View source for Arab–Israeli conflict

{{Short description|Geopolitical conflict in the Middle East and North Africa}}
{{About|the broader conflict between Israel and the Arab world|the specific conflict between Israel and Palestine|Israeli–Palestinian conflict}}
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{{Use dmy dates|date=November 2020}}
{{Infobox military conflict
| conflict          = Arab–Israeli conflict
| partof            = 
| image             = [[File:Arab-Israeli Conflict Key Players.svg|300px]]
| caption           = The main parties in the Arab–Israeli conflict <br />
{{Legend-inline|#0066ff|Israel}} {{Legend-inline|#061a01|West Bank and Gaza Strip}} {{legend-inline|#488420|Egypt}} {{legend-inline|#72c934|Jordan}} {{legend-inline|#b4e54d|Lebanon}} {{legend-inline|#22440a|Syria}} {{legend-inline|#315d12|Iraq}}
| date              = Late 19th / early 20th century – present<br />'''Main phase:'''<br />{{Tooltip|c.|circa}} [[1948 Arab–Israeli War|15 May 1948]] – ongoing<br />({{Age in years, months, weeks and days|month1=05|day1=15|year1=1948}})<ref>{{cite encyclopedia| url=https://www.britannica.com/event/Arab-Israeli-wars| title=Arab–Israeli wars| encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Britannica| date=7 July 2023| access-date=31 May 2018| archive-date=23 April 2018| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180423232712/https://www.britannica.com/event/Arab-Israeli-wars| url-status=live}}</ref>
| place             = [[Middle East]]
| status            = Ongoing; partial [[Arab–Israeli normalization|normalization]]:{{bulleted list
|[[Egypt–Israel peace treaty]] (1979)
|[[May 17 Agreement|Israeli–Lebanese peace treaty attempt]] (1983)
|[[Oslo Accords]] (1993)
|[[Israel–Jordan peace treaty]] (1994)
|[[United Nations Security Council Resolution 1701|UNSC 1701 (Israel–Lebanon ceasefire treaty)]] (2006)
|[[Abraham accords|Rapprochement between Israel and Gulf States]] influenced by mutual [[Arab–Israeli alliance against Iran|stance against Iran]] (2010s)}}
| territory         = *Establishment of Israel and [[All-Palestine Protectorate]] (1948); [[Jordanian annexation of the West Bank]]
*Dissolution of All-Palestine Government (1953) and [[Egyptian occupation of the Gaza Strip]]
*Israeli [[Israeli Military Governorate|occupation (1967–1982)]] of the [[Sinai Peninsula]], [[West Bank]], [[Gaza Strip]], [[Golan Heights]]
*[[Egypt–Israel peace treaty|Egyptian–Israeli peace]] and formation of the [[Israeli Civil Administration]] (1982)
*[[Oslo Accords]] and formation of the [[Palestinian National Authority]] in areas A, B of the West Bank and Gaza in 1994.
*[[Israel–Jordan peace treaty]] – transfer of [[Al Ghamr]] enclave (2019)
| combatant1        = {{ubl|'''{{flag|Israel}}'''{{ubl
|[[Mahal (Israel)|Mahal volunteers]] ([[1948 Arab–Israeli War|1948]])}}
|{{flag|United Kingdom}} <br /> ([[Suez Crisis|1956]])
|{{flagcountry|French Fourth Republic}} <br />([[Suez Crisis|1956]])
|{{flagicon image|Former Flag of the Lebanese Army.svg}} [[Free Lebanon State]] (1978–1984)
|[[South Lebanon Army]] (1984–2000)}}
'''Supported by:'''{{ubl|
{{flag|United States}} ([[Operation Nickel Grass|1973]]–present)<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=g1TkFQgzp5cC|title=Revisiting the Yom Kippur War|last=Kumaraswamy|first=P. R.|date=2013|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-136-32895-4|page=235|language=en}}</ref><br/>{{flag|Soviet Union}} (1948–1949)<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Rucker |first=Laurent |title=Moscow's Surprise: The Soviet-Israeli Alliance of 1947-1949 |url=https://www.wilsoncenter.org/sites/default/files/media/documents/publication/CWIHP_WP_461.pdf |journal=Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Kramer |first=Martin |date=6 November 2017 |title=Who saved Israel in 1947? |url=https://scholar.harvard.edu/files/martinkramer/files/who_saved_israel_1947.pdf |journal=Mosaic}}</ref><br/>{{flag|Czechoslovakia}} ([[Arms shipments from Czechoslovakia to Israel 1947–1949|1948–1949]])<ref>{{Cite web |date=2020-11-30 |title=The Czech arms that saved Israel |url=https://www.jpost.com/international/the-czech-arms-that-saved-israel-650710 |access-date=2023-12-24 |website=The Jerusalem Post |language=en-US}}</ref><br/>{{flag|Netherlands}} ([[Yom Kippur War|1973]])<ref>{{Cite web |date=2015-04-07 |title=Manfred Gerstenfeld on Joop den Uyl 1919-1987 |url=http://jcpa.org/article/manfred-gerstenfeld-on-joop-den-uyl-1919-1987-dromer-en-doordouwer-joop-den-uyl-1919-1987-dreamer-and-pusher-by-anet-bleich/ |access-date=2023-12-25 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150407100750/http://jcpa.org/article/manfred-gerstenfeld-on-joop-den-uyl-1919-1987-dromer-en-doordouwer-joop-den-uyl-1919-1987-dreamer-and-pusher-by-anet-bleich/ |archive-date=7 April 2015 }}</ref><br/>{{flag|Estado Novo (Portugal)|name=Portugal}} ([[Yom Kippur War|1973]])<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Del Pero |first=Mario |date=23 August 2011 |title='Which Chile, Allende?' Henry Kissinger and the Portuguese revolution |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/14682745.2010.494301 |journal=Cold War History |language=en |volume=11 |issue=4 |pages=625–657 |doi=10.1080/14682745.2010.494301 |s2cid=218576108 |issn=1468-2745}}</ref>}}
| combatant2        = '''{{flag|Arab League}} (1948–1979)'''{{bulleted list
|{{flag|Egypt|1972}} (1948–1978)
|{{flag|Jordan}} (1948–1994)
