Yuma Iwasaki

What was the purpose of the League of Nations?

Cultures & Contexts: Modern Israel, Fall 2016

Cultures & Contexts: Modern Israel

Midterm 1, Study Guide

October 17, 2016

Creation of Israel

- League of Nations – after the dismemberment of the Ottoman empire, instead of lands being  divided into French and British, they were held as “mandates”. This is different from a colony  situation, since the Western powers are helping to rehabilitate the countries so that they can  eventually gain independence.

???? Britain had mandate over Iraq and Palestine. This had a lot to do with the Suez Canal which  was crucial to Britain as it was the passage to India, Britain’s source of labor. The Suez Canal  was also important because Britain’s main business was importing & exporting.

- The Balfour declaration (November 1917) – also included in The Declaration of Palestine. In this  document, Britain expressed their support for the creation of Palestine as a Jewish national home,  as long as that doesn’t harm the interest of other non-Jewish population. *Notice here that the  word “Arab” was never used, and they were only referred to as the “non-Jewish population”.

The Balfour declaration (November 1917)

- White Paper (1939) – document issued by the British which limited the flow of Jewish refugees  into Palestine. This contradicted the policy of Palestine being the “national home” of Jews. - UN partition plan (11/29/1947) – Britain wanted to give up mandate of Iraq and Palestine, since  there were too many conflicts. Under UN supervision, Palestine was divided amongst the Arabs  and the Jews; 44% of the land was allocated to the Arabs and 56% to the Jews, despite Jews being  the minority. It was clear that this was part of the compensation for the persecutions the Jews  received during WWII. We also discuss several other topics like Who is John Winthrop?

????Jews accepted this partition plan, but Arabs didn’t. Britain decided not to interfere, and left them fighting amongst themselves; the area fell into a bloody civil war.

- Declaration of Independence (5/14/1948) – issued by Ben-Gurion. This day is known for the  Palestinians as “Nakba”, meaning “the catastrophe”.

UN partition plan (11/29/1947)

Arab-Israeli War of 1948

- Due to the fact that there were far more Arabs than Jews in Palestine, in the beginning of the war,  Arabs seemed to be winning. Around April of 1948, things started to change and Jews started  gaining the upper hand.  

- Names of Jewish armies: Haganah (defender) & Palamach (commander), Irgun (organization),  Etzel (national army), Stern known in Hebrew as Lehi (fighters for the Israel freedom)  intimidated Arab population Don't forget about the age old question of What do we mean by unintended consequences?

- Deir Yassin massacre (4/8/1948) – Irgun and Lehi attacks an Arab village called Deir Yassin in  the outskirts of Jerusalem, located in the hills. The Jewish armies decided they wanted to clear  away the Arab villages that were controlling the routes to Jerusalem. The Deir Yassin incident  was both strategic and malicious. At the time, the Red Cross announced the killings to be around  240 people but in reality, there were much more. If you want to learn more check out What is cross-culutral method?

- November of 1948, Palestinian Arab resistant force begins to collapse, and Palestinian Jews  overwhelm Arab forces. Jewish forces attempt to push the 45% of Arab population out of the  Jewish state of Palestine.

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Cultures & Contexts: Modern Israel, Fall 2016

- After the war, Jews ended up controlling 72% of the land in Palestine. Neither the Jews nor the  Arabs wanted a Palestinian Arab state.

- Armistice agreement (1949) – set of armistice agreements signed between Israel and its  neighboring countries to respect the armistice lines of Israel and Jordanian-Iraqi lines known as  the “Green Line”. Didn’t work properly because of the existence of too many “no man’s land”;  the borders weren’t clear

Figures from the War of 1948

- David Ben-Gurion – leader of Jewish community who became the first Israeli Prime Minister,  also the longest residing PM in Israeli history. Also Minister of Defense, which means he’s in  charge of the army. He was an activist, and believed that military responses would create the best  responses. He left briefly in 1953 and came back, only to resign at 1954. He then was reinstated  on 1956, resigns for good in 1963 – more or less pushed out by his own party.

