Conflict in the Middle East

Arabs unity and interference from the outside world

a)      Arabs have several things in common

a.       All speak the Arabic language; all are muslims except about half of the population of Lebanon who are Christian;

b.      Most of them wanted to see the destruction of Israel so that the Palestinian arabs could have back the land which they feel is rightfully theirs.

c.       Many arabs wanted political and economic Union like the EC.

d.      Several attempts were made to increase unity among the arab states.

                                                              i.      The arab league, founded in 1945, INCLUDED Egypt, Syria, Jordan, Iraq, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia and yemen; later it was increased to 20 members; achieved very little politically and was constantly hampered by internal squabbles.

                                                            ii.      Arab unity received boos with the energetic leadership of Nasser of Egypt; 1958 Syria withdrew because of resentment at Nasser’s attempts to dominate the union.

                                                          iii.      Federation of Arab Republic was formed between Egypt , Libya and Syria; but never amounted to much.

e.      Several disagreements-

                                                              i.      Jordan and Saudi Arabia were ruled by conservative royal families who were often criticized for being too pro- british  by the governments of Egypt and Syria.

                                                            ii.      Egypt signed a separate peace treaty with Israel, cause to be expelled from the arab league.

b)      Interference in the middle east by other countries:-

a.       Britain- ruled Egypt from1882;

                                                              i.      1922- Egypt was given semi- independence unde its own king.

b.      After the first world war, british and French were given a large areas of middle east from turkey.

c.       Although Britain gave independence to Iraq and Jordan both remained pro- british.

d.      France gave independence to Syria and Lebanon but hoped to maintain some influence in the middle east.

e.      The middle east held a very important strategic position in the world- acted as crossroads between the western nations. The communist bloc and the third world countries of Africa and Asia.

f.        At one time the middle east produced over a third of the world’s oil .

g.       The lack of unity among the arab states encouraged other countries to intervene in the middle east.

One by one , governments which were thought to be too pro- west were swept away and replace by regimes which wanted to be non- aligned.

1.       Egypt-

a.       After the end of world war 2 British stayed on troops in the canal zone, because to control the canal, in which over half the shares were owned by the British and French.

b.      Nasser had become president and his policy of standing up to Britain soon led to the suez war of 1956; brought up the end of British influence in Egypt.

2.       Jordan

a.       King Abdullah was assassinate by nationalists who felt that he was too much under Britain’s thumb.

b.      His successor king Hussein, ended the treaty which allowed British troops to use bases in Jordan and all British troops were withdrawn.

3.       Iraq

a.       King faisal and his prime minister, Nuri-es-Said, were pro- british.

b.      They signed and agreement with turkey ( Baghdad pact)to set up a joint defence and economic policy.

c.       Pakistan, iran and Britain also joined ; Britain promised to help Iraq if she was attacked.

d.      The british humiliation in the suez war encourage the anti-british movement iniraq to act;

e.      Faisal and Nuri-es-said were murdered and Iraq became a republic; new government was sympathetic towards Egypt and it withdrew Iraq from the Baghdad pact.

4.       Iran

a.       Only middle east state which had a frontier with the USSR.

b.      Russians tried to setup a  communist government in northern iran; the western educated shah of Iran resisted the Russians and signed a defence treaty with the USA; they provided him with economic and military aid.

c.       However, there was a strong nationalist movement Iran which resented all foreign influence; this soon turn against the USA and against Britain too.

d.      This was because Britain held a majority of the shares in the Anglo- Iranian oil company and its refinery at Abadan.

e.      1951, the premier , Mussadiq, nationalized the company ; most of the world encouraged by Britain , boycotted iran’s oil exports and Mussadiq was forced to resign.

f.        1954,  a compromise was reached in which british petroleum was allowed 40% of the shares.

g.       But the common people resented the shah’s close ties with the USA which they considered to be an immoral influence on the country.

h.      1979, he was forced to leave the country, and an Islamic republic was setup under a religious leader, the Ayatollah Khomeini. He wanted his country to be non- aligned.