|{{flag|Lebanon}} (1948–1982){{efn|During the [[2024 Israeli invasion of Lebanon]], the Lebanese government stated they will stay out of the conflict between Hezbollah and Israel, but would respond to Israeli attacks on their positions.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Deeb |first1=Josephine |title=Not neutral but not fighting: Lebanon's army walks tightrope on Israeli invasion |url=https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/not-neutral-not-fighting-lebanons-army-walks-tightrope-israeli-invasion |website=[[Middle East Eye]] |access-date=6 October 2024 |archive-date=6 October 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241006012437/https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/not-neutral-not-fighting-lebanons-army-walks-tightrope-israeli-invasion |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Lebanon army says returns fire at Israel for first time after soldier killed |url=https://gulfnews.com/world/mena/lebanon-army-says-returns-fire-at-israel-for-first-time-after-soldier-killed-1.104284760 |work=gulfnews.com |date=3 October 2024 |language=en |access-date=3 October 2024 |archive-date=3 October 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241003140706/https://gulfnews.com/world/mena/lebanon-army-says-returns-fire-at-israel-for-first-time-after-soldier-killed-1.104284760 |url-status=live}}</ref>}}
|{{flagicon|Ba'athist Iraq}} [[Iraq]] (1948–1991)
|{{flag|Syria}} (1948–present)
|{{flag|Saudi Arabia|1938}} (1948–1967)
|{{flagcountry|Mutawakkilite Kingdom of Yemen|name=Yemen}} (1948–1949)
|{{flag|All-Palestine}} (1948–1959){{bulleted list
  |[[Army of the Holy War|AHW]] (1947–1949)
  |[[Palestinian fedayeen|Fedayeen]] (1949–1964)}}
|{{flag|PLO}} (1964–present)
|{{flag|Palestinian Authority}} (1994–present)
|'''[[Yom Kippur War#Other countries|1973 Reinforcements]]'''{{bulleted list
  ||{{flag|Saudi Arabia}}<ref>{{cite book |last=Edgar O'Ballance |title=No Victor, No Vanquished: The Yom Kippur War |edition=1979 |pages=28–370 |publisher=[[Barrie & Jenkins]] |isbn=978-0-214-20670-2 |year=1979}}</ref>
  |{{flag|Algeria}}<ref>{{Cite book |last=Shazly |first=Saad El |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SPSkaqL945oC |title=The Crossing of the Suez |date=2003-01-01 |publisher=American Mideast Research |isbn=978-0-9604562-2-2 |pages=278 |language=en}}</ref>
  |{{flagicon|Libya|1972}} [[Libyan Arab Republic|Libya]]<ref>{{cite news |url=http://theaviationist.com/2013/06/24/iaf-f-4-vs-nk-mig21/# |title=An unknown story from the Yom Kippur war: Israeli F-4s vs North Korean MiG-21s |work=The Aviationist |date=24 June 2013 |access-date=27 June 2015}}</ref>
  |{{flag|Kuwait}}<ref>{{Cite book |last=Rabinovich |first=Abraham |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Ri3ftu5NGesC |title=The Yom Kippur War: The Epic Encounter that Transformed the Middle East |date=2004 |publisher=Schocken Books |isbn=978-0-8052-1124-5 |pages=464–465 |language=en}}</ref>
  |{{flag|Tunisia}}<ref>{{Cite web |last=Hussain |first=Hamid |date=November 2002 |title=The Fourth Round - A Critical Review of 1973 Arab-Israeli War |url=https://defencejournal.com/2002/nov/4th-round.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090116071541/http://www.defencejournal.com/2002/nov/4th-round.htm |archive-date=16 January 2009 |website=Defence Journal}}</ref>
  |{{flag|Morocco}}<ref>{{cite book |title=Les officiers de Sa Majesté: Les dérives des généraux marocains 1956–2006 |year=2006 |publisher=Fayard |page=107 |isbn=978-2-213-63015-1 |author=Mahjoub Tobji}}</ref>
}}}}
{{flagicon image|Flag of Hamas.svg}} [[Hamas]] (1988–present)<br>'''Supported by:'''<br/>{{flag|Soviet Union}} (1955–1991)<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Katz |first=Mark N. |date=1996 |title=Post-Soviet Russian Foreign Policy Towards the Middle East |journal=The Soviet and Post-Soviet Review |volume=23 |issue=1 |pages=235|doi=10.1163/187633296X00159 }}</ref><br/>{{flag|Cuba}} (1973)<ref name="Ra'anan">Ra’anan, G. D. (1981). ''The Evolution of the Soviet Use of Surrogates in Military Relations with the Third World, with Particular Emphasis on Cuban Participation in Africa''. Santa Monica: Rand Corporation. p. 37</ref>
| commander1        = {{unbulleted list |{{flagicon|Israel}} [[David Ben-Gurion]] (1948–1963) |{{flagicon|Israel}} [[Yigael Yadin]] (1948–1952) |{{flagicon|Israel}} [[Yaakov Dori]] (1948–1949) |{{flagicon|Israel}} [[Yitzhak Rabin]]{{KIA|Assassinated}} (1948–1995) |{{flagicon|Israel}} [[Ariel Sharon]] (1948–2005) |{{flagicon|Israel}} [[Ehud Barak]] (1948–2013) | [[Moshe Dayan]] (1948–1979) |[[Saad Haddad]] (1978–1984) | [[Antoine Lahad]] (1984–2000) <!--end vlist:-->}}
| commander2        = {{unbulleted list |{{flagicon|Egypt|1922}} [[King Farouk I]] (1948–1965) | {{flagicon|Egypt|1922}} [[Muhammad Naguib]] (1948–1984) |{{flagicon|Egypt|1958}} [[Gamal Abdel Nasser]] (1948–1970) |{{flagicon|Egypt|1972}} [[Anwar Sadat]] (1948–1978) |{{flagicon|Egypt|1972}} [[Ahmad Ali al-Mwawi]] (1948–1979) |{{Flagicon|Egypt|1972}} [[Saad El Shazly]] (1948–2011) |{{flagicon|Jordan}} [[Abdullah I of Jordan|King Abdullah I]] (1948–1951) |{{flagicon|Jordan}} [[John Bagot Glubb]] (1948–1956) |{{flagicon|Jordan}} [[Hussein of Jordan|King Hussein]] (1953–1994) |{{flagicon|Jordan}} [[Habis al-Majali]] (1948–2001) |{{flagicon|Syria}} [[Hafiz al-Assad]] (1948–2000) |{{flagicon|All-Palestine|size=23px}} [[Haj Amin Al-Husseini]] (1948–1974) |{{nowrap|{{flagicon|All-Palestine|size=23px}} [[Abd al-Qadir al-Husayni]]{{KIA}}}} |{{flagicon|All-Palestine|size=23px}} [[Hasan Salama]]{{KIA}} |[[File:Arab Liberation Army (bw).svg|22px|border]] [[Fawzi Al-Qawuqji]] (1948–1977)<!--end vlist:-->}}
| strength1         = 
| strength2         = 
| casualties3       = see [[#Notable wars and violent events|§ Casualties]] for details.
}}
{{Arab–Israeli conflict (topics)}}