- Moshe Sharett – BG’s right hand man, who became the Foreign Minister and devoted his life to  solving the conflict between Arabs and Jews. Takes over as PM during Ben-Gurion’s leave in  1953. Compared to BG, he believed that diplomacy was the best solution to Israel’s border  conflicts. After he became PM, he did not assume the role of Ministry of Defense. If you want to learn more check out What are the steps in the legislative process in Texas?

- Mufti Haj Amin al-Hussaini – most important Palestinian political leader. He aligned himself  with Fascist Italy and Nazi Germany during WWII. Very controversial character. - Emir Abudullah of Jordan – king of Jordan (Transjordan); he and the Jewish military had an  armistice agreement. He was killed by a Palestinian Arab.

- John Glubb – British officer who lead the Arab region, and is also responsible for a lot of the  Arab fighting against the Jews.

- Ralph Bunche – an African-American diplomat who negotiated the armistice agreement between  Jordan & Israel, Syria & Israel, and Syria & Jordan. First American winner of the Nobel peace  prize.

Mass Immigration

Before the Declaration of Independence:

- In 1921, Britain creates new rule to restrict the number of refugees allowed into Palestine with  respect to economic absorbing capacity. This means that the number of Jews allowed in Palestine  will be limited to the economic capacity in a way that won’t create any unemployment of the  Arabs. This was Britain’s way of pleasing the Arab population. If you want to learn more check out when did bacon's rebellion happen?

???? granting immigration became a selective process, where the young & healthy were favored  over the old & sick, right wing supporters over left wings, and those who are interested in  agriculture over urban dwellers

- Divide between Ashkenazi Jews (which refers to Jews from European countries) and Sephardi  Jews also known as Mizrahi Jews (which refers to Jews in other parts including Spanish Jews,  North-African Jews and Oriental Jews). Their languages differed as well: Ashkenazis spoke  Yiddish, a mixture of German and Hebrew, while Sephardis in the Ottoman empire spoke Ladino,  a mixture of Spanish and Hebrew. We also discuss several other topics like What is the decline in the general level of prices in an economy?

- Divide between the traditional & the untraditional Jews. Ashkenazi Jews were the one that built  up the Yishuv; Sephardi Jews never faced the Jewish enlightenment and therefore Ashkenazi  Jews are more religious.

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- Many illegal immigrants found their way to Palestine. The famous boat exodus carried Holocaust  survivors from France. Upon being discovered by Britain, the passengers were deported back to  Europe which caused an international outcry. In other cases, illegal immigrants were sent to  Cyprus.

After the Declaration of Independence:

- Approximately 300,000 Holocaust survivors sought refuge in Israel

- With decolonization, Jews became persecuted again, as in the case of Iraqi Jewry. While it was  under Western forces, Jews had good standing socially and economically because they possessed  the local knowledge but also spoke European languages. Iraqi Jews were the most severely  persecuted as Iraqi soldiers came back from Palestine defeated by Jews.

- Many Jews living in northern Africa had to seek refugee as they were attacked in their home  countries

- Ma’abarot – transit camps, which served as the basis of major “development towns”. These towns  failed. They were sociologically disastrous (perpetuated poverty), had no jobs or schools, and had  a huge divide between Ashkenazi and Sephardi Jews. These towns were funded by taxation,  exports, international loans, support from outside, and sterling silver balances.

- As a result of this mass immigration, Israel suspends immigration for 2 years and resumes in  1954 in a more orderly fashion. By 1954, Israel was in a far better economic situation due to  German liberation.

State and Religion

State

- Election happens every 4 years; new policy every 4 years makes an unstable government. - Proportional representation – if the party gets 30% of the votes, that party gets 30% of the seats.  No winner-take-all situation which was designed to represent as many diverse group as possible. - Mapai – labor party of Israel (socialist). Remains the strongest political group. - Herut – nationalist party, Mapai’s opposition and second biggest party. Merged with other small  parties and formed a big party called Likud which means “union” in Hebrew. This is the present  government of Israel.

- Mahi – communist party. This was a party of Arab-Jews, but eventually split. - First government of Israel was formed with Mapai, United Religious Front, Progressive Party and  the Sephardi Party. This government lasted about 2 years.

- Israeli politics is egalitarian.

