...Israel and a few Arab nations, and how these two superpowers were on the brink of an a out war. To be able to fully identify the role that the United States and Soviet Union played in this war, the history and background must be understood. This war was the fourth battle of the ongoing dispute today known as the Arab-Israeli conflicts that started in 1948 when the Jewish state of Israel was formed. In the earlier war known as the “Six Days War” in the year of 1967, Israel had captured the Sinai Peninsula from the state of Egypt and half of the Golan Heights from its neighbor Syria. “On June 19, 1967, the National Unity Government of Israel voted unanimously to return the Sinai to Egypt and the Golan Heights to Syria in return for peace agreements. The Golan would have to be demilitarized and special arrangement would be negotiated for the Straits of Tiran. The government also resolved to open negotiations with King Hussein of Jordan regarding the Eastern border.” (Herzog, 253) This offer...
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...1967 THE SIX DAY WAR - AIR CAMPAIGN INTRODUCTION 1. The 1967 Arab-Israel six day war was the 3rd major struggle faced by the Israel in order to maintain its existence since it became a state in 1948[1]. The war can be considered as one of the most perfect military operations in the modern period. Surprisingly in just six days, the Israel Defence Force (IDF) managed to defeat the armed forces of the three major Arab countries and conquered Sinai, The West Bank and The Golan Height. The victories gave Israel more security from attack and secured a dominant military position in the region[2]. The combination of three major (Air, Land and Maritime) strike planned by the Israel has resulted the victory for Israeli. Even though the war involved three main elements, this paper will just focus on the air campaign which can be considered as the main factor for the victory of Israel and the failure for the Arabs’ allies. 2. The purpose of this paper is to provide a general brief on the background of the war and will focus more on the air campaign as the decisive factor that lead to the Israel victory. The flow of this paper will start with the genesis of the war which will provide the background of the six days war followed by the comparison of the Order of Battle (ORBAT). The comparison of ORBAT will give the summary of the assets involved and destroyed in the war and its effects on the outcome of the war. Series of the event from the first day of war until...
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...The conflict between Israel and Palestine has an important significance because it's not only a territorial dispute, but also a cultural and religious one. The issue of recognition of the State of Palestine it's a problem hard to analyse considering the history of the belligerents and their argument about being hegemonic. The conflict emerged in 1917 when the Balfour Declaration gave Israelis permission to establish in Palestine and was soon followed by a Palestinian manifesto in 1933, but the dispute became military in 1948 when the civil war turned in the First Arab-Israeli War won by the Zionists with the help of the West. This followed the Declaration of the Establishment of the State of Israel by David Ben-Gurion, the executive head of the World Zionist Organization. The armistice in 1949 led to a disjointed Palestine, with an Arab population of which half was made up of refugees. For twenty years, since the proclamation of the State of Israel and until the Six-Day War, Palestinians were reduced to silence under the occupation of Nasser's Egypt. As for the few who chose not to live under the occupation of Zionists, they were considered a mass of refugees under the protection of UN and UNRWA. In 1950, UNRWA was taking care of 957.000 Palestinians. On the other hand, Israel's population nearly doubled. This state of coercion, fear and insecurity led to the birth of The Palestine Liberation Organization by the Arab League in Cairo (1964) which brings into the open...
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...Special Political and Decolonization Berkeley Model United Nations S I X T Y - T H I R D III S E S S I O N Gabby Armato Gloria Cheung Adam Yankelevits Robert Purviance ! ! ! ! ! Table of Contents South Sudan Topic Background Past International Involvement and Attempted Solutions Case Studies 1 | Sudan 2 | China Questions to Consider Works Cited Palestinian Refugees Topic Background Past International Involvement and Attempted Solutions Case Studies 1 | United States 2 | Jordan Questions to Consider Works Cited ! ! 2 2 3 4 4 5 5 6 7 7 8 9 9 9 10 11 ! ! 1 ! ! ! ! ! ! ! South Sudan Topic Background It has been slightly over three years since this fledgling nation seceded from Sudan in July 2011. Now the country is fraught with a major political upheaval, a debilitating famine, a declining economy, and an impending civil war ripe with ethnic tension. The South Sudanese political and social schism erupted after President Salva Kiir began to crackdown on the supporters of his rival, former Vice President Riek Machard. Mr. Machard attempted a coup to overthrow the President shortly after Mr. Kiir dismissed the entirety of his government due to suspicion that they were plotting to overthrow his regime. The conflict boiled over and turned violent between the feuding army factions on December 15th 2013. The political struggle between these two factions quickly escalated into a full-scale ethnic conflict and has created a violent schism within...