The '''Arab–Israeli conflict''' is the phenomenon involving political tension, military conflicts, and other disputes between various [[Arab world|Arab countries]] and [[Israel]], which escalated during the 20th century. The roots of the Arab–Israeli conflict have been attributed to the support by [[Arab League]] member countries for the [[Palestinians]], a fellow League member, in the ongoing [[Israeli–Palestinian conflict]]; this in turn has been attributed to the simultaneous rise of [[Zionism]] and [[Arab nationalism]] towards the end of the 19th century, though the two national movements had not clashed until the 1920s.

Part of the Israeli–Palestinian conflict arose from the conflicting claims by these movements to the land that formed the British [[Mandatory Palestine]], which was regarded by the [[Jews|Jewish people]] as their [[Homeland for the Jewish people|ancestral homeland]], while at the same time it was regarded by the [[Pan-Arabism|Pan-Arab]] movement as historically and currently belonging to the Palestinians,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/Peace+Process/Guide+to+the+Peace+Process/The+Palestinian+National+Charter.htm |title=The Palestinian National Charter – Article 6 |publisher=Mfa.gov.il |access-date=19 January 2013 |archive-date=20 April 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130420181057/http://www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/Peace+Process/Guide+to+the+Peace+Process/The+Palestinian+National+Charter.htm |url-status=live }}</ref> and in the [[Pan-Islamism|Pan-Islamic]] context, as [[Divisions of the world in Islam#Dar al-Islam|Muslim lands]]. The [[Intercommunal conflict in Mandatory Palestine|sectarian conflict]] within the British Mandate territory between Palestinian Jews and Arabs escalated into a full-scale [[1947–1948 civil war in Mandatory Palestine|Palestinian civil war in 1947]]. Taking the side of the Palestinians, especially following the [[Israeli Declaration of Independence]], the neighbouring Arab countries invaded the by-then former Mandate territory in May 1948, commencing the [[1948 Arab–Israeli War|First Arab–Israeli War]]. 

Large-scale hostilities mostly ended with ceasefire agreements after the 1973 [[Yom Kippur War]]. [[Egypt–Israel peace treaty|Peace agreements]] were signed between Israel and Egypt in 1979, resulting in Israeli withdrawal [[Israeli occupation of the Sinai Peninsula|from the Sinai Peninsula]] and the abolition of the [[Israeli Military Governorate|military governance system]] in the [[Israeli occupation of the West Bank|West Bank]] and [[Gaza Strip]], in favor of [[Israeli Civil Administration]] and consequent unilateral annexation of the [[Golan Heights]] and [[East Jerusalem]].