- Mapam – liberal worker’s party

Religion

- Several religions are officially recognized in Israel including Judaism Islam, Christianity, Druze,  and Baha’l. The state supports religious clergy and religious institutions; each community is  entitled to conduct its own affairs in certain spheres.

- Millet system – refers to a system in which each religious communities of Israel have governance  over their affairs such as marriage, divorce and birth policies. Many Orthodox Jews were against  this system, since they had a strong sense of what marriage/divorce should be.

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Cultures & Contexts: Modern Israel, Fall 2016

- For Jews, Rabbis determined who can get married and who can’t. Couples could go to Cyprus to  get married and come back to Israel as husband and wife, which some couples did as a protest  against Orthodox Jewish rules.

- Haredi community – a group of Orthodox Jews who lead the country’s independence. They  believe that Jews could only be returned to Israel by God, and think any other ways of return was  presumptuous; because of this belief, they are not supporters of the Zionist movement. They also  believe that man’s ultimate goal is to become closer to God, which can only be achieved by  education; therefore, women can work but men has to study. Haredi mean “to be anxious” in  Hebrew.

- Hasidic Jews – a smaller group of Haredi Jews who believe that learning is not the only path to  God, that being happy and enjoying life is also a path to God.

- Jews don’t believe that you have to be a Jew in order to be saved; they do not look for converts. - Status Quo Agreement (July 1947) – an arrangement demanded by the Haredi community. • No public transportation on Sabbath (with exception for emergencies)

• Public institutions serve only kosher food

• Chief Rabbinate courts are responsible for marriage and divorce, and conversion • Best rabbinical (Yishuva) students be exempted from military service

• Religious girls be exempt from military service – women in army camps is a huge issue to  religious people. Bible says women are not allowed to handle weapons

- Divorced women can remarry, but only if there’s a document called “a get” from the ex-husband.  Men can remarry without documents.

Diaspora Jewry

- Creation of Israel heavily depended on the diaspora. Once there was a sovereign state, Israel  supported Jews in diaspora. Those that were in Israel saw themselves as vanguards (elites) of the  Jewish people.

- American Jewish Committee – headed by Jacob Blaustein, this committee was an organization of  the elite Jews in America such as lawyers, bankers and businessmen. It represented the American  Jewish community but were not appointed. They went to Washington to protect the American  Jew’s interests.

- American Zionist movement – headed by Rabbi Abba Hillel Silver. He thought that he should be  entitled to a status in Israel and that the government should listen to him. He was disliked by  officials in Israel.

- Ingathering of the exiles – diaspora was believed to be a dangerous thing that will cause the  ultimate demise of the Jewish people either by persecution or assimilation.

- Creation of the Israeli state depended on the Zionist movements outside of Israel such as in USA  and the UK. The leaders of the American Zionist movement demanded some sort of recognition  in the creation of Israel.

- Dual loyalty – the members of the AJC were afraid of being accused of dual loyalty to the US and  the state of Israel. They claimed that their ancestors were treated well in America, and their  political allegiance lay 100% with the government of the United States.

- Ben-Gurion-Blaustein agreement (August 1950) – Blaustein agrees to fund Ben-Gurion in  exchange for a promise that Ben-Gurion will not make public speeches calling American-Jews to  Israel. Blaustein also demanded Ben-Gurion to accept that the Israeli government do not speak

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for Jews outside of Israel, and that the American Jews are not in “living in exile” therefore have  no obligation to immigrate to Israel. In order to get on the good side of Blaustein’s group whom  were all extremely wealthy, Ben-Gurion became a non-Zionist which angered many Zionists in  Israel. The AJC raised $300 million which is almost $40 billion in today’s value between 1945- 1950, and used it to help Jews in the Holocaust and the Jews in Palestine.

- Aliyah – the Hebrew word for "ascent". Term used after the establishment of the State of Israel to  name the mass immigration of diaspora Jewry to Israel, a central aspect of Zionism. Aliyah is  considered either a voluntary immigration to the land, or refuge from persecution in another  land. Prime Minister Ben-Gurion pushed Aliyah heavily on the Jewish diaspora because he felt  immigration would be key in yielding development and prosperity in the new state. Between 1948 and 1951, the concept of Aliyah led to a doubling in the Jewish population in Israel from  650 thousand to more than 1.3 million people.

