War Between Muslims and Jews
As our Prophet (may God bless him and grant him peace)
stated in the hadith above, by the beginning of the 20th
century, conflicts between Muslims and Jews followed continuing
terrorism and violence. Towards the end of the First World
War with the disintegration of Ottoman Empire, Palestine,
which was an Ottoman Arab territory then, was placed under
the administration of Great Britain. Great Britain tried
to implement various formulas to bring peace to a land ravaged
by violence. In 1947, Great Britain in frustration turned
the problem over to the United Nations. The UN proposed
the partitioning of Palestine into two independent States.
After 19 centuries, this was the first time a “Jewish Sate”
was founded.
Arabs both in Palestine and the surrounding Arab countries
made initiations to change this situation and in 1948 a
bloody war started between the two sides.
One of the two States envisaged in the partition plan proclaimed
its independence as Israel and, against the UN plan, expanded
to occupy a great part of the territory of Palestine. Palestine
came entirely under Israel occupation, except for the west
part of the Jordan River (the West Bank) and some lands
surrounding city of Gaza, referred as the “Gaza Strip.”
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The Waling Wall came under
the Jewish control with the 1967 War,
during when the East Jerusalem was invaded
by Israel.
Haganah forces of Israel proceed towards Jerusalem
in 1948.
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After approximately 20 years, exactly on June 1967, Israel
carried out a massive invasion. Egypt, Syria and Jordan
were getting prepared to attack Israel for months when,
with a sudden counter-attack, Israel launced the war in
the morning of June 5. Israel jets that took off from their
airbase flew in the direction of west over Mediterranean
for some while before turning to Egypt with a sudden movement.
Egypt, which was prepared to an Israeli air attack that
would come from east rather than north, was caught off its
guard and all the Nasirian air forces were destroyed on
ground, before they even had the chance to take off. Within
the following 5 days, the Israeli army defeated the Arab
armies on alert for attack one after another. Within 6 days,
the Jewish State expanded its lands by three times. The
invaded lands included the West Bank and Gaza Strip, the
last two parts that remained uninvaded during the 1948 invasion
of Palestine, the Golan Heights which was included within
the Syria borders, and the giant Sinai Peninsula of Egypt.
Meanwhile, together with the West Bank, the East Jerusalem
was also occupied by the Jewish state. Since the 1948 War,
this holy city was divided as West Jerusalem and East Jerusalem.
The West Jerusalem was the modern part of the city and it
was held by Israel. The East Jerusalem, that is the Old
City where antique religious shrines existed, was left to
the Arabs. With the 1967 War, Israel also occupied the Old
City. The Weiling Wall, which has become the symbol of the
Jewish nation, came under the dominion of Jews after 19
centuries.
Nasir, who strengthened his army with Soviet weapons, officially
declared the ceasefire terminating the Six-Days War finished
with the purpose of re-gaining the lands lost in March 1968
and initiated a months-long mild “war of attrition.” Attacks
made to Israeli targets for months came to end with heavy
Israeli artillery bombardment and air attacks on the coastal
cities of Egypt along the Suez Canal. Upon these developments,
Egypt was forced to sign another ceasefire with Israel.
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| Israeli
soldiers in Hebron on the third day of the 6
Days War of 1967. |
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The war continued until 1973. During the Yom Kippur feast,
exactly on 6 October 1973, Egyptian and Syrian armies launched
a sudden attack. Crossing the Canal, the Egyptian army entered
Sinai, which was under the Israeli control, and started
to cross the “Bar-Lev Line,” an “impassable” border established
after the 1967 War. Meanwhile, Syria carried out a successful
operation and moved forward on the Golan Heights. The Israeli
army was truly taken by surprise. Soldiers attending services
in synagogues in celebration of Yom Kippur were sent headlong
to fronts. The Israeli radio, meanwhile, breaking its traditional
Yom Kippur silence, issued alarm.
Yet the Zahal, the Israel Defense Forces, at the cost of
considerable losses, stopped the progress of the Arab forces
on 9 October with their conventional forces. Soon, the Syrian
army’s progress on Golan Heights was also prevented. Meanwhile,
Egypt, now having a stronger army reinforced with its strategic
position, engaged in a bloody tank which was longer than
the others. According to common conviction, the Washington’s
intensive arms support to Israel that began on the second
day of the war granted victory to Israel.
On 26 October, Israel relieved with the termination of
war. Arabs were driven back from the territories they had
recently recaptured. Meanwhile, the threat of being driven
to sea was over. Yet, this was surely not a victory for
Israel, for just a few-days progress of the Arab army sufficed
to distress the entire nation. Indeed, the Israeli casualties
amounting to 2700 in a small country with a population little
more than 3 million was enormous.
Following this psychological shock Zionists took a step
back. They agreed to return Sinai and in 1979, both sides
came together for the Camp David Peace Agreement. Yet, neither
this agreement nor the following peace agreements failed
to bring peace to the region. Conflicts between Arabs and
Jews is still going on, albeit with short intervals.