The nature of the conflict has shifted over the years from the large-scale, regional Arab–Israeli conflict to a more local Israeli–Palestinian conflict, which peaked during the [[1982 Lebanon War]] when Israel intervened in the [[Lebanese Civil War]] to oust the [[Palestine Liberation Organization|Palestinian Liberation Organization]] from [[Lebanon]]. With the decline of the 1987–1993 [[First Intifada]], the interim [[Oslo Accords]] led to the creation of the [[Palestinian Authority|Palestinian National Authority]] in 1994, within the context of the [[Israeli–Palestinian peace process]]. The same year, Israel and [[Jordan]] reached a peace accord. 

In 2002, the Arab League offered recognition of Israel by Arab countries as part of the resolution of the Israeli–Palestinian conflict in the [[Arab Peace Initiative]].<ref name="Time">{{Cite magazine|url=http://mideast.blogs.time.com/2009/01/08/time-to-test-the-arab-peace-offer/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090117001303/http://mideast.blogs.time.com/2009/01/08/time-to-test-the-arab-peace-offer/|url-status=dead|archive-date=17 January 2009|title= Time to Test the Arab Peace Offer|author=Scott MacLeod|magazine=[[Time (magazine)|Time]]|date=8 January 2009}}</ref> The initiative, which has been reconfirmed since, calls for normalizing relations between the [[Arab League]] and Israel, in exchange for a full withdrawal by Israel from the [[Israeli-occupied territories|occupied territories]] (including East Jerusalem) and a "just settlement" of the [[Palestinian refugees|Palestinian refugee]] problem based on [[United Nations General Assembly Resolution 194|UN Resolution 194]]. In the 1990s and early 2000s, a ceasefire had been largely maintained between Israel and [[Syria]], while limited warfare continued in Lebanon against [[Iran|Iranian]] proxy militias. Despite the peace agreements with [[Egypt]] and [[Jordan]], the interim peace accords with the Palestinian Authority and the generally existing ceasefire, until the mid-2010s the Arab League and Israel had remained at odds with each other over many issues. Among Arab belligerents in the conflict, [[Iraq]] and [[Syria]] are the only states who have reached no formal peace accord or treaty with Israel, with both supporting Iran.

The [[Syrian civil war]] reshuffled the situation near Israel's northern border, putting the ruling Syrian government, [[Hezbollah]] and the [[Syrian opposition]] at odds with each other and complicating their relations with Israel upon the emerging warfare with Iran. The conflict, since 2023 [[Israel–Hamas war|a war]], between Israel and [[Hamas]]-ruled Gaza is also attributed to the [[Iran–Israel proxy conflict]]. By 2017, Israel and several Arab [[Sunni]] states led by [[Saudi Arabia]] formed a [[Arab–Israeli alliance|semi-official coalition]] to confront Iran. This move and the [[Israel–United Arab Emirates normalization agreement|Israeli normalization with Gulf states]] was marked by some as the fading of the Arab–Israeli conflict.<ref>{{Cite news|url = https://www.economist.com/middle-east-and-africa/2020/09/19/the-arab-israeli-conflict-is-fading|title = The Arab-Israeli conflict is fading|newspaper = The Economist|date = 19 September 2020|access-date = 5 October 2020|archive-date = 5 October 2020|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20201005195940/https://www.economist.com/middle-east-and-africa/2020/09/19/the-arab-israeli-conflict-is-fading|url-status = live}}</ref>

== Background ==

=== National movements ===
{{Main|Israeli–Palestinian conflict}}
The roots of the modern Arab–Israeli conflict lie in the tensions between [[Zionism]] and [[Palestinian nationalism]]; the latter having risen in response to [[Zionism]] towards the end of the 19th century. Territory regarded by the [[Jewish people]] as their [[Homeland for the Jewish people|historical homeland]] is also considered by the [[Pan-Arab]] movement as historically and presently{{dubious|date=January 2024}} belonging to the [[Palestinians|Arab Palestinians]]. [[Palestine (region)|Palestine]] had been under the control of the [[Ottoman Empire]] for nearly 400 years, until its partitioning in the aftermath of the [[Great Arab Revolt]] during [[World War I]]. During the closing years of their empire, the Ottomans began to espouse their Turkish ethnic identity, asserting the primacy of Turks within the empire, leading to discrimination against the Arabs.<ref>Fraser, T.G. ''The Middle East: 1914–1979''. St. Martin's Press, New York. (1980) Pg. 2</ref> The promise of liberation from the Ottomans led many Jews and Arabs to support the allied powers during World War I, leading to the emergence of widespread Arab nationalism. Both Arab nationalism and Zionism had their formulative beginning in Europe. The Zionist Congress was established in Basel in 1897, while the "Arab Club" was established in Paris in 1906.

In the late 19th century European and Middle Eastern Jewish communities began to increasingly immigrate to Palestine and purchase land from the local Ottoman landlords. The population of the late 19th century in Palestine reached 600,000 – mostly Muslim Arabs, but also significant minorities of Jews, Christians, Druze and some [[Samaritans]] and [[Baháʼí Faith|Baháʼís]]. At that time, Jerusalem did not extend beyond the walled area and had a population of only a few tens of thousands. Collective farms, known as [[kibbutz]]im, were established, as was the first entirely Jewish city in modern times, [[Tel Aviv]].