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...R2P: Doomed from the Start? According to law that dates back to 1648, nations have the right to govern within their borders in whatever manner determined fitting. Some states, although granted this right that is inherent to the foundation of the international system, fail to protect their citizens from harm. Too often in recent history have governments neglected to protect their people during conflicts or crises, and with a world with increasing visibility and communication, states have responded with a basic plan to prevent mass crimes such as Bosnia and Rwanda. Thus, Responsibility to Protect (R2P) was developed as a caveat for the international community to intervene when a government fails to protect its own citizens from mass atrocities. Genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity, and ethnic cleansing are the four conditions under which the international community is authorized to intervene, should a state fail to protect its citizens (Rudolph 2014). In the past 20 years, R2P has been under construction and constantly under evolution from theory to practice. While parameter definition and norm building continue to cycle from lessons learned, the three foundational pillars upon which the R2P model dangles from remains the same: “Pillar 1: Every state has the responsibility to protect its populations from the four mass atrocity crimes Pillar 2: The wider international community has the responsibility to encourage and assist individual states in meeting that responsibility ...
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...«IS IT AN ARAB SPRING OR BUSINESS AS USUAL? RECENT CHANGES IN THE ARAB WORLD IN HISTORICAL CONTEXT" By Michael B. Bishku* INTRODUCTION What began in Tunisia in December 2010 and continues most violently in Syria today has been labeled by observers of and experts on the Middle East as the "Arab Spring," but is that the correct term? (It should be noted that Lebanon engaged in the Cedar Revolution in 2005 - following the assassination of Sunni Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri by Hezbollah operativeswhich resulted in the withdrawal of Syrian froops after 30 years.) While Tunisia seems to be emulating Turkey as a historically secular country with mildly Islamist politicians exercising the greatest amount of influence in their country's respective foreign and domestic affairs, Egypt, the birthplace of the Muslim Brotherhood, appears to be at the center of a struggle between the Islamists and the military, which has dominated politics in that country since the early 1950s, while secularists and the minority Copts feel as if they have been sidelined. Majority Shi'a in Bahrain were quashed in their attempt to have a minority Sunni government recognize their rights, while Yemen's longtime leader was replaced by that country's vice president. Libya toppled an erratic dictator, but has no experience with representative government and like in Yemen the population possesses tribal identities. Syria is now engaged in a brutal civil war in which at least 20,000 people have lost their lives by the...
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...Should the US put boots on the grounds in their attempts at defeating the Islamic state? The humanitarian catastrophe created by Sunni jihadist rebels; publicised as the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) or the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), has necessitated a military intervention by the US. The extremist group aims to create a worldwide caliphate where Muslims will unite under Sharia Law and ‘’challenge, and ultimately conquer, the West’’ (Brandon, 2006). There has been much debate as to whether the US should authorize the use of military ground forces due to the atrocities against civilians and barbaric killings against soldiers and journalists. However this essay contends, that despite the actions perpetrated by this terrorist group, a war will not put an end to the caliphate, therefore the US should not seek to put boots on the ground in attempts at defeating the Islamic extremists. It is right to say that the actions of jihadists cannot go unpunished, but the US putting boots on the ground will not defeat the Islamic state. If one understands the reason as to why the terrorists are obligated to what they do, then it is clear to acknowledge that a war will not stop them. As globalization spreads and societies become increasingly interconnected, Muslims have a choice; accept western beliefs to better integrate or preserve their spiritual purity by rebelling (Baylis, Smith, & Owens, 2011, p. 371) And this is why for many years, Muslims have fought...
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...Lebanon The Israel Hamas Hezbollah Conflict The United States and the Israel-Hezbollah War Prof. Jeremy Pressman Although American soldiers were not involved in the fighting in Lebanon and Israel this past summer, the United States was nonetheless a central player in the war. U.S. policy was defined by staunch American support for Israel and repeated calls by U.S. officials to use the crisis as a means to get at the root causes of violence in the region. What were the American objectives in this war? Does a preliminary assessment suggest that Washington took steps toward achieving them? How does U.S. policy on the Arab-Israeli conflict look moving forward? American Objectives in the Israel-Hezbollah War Two global foreign policy commitments informed the United States view of the Israel-Hezbollah confrontation this past summer; the war on terror and the democratization of the Middle East. Since September 11, 2001, the American war on terror has been defined to include several different international actors. In his speech of September 20, 2001, President George W. Bush stated that the war would “not end until every terrorist group of global reach has been found, stopped and defeated,” and that “any nation that continues to harbor or support terrorism will be regarded by the United States as a hostile regime.” In addition, he warned, terrorists could not be accommodated but instead must be met by force. This approach has most directly been applied to al-Qaeda and its satellites...
