Egyptain Foreign Policy In Regards To Israel The United States. The Essay Example For Students

Egyptain Foreign Policy In Regards To Israel The United States. The Essay History of the conflict in the Middle East is long and well documented. To both, and to many biased observers the history of the Egyptian/Israeli conflict is very one sided, with one government, or one people causing the continued wars between the two neighboring states. But, as any social scientist of any reputation will state, all international conflicts have more than one side, and usually are the result of events surrounding, and extending over the parties involved. Thus, using this theory as a basis, we must assume that the conflict between Israel and Egypt is more complicated than a partial observer would see it. For the purpose of this paper, we are going to examine the basic factors of Egypts Involvement and conflict with Israel, with some emphasis on the involvement of the United State, and the Western Nation in this conflict. Also, I wish to pay particular attention to the question of who, or what brought these countries into conflict. Were they both victims of their situation, or did they become actively involved in promoting conflict, or perhaps a third party source, such as the US pushed them into conflict? In 1948, the Declaration of the Establishment of the State of Israel was read by David Ben-Gurion in Tel Aviv. The Egyptians, like most of the Arab states saw this as a creation of a Western State, backed by the British Empire, and thus an imperialistic entity in the Arab homeland. Considering the past 20 years of the Egyptian state, and of most of the Arab nations, was a continual conflict again imperial powers, the Egyptian were naturally weary and afraid of any new imperialistic powers developing in the Middle East. In September 1947, the League of Arab States decided to resist by force the plan for the partition of Palestine into an Arab and a Jewish State, and when the Jewish state was created, the armies of the various Arab states entered into Palestine to save the country for the Arabs again Zionist a ggression. The Arabs were defeated and the Arab Countries saved a small amount of land, the Transjordon, and the West Bank. Similarly Egypt saved strip of territory around Gaza. The causes of this war, and Egypts involved can be examined in several ways. Obviously, the creation of the State of Israel by Ben-Gurion and his supporters provided a excuse for the Arab Nations, and Egypt to attack the Jewish population in Israel. As mentioned, the Egyptians saw the formation of Israel as an Imperialist state, and they were defending the land for the Palestinians, and more importantly for the newly developing arab unity. While the United States was not actively involved in the war, either by providing arms or providing much assistance, their actions did create an interesting and volatile atmosphere. As soon as the state of Israel was created, the United State quickly recognized the state and started diplomatic relations with the newly formed government. At the same time, the USSR recognized Israel, not wishing the US to be seen as the champion for the newly found state. Although there is no definitive proof, one can assume that Egypt, and the rest of the Arab nations felt the need to quickly react to the situation, in almost a type of fear that powers outside their Arab influence, such as the United States were quickly impeding on their territory, by using Israel as a means of their peaceful aggression.Still, Egypt was clearly the main aggressor in this instance, and was not defending their own territory, but instead attempting to obtain territory, which they did succeed in acquiring, through the Gaza Strip. The Egyptian actions quickly set the tone of conflict in the Middle East, giving the Israelis no option but the take an initial purely military response in defense of their newly formed state. In the minds of the Israeli leaders, Egypt was nothing but a threat to the existence of the Jewish state, and thus, perhaps rightly, should only be dealt with as an enemy. From the outcome of this poorly prepared war emerged Gamal Abdul Nasser, who commanded an Egyptian Army in Palestine. He organized a clandestine group inside the army called the Free Officers. After the war against Israel, the Free Officers began to plan for a revolutionary overthrow of the government. In 1949 nine of the Free Officers formed the Committee of the Free officers Movement and in 1950 Nasser was elected chairman. In 1952, the Free Officers Movement led a revolution in Egypt and took power, under the newly formed Revolutionary Command Council (RCC) , with Muhammad Naguib as president and commander in Chief. Almost all leader in the RCC were soldiers, many who had fought in the 1948 war and this seriously affected the outlook of them towards Israel, and their policies towards Israel as a state. Most of them