During 1915–16, as World War I was underway, the British High Commissioner in Egypt, Sir Henry McMahon, secretly corresponded with [[Hussein bin Ali, Sharif of Mecca|Husayn ibn 'Ali]], the patriarch of the Hashemite family and Ottoman governor of Mecca and Medina. McMahon convinced Husayn to lead an Arab revolt against the Ottoman Empire, which was aligned with Germany against Britain and France in the war. McMahon promised that if the Arabs supported Britain in the war, the British government would support establishing an independent Arab state under Hashemite rule in the Arab provinces of the Ottoman Empire, including Palestine. The Arab revolt, led by [[T. E. Lawrence]] ("Lawrence of Arabia") and Husayn's son Faysal, was successful in defeating the Ottomans, and Britain took control over much of this area.

=== Sectarian conflict in Mandatory Palestine ===
{{main|Sectarian conflict in Mandatory Palestine}}

==== First mandate years and the Franco-Syrian war ====
In 1917, Palestine was conquered by the British forces (including the [[Jewish Legion]]). The British government issued the [[Balfour Declaration]], which stated that the government viewed favorably "the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people" but "that nothing shall be done which may prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine". The Declaration was issued as a result of the belief of key members of the government, including Prime Minister [[David Lloyd George]], that Jewish support was essential to winning the war; however, the declaration caused great disquiet in the Arab world.<ref>Segev, Tom (2000): ''One Palestine, Complete'', pp. 48–49, Abacus, {{ISBN|978-0-349-11286-2}}.</ref> After the war, the area came under British rule as the [[Mandatory Palestine|British Mandate of Palestine]]. The area mandated to the British in 1923 included what is today Israel, the [[West Bank]] and [[Gaza Strip]]. Transjordan eventually was carved into a separate British protectorate – the Emirate of Transjordan, which gained an autonomous status in 1928 and achieved complete independence in 1946 with the approval by the United Nations of the end of the British Mandate.

A major crisis among the Arab nationalists took place with the failed establishment of the [[Arab Kingdom of Syria]] in 1920. With the disastrous outcome of the [[Franco-Syrian War]], the self-proclaimed Hashemite kingdom with its capital in Damascus was defeated and the Hashemite ruler took refuge in Mandatory Iraq. The crisis saw the first confrontation of nationalist Arab and Jewish forces, taking place in the [[Battle of Tel Hai]] in March 1920, but more importantly the collapse of the pan-Arabist kingdom led to the establishment of the local Palestinian version of Arab nationalism, with the return of [[Amin al-Husseini]] from Damascus to Jerusalem in late 1920.

At this point in time [[Aliyah|Jewish immigration]] to Mandatory Palestine continued, while to some opinions a similar, but less documented, immigration also took place in the Arab sector, bringing workers from Syria and other neighbouring areas. Palestinian Arabs saw this rapid influx of Jewish immigrants as a threat to their homeland and their identity as a people. Moreover, Jewish policies of purchasing land and prohibiting the employment of Arabs in Jewish-owned industries and farms greatly angered the Palestinian Arab communities.<ref>Lesch, Ann M. and Tschirgi, Dan. ''Origins and Development of the Arab-Israeli Conflict''. Greenwood Press: West Port, Connecticut. (1998). Pg.47,51</ref>{{verify source|date=August 2012}} Demonstrations were held as early as 1920, protesting what the Arabs felt were unfair preferences for the Jewish immigrants set forth by the British mandate that governed Palestine at the time. This resentment led to outbreaks of violence later that year, as the al-Husseini incited [[1920 Palestine riots|riots]] broke out in Jerusalem. [[Winston Churchill]]'s [[Churchill White Paper|1922 White Paper]] tried to reassure the Arab population, denying that the creation of a Jewish state was the intention of the Balfour Declaration.

==== 1929 events ====
[[1929 Palestine riots|In 1929]], after a demonstration by [[Vladimir Jabotinsky]]'s political group [[Betar]] at the [[Western Wall]], riots started in Jerusalem and expanded throughout Mandatory Palestine; Arabs murdered 67 Jews in the city of [[Hebron]], in what became known as the [[1929 Hebron massacre|Hebron massacre]]. During the week of the 1929 riots, at least 116 Arabs and 133 Jews<ref>''San Francisco Chronicle'', 9 August 2005, "A Time of Change; Israelis, Palestinians and the Disengagement"</ref> were killed and 339 wounded.<ref>NA 59/8/353/84/867n, 404 Wailing Wall/279 and 280, Archdale Diary and Palestinian Police records.</ref>{{primary source inline|date=August 2023}}

==== 1930s and 1940s ====

By 1931, 17 percent of the population of Mandatory Palestine were Jews, an increase of six percent since 1922.<ref>Lesch, Ann M. and Tschirgi, Dan. ''Origins and Development of the Arab-Israeli Conflict''. Greenwood Press: West Port, Connecticut. (1998). Pg. 47</ref> Jewish immigration peaked soon after the Nazis came to power in Germany, causing the Jewish population in British Palestine to double.<ref>Smith, Charles D. ''Palestine and the Arab Israeli Conflict: A History With Documents''. Bedford/St. Martin's: Boston. (2004). Pg. 129</ref>

