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Three major attempts to destroy Israel have been carried out by the Arab World: in 1947, 1967, and 1973. Although many neighboring Arab countries today still wish to destroy Israel, Israel still seeks peace. Israel has forged peace agreements with Egypt (1979) and Jordan (1994), and has lived in peace with these countries ever since.
1947 - 1949 War of Independence
Early in the war, from November 29, 1947 until April 1, 1948, the Palestinian Arabs took the offensive, with help from volunteers from neighboring countries. The Jews suffered severe casualties and passage along most of their major roadways was disrupted. Start-ing in April 1948, the Haganah took the initiative, and in six weeks was able to turn the tables by capturing the Arab sections of Tiberias, Haifa and later also Safed and Acre.
From mid-May to mid-July, the critical phase of the war, came the simultaneous, coor-dinated assault on the new State of Israel by five regular Arab armies from neighboring countries (Egypt, Syria, Transjordan, Lebanon and Iraq), with an overwhelming superi-ority of heavy equipment - armor, artillery and airforce. From then through the negoti-ated agreements that ended the war in 1949, Israel not only ejected the invading Arab forces, it also captured and held some 5,000 sq. km. over and above the areas allo-cated to it by the United Nations.
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1967 - The Six Day War
Armed forces in the Arab countries were mobilized. Israel was confronted by an Arab force of some 465,000 troops, over 2,880 tanks and 810 aircraft. The armies of Kuwait, Algeria, Saudi Arabia and Iraq were contributing troops and arms to the Egyptian, Syr-ian and Jordanian fronts.
Faced with few choices, on June 4, 1967 the Cabinet authorized the Prime Minister and the Minister of Defence to decide on appropriate steps to defend the State of Israel. On June 5, Israel launched a pre-emptive strike against Egypt and captured the Sinai Pen-insula and the Gaza Strip. Despite an Israeli appeal to Jordan to stay out of the conflict, Jordan attacked Israel and thereby lost control of the West Bank and the eastern sector of Jerusalem. Israel went on to capture the Golan Heights from Syria by the time the war ended on June 10
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1973 - The Yom Kippur War
The Yom Kippur War began with the unprovoked assault on Israel by Egyp-tian and Syrian military forces. They acted simultaneously against Israeli forces on the Suez Canal in the south and the Golan Heights in the north. The attack took place on October 6, 1973 -- Yom Kippur -- the holiest day of the religious year in Israel, a time obviously calculated to catch the Israelis off-guard.
While the bulk of the combat was between Isreal and the forces of Egypt and Syria, at least ten other Arab states (Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Libya, Algeria, Tunisia, Sudan, Morocco, Lebanon and Jordan) actively aided the Egyptian-Syrian war effort with per-sonnel, military equipment, or financial support. Palestinian Arabs shelled Israeli civilian towns from Lebanon and also fought with the attacking armies.
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Egypt/Israel Peace Treaty
Egypt Israel and Egypt signed a peace treaty in 1979, marking the end of 30 years of relentless hostility and five costly wars. The treaty was preceded by Egyptian President Anwar Sadat's visit to Jerusalem (1977), at the invitation of Israel's Prime Minister Men-achem Begin, as well as the signing of the Camp David Accords (1978) which consti-tuted a basis for peace between Egypt and Israel and between Israel and its other neighbors.
For more information about the Israel, Egypt peace Treaty:
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Jordan/Israel Peace Treaty
The peace treaty between Jordan and Israel, signed at the Aqaba-Eilat border crossing (October 1994), was preceded by a meeting of King Hussein and Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin in Washington three months earlier when the two leaders proclaimed an end to the state of war between their countries. Although de facto at war with each other for 46 years, Israel and Jordan had maintained secret contacts and concluded mutually beneficial agreements throughout that entire period.
For more information about the Israel, Jordan Peace Treaty
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For more information about Israel’s offer to the Palestinian Arabs in 2000 at the Camp David Summit:
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