It was Yom Kipper, the most sacred day in the Jewish calendar. Egypt began as Israel had, with an air attack. On the ground, Israel was outnumbered six to one, fielding only about 200,000 soldiers against a combined force of over 1,150,000 Arab troops. Once again, the Soviet Union was involved, sending over 1,000 tons of weapons and ammunition to Egypt and Syria during the early days of the war. The United States was forced to intervene. On October 13, President Richard Nixon ordered an airlift of military supplies, enabling Israel to sustain its forces. After initial success, the war had gone against the Arabs and eventually Egyptian President Anwar Sadat appealed to the Soviet Union to save them. Following negotiations in Moscow on October 21, U.S. Secretary of State, Henry Kissinger flew to Tel Aviv where he obtained Israeli Prime Minister Golda Mier's agreement for a cease-fire. By October 22nd, the war was over.
Since the end of formal hostilities in 1973, the attacks on Israel from its hostile neighbors have been replaced by shadowy groups that rely more on terror tactics than infantry and tanks. First the PLO, which led to Israel's invasion of Southern Lebenon in 1982 and subsequently Hizbollah, which was formed in 1983, and Hamas in 1988. Both of these groups had, as their stated intention, the murder of every Jew and the destruction of the state of Israel and its allies. It was after twenty years of these terrorist tactics, and the lives of hundreds of innocent Israelis, that Israel began to consider building a fence around its borders. It would be almost another ten years before it finally implemented this tactic.
Israel's decision to build a wall separating itself from external threats has become a controversial one. Seen within Israel as the best chance to reduce or eliminate terrorism, and solidify the border between the Jewish state and the Palestinian state, it is viewed by much of the outside world as a symbol of oppression. According to Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, the fence, "is not a political border. It is not a security border but rather another means to assist in the war against terror, and greatly assist in stopping illegal aliens." Palestinians, however, have a different view, seeing the fence as a prison that would encircle them and leave Israel with control over entry in and out. According to Michael Tarazi of the PLO's negotiations support unit,
This just confirms that the Wall is not to separate the West Bank from Israelis, it's to separate Palestinians into their reservation. It means that the Israelis will take control of our border with Jordan and what remains of the best agricultural land we have. The Wall near the green line has already taken a lot of our best land and now they are going to do the same with what remains in the Jordan valley.
Noam Chomsky, professor of linguistics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and a frequent writer about the Middle East, has called it "politicide against the Palestinians -- helping turn Palestinian communities into dungeons, next to which the bantustans of South Africa look like symbols of freedom, sovereignty and self-determination." He further states that, "it is misleading to call these Israeli policies. They are American-Israeli policies -- made possible by unremitting United States military, economic and diplomatic support of Israel."
This is the problem for the United States. In most of the world, Israel is viewed as a proxy state for the U.S.; certainly support of Israel is no secret. Since the inception of the Jewish state, the U.S. has been its constant ally. Therefore, whatever Israel does is seen as operating with the tacit approval of the U.S.
The current structure being erected is not the first attempt to protect Israel from attacks by building fences. On May 29, 1938, the British under the leadership of Sir Charles Taggert began building a wall along the Lebanese border that was designed to protect Jewish settlers and British soldiers from attacks by Arab bands. This wall was called the Taggert Wall after the British counter terrorism expert who had gained his experience as a member of the British police force in India. He came to Palestine to coordinate the various security services, and erected a security fence along the northern border to prevent the infiltrations of terrorists. The structure managed to anger both the Jewish and Arab settlers, as it crossed pastureland and private property. After the threat from outlaw bands was over, the wall was dismantled. Later, in 1983, after...
But the U.S. must also set an example to the world on human rights, and that begins with a rejection of the kind of abuses that were carried out at Abu Ghraib in Iraq during the U.S. occupation of that sovereign nation. Works Cited Biden, Joseph. (2009). Biden Lays Out U.S. Foreign Policy Goals, Approaches. America.gov. Retrieved Dec. 16, 2010, from http://www.america.gov. Blanton, Shannon Lindsey. (2005). Foreign Policy in Transition? Human Rights, Democracy, and
Israel Explanation of the Issue: Introduction The most recent escalation of conflict in Israel and Gaza show that the current situation is untenable. This paper examines the history of the creation of the state of Israel and the aftermath of the Balfour Declaration and its subsequent United Nations resolutions in 1947. After providing background information on the situation in Israel, the author will examine the security risks that both the Israelis and
Security Study Travel and tourism are major industries in European countries such as Greece. The hotel industry is dedicated to making the accommodations for their patrons as enjoyable as possible. This means ensuring that hotel guests, visitors, and staff have a safe and secure environment. It is for this reason that many of the larger hotel chains have their own private security personnel who are entrusted to maintain the safety of
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