Notes on the Division of the Near East

HIS 135
Notes on the Division of the Near East

Doug Campbell's Brief Background of the Arab-Israeli Conflict

Basic Facts of the Arab-Israeli conflict

Some schoalrs have pointed back to biblical times.
Has always been struggle for control by diffetent empires over time, but first major problem occurred after World War I:

The Arab revolt and What to do
The Mandate ystem
Zionism

Then after Wolrd War II palyed itself out agaain and set the basis for the Arab-Israreli-Palestine dispute
creation of ISareal after th Holocaust
guerrilla activity against the BRitish
1948 war, 1967, 1073
concituning activity
But also Fench had to leave and the problems in Lebanon

The Arab-Israeli COnflict should be a spearaet lecre, see Chales Kimball , also the Ira-qIran conflist, The Mother of ALl Treouble Spots

The Middle East 1916-2001 : A Documentary Record

Background information of the Arab-Israeli Conflict
The MidEastWeb has a brief and concise as well as a very detailed timeline of the Arab-Israeli Conflict and links to other important information http://www.mideastweb.org/timeline.htm such as a brief history http://www.mideastweb.org/briefhistory.htm and recent history http://mideastweb.org/briefhistory-oslo.htm
The Guardian has an excellent interactive history with maps http://www.guardian.co.uk/flash/0,,720353,00.html
Deals specifically with Egypt and Israel http://www.studyworld.com/newsite/ReportEssay/History/General\EgyptIsraeli_Conflict_and_the_West-118.htm
Middle East Research and Information Project http://www.merip.org/palestine-israel_primer/toc-pal-isr-primer.html
Churches for Middle East Peace has a brief timeline http://www.cmep.org/Documents/Timeline.htm

KThe Arab Revolt

IV. World War One

    A. The Arab Revolt
            1. Arabs also part of the Ottoman empire
            2. as Ottomans declined, arabs less content with their subjection
rise of arab nationalism versus turkey during the war
    so that arabs came to power in Beirut, Baghdad ad Damascus after the war
    French and British forces then occupied in terms of the Sykes-Picot agreement, but betraying promised to Arabs
            1. key Arab leader was Husein ibn Ali, 1856-1931, again a descendant of the Prophet
                a. the sharif, chief magistrate of Mecca, refused to support turkey in the war
            2. 1916 revolted vs Turks, helped by British under T. E. Lawrence and reached Damascus

    B. Arabs got vague British promises for an Arab kingdom
            1. but Arab bitterness over British duplicity
            2. France would get Lebanon, Syria and southern Anatolia; britain would get Palestine, jordan and Iraq
            3. When Hussein's son Faisal, 1885-1933, went to Paris, got Hejaz ind, but nothing else, no self-determination

        C. The "Jewish Homeland"
            1. "views with favor the establishment" and "will use their best endeavors"
plus problem of Palestine, because British had seemed to promise it to both jews and arabs

1917 Lord Balfour declaration that Britain would promote the establishment of a Jewish homeland after the war
        Jews had been moving there since 1897 and the founding of the World Zionist Org by Theodor herzl to promote emigration

in 1948 Britain withdrew from Palestine after long conflict with Jewish guerrillas
                a. a Jewish state of Israel was proclaimed

                b. they wanted a place after the Holocaust

                c. arabs attacked from all sides but jews able to triumph

                d. a 1949 truce patched it together (also took western jerusalem)

                e. though arabs fled, other arab states would not resettle them

                f. israelis had to make a state out of the desert

            2. 1952, egyptian revolution brought Gamal Abdel Nassar, 1918-70, to power
                a. his republic turned to russian aid when west refused to build the stupid Aswan high dam
                b. Nassar nationalized the suez in 1956

            3. 1960, Oil Producing and Exporting Countries (OPEC) formed, a powerful weapon

            4. 1967 on Nassar demands, United Nations troops removed
                a. when egyptians closed access to port of Elath, israel retaliated
                b. in six days overran all of sinai peninsula, palestine, Golan heights
                c. huge humiliation
                d. both sides hardened and little negotiations

            5. in 1971? Mohammed Anwar el-Sadat, 1918-81, took over when Nassar died
                a. 1972 expelled russians
                b. october 1973 surprise on Yom Kippur when syrians attacked, led to truce in november

            6. 1977, sadat flew to israel and addressed parliament
                a. September 1978 spirit of camp david, Carter did bring egypt and israel together at Camp david

            7. 1982, Israel invaded Lebanon

            8. Iran, Iraq, Saudi Arabia
                a. key players, Muhammed Riza Pahlavi, 1919-1980, and Ayatolla Ruholla Khomeini, 1902-1989
                b. Iraq invaded Iran in 22 September 1980, got objective and then offered to negotiate but Iran refused, repeated offensives, often with chemical weapons, by 1988 back to pre-war borders
                c. Many lessons: Iraq failed to finish up initial offensive; Iraq's air power not decisive, poison gas effective; sea mines effective; merchant ships easy targets; best attack is good defense; war is hell

so why the division

artition:

The British who had followed "Divide and Conquer" principle to rule India, had to yield to the "Divide and Relinquish" demands of Muslims -- especially the charismatic Mohamed Ali Jinnah.
The British overestimated the popularity of Muslim League that pressed for creation of Pakistan, and didn't understand the fact that there were Muslims living in every village of India, and possibly couldn't be relocated to Pakistan.
Some Congress leaders would rather have an early freedom for India rather than convoluted delays in settlement by not agreeing to divide India.
british did not want to waite, cost money

In what is termed as the greatest human migration, some 15 million people were displaced from their homes as a result of the partition with Hindus in Pakistan moving to areas in Punjab and other bordering areas. Many Muslims left India to succeed in Pakistan ("Land of the Pure") especially many writers and intellectuals. The partition was marred by large scale violence with death of a million (some estimate it up to 1.5 million) citizens and countless others suffering.

While Gandhi himself was opposed to partition of India, in the end, he could not stop the unfolding of the history and many Hindus blamed his Muslim-appeasement stance. A Hindu fanatic assassinated Gandhi in 1948 in the aftermath of the partition.

Mohammed Ali Jinnah, the "Father of Pakistan", himself passed away barely an year after India's partition.

see thi ssite, which I think has a timeline

http://www.english.emory.edu/Bahri/Part.html

Partition map

Pakistan map

India map

As can be seen from the map above, the newly created Pakistan had two wings --thousands of miles apart with an arch enemy in between. This was recipe for conflict. After all, the people of other wing had more commonality with their neighbors in India (Bengal) than with the Government in Islamabad. The bickering between the two wings caused political and refugee problems for India and in 1971, Indira Gandhi had to act to free the East Pakistan and a new nation -- Bangladesh was created.

Vietnam
Have some modules in my HIS 135 class includeing Dien Bein Phu, Gulf of TOnkin

link to my Gandhi site

Web pages within the course relevant to the Near East

Some suggestions for further research