In the mid-1930s [[Izz ad-Din al-Qassam]] arrived from Syria and established the [[Black Hand (Palestine)|Black Hand]], an anti-Zionist and anti-British militant organization. He recruited and arranged military training for peasants, and by 1935 he had enlisted between 200 and 800 men. The cells were equipped with bombs and firearms, which they used to kill Jewish settlers in the area, as well as engaging in a campaign of vandalism of Jewish settler plantations.<ref name=segev>{{cite book |last=Segev |first=Tom |author-link=Tom Segev |title=One Palestine, Complete |year=1999 |publisher=Metropolitan Books |isbn=978-0-8050-4848-3 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/onepalestinecomp00sege/page/360 360–362] |url=https://archive.org/details/onepalestinecomp00sege/page/360 }}</ref> By 1936, escalating tensions led to the [[1936–1939 Arab revolt in Palestine]].<ref>Lesch, Ann M. and Tschirgi, Dan. ''Origins and Development of the Arab-Israeli Conflict''. Greenwood Press: West Port, Connecticut. (1998). Pg.</ref>

In response to Arab pressure,<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.accessmylibrary.com/article-1G1-53356391/struggle-against-jewish-immigration.html |title=The Struggle against Jewish Immigration to Palestine |access-date=20 April 2010 |work=Middle Eastern Studies |date=1 July 1998 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://archive.today/20070227171726/http://www.accessmylibrary.com/article-1G1-53356391/struggle-against-jewish-immigration.html |archive-date=27 February 2007 }}</ref> the British Mandate authorities greatly reduced the number of Jewish immigrants to Palestine (see [[White Paper of 1939]] and the {{SS|Exodus}}). These restrictions remained in place until the end of the mandate, a period which coincided with the Nazi [[Holocaust]] and the flight of [[Jewish refugees]] from Europe. As a consequence, most Jewish entrants to Mandatory Palestine were considered illegal (see [[Aliyah Bet]]), causing further tensions in the region. Following several failed attempts to solve the problem diplomatically, the British asked the newly formed United Nations for help. On 15 May 1947, the General Assembly appointed a committee, the [[UNSCOP]], composed of representatives from eleven states.<ref>[https://unispal.un.org/UNISPAL.NSF/0/F5A49E57095C35B685256BCF0075D9C2 A/RES/106 (S-1)] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120806072438/http://unispal.un.org/UNISPAL.NSF/0/F5A49E57095C35B685256BCF0075D9C2 |date=6 August 2012 }} of 15 May 1947 General Assembly Resolution 106 Constituting the UNSCOP: Retrieved 12 May 2012</ref> To make the committee more neutral, none of the Great Powers were represented.<ref>Smith, Charles D. ''Palestine and the Arab Israeli Conflict: A History With Documents''. Bedford/St. Martin's: Boston. (2004). Pg. 186</ref> After five weeks of in-country study, the Committee reported to the General Assembly on 3 September 1947.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://domino.un.org/unispal.nsf/9a798adbf322aff38525617b006d88d7/07175de9fa2de563852568d3006e10f3?OpenDocument |title= General Assembly: A/364: 3 September 1947: Retrieved 10 May 2012 |publisher=United Nations |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120603150222/http://domino.un.org/unispal.nsf/9a798adbf322aff38525617b006d88d7/07175de9fa2de563852568d3006e10f3?OpenDocument |archive-date=3 June 2012 }}</ref> The Report contained a majority and a minority plan. The majority proposed a ''Plan of Partition with Economic Union''. The minority proposed ''The Independent State of Palestine''. With only slight modifications, the ''Plan of Partition with Economic Union'' was the one the adoption and implementation of which was recommended in [[United Nations General Assembly Resolution 181|resolution 181(II)]] of 29 November 1947.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://domino.un.org/unispal.nsf/0/7f0af2bd897689b785256c330061d253 |title=A/RES/181(II) of 29 November 1947 |publisher=United Nations |year=1947 |access-date=12 May 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120524094913/http://domino.un.org/unispal.nsf/0/7f0af2bd897689b785256c330061d253 |archive-date=24 May 2012 }}</ref> The Resolution was adopted by 33 votes to 13 with 10 abstentions. All six Arab states who were UN-members voted against it. On the ground, Arab and Jewish Palestinians were fighting openly to control strategic positions in the region. Several major atrocities were committed by both sides.<ref>Fraser, T.G. ''The Middle East: 1914–1979''. St. Martin's Press, New York. (1980). Pg. 41</ref>

=== Civil war in Mandatory Palestine ===
{{Main|1947–1948 civil war in Mandatory Palestine}}
[[File:1947-UN-Partition-Plan-1949-Armistice-Comparison.svg|thumb|upright|alt=Map comparing the borders of the 1947 partition plan and the armistice of 1949.|{{Partition Plan-Armistice Lines comparison map legend}}]]

In the weeks prior to the end of the mandate the [[Haganah]] launched a number of [[List of battles and operations in the 1948 Palestine war|offensives]] in which they gained control over all the territory allocated by the UN to the Jewish State, creating a large number of refugees and capturing the towns of [[Tiberias]], [[Haifa]], [[Safad]], [[Beisan]] and, in effect, [[Jaffa]].