Creation of isreal and Arab- Israel war 1948-49:-

a)      Why did the creation of state of Israel lead to the war:-

a.       AD.71, when most of the jews were driven out of Palestine, which was then their homeland, by the Romans; over the following 1700 years there was a gradual trickle of Jews returning from exile.

b.      In 1897 some Jews living in Europe founded the World Zionist Organization. Zionists were people who believed that Jews ought to be able to go back to Palestine and have what they called ‘ a national homeland’;

c.       Jews recently suffered persecution in Russia, france and Germany , and a Jewish state would provide a safe refuge for jews from all over the world; the problem was that Palestine was inhabited by Arabs.

d.      Britain became involved in 1917 when she announced that Britain supported the idea of a Jewish national home in Palestine; with this a large number of Jews began to arrive in Palestine, and the Arabs protested bitterly to the British that they wanted:

                                                                          i.      An independent Palestine for the Arabs;

                                                                        ii.      And end to the immigration of Jews;

British government stated that there was no intention to occupy the whole of Palestine and no interference with the rights of the Palestinian Arabs. But they failed to understand the deep religious gulf between the two.

e.      Nazi persecution of jews caused a flood of refugees, half of the population of Palestine was Jewish.

f.        In 197 the British Peel commission proposed dividing Palestine into two separate states; Arabs rejected the idea

                                                                          i.      British offered an independent arab state within ten years and jewish immigration limited to 10000 a year;

                                                                        ii.      This time Jews rejected it.

g.       After the second world war, USA pressed Britain to allow 1 lakh jews into the Palestine a year; but British not wanting to offend the arabs, refused.

h.      the Jews determined to fight for their ‘ national home’ and began terrorist campaign against both british and arabs.

i.        British weakened by the war, felt unable to cope, and asked the UN to deal with the problem;

j.        UN voted to divide Palestine, setting  aside roughly half of it to form an independent Jewish state.

k.       British withdrew all their troops ;

l.        1948, Ben Gurion declared the independence of the new state of Israel. It was immediately attacked by Egypt, Syria, Jordan , Iraq and Lebanon.

b)      Who was to blame for the tragedy?

a.       Most of the rest of the world seemed to blame Britain for the chaos in Palestine:

                                                                          i.      British troops should have stayed on to ensure that the partition of Palestine was carried out smoothly.

                                                                        ii.      Arabs accused the British of being pro-Jewish for letting far from their land.

                                                                      iii.      Jews accused the british of being pro-arab for trying to limit jewish immigration.

b.      British blamed the USA for the chaos,

                                                                          i.      USA pressurized the Britain to allow 1 lakh extra Jews to go to Palestine .

                                                                        ii.      She refused to provide any troops to help keep order in Palestine

                                                                      iii.      Refused to allow any more jews to enter the USA.

                                                                       iv.      Rejected the british plan to establish a separate state to arabs under the supervision of Britain.

                                                                         v.      Americans who pushed the plan for partition through the UN.

c.       Some historians have defended the Britain:

                                                                          i.      British withdrawal was understandable ; it would force the Americans and the UN to take more responsibility for the situation they had helped create.

                                                                        ii.      It would save the British a lot of expense.

c)       The war and its outcome:

a.       In the war Israelis defeated them and even captured more of Palestine than the UN partition had given them and Egyptian port of Eilat on the Red sea.

b.      Isreal won because they fought desperately and well equipped.

c.       Palestinain  Arabs became the innocent victims who found themselves without a state or a homeland.

d.      Some were in the new Jewish state of Israel, others who lived in the area seized by King Abdullah of Jordan.

e.      A million arabs fled into Egypt, Lebanon, Jordan and Syria.

f.        Jerusalem was divided between Israel and Jordan .

g.       The USA, Britain and France guaranteed Israel’s frontiers, but the Arab states did not regard the cease fire as permanent.

The Suez war of 1956:-

a)      Who was to blame for the war?