Foreign Policy

- Israel had hostile geographic border relations. The Jerusalem corridor is a narrow peninsula going  into the West Bank and surrounded by Jordanian territory.

- Jordanians occupied ancient part of Jerusalem, but a series of no-man’s lands separated the  Jordanians and the Jews. UN decided that Jerusalem would be an "international city", under  neither Israeli nor Jordanian control, but in January 1950: Israel claims Jerusalem is the capital of  Israel. Jordan offered citizenship to Palestinians living in East Jerusalem.

- Cold war – Israel didn't want to break its ties with the Soviet Union, but also wanted to be close  with the US. There were several neutral countries (mostly third world), but these non-allied  countries didn't like Israel because they sympathized with the Arabs. First government of Israel  was divided by how Israel should align itself. Within the country, there were a large group of  people seriously sympathetic with the Soviet Union, especially members of the Mapai. Why: 

o Israel was strongly influenced by socialist views

o Red Army liberated almost ALL camps in WWII while the Western armies were ignorant to  the situation of concentration camps

o Stalin was considered to be a "hero" because they supported the independence of Israel in  1947

o The Soviet was very friendly to Israeli's ambassador (Golda Meir); when she visited Moscow,  she was welcomed by Russian Jews whom were all very happy about the independence of  Israel – this in turn scared the Russian government and questioned the Russian-Jews' loyalty  to Russia

Nevertheless, Israel decided that if they ever had to choose, they would go with the democratic  Western block.

- Korean War (1950) – US convinces UN to intervene and push the communist line (north Korea  and China) back. This war was a decisive point in which all countries were forced to show their  allegiance.

- Early 1952, shortly after the breakout of Korean war, the communist party in Czech arrests their  own leader for being a Jew and eventually executes him. After this, in all of Eastern Europe, Jews  were executed for being a Jew.

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Cultures & Contexts: Modern Israel, Fall 2016

- Stalin became increasingly paranoid and accused doctors for trying to kill him. KGB arrests  dozens of Jewish doctors who were about to be executed but weren't because of Stalin’s sudden  death, and his successors didn't kill the doctors.  

????Soviet Union exhibits an Anti-Jewish attitude.

- In Israel, a bomb gets dropped next to the Russian embassy for the wrongful imprisonment of  Jewish doctors in Moscow – Israeli-Soviet Union relationship starts to get bad.

- Israel under economic blockade – Suez Canal was blocked to prevent materials from being  imported into Israel (lifted in 1957). The blockade overall didn't have a negative effect in Israel.

Reparations

- Reparations refers to payments that the victor imposes on the loser of the war as punishment.  Germany was divided into two nations as a result of the war.

- Allies occupied Germany until 1954, and they wanted to reconstruct the German government and  exterminate the Nazi influences. Unconditional surrender by the German government happened at  the end of the 1954.

- As compensation for the major economic damages Germany had created during WWII, a $300  billion reparation was imposed. This was to be paid to several countries. The US and UK gave up  their entitled reparations because they knew Germany couldn’t afford it, but the Soviets never did  and stripped away German’s resources to get their $150 billion worth of reparations. Israel wasn’t  included in this because Israel was not a state at the time of WWII.

- German reparations to Israel: the assets of Jews which wrongfully seized by the Nazis were  returned. 150,000 pieces of real-estate were reclaimed and there were many frauds where people  would claim property that weren’t theirs Many owners were murdered by the Nazis and didn’t  have any surviving heirs.

- JRSO – Jewish Resolution Successor Organization – buys the houses with no surviving heirs and  sells them, and uses the profits to help Holocaust survivors.

- Israel asks US to impose financial reparations on Germany to help Holocaust survivors in Israel.  Many people in Israel protested the negotiation process with Germany, as they believed that any  compensation would be “blood money”. There were riots and bombings protesting the  negotiation.

1950, Reparation negotiation starts

- Negotiation is difficult even with the new German government because many of the officials used  to align themselves with the Nazis. Germany never officially apologized for their atrocities,  which made negotiation difficult.

