ZERO HOUR
Never A Day Of Peace
A brief history of Israel's previous wars.
ELIZABETH APPLEBAUM
Assistant Editor
S
ince its establishment
in 1948 and continu-
ing to this day, Israel
has been a nation under
siege.
Contemporary adversary
Iraq is just one of the
many countries which has
consistently stood in opposi-
tion to Israel's existence and
has advocated its destruc-
tion. Arab nations including
Iraq, Egypt, Transjordan,
Lebanon and Syria first at-
tacked Israel on May 15,
1948 — the day the United
Nations proclaimed the new
state.
War Of Independence
The Arab assault was in
defiance of the UN resolu-
tion of Nov. 29, 1947, which
partitioned Palestine into a
Jewish and an Arab state.
The Jews were given the
smallest territory possible,
but accepted the resolution
in the hope that a corn-
October 1973: makeshift prayer services on Yom Kippur.
promise would avert war.
Instead, the Arabs called for
a war of extermination.
The assault began during
the night, with Egyptian
planes bombarding Tel Aviv.
An Israel Defense Force was
quickly established, but
Defense Minister David Ben-
Gurion had little with which
to guide the troops: When
the war broke out, the
soldiers had no tanks,
fighter planes or guns.
As with the Gulf crisis to-
day, Israel faced a host of
problems even as the Arab
forces attacked in 1948. In
July of that year, 25,000 new
immigrants — most of them
from Displaced Persons
camps in Europe — arrived
in the state, where every-
thing from transportation to
social services was coor-
dinated on a voluntary basis.
Outmanned by Arab ar-
mies from five countries,
Israel prevailed, though the
fighting was long and
bloody. Six thousand
Israelis, including 2,000
civilians, perished in the
long campaign.
The invaders were driven
back and, during 1949,
Israel signed separate ar-
mistice agreements with
Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon and
Syria, calling for a tran-
sition to "permanent peace."
The Sinai War
June 1967: reunifying the city of Jerusalem.
28
FRIDAY, JANUARY 18, 1991
Despite the cease-fire, the
Arab nations considered
themselves in a constant
state of war with Israel. The
Arab League in 1950 issued
a statement warning of "the
Zionist danger," and Arab
leaders often called for "the
liquidation of Zionist ag-
gression." Syrians and Jor-
danians answered that call
with frequent sneak attacks
on Israeli citizens, while
Egyptian fedayeen, -guer-
rillas, were constantly bom-
barding Israeli posts in the
south.
On Oct. 27, 1956, Prime
Minister Ben-Gurion pro-
posed a massive operation
that would once and for all
destroy the fedayeen
strongholds in the Sinai and
Gaza. Two days later, Israeli
troops entered the Sinai.
Concerned by continued
Egyptian control over the
Suez Canal, British and
French bombers joined
Israel in the battle. On Nov.
1, Israel took Rafa and El-
Arish, and two days later
advanced into the Gaza
Strip. The fighting ended on
Nov. 5, when Israel occupied
Sharm-el-Sheikh.
On Nov. 2, the U.N. called
for Israel's withdrawal from
the territories — a move Ben
Gurion supported on the
condition that the land
Israel held would not become
grounds for attacks on the
Jewish state, and that the
Gulf of Akaba would remain
open for free navigation.
With pressure from the
U.S., Israel withdrew, re-
ceiving promises that Egypt
would not return to the Gaza
District, Israeli goods would
be allowed through the Suez
Canal, and that a UN peace
force in the Sinai would pre-
vent another war. All of
these promises were broken.
The Six-Day War
By 1967, Israel had estab-
lished diplomatic relations
with 110 nations, but this
did inspire Arab nations to
do the same. Though for
many years they initiated no
direct military attacks on
Israel, the Arabs, backed by
Iraq is just one of
the many
countries which
has consistently
stood in opposition
to Israel's
existence.
the Soviet Union, continued
to call for the destruction of
the Jewish state.
In May, a military alliance
among Egypt, Syria and
Jordan was reconstructed,
the Straits of Tiran were
blockaded and Egypt massed
90,000 men and 900 tanks in
the Sinai.
Egypt radio announced:
"The great hour has come.
The battle has come in
which we shall destroy
Israel."
Though U.N. leaders
intervened and the Israeli
Knesset made repeated
efforts to avoid a war, Israel
could not ignore the buildup
of Arab forces on all sides.
On June 5, Israel bombed
Egyptian, Jordanian, Iraqi
and Syrian airfields. In less
than three hours, the air
force destroyed 452 enemy
planes.
Israeli ground troops ad-
vanced to the Suez Canal
and the Gaza Strip, destroy-
ing more than 400 Egyptian
tanks and killing 10,000
Egyptian soldiers.
Meanwhile, Jordanian
forces joined the battle on
June 5, striking at Jewish
targets throughout east
Jerusalem. One day later,
Israel took the holy city.
In six days, Israel had
destroyed the armies massed
on its borders, reunited
Jerusalem and controlled
Sinai, Judea, Samaria and
the Golan Heights. More
than 15,000 Arabs and 777
Jews died in the war.
Andong the first visitors to
Jerusalem was Defense Min-
ister Moshe Dayan, who
said, "We have unified
Jerusalem, the divided capi-
tal of Israel. We have
returned to the holiest of our
holy places, never to depart
from it again."
War of Attrition
From April 1969 to August
1970, Egypt launched more
than 9,000 armed attacks
and killed 263 Israelis.
But Israel's response
resulted in heavy losses for
Egypt, forcing the evacua-
tion of 750,000 from the Suez
Canal towns. There were
also clashes with Jordan and
an increase in terrorist ac-
tivity.
Washington and the UN
sought a settlement but the
Arabs refused to recognize
Israel.
The Yom Kippur War
The Middle East was a
magnet to the superpowers.
By 1970 the Soviet presence
in the region was so exten-
sive that both the Egyptian
and Syrian armies were ful-
ly equipped by the Commu-
nist nation. Sudan, Yemen,
South Yemen and Iraq also
benefitted with massive
economic aid from the Soviet
Union. The Soviets also sup-
ported Palestinian ter-
rorists, who hijacked planes
and made raids against
Israeli citizens.
One of the most infamous
attacks occurred when Pa-
lestinian terrorists
murdered members of the
Israeli Olympic team in
1972.
Among Israel's greatest
foes was Egyptian leader
Anwar Sadat, who vowed in
1972 that he would
"terminate" the Jewish