Possible to blame different countries

a.       Arabs blamed the Israelis, who actually began hostilities by invading Egypt;

b.      Communist bloc blamed Britain and France, accusing them of imperialist tactics by attacking Egypt.

c.       Britain, France and Israel blamed Nasser of being anti western.

d.      British historians agree :

                                                              i.      Colonel Nasser, was aggressively in favour of Arab unity and independence, including the liberation of Palestine from the Jews.

1.       He organized guerrilla fighters known as Fedayeen to carry out sabotage inside Egypt.

2.       The British agreement with Egypt to allow them to keep troops at Suez was to expire in 1956; Nasser refused to renewal and insisted that all British troops should withdraw immediately;

3.       He sent help to the Algerian Arabs in their struggle against france;

4.       Prodded the other arab states into opposing the British sponsored Baghdad pact

5.       Forced the king Hussein of Jordan to dismiss his British army chief-of-staff.

6.       Signed an arms deal with Czechoslovakia and Russian military experts went to train the Egyptian army.

                                                            ii.      The americans were outraged at this , since it meant that the west no longer controlled arms supplies to Egypt; it was seen as a sinister plot by the Russians to move into the middle east; Americans therefore cancelled a promised grant of 46 million$ towards the building of Aswan dam.

                                                          iii.      Crisis point was reached when Nasser immediately retaliated by nationalizing the Suez Canal; he wanted to use the income from it to finance the dam ; shareholders are Britain and France were promised the compensation.

                                                           iv.      Britain feared that Nasser was forming a united Arabia under Egyptian control and communist influence, which could cut off Europe’s oil supplies; every body in the Britain ignored the fact that Nasser had offered compensation to the shareholders and had promised that the ships of all nations would be able to use the canal.

                                                             v.      Secret talks took place between the Britain , france, Israel and a plan was hatched.

1.       Israel would invade Egypt across the Sinai peninsula

2.       British and French troops would occupy the canal zone.

3.       Defeat would topple Nasser from power.

                                                           vi.      Secret Anglo-American plan( omega ) to overthrow Nasser using political and economic pressures.

                                                         vii.      Macmillan assured Eden that the USA would not oppose a British use of force.

b)      The war:-

a.       The war began with the planned Israeli invasion of Egypt, which was a brilliant success. It captured Sinai peninsula.

b.      British and French bombed Egyptian airfields and landed troops at port said at the northern end of the canal.

c.       The attacks caused an outcry form the rest of the world.

d.      Americans who were afraid of upsetting all the Arabs and forcing them into closer ties with the USSR, refused to support Britain , although they had earlier hinted that support would be forthcoming.

e.      At the UN, Americans and Russians demanded and immediate ceasefire, and prepared to send a UN force.

f.        With the pressure of world opinion, they agreed to withdraw , while UN troops moved in to police the frontier between Egypt and Israel.

c)       The outcome of the war:-

a.       Complete humiliation for Britain and France; triumph for Nasser.

b.      The war failed to overthrow Nasser, and his prestige was greatly increased.

c.       The Egyptians blocked the canal. The arabs reduced oil supplies to western Europe where petrol rationing was introduced for a time, and Russian aid replace that from the USA.

d.      The British action soon lost them an ally in Iraq when the premier  Nuri-es- Said was murdered.

e.      Britain was now weak and unable to follow a foreign policy independently of the USA.

f.        The Algerians were encourage in their struggle for independence from France which they achieve in 1962.

The war was not without success for Israel: although she had inflicted heavy losses on the Egyptians in men and equipment.

