was ill advised as roads and communications are actually empty , not a single vehicle, on Yom Kippur; an advantage even in tiny Israel.

Answer 3

The Yom Kippur War was caused by the October 6 1973 attack on Israel by Egyptian and Syrian forces, by the simultaneous deployment of Iraqi MiGs over the Golan Heights, by the October 16 attack on Israel from the central Golan by an Iraqi division of 18,000 troops and several hundred tanks, by the financial underwriting of Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, by the Saudi brigade of 3,000 troops dispatched to Syria, by Libya's violation of the ban on the transfer of French- made weapons by sending Mirage fighters to Egypt, by the $1 billion in aid from Muammar Qaddafi to Cairo to finance the delivery of Soviet weapons, by the movement of three squadrons of fighter and bomber aircraft, an armored brigade and 150 tanks from Algeria, by 2,000 Tunisian soldiers positioned in the Nile delta, by 3,500 Sudanese troops stationed in southern Egypt, by three combat brigades sent to the front lines by Morocco, by Lebanese radar units provided to Syrian air forces and by Lebanese permission allowing Palestinians to shell Israeli civilian settlements from its territory, by other Palestinians who fought on the southern front alongside the Egyptians and Kuwaitis, by Jordan's 40th and 60th Armored Brigades stationed in Syria, by the three Jordanian artillery batteries and the nearly 100 tanks they contributed to the assault, and by Israel's decision to defend itself, to survive as a nation, and to eschew 'restraint' just this once.

Answer 4

Most people tend to see the Arab-Israeli Conflict primarily as a political one with a number of much more recent modern causes such a nationalism and the refugee crisis since 1948. More of those causes can be read in the related question shown below.

As concerns the Biblical Cause, Arabs and Jews consider themselves descended from Abraham's sons Ishmael and Isaac respectively. Abraham aggressively kicked his maidservant Hagar and her son Ishmael out of the house in order for his son Isaac (born of his wife Sarah) to have primary attention. Jews and Christians assert that Abraham had a more special relationship with Isaac, taking him up a mountain in an attempt to sacrifice him. Muslims allege the same story, but with Ishmael. So, many claim that Jews and Arabs have a sibling rivalry of sorts coming from this moment. However, both The Bible and Qur'an make it very clear that after the halted sacrifice, Ishmael and Isaac actually spent a good deal of time together and remained on good terms. In fact, Isaac's son Esau married one of Ishmael's daughters.

Answer 5

There is no such things as the Arab-Israeli War of 1965. If you are referring to the Arab-Israeli War of 1956 or the Arab-Israeli War of 1967, see the related questions below.