War and Conflict Journal

This page shows conflicts
between the Arab nations (as a group), and Israel.
As a rule, a legal state of war has existed between
Israel and her Arab enemies since the beginning of the first war in
1948. Egypt signed a peace treaty with Israel in
1979, and Jordan made peace in 1994. The Palestine
Authority, headed by Yassir Arafat and his Al-Fatah
faction of the Palestine Liberation Organization
negotiated a semi-peace, which, from mid-2000 on,
has been destroyed through the "Al-Aqsa" Intifada
violence. Other Palestinian groups, most notably
Hamas, have been at war with Israel continuously.
Although Israel and most Arab nations are
technically in a continuous state of war, unless
otherwise noted, specific outbreaks of fighting are
considered to be separate wars. 

Visit the History Guy’s
Arab-Israeli
Wars Links Page.

Click on the blue links to
access specific pages.

Israeli War of Independence/
“al-Nakba” (The Disaster) (1948-1949)–Upon
independence, Israel was invaded by the armies of
six Arab nations: Egypt, Syria, Transjordan (later
Jordan), Lebanon, Iraq and Saudi Arabia. In
addition, local Arab Palestinian forces also fought
the Jewish Israelis.

Qibya
Raid (October,
1951)—Israeli troops, led by
Major Ariel
Sharon
(Israeli Prime Minister 2001-2006) destroyed
dozens of buildings in the West Bank (Jordan)
town of Qibya.  Civilian deaths reached
69.

Egyptian
Seizure of the Israeli ship Bat Galim
(Summer,
1954)—Egypt seized the Israeli
ship Bat Galim as it attempted to enter the Suez
Canal.  According to various international
agreements, the Suez Canal is supposed to be
accessible to ships of all nations.  This
provoked worsening tensions between Israel and
Egypt.

Gaza
Raid (Feb. 28,
1955)—Israeli forces conducted a
raid, a response to repeated guerrilla attacks
and the seizure of an Israeli ship by Egypt,
resulted in the deaths of 51 Egyptian soldiers
and 8 Israeli troops.  This raid was the
largest of its kind against Arab forces since
the end of the First Arab-Israeli War in
1949.

The
Sinai War (1956)
[Also known as the Suez War]–The invasion
and temporary conquest of Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula
by Israel, while France and Great Britain seized
the Suez Canal.

Palestinian-Israeli
Conflict (1960-Present)–Israel faced guerrilla
and terrorist warfare from several Palestinian
armies, most of whom united under the Palestine
Liberation Organization (PLO), led by Yassir
Arafat. Current fighting involves Israel against
more religiously militant groups such as Hamas and
Islamic Jihad, as well as against Arafat’s
Palestinian Authority. (This includes the
Palestinian guerrilla warfare against Israel from
the 1960′s, original Intifada (1988-1992) and the
current “Al-Aqsa” Intifada (2000-Present), and the
West Bank (2004) and Gaza Invasions (2006) by
Israel and the Palestinian suicide and rocket
attacks which prompted those invasions. (See
below.)

First
al-Fatah (PLO) Raid (Dec.
31, 1964)—Yassir
Arafat’s al-Fatah faction of the Palestine
Liberation Organization conducted its first raid
into Israel from Lebanon.

Israeli-Syrian
Border and Air Battle (Nov.
13, 1964)—Israel and Syria
both claimed sovereignty over several
Demilitarized Zones along their border. 
These Zones were set up as part of the
cease-fire ending the First Arab-Israeli
War.  Israel attempted to farm the land in
these Zones, while Syria developed a project to
divert water from the Jordan River, which Israel
shared with both Syria and Jordan.  Syrian
forces often fired on Israeli tractors
attempting to farm the Zones, while Israel
looked for ways to interrupt the Syrian
diversion project.  On Nov. 13, 1964,
Syrian forces stationed on the top of the Golan
Heights, a plateau overlooking Israeli territory
in the Jordan River valley, fired on Israeli
tractors.  Israeli forces returned
fire.  Syrian artillery then targeted
Israeli civilian villages.  Israel
responded with air attacks on Syrian
forces.  This battle resulted in 4 Israeli
dead and 9 wounded.  Syrian losses included
two tanks and machines involved in the diversion
project. One result of this clash was
Syria’s accelerated acquisition of more and
better Soviet-made fighter planes. (Oren,
2001). 

