Power, Lost and Found: America At Century’s End 549So, U.S. actions–support of Israel, opposition to Arab nationalism, support-
ing coups–led to more animosity toward the U.S. in the region, but it had to
act, according to American leaders, to preserve its oil interests throughout the
area. These conflicting needs would only lead to more conflict, and soon.
Israel was a constant pressure point in the region. In the early 1960s a group
led by Yassir Arafat formed the PLO, or the Palestine Liberation Organization,
a group dedicated to gain Palestinian independence and regain its lands from
Israel using any means necessary, which would get it immediately labeled a
“terrorist” organization. Israel found itself having to contend with PLO
attacks as well as border skirmishes with Syria, and in 1967, Egypt, so it began
to mobilize tanks and troops near their border. In early June, Israel attacked
a joint force consisting of troops from Egypt, Jordan, Syria, and other Arab
states. The Israelis said the strike was preemptive because the Arabs were
about to attack them, while the Arabs claimed that Israeli’s invasion was
aggressive. Israel, heavily supported and armed by the U.S., won the war in
six days, hence the term Six Day War to describe the conflict, and took control
of the Sinai Peninsula in Egypt, the Gaza Strip and West Bank in Palestine, and
the Golan Heights in Lebanon.
Although the U.N. would pass Resolution 242 to demand Israel return the
seized territory, it refused to do so, thereby guaranteeing more bloodshed
would be forthcoming. And 6 years later, in October 1973, war broke out
again. Called either the Ramadan War or the Yom Kippur War, it began with a
joint attack by Egypt and Syria against Israel on the holy day of Yom Kippur
in an attempt to regain the territories that Israel took in 1967. In the first
stages of the war, the Egyptians struck Israeli forces from the air, crossed the
Suez, and pushed into the Sinai, while Syria attacked the Golan Heights area,
but then the conflict became a stalemate. After less than a week, Israel coun-
tered and began to receive huge amounts of American military aid while the
U.S. also put its nuclear forces on their highest alert level, the first time that
had been done since the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis. By later October, the
offensive had died out and Israel remained in control of all the areas it had
taken in 1967. Again, the U.N., in Resolution 338 , ordered Israel to withdraw
and again it refused. In 1978, however, there was progress on the Arab-Israeli
issue. Led by President Jimmy Carter, the two Middle East foes met at Camp
David, Maryland to discuss terms for peace and signed the Camp David
Accords. For the first time, an Arab country, Egypt, recognized Israel’s right to