The road to the Second Arab Israeli Conflict

• Results of the Arab Israeli War– Armistice agreement s with Lebanon Syria and Jordan– These defined Israel’s borders until 1967– Armistice arrangement was seen as the forerunner

to peace. – The Armistice Demarcation Line was not to be

construed as a political or territorial boundary and was delineated without prejudice to rights claims and position of either Party to the Armistice as regards the ultimate settlement of the Palestine problem.

Impact of the war

Instability in the region

Immigration into Israel

Development of the Israeli economy

Regime change in Lebanon , Syria,

Jordan and Egypt

Palestinian refugee problem

Line of demarcation

• Gave a sense of impermanence to Israel’s borders with her Arab neighbours

• But came to be accepted as borders by the Arab states

Post war Israel

• 1st general elections held in Israel• Confirmation of Israeli statehood.• IN 1949 US officially recognized Israel.• Granted loans from the Ex-Im Bank• Israel admitted as a member of the UN

Summing up changes

• In 4 years things had changed for Israel.• 4 years earlier statehood looked like an unlikely

possibility• For the Palestinians it was al Nakba or ‘the

disaster’• It marked the pattern of the Arab Israeli

conflict.• It also in time raised the question about the

nature of the Arab Israeli war

Israel after the 1948 War

• Israel self –confident, the armistice had expanded her borders considerably.

• This was a testament to its superior armed forces

• Gained Galilee and Western parts of Jerusalem with a land corridor to the coast.

• In 1949 Israel was a more coherent state than what was envisaged in the UN Partition

Israel post 1949

• Israel still fearful for her security since her new borders were only provisional.

• Israel technically at war with her enemies.• This meant that Israel had to be in a

permanent state of military preparedness• Also the other problem it faced was the influx

of refugees

Law of Return

• In 1950, the Israeli parliament the Knesset passed this law

• It confirmed the right of every Jew to permanent settlement in the country.

• This followed two years later by the Citizenship Law, which gave immigrants the immediate right of citizenship

Impact of Law of Return

• A huge demographic shift within Israel• From Europe there were about 304,044 immigrants

arrived, and from the USSR only 4698 refugees arrived.

• However by 1945 there had been a change on the ground

• Mass migration of African and Middle Eastern Jews• Between 1948-1951 there were close to 232,583

immigrants who came from the Middle East, 92,510 came from Northern Africa

Shift in Demographics

• Prior to the Holocaust , Middle Eastern Jews formed about 8% of the total number of Jews worldwide but following the War, they came to make up an approximate majority

Forging a nation

• For Israel the biggest challenge it faced in this period was forging a nation

• The Middle Eastern Jews who came here had very different needs from the physically weakened and emotionally scarred inmates of Hitler's death camps

• Not all of them were able to contribute to Israel's productive capacity

Israel’s economy

• Contained very little by way of economic resources, other than the Dead Sea minerals.

• No resources that could boost economic development

• Emphasis in the post war was the housing development boom, while it did create jobs, it did not contribute to the growth of the economic sector.

Israel’s economic strain

• Need for funding led it request for a loan from the American Export Import Bank

• In 1949 after the end of the war, the US granted Israel 35 million to assist agriculture and basic infrastructure

• These loans made Israel vulnerable to American pressure

• Israels other problem was that funding from Jewish agencies was f=gnin