Officials of the Israeli state had hardly declared their independence when their new nation was invaded by the military forces of Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, Jordan, and Egypt. In this first Arab-Israeli War the fighting was indecisive, but hundreds of thousands of Palestinians had to flee from their homes. Most of them took up permanent residence in refugee camps in neighboring Lebanon and Jordan, where they lived in squalid conditions.
(Aug. 19) Palestinian terrorist leader Abu Nidal is reported dead by a Palestinian newspaper.
(Sept. 10) Yasser Arafat's Fatah Movement issues a call for an end to terrorist attacks on Israeli civilians.
(Sept. 19) Bomb attack on a bus in Tel Aviv leaves six Israelis dead. In response, Israeli forces lay siege to Yasser Arafat's office compound. The Israelis say they are seeking to isolate Arafat and arrest four senior Palestinian officials suspected of involvement in terrorist activities.
(Oct.) Israel's coalition government falls apart when the Labor Party refuses to support Ariel Sharon's 2003 budget, demanding that some of the money slated for Jewish settlements on the West Bank instead go to social spending; Sharon is forced to schedule new elections.
(Nov. 28) Fighting off a challenge from former prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Sharon is reelected head of the Likud Party during a party primary election marked by a Palestinian attack on a polling station. On the same day, a missile is fired at an Israeli airliner taking off in Kenya, and an Israeli hotel catering to Israeli tourists is destroyed by a bomb.
(Jan. 28) Ariel Sharon's Likud Party wins a plurality in national election and retains power; Palestinian leaders predict an escalation in the conflict.
(Feb.) Israeli military steps up operations against the militant Hamas organization throughout Palestinian territories.
States, however, was willing to recognize the legitimacy of the state of Israel.
Between 1948 and 1955 Palestinian guerrillas continued to attack targets inside Israel, which sparked off Israeli retaliation against Palestinians in Israel and the refugee camps. In 1956, with the collaboration of French and British officials, the Israeli military attacked Egypt and occupied the Suez Canal zone in retaliation for Egypt's attempt to block the Israeli port of Elat on the Gulf of Aqaba.
U. S. president Dwight Eisenhower brought heavy pressure on the Israelis to withdraw from Egypt, which they did. The United States, however, was involved in the Cold War with the Soviet Union and needed an ally in the Middle East. Over the ensuing years, Israel became that ally.
A special relationship developed between the two nations, with the United States taking Israel's side in their dispute with their Arab neighbors, often in the face of hostile world opinion. The U. S. government and military also supplied Israel with arms and subsidized Israeli economic development. Many historians attribute the development of this special relationship to the power of the so-called Jewish lobby, which subsidized the political campaigns of members of the U. S. Congress.
World History