The six-day war of 1967

The Arab states joined together in 1967 again in a determined attempt to destroy Israel. The lead was taken by Iraq, Syria and Egypt.

a)      The build-up to war:

a.       Iraq, in 1963, Ba’ath party (origin in Syria) came to power which believed in Arab independence and unity and were left-wing in outlook, wanting a social reform and better treatment for ordinary people; they were prepared to co-operate with Egypt and announced that ‘our goal is clear- to wipe out Israel off the map’.

b.      In Syria, Ba’ath party supported El Fatah, the Palestinian Liberation Movement, amore effective guerrilla force than the Fedayeen; Syrians also began to bombard jewish settlements from the Golan Heights which overlooked the frontier.

c.       In Egypt , Nasser leadership improved the social and economic conditions of the people; withal going well at home and the prospect of effective help from Iraq and Syria, Nasser decided that the time was ripe for another attack on Israel; he began to move troops up to the frontier in Sinai and closed the gulf of Aqaba.

d.      Russians encouraged them and kept up a flow of anti-israeli propaganda( as Israel was backed by the USA), their aim was to increase their influence in the middle east.

e.      Syria, Jordan, Lebanon also massed troops along their frontiers with Israel, while contingents form Iraq, Saudi and Algeria joined them.

f.        Israel decided that the best policy was to attack first rather than wait to be defeated; launched a series of air strikes which destroyed most of the Egyptian air force on the ground.

                                                              i.      They moved with remarkable speed

                                                            ii.      captured the Gaza strip and the whole of Sinai from Egypt, the rest of Jerusalem and the west bank from Jordan, and the Golan Heights from Syria.

                                                          iii.      Arabs had no choice but to accept a UN ceasefire order

Reasons for the spectacular Israeli success were:

·         Slow and ponderous arab troop build-up which gave the Israelis plenty of warning;

·         Israeli superiority in the air;

·         Inadequate Arab preparations and communications.

b)      Results of the war:-

a.       For the Israelis it was a great success; this time they ignored a UN order to return the captured territory; this acted as buffer zones to defend Israel; however, it bring a new problem- a million extra arabs found themselves under Israel rule.

b.      It was a humiliation for the Arab states:

                                                              i.      Nasser realized that arabs needed outside help if they were ever to free Palestine.

                                                            ii.      Russians had been a disappointment to Nasser and had sent no help.

                                                          iii.      They tried to improve their relations with Egypt and Syria, the Russians began to supply them with modern weapons.

The Yom Kippur war of 1973

a)      Events leading up to the war:-

a.       Pressure was brought to bear on the Arab states by the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO)  under its leader Yasser Arafat, for some further action.

                                                              i.      Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, embarked on a series of terrorist attacks to draw world attention to the grave injustice being done to the Arabs of Palestine.

                                                            ii.      They hijacked and blown up the airliners that were going to Jordan; king Hussein got embarrassed and expelled al PLO members based in jordan.

                                                          iii.      However, the terrorist activities were continued, Israeli team was murdered at the Munich Olympics.

b.      Anwar Sadat, the president of Egypt since Nasser’s death in 1970, was becoming increasingly convinced of the need for a negotiated peace settlement with Israel.

c.       He was prepared to work with USA or USSR, felt that the American support for arabs to persuade the Israelis to agree to a peace settlement. Americans refused to get involved.

b)      The war began on 1973:-

a.       Egypt and Syria attacked on Israel. After some early arab successes, the Israelis, using mainly American weapons, were able to turn the tables.

b.      They even succeeded in crossing the Suez canal into Egypt.

c.       Sadat plan  was successful- both USA and USSR decided to bring a peace settlement. Acting with UN co-operation , they organized a ceasefire which both sides accepted.

c)       The outcome of the war:-

a.       It brought a glimmer of hope for some sort of permanent peace.

b.      Israel agreed to move their troops back from the Suez canal enabling the Egyptian to clear and open the canal in 1975.

-          Important development is arabs were successful in pressuring the USA and west by reducing oil supplies. This caused serious oil shortages, especially in Europe.

-          OPEC countries for the first time recognized the fact that oil is not an unlimited resource. They started substantially increasing the prices which caused to inflation and energy crisis in the world’s industrial nations.

Camp David and the Egyptian-Israeli peace, 1978-79

a)      why did the two sides begin to talk to each other:-        

a.        Sadat convinced that Israel could not be destroyed by force and that it was foolish to keep on wasting Egypt’s resources in fruitless wars.