Early in 1948 the United Kingdom announced its firm intention to terminate its mandate in Palestine on 14 May.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |author=Stefan Brooks |editor=Spencer C. Tucker |encyclopedia=The Encyclopedia of the Arab-Israeli Conflict |title=Palestine, British Mandate for |year=2008 |publisher=ABC-CLIO |volume=3 |location=Santa Barbara, California |isbn=978-1-85109-842-2 |pages=770}}</ref> In response, US President [[Harry S. Truman]] made a statement on 25 March [[Truman trusteeship proposal|proposing UN trusteeship]] rather than partition, stating that {{blockquote|unfortunately, it has become clear that the partition plan cannot be carried out at this time by peaceful means. ... unless emergency action is taken, there will be no public authority in Palestine on that date capable of preserving law and order. Violence and bloodshed will descend upon the Holy Land. Large-scale fighting among the people of that country will be the inevitable result.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.mideastweb.org/trusteeship.htm|title=United States Proposal for Temporary United Nations Trusteeship for Palestine Source: Department of State Bulletin|volume=18|issue=457|date=4 April 1948|page=451|publisher=Mideastweb.org|access-date=13 February 2011|archive-date=9 March 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130309041551/http://www.mideastweb.org/trusteeship.htm|url-status=live}}</ref>}}

== History ==
{{For timeline}}

=== 1948 Arab–Israeli War ===
{{Main|1948 Arab–Israeli War}}
On 14 May 1948, the day on which the British Mandate over Palestine expired, the [[Jewish People's Council]] gathered at the Tel Aviv Museum and approved a proclamation that declared [[Declaration of Establishment of State of Israel|the establishment]] of a [[Jewish state]] in [[Eretz Israel]], to be known as the [[State of Israel]]. The declaration was made by [[David Ben-Gurion]], the Executive Head of the [[World Zionist Organization]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/Peace+Process/Guide+to+the+Peace+Process/Declaration+of+Establishment+of+State+of+Israel.htm |title=Declaration of Establishment of State of Israel: 14 May 1948 |publisher=Mfa.gov.il |access-date=19 January 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130116103234/http://www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/Peace%2BProcess/Guide%2Bto%2Bthe%2BPeace%2BProcess/Declaration%2Bof%2BEstablishment%2Bof%2BState%2Bof%2BIsrael.htm |archive-date=16 January 2013 }}</ref>

There was no mention of the borders of the new state other than that it was in Eretz Israel. An official [[:s:Cablegram from the Secretary-General of the League of Arab States to the Secretary-General of the United Nations|cablegram from the Secretary-General of the League of Arab States]] to the UN Secretary-General on 15 May 1948 stated publicly that Arab Governments found "themselves compelled to intervene for the sole purpose of restoring peace and security and establishing law and order in Palestine" (Clause 10(e)). Further in Clause 10(e): {{blockquote|The Governments of the Arab States hereby confirm at this stage the view that had been repeatedly declared by them on previous occasions, such as the London Conference and before the United Nations mainly, the only fair and just solution to the problem of Palestine is the creation of United State of Palestine based upon the democratic principles ...}}

That day, the armies of [[Kingdom of Egypt|Egypt]], Lebanon, [[Syrian Republic (1946–63)|Syria]], Jordan and [[Kingdom of Iraq|Iraq]] invaded what had just ceased to be the British Mandate, marking the beginning of the [[1948 Arab–Israeli War]]. The nascent [[Israeli Defense Force]] repulsed the Arab nations from part of the occupied territories, thus extending its borders beyond the original UNSCOP partition.<ref>Smith, Charles D. ''Palestine and the Arab Israeli Conflict: A History With Documents''. Bedford/St. Martin's: Boston. (2004). Pg. 198</ref> By December 1948, Israel controlled most of the portion of Mandate Palestine west of the [[Jordan River]]. The remainder of the Mandate consisted of Jordan, the area that came to be called the [[West Bank]] (controlled by Jordan), and the [[Gaza Strip]] (controlled by Egypt). Before and during this conflict, 713,000<ref>General Progress Report and Supplementary Report of the United Nations Conciliation Commission for Palestine, Covering the period from 11 December 1949 to 23 October 1950, GA A/1367/Rev.1 23 October 1950</ref> Palestinian Arabs fled their original lands to become [[Palestinian refugees]], in part due to [[Causes of the 1948 Palestinian exodus#Outline of the historical debate|a promise]] from Arab leaders that they would be able to return when the war had been won, and also in part due to attacks on Palestinian villages and towns by Israeli forces and Jewish militant groups.<ref>{{cite web|title=The Palestinian Diaspora|url=http://www.globalexchange.org/country/palestine/diaspora|publisher=Global Exchange|access-date=12 December 2012|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130101221315/http://www.globalexchange.org/country/palestine/diaspora|archive-date=1 January 2013|df=dmy-all}}</ref> During the war, official Israeli documents subsequently uncovered by [[Benny Morris]] and [[Benjamin Kedar]] have revealed that Israel conducted a biological warfare campaign codenamed "Cast Thy Bread" to covertly poison Palestinian wells to prevent villagers from returning.<ref>{{cite news |date=14 October 2022 |title=Israel Poisoned Palestinian Land to Build West Bank Settlement in 1970s, Documents Reveal |work=Haaretx |url=https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/2022-10-14/ty-article-magazine/.highlight/documents-confirm-israelis-poisoned-arab-wells-in-1948/00000183-d2b2-d8cc-afc7-fefed64d0000 |url-access=subscription |access-date=6 August 2023 |archive-date=18 August 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230818072320/https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/2022-10-14/ty-article-magazine/.highlight/documents-confirm-israelis-poisoned-arab-wells-in-1948/00000183-d2b2-d8cc-afc7-fefed64d0000 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.newarab.com/news/israel-forces-poisoned-palestine-wells-during-1948-nakba |title=Israeli forces 'poisoned wells in Palestinian villages' during 1948 Nakba, unearthed documents show |work=The New Arab |date=15 October 2022 |access-date=6 August 2023 |archive-date=25 July 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230725223342/https://www.newarab.com/news/israel-forces-poisoned-palestine-wells-during-1948-nakba |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=https://english.aawsat.com/home/article/3932421/documents-reveal-israeli-army-poisoned-water-wells-palestinian-towns-during |title=Documents Reveal Israeli Army Poisoned Water Wells in Palestinian Towns During 1948 War |work=Asharq al-Awsat |date=15 October 2022 |access-date=6 August 2023 |archive-date=25 July 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230725224846/https://english.aawsat.com/home/article/3932421/documents-reveal-israeli-army-poisoned-water-wells-palestinian-towns-during |url-status=live }}</ref> Many Palestinians fled from the areas that are now Israel as a response to massacres of Arab towns by militant Jewish organizations like the [[Irgun]] and the [[Lehi (group)]] (See [[Deir Yassin massacre]]). The War came to an end with the signing of the [[1949 Armistice Agreements]] between Israel and each of its Arab neighbours.

