Israeli-Arab Conflict Quotes
The very day of Israel’s birth, 14 Arab Armies attacked a badly outnumbered group of citizens with no formal army and few weapons. The reason the Mufti called on Arabs to leave was to allow the Arab heavy armor and artillery to be used without endangering Arab civilians. The Jews however had no place to go and were fighting for their very lives. Surprising the entire world, they not only beat back all the Arab Armies but won additional strategic positions. The Arabs who stayed became Israeli citizens and there are almost ½ million of them today. Those that left, were rejected by the Arab nations who started the war (except Jordan) and asked them to leave could not be distinguished from those Arabs who, even after the Israeli victory vowed to attack again. That is the origin of the Arab refugees. Since the other Arab states except Jordan would not assist their fellow Arabs, the only solution seems to be a Palestinian State on the West Bank and Gaza, but for that to happen war and terrorism would have to end and Israel would have to be accepted.
The Israeli’s had earlier been urged by America to give control of the Suez Canal back to Egypt. The Israeli’s held control of the Canal so that the Egyptians could not cut off ships from reaching Israel. The US had in exchange guaranteed that Israel would have free and unfettered access and to the sea. Egyptian dictator Gamal Abdul Nasser had just closed the Red Sea straights to the Israeli’s and the US was working on rolling that action back. However, some of the American oil companies privately were urging President Johnson to reneg on our commitments to our ally in order to ensure the profits of the oil companies. Johnson did not abandon Israel. ARAMCO made more money than ever. America was not finished in the Middle East.