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...Armed Conflict in Syria: Background and U.S. Response Jeremy M. Sharp Specialist in Middle Eastern Affairs Christopher M. Blanchard Specialist in Middle Eastern Affairs September 6, 2013 Congressional Research Service 7-5700 www.crs.gov RL33487 Armed Conflict in Syria: Background and U.S. Response Summary The popular-uprising-turned-armed-rebellion in Syria is in its third year, and seems poised to continue, with the government and an array of militias locked in a bloody struggle of attrition. Members of Congress and Administration officials are debating options for responding militarily to President Bashar al Asad’s forces’ reported use of chemical weapons in attacks on rebel-held areas and civilians. After the U.S. intelligence community concluded that Asad’s forces used weapons in limited attacks earlier this year, the Obama Administration had signaled a pending expansion of U.S. civilian and military assistance to the opposition. Earlier in the conflict, U.S. officials and many analysts asserted that President Asad and his supporters would be forced from power, but had difficulty articulating how that outcome would take place within the timeframes they set forth. Recent developments suggest that both the opposition and the Asad regime face considerable challenges in their attempts to assert greater control over Syria. Increasingly, analysts have focused on the potential for the regime and its opponents to carve out strongholds and prolong the fighting. Rapid escalation...
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...Defeating the Islamic State: Both Short-term and Long-term Counter Strategies for the Proto-State and its Ideologies Christopher J. Minchin Norwich University FIRST DRAFT SOCI 401A Culture and Anthropology February 16, 2016 Tracey Poirier Source: The Institute for the Study of War (ISW) and the Critical Threats Project (CTP).), Jan, 2016. “If you know the enemy and know yourself you need not fear the results of a hundred battles“ –– Sun Tzu, Chinese philosopher and military strategist, around 500 BC. “Our terrorism against America is blessed terrorism.” –– Osama bin Laden (on video) “The acme of this religion is jihad.” — Osama bin Laden (Bergen, 2001, p. 41) Many have asked, “what can we do to defeat the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS)? ” There have been a variety of suggestions from airstrikes, isolation , establishing a national unity government in Iraq to the feasibility of a counter-offensive using 'local' militia's and only as a last resort U.S. Boots on the ground. These are all worthy ideas; however, it is imperative to get a fundamental understanding of what has caused this problem because ISIS is growing and becoming stronger (even though current air strikes and counter-offensives have been successful). Before a decision can be made a rigorous analysis is necessary, a sociological analysis, so that the United States and the rest of the world can determine what must be done regarding ISIS and why. (Thesis):...
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...The Israeli-Palestinian conflict has been one of the most important issues that the United Nations has focused on since its founding in 1945. It has been the central topic for many resolutions, special committees, and peacekeeping efforts over the last sixty years. The United Nations has served as a platform for discussion about this conflict and has been used as a mediator between the opposing groups as a peaceful resolution to the issues is sought. Its main interest is in creating a peaceful end to this conflict and ensuring that both sides are just in their actions. At the time that the United Nations was founded, Great Britain administered the area of Palestine as a result of a mandate that had been assigned to them by the League of Nations. The British supported the establishment of a Jewish state in the area and Jewish immigration was greatly increasing especially following the Holocaust during World War II. This was met by opposition from the Arab population in Palestine and, as violence between the groups increased, the British were forced to turn the region over to the United Nations. On 28 April 1947 a special session of the UN General Assembly established the Special Committee on Palestine (UNSCOP), which had the task of investigating all of the questions surrounding the problems in Palestine and to recommend solutions to be considered by the General Assembly later that year. UNSCOP recommended two solutions. The first was that the area be divided...