had some type of conflicts with the British and were totally, and completely against colonial power in the Middle East, of any kind.While Naguib was the head of the RCC and the government, Nasser was the real power behind Egypt. Although the first 2 years of the RCCs existence was a struggle of power, Nasser eventually won, and the Egyptian foreign policy was dictated by him. Within a few months Naguib officially began prime minister, minister of war, commander in chief and the president of the RCC. Interestingly enough, Nasser took no direct actions during the next few years against Israel, but instead focused on internal colonization, by trying to get the British out.It should be mentioned that around this time, the great contracts against the USSR were formed and implemented. The North Atlantic Treaty Organization and the Southeast Treaty organization were supposed t o contain the Soviet Union in the west and east. The Baghdad pact, brought Britain, Turkey, Iran, Pakistan and Iraq to form a barrier on the USSRs south borders. It seems that Nasser failed to see this importance, even when Britain initially refused to talk about leaving Egypt until Nasser agreed to an alliance. This decision affected him later, when he sough foreign aid. The United States seeing the growing cold war conflict in this region sought to use the conflict between Israel ; Egypt to its advantage. While they didnt wish to offend either side, at the time, they couldnt yet pledge allegiance to either side. When in 1955, after the British had agree to eventually leave the Canal Area, Nasser started to become convinced once again that Egypt had to arm to defend itself against Israel. Still, the first attack in 1955 was Israel, when they attacked Egyptian Military outposts in Gaza. Quickly, realizing his possible situation, Nasser sought western aid only to find that neither the U.S., France or Britain was willing to help. Because Nasser had refused to join an anti-USSR alliance, he was seen as a threat, especially by people such as the Secretary of State John Foster Dulles. Nasser, then turned to the USSR and accepted soviet weapons, which put them directly against the western push for influence in the Middle East. This decision effected Nasser influence on the Western powers for it made sure than in later years that Israel, and not Egypt would get assistance from the United States or Britain. Yet, they he had no choice, except to arm himself in this manner. In Secret Britain, the United States and Israel agreed to allow Israel to attack the Canal from across the Sinai Desert. Business Plan Essay The next day, President Nixon formally asked Congress for emergency funds to finance the massive airlift of arms to Israel that was already under way. During this time, the Major Oil producers in the region cut back production to the United States as an embargo because of these actions. Israel was able to counterattack and succeeded in crossing to the west bank of the canal and surrounding the Egyptian Army. Sadat appealed to the Soviet Union for help. On October 22, the UN Security Council passed Resolution 338, calling for a cease-fire by all parties within twelve hours in the positions they occupied. Egypt accepted the cease-fire, but Israel, alleging Egyptian violations of the cease-fire, completed the encirclement Army to the east of the canal.The Soviet Union was furious, believing it had been double-crossed by the United States. On October 24, the Soviet ambassador handed Kissinger a note from Brezhnev threatening that if the United States was not prepared to join in sending forces to impose the cease-fire, the Soviet Union would act alone. Luckily the UN sent a force there to enforce the cease-fire. Meanwhile, Syria felt betrayed by Egypt because Sadat did not inform his ally of his decision to accept the cease-fire. Two days after Sadat, Syria accepted the cease-fire as well. The Israelis, however, paid a heavy price for merely holding their attackers to an inconclusive draw. The war had a devastating effect on Israels economy and was followed by savage austerity measures and drastically reduced living standards. For the first time, Israelis witnessed the humiliating spectacle of Israeli were seen on Arab television. Also, for the first time captured Israeli hardware was exhibited in Cairo.Sadats prestige grew tremendously. The war, along with the political moves Sadat had made previously, meant that he was totally in control and able to implement the programs he wanted. He was the hero of the day. In 1977 the outlook for peace between Israel and Egypt was not good. Israel still held most of Sinai, and negotiations had been at a stalemate since the second disengagement agreement in 1975. Israeli prime minister Menachem Begin was a hard-liner and a supporter of Israeli expansion. He approved the development of settlements on the occupied West Bank and reprisal raids into southern