What Caused the 1973 Arab-Israeli War Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

What Caused the 1973 Arab-Israeli War - Essay Example The war also christened the Yom Kippur war as it was started on the eve of the day of prayers and fasting. (Yom Kippur). Yom Kippur is a holy day according to the Jewish religion when special prayers are conducted in the presence of fasting. Israel, with Golda Meir as the prime minister was attacked by Egypt that was led by Anwar Sadat. This war was joined by other Arab nations fighting with the Egyptians and included the Syrians, Lebanon and Kuwait (Aruri, 1975). In October 1973, Egypt made real its threats and attacked the Israeli troops within the Suez Canal and beyond. The Syrians attacking the west bank and other regions bordering it followed this. With these surprise attacks, one the longest Middle East wars began, recording one of the highest fatalities ever recorded. This war attracted the interest of other superpowers like the United States and the Soviet Union, further escalating its course and impacts. The United States, though declining to participate actively in the war, sent military support and intelligence to Israel. The Soviet Union reacted by sending its troops and military support to both Egypt and Syria, a factor which prolonged the duration of the war (Aruri, 1975). In this paper, the Yom Kippur war of 1973 will be evaluated to provide an empirical analysis of the events that occurred prior to the war. The sole purpose of this evaluation is to highlight descriptively the events that led to the beginning and progression of the war. The paper will thus analyze each cause into detail providing practical examples, actions and reactions and how each eventually propagated the war. Conflicts over control of Palestine Palestine, an Arab nation that borders Israel and other Arab nation was created after the Palestine liberation organization movement in 1967. This movement created an Arabic peninsula that was meant to house the Arabic Palestine, a move that was resisted by Israel. Israel in the first place was created after the ratification of the Un ited Nations agreement in 1945, thus creating a nation in areas that was inhabited by other Arabs (Bickerton, 2009). Palestine was therefore a major cause of the Arabic-Israel war of 1973 as the countries were fighting to regain control of Palestine from Israel. Israel gained control of Palestine following the six-day war of 1967 in which he fought his neighbouring Arabic nations to gain control over Palestine. Israel also captured the areas of the Golan Heights that was initially controlled by Syria before the 1967 war (Daigle, 2012). Apart from capturing these areas, Israel also captured the areas of the west bank and east Jerusalem that was initially administered by Jordan. Following the war and Israel control of the prime areas under the control of the Arabic nations, tension grew among the countries and war was visibly inevitable. In the same year, united nation made a resolution in an attempt to quell the rising tension between the Arabian countries and Israel to avoid the pos sibility of war. In the resolution, the united nation asked Israel to withdraw from the areas she had seized such as the Gaza strip, the Golan area, the west bank and other areas controlled by Jordon (Daigle, 2012). In exchange for this action, the Arabic nations were to accept and recognize the independence of Israel and to restrain from infringing into its territorial boundaries in a manner that could provoke conflict. These resolutions by the United Nations were ignored by both sides of the divide and cross border attacks continued further straining the more volatile relations (Aruri, 1975). The Israeli-Palestine conflict