                                                              i.      He was the first leader to meet the Israelis face to face.

b.      The Israelis were suffering economic problems , partly because of their enormous defence expenditure and recession.

c.       President carter of the USA played a vital role in setting up formal negotiations between two sides.

b)      The peace treaty and its aftermath:-

Peace treaty was signed in Washington . the main points agreed are:

a.       The state of war was ended.

b.      Israel promised to withdraw its troops from Sinai;

c.       Egypt promised not to attack Israel again and guaranteed to supply her with oil from the recently opened wells in southern Sinai;

d.      Israeli ships could use the Suez canal;

-          The treaty was condemned by the PLO and most other Arab states;

-          Similar treaties were signed with Syria and Jordan.

-          USA tried to bring PLO and Israel together in an international conference; Israelis did not co-operate.

o   Israel would never return the Golan heights to Syria, not even in exchange for a peace treaty;

o   They would never allow the west bank to become part of an independent Palestinian state; that would be a mortal threat to Israel’s existence.

-          For most of the 1980’s the Arab-Israeli feud was overshadowed by the Iran- Iraq war which occupied much of the Arab world’s attention.

-          But in 1987 there were massive demonstrations by Palestinians living in the refugee camps of the Gaza strip and the West Bank.

-          They were protesting against Israeli repressive policies and the brutal behavior of Israeli troops in the camps and in the occupied territories.

-          And Israeli clampdown failed to quell the unrest, and the Israelis tough methods earned them UN and worldwide condemnation.

Peace betwreen Israel and the PLO

The election of a less aggressive government in Israel in 1997 raised hopes for better relations with the Palestinians.

a)      The peace accord of 1993:-

a.       Israel formally recognized the PLO

b.      The PLO recognized Israel’s right to exist and promised to give up terrorism.

c.       Palestinians were to be given limited self-rule in Jericho and in part of the Gaza strip, areas occupied by Israel since the 1967 war. Israeli troops would be withdrawn from these areas.

Extremist groups on both sides opposed the agreement. The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine still wanted a completely independent Palestinian state. Israeli troops would be withdrawn from these areas.

b)      Self-rule for the Palestinians:-

a.       Israel agreed to withdraw its troops from most of the west bank in stages over several years.

b.      Extremists on both sides claimed that their leaders were guilty of ‘shameful surrender’. Tragically Prime minister Yitzak rabin was assassinate by Israeli righ-winger.

c.       1996,king Hussein of Jordan paid an official public visit to Israel for the first time, 1200 Palestinian prisoners were released and talks opened between Israel and Syria.

d.      The promised elections were held; Yasar Arafat became the new palestinian president. This was expected to hold office until 1999, when, it was hoped, a permanent peace agreement would have been reached.

e.      However, the situation changed rapidly during the spring of 1996.bombings carried out by the militant palestinian group, Hamas, claimed 63 lives;

f.        The militant Shiite Islamic group, Hizbollah, shelled villages in northern Israel from southern Lebanon.

g.       This enabled Benyamin Netanyahu, who denounced soft policy towards Palestinians, to win a narrow victory in the election of 1996. This dismayed much of the outside world and threw the whole peace process into doubt.

Conflict in the Lebanon:-

1975, civil war broke out, and although all-out war ended in 1976.

1.       Religious difference:-

a)      What caused civil war to break out in 1975?

a.       Lebanon was a mixture of different religious groups

b.      Christian groups:

                                                                          i.      Maronites ( wealthiest and most conservative );

                                                                        ii.      Greek orthodox;

                                                                      iii.      Roman catholic;

                                                                       iv.      Armenians.

c.       Muslim groups:

                                                                          i.      Shia- largest group, poor working class;

                                                                        ii.      Sunni- smaller group, wealthier, more political influence than shia.

                                                                      iii.      Druze- a small group living in the centre of the country, mainly peasants.

d.      There was a hatred between Maronites and Druzes, but this seemed to keep in check by the carefully framed constitution tried to give fair representation to all groups;

                                                                          i.      President- Maronite.

                                                                        ii.      Prime minister- sunni

                                                                      iii.      Speaker- shia.