- 1951, Germany formerly acknowledges the “unspeakable crimes done in the name of German  people”. Which shows the first sign of remorse, and on September 25th of 1951 German  chancellor offers reparations not so that they can be forgiven, but so that it could be a step  towards reconciliation. The relation between Germany and Israel improves.

- Claims conference – Israel demands reparation cost of rehabilitating the refugees from when  Hitler came to power till Israel was created. On March 12, 1951 Morshe Sharett submitted a  claim. For each person, Israel demanded $3k and $1.5 billion in total. This was the global claim which was to be paid to the state and not the individual. The Jewish diaspora also claimed a  global claim of $500 million.

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- Indemnification – payments to all individuals who suffered damage in refugee camps, in hiding,  and in concentration camps, etc.

- Wassenaar – place of negotiation in the Netherlands (March 1952)

Germany asks the reparation to to be reduced to $1 billion, and offers to pay 75% of it since West  Germany is 75% of all Germany. They would pay in industrial goods since they didn’t have  enough funds, and it would be paid over the course of 12 years.

- Germany also owed commercial debt to the rest of the world from the war which was discussed  during the London debt conference.

- Israel demanded to be prioritized over other reparations.

- Kari Böhm – anti-Nazi German

- Menachem Begin – a member of the Likud party who opposed negotiating with Germany for  reparations due to “religious reasons”. However, Begin was never truly religious and this move  was thought to be more of a tactic to gain votes and push Ben-Gurion out.

- Goldmann understood Germans can't afford to pay Israel and diaspora, so tells Germany to pay  $720 million to Israel and $500 million DM to diaspora (which was around $140 million) - Unlike reparations, the indemnification payments actually improved over time. German  reparations were a huge factor in the upbringing of Israel. Germans were, to everyone's surprise,  scrupulous in honoring the terms of the reparations. Because of this, relationship between  Germans and Jews became dramatically better, especially in the young generation. - 1965, Israel recognized Germany diplomatically and they exchanged ambassadors.

Impact of the Holocaust

Attitude during the Holocaust

- General feeling (during the Holocaust) in the Jewish community in Israel of "we told you so".  The Zionists told the world that diaspora was dangerous and told Jews all over the world to come  to Israel but they didn’t. This attitude derived from the fact that not a lot of people knew about the  seriousness of the situation of Holocaust.

- Many wondered how it was possible that 6 million Jews were murdered without fighting. Jews in  Palestine fought against the Arabs and British, so why didn't the Jews in Europe do so? – such  claims are absurd as there were countless revolts against the Nazis in concentration camps and  other places.

- General concern that Jews in Europe would turn their backs on Jews in Palestine once liberated  because Palestinian Jews didn't help European Jews during the Holocaust. However, the reaction  of the Holocaust survivor to Israel wasn't hostile at all, in contrary they wanted to migrate to  Israel.

Consequences of the Holocaust

- Kapo – Jewish prisoners in Nazi concentration camps who collaborated with the Nazis. Some of  them survived the Holocaust and was trialed later in Israel for crimes they've committed in  Europe. There were 160 cases of people going to the police with sightings of kapos, of which 24  people were found guilty.

- Nazi and Nazi Collaborators Punishment Law (1950) – designed to bring Nazis and their proxies  to justice.

- Yad Vashem (1953) – the state of Israel creates "Yad Vashem", a Holocaust martyrs’ and heroes’  remembrance. Israel tried to give those who died in Holocaust citizenship so that they could be

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considered "Israelis", but this didn't happen due to opposition. Yad Vashem also honors those who aren’t Jewish but risked their lives to protect Jews and didn't expect anything in return.  Those people were given Israeli pensions.

Incidents relating to Holocaust memory

- Adolf Eichmann – a.k.a. "Mr. Holocaust": was in charge of logistics of concentration camps. He  organized the concentration camps, trains and people. The driving force behind the actual  genocide. Eichmann’s war crimes were trialed in Jerusalem where he was found guilty and  eventually executed.

- Kurt Becher – a.k.a. "asset stripper": was in charge of grabbing assets from Jews. Holocaust was  the greatest asset-seizing operation in history.