West
Bank Raids (May
1965)—After Palestinian
guerrilla raids resulting in the deaths of 6
Israelis, the Israeli military conducted raids
on the West Bank towns of Qalqilya, Shuna and
Jenin.

1966—Israel
reported 93 incidents along its
borders.

West
Bank Raid (April 30
1966)—Israeli forces destroyed over two
dozen houses in the West Bank town of Rafat,
killing 11 civilians.  This attack was in
response to Palestinian raids on Israel. 
Most of these attacks on Israel

West
Bank Raids (1966)—Israeli
forces raided the Hebron area of the West
Bank.  These raids resulted in 8 civilian
deaths and firefights with the Jordanian
Army.

Israeli-Syrian
Border Battles (Summer,
1966)—Continued artillery and tank
duels along the Golan Heights front led to
:

Israeli-Syrian
Air Battle (July 7,
1966)—Responding to the continued
fighting along the border, Israeli planes
attacked Syrian forces, resulting in the loss of
one Syrian MiG fighter plane.

Israeli-Syrian
Air/Sea Battle (Aug. 15,
1966)—After an Israeli patrol boat ran
aground on the eastern shore of the Sea of
Galilee (according to the 1949 cease-fire
agreement, Israeli forces were not supposed to
approach within 250 meters of the eastern shore,
which was a Demilitarized Zone), Syrian planes
attacked it.  Israel responded, shooting
down two MiG planes.

Samu
Raid (West Bank) (November
13, 1966)—Following a land
mine explosion which killed three Israeli
policemen and wounded one, Israel decided to
launch a large retaliatory raid (called
Operation Shredder) into the West Bank, to
strike at a Palestinian (al-Fatah) guerrilla
base near Hebron.  Designed to show Israeli
military strength, the raiding force consisted
of 10 tanks, forty half-tracks (a troop
transportation vehicle) and around 400
soldiers.  The force enjoyed air cover from
Israeli war planes.  This force destroyed a
police station at the town of Rujm
al-Madfa’ and then moved on to the town of
Samu’.  As the Israelis demolished
houses in Samu’, a small Jordanian force
approached and was ambushed by the
Israelis.  This battle resulted in 15
Jordanian dead and 54 wounded.  The leader
of the Israeli ambush was killed and 10 of his
men wounded.   Israeli planes chased off
the Jordanian air force, shooting down a
Jordanian fighter plane.  This raid also
resulted in 3 Arab civilian deaths and 96
wounded.

Besides
the large numbers of casualties (on both sides)
from what was supposed to be a relatively swift
and easy raid, Israel suffered diplomatic
setbacks.  The United States was quite
upset over this large attack on one of
Washington’s few Arab friends
(Jordan’s King Hussein) and at the lack of
response to the Syrians, who were the true
sponsors of most Palestinian attacks in
Israel.  Riots broke out in Jordan at the
seemingly ineffectual response of the Jordanian
military and its apparent inability to protect
Palestinian civilians in the West Bank. 
The Samu raid inflamed Arab public opinion in
the Middle East and turned out to be one of the
factors leading up to the Six-Day War of
1967.

The
Six-Day War
(1967)–In a rapid pre-emptive attack, Israel
crushed the military forces of Egypt, Jordan and
Syria and seized large amounts of land from each.
Iraq also participated in the fighting on the Arab
side.

The War of Attrition
(1968-1970)–The War of Attrition was a limited
border war fought between Egypt and Israel in the
aftermath of the Six-Day War. It was initiated by
Egypt as a way to recapture the Sinai Peninsula
after losing it to Israel in 1967. A cease-fire in
1970 ended the fighting, but left the borders
unchanged.