Lebanon. After the food riots of January 1977, Sadat decided that something dramatic had to be done, and so on November 19, 1977, in response to an invitation from Begin, Sadat journeyed to Jerusalem, and agreed upon peace. Many Egyptians accepted peace with Israel if it meant regaining Egyptian territories. Of the Arab countries, only Sudan, Oman, and Morocco were favorable to Sadats trip. In the other Arab states, there was shock and dismay. The Arabs felt that Sadat had betrayed the cause of Arab solidarity and the Palestinians. In spite of Sadats denials, the Arabs believed that he intended to go it alone and make a separate peace with Israel. In fact, that is what happened. In December 1977, Egypt and Israel began peace negotiations in Cairo. These negotiations continued on and off over the next several months, but by September 1978 it was clear that they were deadlocked. President Jimmy Carter had become closely involved in the negotiations. In an effort to break the deadlock, Carter invited Sadat and Begin to Camp David. The negotiations were tense and almost broke down several times. On September 17, however, Carter announced that the Camp David Accords had been reached. They consisted of two parts, the Framework for Peace in the Middle East and the Framework for the Conclusion of a Peace Treaty between Israel and Egypt. The Camp David Accords made Sadat a hero in Europe and the United States. The reaction in Egypt was generally favorable, but there was opposition from the left. In the Arab world, Sadat was almost universally condemned. Only Sudan issued an ambivalent statement of support. The Arab states suspended all official aid and severed diplomatic relations. Egypt was expelled from the Arab League, which it was instrumental in founding, and from other Arab institutions. Saudi Arabia withdrew the funds it had promised for Egypts purchase of American fighter aircraft.In the West, where Sadat was extolled as a hero and a champion of peace, the Arab rejection of the Camp David Accords is often confused with the rejection of peace. The basis for Arab rejection was opposition to Egypts separate peace with Israel. Although Sadat insisted that the treaty provided for a comprehensive settlement of the Arab-Israeli conflict, the Arab states and the PLO saw it as a separate peace, which Sadat had vowed he would not sign. The Arabs believed that only a unified Arab stance and the threat of force would persuade Israel to negotiate a settlement of the Palestinian issue that would satisfy Palestinian demands for a homeland. Without Egypts military power, the threat of force evaporated because no single Arab state was strong enough militarily to confront Israel alone. The Camp David Accords brought peace to Egypt but not prosperity. With no real improvement in the economy, Sadat became increasingly unpopular. His isolation in the Arab world was matched by his increasing remoteness from the mass of Egyptians. While Sadats critics in the Arab world remained beyond his reach, increasingly he reacted to criticism at home by expanding censorship and jailing his opponents. In addition, Sadat subjected the Egyptians to a series of referenda on his actions and proposals that he invariably won by more than 99 percent of the vote. For example, in May 1979 the Egyptian people approved the Egyptian-Israeli peace treaty by 99.9 percent of those voting.Sadats handpicked successor, Husni Mubarak, was overwhelmingly approved in a national referendum on October 24. Mubaraks main concern in regard to the Israeli conflict was concerned to regain the Sinai Peninsula for Egypt and to return his country to the Arab fold. One of Mubaraks first acts was to pledge to honor the peace treaty with Israel. In April 1982, the Israeli withdrawal from Sinai took place as scheduled. A multinational force of observers took up positions in Sinai to monitor the peace. Egypt was allowed to station only one army division in Sinai. Since then, Egypt has had a decent relationship with Israel and the United States, and it has been seen by many Arab Countries as the traitor in many circumstances. It is perceivable that without the influence of the United States the peace in Israel would have been different, if not sooner. The United States, in order to push the cold war policies saw Israel and Egypt as pawn in their global game of politics. Especially in the early years, neither country saw the United States as a enemy nor as a ally, and thus depended on it for little. Yet, both countries saw the possibility of gaining resources from the great western power, or at least its enemy the USSR.Under Carter, however the United States, perhaps for the first time, played a peace-making role in the Middle East. Perhaps Carter was being the peaceful President, or more likely he realized the need for peace in the middle east in order to lower the gas prices, and for the US to harness the immense resources of the region.