- Rezso/Rudolph/Israel Kastner – a Hungarian Jew, a Zionist rescue committee, a Mapai member. He helped Jews escape from Europe during the Holocaust. Jews could escape to Hungary for a  while because the government of Hungary decided not to send Jews to deportation camps, until  Germany invaded Hungary in 1944. He was accused of collaborating with Becher and Eichmann  in Israeli court and assassinated in 1957. He was also accused for not letting the Hungarian Jews  know what was waiting for them at Auschwitz, which is ridiculous because at that point everyone  already knew.

- The Kastner Train – Kastner convinced an SS officer Adolf Eichmann to let a train of Jews  escape to Switzerland instead of sending them to Auschwitz in exchange for money. This train  never made it to Switzerland.  

- Trials in the social context: the kapo and Kastner trials happened during the years of Israel’s  building of legal, economic and security infrastructure. These trials symbolize the steps Israel was  taking to overcome the Holocaust. It was also an expression of postwar mass immigration that put  its stamp on Israeli society. The Eichmann trial came after, which marks the beginning of Israel’s  Golden Age. Having Eichmann found guilty and executing him was a huge step towards  rehabilitating the Holocaust survivor’s souls and faith in humanity as well.

- Approximately half a million Hungarian-Jews were killed during a span of 2 weeks

Border Wars

- 1948: Israel decides if refugees in Israel left Palestine, they would not be allowed back. This  means that if Palestinian-Arab left his property in Palestine, he would not be allowed back to  Israel.

- Palestinian Right of Return (December 1948) – UN decides that refugees should be permitted to  move back in to Palestine if they're willing to make peace with the neighbors – Israel agrees with  this solution, as Israel always thought the condition of return was "peace".

- Family reunification policy – many Palestinian returned to Israel after this policy was enforced to  reunite with family.

- Population exchange (1950-51) – Iraq compels Iraqi-Jews to leave which in turn leads Israel to  freeze the family reunification policy and many Arab-Jews were compelled to leave Israel. - Large infiltration – abandoned refugee properties were seized by the state and were not returned.  Palestinians who had their properties taken away would cross the border and try to retrieve their  stuff.

- 50% of land in Israel was not owned by anyone; 25% were left by refugees (Arab farmers) – this  land was the most agriculturally valuable; 25% belonged to present absentees

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o *Present absentee – refers to Arabs who escaped during the civil war to another village which after the war belonged to another state. They were told not to return home and had  to abandon their properties.

????they were compensated by water in the form of irrigation and knowledge on how to  grow crops (which were both valuable in the desert), however most of them did not get  compensated enough.

- Borders of Israel is non-geographic; they are only separated by thin barbed wires. Because of this,  security in properties near the border declined due to substantial numbers of infiltration which  lead to abandonment of properties near the border

- Ben-Gurion was an activist and was influenced by young activists who wants to use military  retaliation to combat security threats near the border.

- July 1953: Ben-Gurion temporarily takes vacation and Moshe Sharett takes over; during his  period, Arik Sharom, an extremist gains control over the military and uses military forces against  Arabs which ultimately backfires.

????69 of the villagers die caught between cross-fire, and causes international outcry. Relations with Egypt

- Egyptian army occupies Gaza strip

- Gaza operation (2/28/1955) – a response to infiltration into Israel from Egypt. Moshe Sharett was  acting Prime Minister at the time of the operation and did not account for the severity of it. His  views paralleled that of Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser, who believed that this was a  turning point in military and political Middle Eastern history. Israel was seen as more aggressive  and it was supported by the United States. This left Nasser to appeal to the Soviet Union for  support leading to an arms deal between Egypt and Czechoslovakia.

- Lavon Affair – an embarrassing affair which left a nasty mark on Israel; the name Lavon comes  from the Israeli Defense Minister Pinhas Lavon. It is also referred to as “Esek HaBish” or “The  Mishap”. Young Egyptian-Jews spied for Israel against their home country but were eventually  caught and went under severe torture and eventual death.

Israeli Arabs

Relationship of Arabs & the state of Israel:

- The Arab community in Israel is not unified, however, recently have started to express strong  political trends. They live in rural villages, large Arab towns, and mixed cities such as Tel Aviv  and Jerusalem. Most live in the Southern part of the cities.

