lesson 3

1. The Arab – Israeli Conflict The Middle East In Transition Lesson 3

16. Jewish Populations of Arab Countries: 1948 and 2001 <6,500 758,000 - 881,000 Total ~200 1.0% 45,000-55,000 Yemen ~1,000 1.4-3.0% 50,000-105,000 Tunisia ~100 0.4-0.9% 15,000-30,000 Syria 5,230 2.8% 250,000-265,000 Morocco 0 3.6% 35,000-38,000 Libya < 100 0.4-1.5% 5,000-20,000 Lebanon ~200 2.6% 135,000-140,000 Iraq ~100 0.4% 75,000-80,000 Egypt 36 0.5% 550-600 Bahrain ~0 1.6% 140,000 Algeria ~0 8,000 Aden Estimated Jewish population 2001 Jewish % of total population, 1948 1948 Jewish population Country or territory

21. Map of Israel and the Disputed Lands Years before the war, hostilities between the Arab nations, and the Jews had already been at a high point. The Arab nations refused to accept the fact that Israel could be a Jewish state, and so, President Nasser of Egypt called for the destruction of Israel. At first, there were just attacks on civilians once and a while, but the attacks became more and more ferocious, until it came to Israeli villages being heavily shelled by Syrian troops from the Golan Heights. Israel had warned Syria, but Syria came to Egypt for help, and by then, Egyptian forces were packed into the Sinai Peninsula. Nasser then closed down the Strait of Tiran, which was a very important trading link between Israel and the other countries of the world. Such an act was an act of war, but what they didn't know was that Israel would react with full force. Israel's victory was extremely devastating to the Arabs, who expected victory for themselves. The fact that the war took only 6 days shows that Hashem is with Israel. The Arab forces lost almost their entire air forces, and much of their armed weaponry. 10,000 Egyptians were killed in Siniai and Gaza alone, compared to the 300 Israeli casualties on that front. In all, Egypt lost about 11,000 troops, Jordan lost about 6,000, Syria lost about 1,000, and Israel lost about 700. Israel gained all of Jerusalem, The Golan Heights, Sinai, the Gaza Strip, and the West Bank. This is an Israeli point of view

23. Cairo-Egyptian air defense commanders are puzzled by an episode that occurred late in the October, 1973, War when an Israeli Phantom was shot down in Sinai and the pilot ejected and parachuted safely into no-man's land between the two armies. The Egyptians routinely sent a jeep and two soldiers to pick up the pilot and were driving back toward their lines when an Israeli helicopter appeared. It disgorged a commando team who captured the Egyptians, spirited the pilot into an armored personnel carrier and sped off. &quot;They never made that much of an effort for any other pilot during the whole war,&quot; an Egyptian commander noted. &quot;it must have been very important to them. Could it have been one of their American pilots?&quot;

24. Another example of how the Egyptian air force applied the lessons it learned from the Israelis during the war of attrition was told by a 32-year-old deputy MiG-21 regiment commander who has been flying since he was 15. &quot;During the war of attrition, the Israeli air force had a favorite ambush tactic, he told AVIATION WEEK & SPACE TECHNOLOGY. “They would penetrate with two aircraft at medium altitude where they would be quickly picked up by radar, We would scramble four or eight to attack them. But they had another dozen fighters trailing at extremely low altitude below radar coverage. As we climbed to the attack they would zoom up behind and surprise us. My regiment lost Migs to this ambush tactic three times. But we learned the lesson and practiced the same tactics. In the final fights over Deversoir, we ambushed some Mirages the same way, and my own 'finger four' [formation] shot down four Mirages with the loss of one Mig.&quot;