Israeli-arab war

History
1947
Before the adoption by the United Nations of Resolution 181 in November 1947 and the declaration of the State of Israel in May 1948, several Arab countries adopted discriminatory measures against their local Jewish populations. The status of Jewish citizens in Arab states worsened dramatically following the 1948 Israeli-Arab conflict. Jews were uprooted from their longtimeresidency or became political hostages of the Arab–Israeli conflict.
As a result, a large number of Jews were forced to emigrate from Arab lands, although some emigrated for ideological reasons.[27] Over 700,000 Jews emigrated to Israel between 1948 and 1952, with approximately 285,000 of them from Arab countries.
After the 1967 war, more than 850,000 Jews had left their birthplaces and their homes insome 10 Arab countries. Today, fewer than 7,000 Jews remain in these same countries. Individual and communal properties were confiscated without compensation.[29] [30][31] Riots in Yemen and Syria killed hundreds of Jews. In Libya, Jews were deprived of citizenship, and in Iraq, their property was seized.[32] Today, these displaced Jews and their descendants represent 41% of the total population ofIsrael.
Egypt conflict
In 1956, Egypt closed the Straits of Tiran to Israeli shipping, and blockaded the Gulf of Aqaba, in contravention of the Constantinople Convention of 1888. Many argued that this was also a violation of the 1949 Armistice Agreements.[36][37] On July 26, 1956, Egypt nationalized the Suez Canal Company, and closed the canal to Israeli shipping.[38]
Israel responded onOctober 29, 1956, by invading the Sinai Peninsula with British and French support. During the Suez Canal Crisis, Israel captured the Gaza Strip and Sinai Peninsula. The United States and the United Nations soon pressured it into a ceasefire.[38][39] Israel agreed to withdraw from Egyptian territory. Egypt agreed to freedom of navigation in the region and the demilitarization of the Sinai. The UnitedNations Emergency Force (UNEF) was created and deployed to oversee the demilitarization.[40] The UNEF was only deployed on the Egyptian side of the border, as Israel refused to allow them on its territory.
On May 19, 1967, Egypt expelled UNEF observers,[42] and deployed 100,000 soldiers in the Sinai Peninsula.[43] It again closed the Straits of Tiran to Israeli shipping,[44][45] returning theregion to the way it was in 1956 when Israel was blockaded.
On May 30, 1967, Jordan signed a mutual defense pact with Egypt. Egypt mobilized Sinai units, crossing UN lines (after having expelled the UN border monitors) and mobilized and massed on Israel's southern border. On June 5, Israel launched an attack on Egypt. The Israeli Air Force (IAF) destroyed most of the Egyptian Air Force in a surpriseattack, then turned east to destroy the Jordanian, Syrian and Iraqi air forces.[citation needed] This strike was the crucial element in Israel's victory in the Six-Day War.[43][45] At the war's end, Israel had gained control of the Sinai Peninsula, the Gaza Strip, the West Bank, eastern Jerusalem, Shebaa farms, and the Golan Heights. The results of the war affect the geopolitics of the region tothis day.
Wars of Attrition and Yom Kippur
In 1969, Egypt initiated the War of Attrition, with the goal of exhausting Israel into surrendering the Sinai Peninsula.[47] The war ended following Nasser's death in 1970.
On October 6, 1973, Syria and Egypt staged a surprise attack on Israel on Yom Kippur, the holiest day of the Jewish calendar. The Israeli military were caught off guard andunprepared, and took about three days to fully mobilise.[48][49] The Yom Kippur War accommodated indirect confrontation between the US and the Soviet Union. When Israel had turned the tide of war, the USSR threatened military intervention. The United States, wary of nuclear war, secured a ceasefire on October 25.[48][49]
War facts
In terms of the human cost, estimates range from 51,000 fatalities...