- Israel is self-aware of its status as a Jewish state (dominant Jewish culture). Israel is also a  democratic state; everyone is equal under the law including Arabs.

- The Arabs who stayed in Israel after the civil war had their lives disrupted. In 1948,  approximately 150,000 remained, and 400 Palestinian villagers were Arabs. State wanted to  strengthen the border which included removing Arabs from border areas.

- How to deal with a minority group that is actively hostile to the state? – government restricted the  movement of Arabs living outside of the city; if they wanted to move, they needed a permit from  the Israeli government.

????Almost every party (both right & left) disagreed with this enforcement, which was a violation  of basic rights.

General social policy

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- Israel kept an egalitarian social policy

- Arabs were allowed to have their own school system where they could learn in their own  language.

- 4 school systems in Israel. Largest school system in Israel: Hebrew language school system (represents 60% of the educational system). Second largest: Arab school system, followed by  independent school system. Smallest: religious school system.

- Arab language is technically the second official language of Israel, which means it could be used  in courts and has official standing.

Arab representation

- 1948: briefly, Ministry of Minority Affairs offered Arab representation but it quickly dissolved. - Historically, Arabs divided their votes to the communist party (which called for a bi-national  state, and is also the Arab section of the labor party) and the satellite party (which spoke Arabic). - 1967: Israel occupied the Gaza strip which strengthened the Israeli community. Israeli Arabs  acted as a go-between person of the large population of Arabs in the Gaza strip and the Israeli  government.

- Palestinization – growing realization as a “Palestinian” amongst Arabs.

Demographic (data from about 10 years ago)

- Most Palestinian Arabs are loyal; only 2% believes in using violence against police forces - 50% of Arabs lived below the poverty line, as opposed to 20% of Jews

- 36 of the 40 poorest towns are Arabic towns

- 5-6% of civil servants are Arabs

- 9% of public companies have directors that are Arabs

Bedouin community

- 10-12% of Arab community

- Estimated large number of townships in desert not recognized by the government, mostly located  in south of Israel in the desert area.

- Nomadic life styles: form tribes into extended families, and live together separate from everybody  else. Do not want neighbors and do not want to live in cities.

- Who owns the land? Bedouin claims they own the large desert areas because they've traditionally  moved & farmed there; the government claims they don't have any right or legal documents to  support this.

Suez War

- Israel always felt that the Arab world had not accepted Israel's creation, and hadn't accepted that  Israel had defeated the Arab world. Israel thought Arab was preparing for second ground to  destroy Israel. There were numerous incursions leading up to the Suez War which resulted in  many casualties.

- Syria claimed rights to Sea of Galilee, but Israel refused to accept this. Questions arose of no man's land along the armistice lines of Israel and Syria.

- Sharett believed that only diplomatic solution will be viable in solving these border problems. Egypt

- Egypt had a problem with the international community and how it handled Suez Canal. Although  it had historically and geographically been part of Egypt, the Britain had control over it even  though the Egyptian army was the one protecting it. Egypt called for the nationalization of the

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canal and the expulsion of the British army; Britain was doubtful that Egypt would be able to  maintain the Suez Canal and the oil that runs in it due to their undeveloped technology.  Eventually, Nasser seizes control of the canal and kicks the British out.

- Relationship between Nasser and Europe – In 1954 Algerian Nationalist movement began violent  revolution against France. Egypt supported the Algerian Nationalists which deteriorated  relationship with France.

- Eisenhower administration was the only administration that maintained good relations with  Nasser. Nasser was not interested in America but more into Soviet Union. Nasser gives money to  USSR to develop a dam in the Nile in Egypt (for better agriculture and cheaper electricity). This  leads to Egypt leaning towards communism.

- Israel was in need of a weapon and mostly received their weapons from France and UK. In Mid  1950’s, the US, USSR and UK were the only countries with nuclear weapons.

- Czech arms deal (Sept 1955) – Egypt threatens to start a major arms race in the middle east.  America backed Israel and said that if Egypt created a blockade against Israel’s arms import, it  could be considered as a legitimate reason to go to war.

The notes for this class (Suez Canal) isn’t as thorough because the recording of the class is available  online.