                                                                       iv.      Army chief of staff- Druze.

b)      The presence of palestinian refugees from Israel:-

a.       This complicated the situation even more.

b.      Palestinians were not popular in Lebanon because they were continually involved in frontier incidents with Israel, provoking the Israelis to hit back at the palesitnian in southern lebano.

c.       Palestinians , being left- wing and muslim, alarmed conservative and Christian maronites who liked on the Palestinians as a dangerous destabilizing influence.

c)       A dispute between muslims and Christians over fishing rights.

a.       Paletiians sided with the muslims, and a group of right wing Christians known as the Phalange began to attack palestininas.

b.      ddddddA full scale civil war developed; maronites saw it as a chance expel the Palestinians who had formed an alliance with the Druze.

c.       For a time it liked a though the Druze would win , but this alarmed Israel, which threatened to invade Lebanon.

d.      The Syrians did not want this to happen, and so in 1976 president assad of Syria sent troops into the Lebanon to keep the PLO under some sort of control.

e.      This was a setback for the Druze and the PLO.

f.        It was the Syrians who now controlled Lebanon; Yasser Arafat, the PLO leader, had to agree to withdraw his troops from the are around Beirut.

2.       Chaos continued:-

a.       In the south, bordering on Israel, fighting soon broke out between Palestinians and Christians; a small semi-independent Christian state of free Lebanon was declared under major Haddad; the Israelis supported this because it acted as a buffer zone to protect them from further palestinian attacks; the Palestinians and muslims counter attacked, by 1982 there were 7000 UNIFIL troops in the area , it was a constant struggle to keep the peace.

b.      in 1982, in reprisal for a palestinian attack on Israel, Israeli troops invaded Lebanon and  penetrated as far as Beirut. During this period palestinians were expelled from Beirut, and from then on the PLO was divided. The hard – liners went to Iraq and other arab countries. The israelis withdrew and a multi-national force took their place to maintain the peace.

c.       In1984, an alliance of shia militia and Druze militia backed by Syria, drove president Gemayel out of Beirut.

3.       Peace at last:

a.       Although assassinations of leading figures continued, the situation gradually stabilized.

b.      1990, important changes were introduced in the country’s constitution , giving the muslims fairer representation.

c.       The government with Syrian help gradually restored its authority over more and more of the country and managed to get most of the militia armies disbanded.

d.      Two states signed a treaty of brotherhood and co-ordination. This was strongly criticized by the Israelis, who claimed that the treaty marked the virtual annexation of Lebanon by Syria.

The Iran- Iraq war 1980-88:

a)      Iraq’s motives:-

              President saddam Hussein of Iraq had several motives for launching the attack

a.       He was afraid of militant islam spreading across the border into Iraq from Iran.

b.      Iran had become an Islamic republic in 1979 under the leadership of the Ayatollah Khomeini and his fundamentalist Shiite Muslim supporters. They believed that country should be run according to the Islamic religion, with a strict moral code enforced by severe punishments.

c.       Population of Iraq was mainly sunni muslim, but there was a large Shia minority. Saddam, whose government was non-religious , was afraid that the Shias might rise up against him, and he had some of their leaders executed early in 1980. The Iranians retaliated by launching raids across the frontier.

d.      The Iraqis claimed that the Iranian border province of Khuzestan should rightfully belong to them. This was and area peopled largely by Arabs, and saddam hoped that they would rally to support Iraq.

e.      There was a long- standing dispute over the Shatt-el-Arab waterway, important out let for the oil exports of both countries.

f.        Saddam thought that the Iranian force could be weak and demoralized so soon after the fundamentalist takeover, so he expected a quick victory.

b)      The war drags on:-

a.       Began with the iraqi seizure of the disputed waterway. The Iranians replied with mass infantry attacks against heavily fortified Iraqi positions.

b.      Iraq seemed much stronger; however, the Iranian revolutionary guards, inspired by their religion, and ready to become martyrs, fought with fanatical determination; eventually they too began to get modern equipment form china and North Korea.

c.       As the war dragged on , Iraq concentrated on strangling Iranian oil exports, which paid for their arms supplies;

d.      Iran meanwhile capture Iraqi territory. The territorial dispute had been lost in the deeper racial and religious conflict: Khomeini had sworn never to stop fighting until his Shia Muslim fundamentalists had destroyed the ‘godless’ saddam regime.