The Yom Kippur (Ramadan) War
(1973)–In a surprise attack launched on the
Jewish Yom Kippur holiday (the dates also fell on
the Muslim Ramadan holiday), Egypt and Syria
attacked Israel. Despite aid from Iraq, the Arab
forces failed to defeat Israel.

Israeli Invasion of Lebanon
(1978)–Operation Litani was the official name
of Israel’s 1978 invasion of Lebanon up to the
Litani river. The invasion was a military success,
as the Israeli military expelled the PLO from
Southern Lebanon, where they had created a de facto
state within a state. An international outcry over
the invasion forced a partial Israeli retreat and
the creation of a United Nations patrolled buffer
zone between the Arab guerrillas and the Israeli
military. See also The
Israeli-Lebanon Conflict
(1978-Present).

The Osirak Raid
(1981)–An Israeli air attack on Iraq’s Osirak
nuclear reactor.

The Israeli Invasion of
Lebanon (1982-1984)–In response to repeated
guerrilla attacks by the PLO, which were launched
from South Lebanon, Israel invaded with the intent
of destroying Arafat’s forces. Syria, which
maintained a large army in Lebanon, fought Israel
and suffered an embarrassing defeat. See
The
Israeli-Lebanon Conflict
(1978-Present).

The Israeli Occupation of
South Lebanon (1984-2000)–As they withdrew
from most of Lebanon seized in the 1982 invasion,
Israel held onto a large part of Southern Lebanon
with the aid of the “South Lebanon Army (SLA),” a
militia set up and supported by Israel. This
occupation was opposed by the PLO and other
Palestinian groups as an extension of their
long-running conflict with Israel. Also, other
militia armies (mostly Lebanese Muslim groups),
such as Hezbollah (supported by Iran and Syria),
stepped up attacks on the Israeli-occupied region
as well as on settlements and military targets in
northern Israel. In 2000, Israel withdrew from
Lebanon and the SLA disbanded. See
The
Israeli-Lebanon Conflict
(1978-Present).

The First Intifada
(1987-1993)–Urban uprising against Israeli
rule in the West Bank and Gaza. The Oslo Peace
Accords end the Intifada and lead to the formation
of the Palestinian Authority with PLO Chief Yasser
Arafat as the official leader of the
Palestininans.

The
Second Persian Gulf
War (1991)–While
Israel took no offensive action in this war, Iraq
did launch Scud missiles which struck Israel and
almost caused Israel’s intervention in the Gulf
War.

he “Al-Aqsa”
Intifada–Urban guerrilla/commando war waged
between Israel and various Palestinian groups,
including Hamas. Between September, 2000 and,
September, 2007: 4,453 Palestinians and 1,114
Israelis have been killed due to the escalating
violence. (Source on casualties: http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/text/2003911771_intifada29.html)

Israeli
Air Strike on Syria (October, 2003)–
Israeli warplanes hit the Syrian village of
Ain al-Saheb, near Damascus.

The
Israeli-Hezbollah War (also known in Israel as “The
Second Lebanon War
(2006)–In response to repeated guerrilla attacks
by the the Shiite Lebanese militia Hezbollah,
Israel invaded southern Lebanon, set up a naval
blockade, and launched a powerful bombing campaign
in order to win the release of two captured Israeli
soldiers. The
Israeli-Lebanon Conflict
(1978-Present).

Israeli
Air Strike on Syria (Sept. 6,
2007)—Israeli warplanes overflew
northern Syria, dropping ordnance on a
(publicly) unknown target. According to both the
New York Times and ABC News, the target was a
nuclear facility being built with North Korean
aid and assistance. See War
and Conflict
Journal‘s
article on this attack.

The
Gaza War (2008)–War
between the Palestinian Hamas rulers of the Gaza
Strip and Israel. Began in December,
2008.

    Copyright
© 1998-2009 Roger A. Lee and History Guy
Media; Last Modified: 01.18.09