With the destruction of European Jewry in the Holocaust, many Western leaders responded to Zionist calls for the establishment of a Jewish homeland in Palestine, creating the state of Israel.
Among those who responded was President Harry S. Truman, who argued that the European refugees had the right to settle in Palestine. In November 1947, the United Nations approved a plan to partition Palestine into Arab and Jewish states. In May 1948, the existence of the state of Israel was officially declared, and the United States immediately recognized the new nation. The two countries have shared a close relationship ever since.
The Arab countries surrounding Israel refused to recognize the new nation. They argued that Palestine was Arab territory and proclaimed their support for the Palestinian Arabs. Hostilities soon erupted in the Middle East, leading to a series of wars in the region.
On May 15, 1948, one day after the establishment of Israel, armies from Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Iraq, and Egypt invaded Israel. The Israelis successfully defended the new nation, and they proceeded to conquer various Palestinian towns. Thousands of Palestinians fled from their homes. This was the beginning of the refugee crisis that still exists today, with both sides blaming the other for creating this situation.
The United Nations immediately became involved in trying to bring about a peaceful end to the conflict. There were two cease-fires in June and July, but there was no true end to the fighting until January 1949. Several armistice agreements were signed between February and July 1949. The United States played an important role in the eventual settlement. At first, Truman demanded that Israel return to its original borders; however, Israel had no intention of doing this. Eventually, however, Truman yielded to political pressure, and he did not insist that Israel relinquish its newly conquered territory.
The map of the Middle East had been dramatically transformed by the war. Israel now possessed large amounts of new territory, including all of Galilee and the Negev as well as the entire Palestinian coast, with the exception of the Gaza Strip. Israel was now one-quarter larger than it had been under the original partition. In addition, the Palestinian state no longer existed.
The United States soon discovered that it was difficult to maintain peace in the Middle East. In 1956, Egypt nationalized the Suez Canal. Israel, with the support of France and Great Britain, proceeded to attack Egypt and capture the Sinai Peninsula.
In response, the United Nations issued a resolution commanding Israel to withdraw its troops immediately from the region. President Dwight D. Eisenhower demanded that Israel return the Sinai to Egypt, and he condemned British and French involvement in the conflict. The Soviet
Union strongly criticized the three countries for threatening Egypt and jeopardizing the stability of the region.
In the U. S. Jewish community, there was strong pressure for Eisenhower to support Israel. This tense situation continued until February 1957, when Eisenhower warned Israeli prime minister David Ben Gurion of serious repercussions if Israel did not withdraw from the Sinai. These repercussions included possible sanctions and the withholding of private assistance to Israel. One week later, Israel agreed to U. S. demands. In March, Israel departed from the Sinai.
The foreign policy of the United States was profoundly affected by this war. Fearing growing Soviet influence in the Middle East, in January 1957, the Eisenhower Doctrine stated that, if necessary, the United States would use armed forces to prevent communism from securing a base in the Middle East. The Arab nations, however, did not trust the United States, and the Eisenhower Doctrine only served to further alienate them.
War broke out once again in the region in 1967. In the Six-Day War, Israel successfully defeated the combined forces of Egypt, Syria, and Jordan. The conflict began in May 1967, when Syria claimed that Israel was sending troops to its border. Egypt then became involved, with President Gamal Abdel Nasser sending numerous troops to the Sinai and closing the Strait of Tiran to Israeli shipping. King Hussein of Jordan joined in the growing conflict, and he signed a mutual defense pact with Egypt. This greatly worried the Israelis, who feared that their country was about to be attacked. In June, the Israelis launched both air and ground attacks against the Egyptians, and also defeated the Jordanian and Syrian armies. As a result of their victory, the Israelis gained even more Arab territory, including the West Bank, Gaza Strip, and Golan Heights.
Once again, the United States was involved in trying to bring about a peace agreement in the region. American interests still revolved around reducing Soviet influence, maintaining access to oil, and guaranteeing Israel’s safety. In addition, President Lyndon B. Johnson strongly believed that maintaining good relations with Israel was in the best interests of U. S. policy; some critics argued that this belief came at the expense of American relationships with Arab countries. Indeed, after the war, Arab relations with the United States worsened, Soviet influence in the region continued to increase, and the United States discovered in the years to come that a lasting peace would be extremely difficult to maintain in the Middle East.
Further reading: Donald Neff, Fallen Pillars: U. S. Policy towards Palestine and Israel since 1945 (Washington, D. C.: Institute for Palestine Studies, 1995); Cheryl A. Ruben-berg, Israel and the American National Interest: A Critical Examination (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1986).
—Lori Nates
World History