There were two international repercussions.

o   The stability of the entire Arab world was threatened: the more conservative states- Saudi, Jordan and Kuwait gave cautious support to Iraq; but Syria, Libya Algeria, south yemen and the PLO were critical of Iraq for starting the war.

o   Gulf states were suspicious of Khomeini;s extreme brand of Islam, wanted to see Iran’s ability to dominate the Persian gulf controlled.

o   The attacks on Iran’s oil exports threatened the energy supplies of the west, and at various times brought American, Russian, Britain and France warships into the region, raising the international temperature.

o   The success of Iran’s Shia fundamentalist troops, especially the threat to Basra, alarmed the non- religious Arab government.

o   An Islamic conference held in Kuwait was attended by representatives of 44 nations, but Iran refused to attend, and no agreement could be reached on how to bring the war to an end.

o   1987, both sides began to bombard each others capital cities causing thousands of deaths.

c)       The end of the war, 1988:-

a.       Neither side had achieved its aims, the cost of the war was heavy.

b.      Saddam talked about total victory, the Iranians demanded total surrender.

c.       The UN became involved, did some straight talking to both sides, and succeeded in arranging a ceasefire.

d.      This was monitored by UN troops , and against all expectations, the truce lasted.

e.      Peace negotiations were finally agreed in 1990.

The gulf war, 1990-91:-

Even before he had accepted the peace terms at the end of the Iran- Iraq war, saddam Hssein began his next act of aggression. His forces invaded and quickly occupied the small neighboring state of Kuwait.

a)      Saddam Hussein’s motives:-

a.       To get his hands on the wealth of Kuwait, since he was seriously short of cash after the long war with Iran. Kuwait had valuable oil wells.

b.      He claimed that Kuwait was historically part of Iraq.

c.       He did not expect any action from the outside world now that his troops were firmly entrenched in Kuwait, and he had the stongest army in the region.

d.      Europe and the USA were reasonably amenable to him since they had suppled him with arms during his war with iran, nor had anybody interfered when he brutally crushed the kurds in the north of Iraq.

b)      The world unites against Saddam Hussein:-

a.       USA took the lead in pressing for action to remove the Iraqis from Kuwait.

b.      The UN placed trade sanctions on Iraq, cutting off her oil exports, her main source of income.

c.       Saddam was ordered to remove his troops by 1991, after which the UN would use  all necessary means to clear them out . saddam defied it.

d.      Britain and USA decided that saddam’s power must be curbed; he controlled too much of the oil that the industrial west needed.

e.      Saddam felt that he could not lose face by with drawing from Kuwait; more than 30 nations contributed with troops, cash;

f.        The campaign was quickly successful by bombing on Baghdad and attack on Iraq army itself. Within four days Iraqi army was driven out.

g.       Saddam accepted the defeat .

c)       The aftermath of the war- saddam Hussein survives:-

a.       The war had unfortunate consequences for many of the Iraqi people.

b.      There were uprisings of kurds in the north and shia muslims in the south, and it seemed as though Iraq was breaking up. however, the allies had left saddam enough troops, tanks and aircraft to deal with the situation. And both rebelions were ruthlessly crushed.

c.       World opinion became so outraged at saddam’s continued ruthless bombings of his peope that the USA and Britain, with UN backing, declared the areas ‘no-fly zones’, and used their air power to keep saddam’s aircraft out. And so saddam remained in power.

d.      The war and its aftermath were very revealing about the motives of the west and the great powers.

e.      Their primary concern was with their own interest. They only took action against sadam in the first place because they felt he was threatening their oil supplies.

f.        He was allowed to remain in power because the west thought that that his survival was the best way of keeping Iraq united and the region stable.