Israel and the Arab States

Report Outline
Dangers to Mid-East of Arab-Israeli Impasse
United States and the Palestine Problem
Outstanding Issues for Settlement
Special Focus

Dangers to Mid-East of Arab-Israeli Impasse

Unabated tension between the Arab states and Israel is a major factor making for continued instability in the generally unstable Middle East. Some four years have passed since the state of Israel was set up in the Palestine area, but little progress has been made toward establishment of normal relations between the new Jewish nation and its Arab neighbors. No formal peace has been concluded among belligerents in the Arab-Jewish war of 1948–49 and the Arabs still regard Israel as a trespasser on their lands.

The Palestine problem was already beyond the stage of reasonable settlement when first referred to the United Nations by Great Britain, the mandatory power for the League of Nations, in April 1947. A triangular conflict then raged between Arabs and Jews and between each of them and British authorities in Palestine. The confused struggle had repercussions in nearby Arab states (all of which had actively supported an Arab Palestine) as well as among Jews the world over (most of whom in Europe, the British Commonwealth, and the United States had actively supported the project for a Jewish national home). Religious interest played a part because shrines in Palestine are holy to Christians, Moslems, and Jews. Most serious of all was involvement of the Palestine problem in power rivalry between the United States and the Soviet Union following the decline of British influence in the Middle East.

Uneasy Truce Since Palestine War

Against this background, the U.N. General Assembly voted in November 1947 to partition Palestine three ways—to form a Jewish state and an Arab state in an economic union, with the city of Jerusalem internationalized. The partition scheme, not wholly acceptable to the Jews, was totally unacceptable to Palestinian Arab leaders. In the face of implacable opposition from the Arab League and attendant international complications, the U.N. partition plan could not be carried into effect.