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...The Six Day and Yom Kippur Wars in Historical Context HARRY BOOTY, MAR 27 2012 THIS CONTENT WAS WRITTEN BY A STUDENT AND ASSESSED AS PART OF A UNIVERSITY DEGREE. E-IR PUBLISHES STUDENT ESSAYS & DISSERTATIONS TO ALLOW OUR READERS TO BROADEN THEIR UNDERSTANDING OF WHAT IS POSSIBLE WHEN ANSWERING SIMILAR QUESTIONS IN THEIR OWN STUDIES. The confrontation between the Jewish state and its Arab neighbours is one of the most enduring and iconic conflicts that still persist today. Many scholars have argued that ‘for the best part of a century the Arab-Israeli conflict has been a complex problem with important ramifications for the international community’[1] – and this is in many ways the truth. Created out of the ashes of the Second World War under the awful spectre of the Nazi Holocaust, Israel as a nation has survived and prospered both politically and economically, in no small part due to Western – primarily French and American – assistance. The Arab states have correspondingly been opposed to America and the West based on this implied support for Israel and has therefore turned to different stratagems in an attempt to combat this alliance – such as balancing with the USSR during the Cold War and increasingly using its market power (derived from the various oil reserves in the region) to further its political aims in the two decades since the Iron Curtain fell. Into this context there were two major (albeit rather short) wars – the Six Day War of 5-10 June 1967 and the Yom...
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...Human rights violations Project in Social Studies Mick Joshua Ilano IV-Mercy Human rights violation in the Philippines. On January 18, 2013, Aquino signed a landmark law, Republic Act No. 10361, designed to protect the rights of the country’s estimated 1.9 million domestic workers. The Philippines also ratified the International Labor Organization’s Domestic Workers Convention No. 189, which would help protect the rights of the 1.5 million Filipino domestic workers abroad. The Aquino administration, however, has not made significant progress on its pledge to expedite the investigation and prosecution extrajudicial killings, torture, and enforced disappearances, among other serious violations of human rights. The number of extrajudicial killings has dropped significantly since Aquino took office, but politically motivated killings are still frequently reported and the murder of petty criminals by “death squads” in urban areas continues unabated. Only two cases of extrajudicial killings have resulted in convictions in the past three years, and even in those cases, the individuals believed most responsible for the killings have not faced justice. The government took some steps to set up an inter-agency committee in 2013 to help investigate and prosecute high-profile extrajudicial killings, but it was not yet operational at time of writing. Harassment of and violence against leftist political activists and environmentalists continues. Insurgency and Ethnic Conflicts In...
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...War is a state of armed conflict between societies. It is generally characterized by extreme collective aggression, destruction, and usually high mortality. The set of techniques and actions used to conduct war is known as warfare. An absence of war is usually called "peace". Total war is warfare that is not restricted to purely legitimate military targets, and can result in massive civilian or other non-combatant casualties. While some scholars see war as a universal and ancestral aspect of human nature, others argue that it is only a result of specific socio-cultural or ecological circumstances. In 2013 war resulted in 31,000 deaths down from 72,000 deaths in 1990. The deadliest war in history, in terms of the cumulative number of deaths since its start, is the Second World War, with 60–85 million deaths, followed by the Mongol conquests which was greater than 41 million. Proportionally speaking, the most destructive war in modern history is the War of the Triple Alliance, which took the lives of over 60% of Paraguay's population, according to Steven Pinker. In 2003, Richard Smalley identified war as the sixth biggest problem facing humanity for the next fifty years. War usually results in significant deterioration of infrastructure and the ecosystem, a decrease in social spending, famine, large-scale emigration from the war zone, and often the mistreatment of prisoners of war or civilians. Another byproduct of some wars is the prevalence of propaganda by some or all parties...
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...Contents Preface to the First Edition Introduction Part 1. Thought Control: The Case of the Middle East Part 2. Middle East Terrorism and the American Ideological System Part 3. Libya in U.S. Demonology Part 4. The U.S. Role in the Middle East Part 5. International Terrorism: Image and Reality Part 6. The World after September 11 Part 7. U.S./Israel-Palestine Notes Preface to the First Edition (1986) St. Augustine tells the story of a pirate captured by Alexander the Great, who asked him "how he dares molest the sea." "How dare you molest the whole world?" the pirate replied: "Because I do it with a little ship only, I am called a thief; you, doing it with a great navy, are called an Emperor." The pirate's answer was "elegant and excellent," St. Augustine relates. It captures with some accuracy the current relations between the United States and various minor actors on the stage of international terrorism: Libya, factions of the PLO, and others. More generally, St. Augustine's tale illuminates the meaning of the concept of international terrorism in contemporary Western usage, and reaches to the heart of the frenzy over selected incidents of terrorism currently being orchestrated, with supreme cynicism, as a cover for Western violence. The term "terrorism" came into use at the end of the eighteenth century, primarily to refer to violent acts of governments designed to ensure popular submission. That concept plainly is of little benefit to the practitioners of state terrorism...
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