The status of Jewish citizens in Arab states worsened during the 1948 Israeli-Arab war. Anti-Jewish riots erupted throughout the Arab World in December 1947, and Jewish communities were hit particularly hard in [[1947 Aleppo pogrom|Aleppo]] and British-controlled [[1947 Aden riots|Aden]], with hundreds of dead and injured. In [[Libya]], Jews were deprived of citizenship, and in Iraq, their property was seized.{{context inline|date=June 2015}}<ref>{{cite news |last=Aharoni |first=Ada |url=http://taylorandfrancis.metapress.com/content/w91udxrhc7cf5a86 |title=The Forced Migration of Jews from Arab Countries |publisher=Routledge, part of the Taylor & Francis Group |volume=15 |issue=1 |date=March 2003 |df=dmy-all |access-date=27 May 2008 |archive-date=7 February 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230207171955/http://taylorandfrancis.metapress.com/content/w91udxrhc7cf5a86 |url-status=dead }}</ref> Egypt expelled most of its foreign community, including Jews, after the Suez War in 1956,<ref>{{cite book |last=Gorman |first=Anthony |title=Historians, State and Politics in Twentieth Century Egypt: Contesting the Nation |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZWE2i6PBJvIC&pg=PA174|publisher=Psychology Press |year=2003 |pages=174–5 |isbn=978-0-415-29753-0}}</ref> while Algeria denied its French citizens, including Jews, of citizenship upon its independence in 1962.<ref>Algerian Nationality Code, Law no. 63-69 of Mar. 27, 1963, section 34</ref> Over the course of twenty years, some [[Jewish exodus from Arab and Muslim countries|850,000 Jews from Arab countries]] immigrated to Israel and other countries.<ref>{{cite news |title=Group seeks justice for 'forgotten' Jews |first=Warren |last=Hoge |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/04/world/americas/04iht-nations.4.8182206.html |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |date=5 November 2007 |access-date=7 June 2015 |archive-date=11 April 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190411211005/https://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/04/world/americas/04iht-nations.4.8182206.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

===1949–1967===
As a result of Israel's victory in the [[1948 Arab–Israeli War]], any Arabs caught on the wrong side of the ceasefire line were unable to return to their homes in what became Israel. Likewise, any Jews on the West Bank or in Gaza were exiled from their property and homes to Israel. Today's Palestinian refugees are the descendants of those who left, the responsibility for their exodus being a matter of dispute between the Israeli and the Palestinian side.<ref>Erskine Childers, "The Other Exodus", ''The Spectator'', 12 May 1961, reprinted in [[Walter Laqueur]] (ed.) ''The Israel-Arab Reader: A Documentary History of the Middle East Conflict'', (1969) rev.ed. Pelican, 1970 pp. 179–188 p.183.</ref><ref name=Morris2004>{{cite book |last=Morris |first=Benny | author-link=Benny Morris |year=2004 |title=The Birth of the Palestinian Refugee Problem Revisited|publisher=Cambridge University Press|location=Cambridge|edition=2nd|isbn=978-0-679-42120-7}}</ref>{{rp|114}} Historian [[Benny Morris]] has claimed that the "decisive cause" for the abandonment by Palestinian Arabs of their settlements was predominantly related to, or caused by, actions of the Jewish forces (citing actual physical expulsions, military assaults on settlements, fear of being caught up in fighting, the fall of nearby settlements, and propaganda inciting flight), while abandonment due to orders by the Arab leadership was decisive in only six out of the 392 depopulated Arab settlements analysed by him.<ref name=Morris2004 />{{rp|xiv-xviii}} Over 700,000 Jews emigrated to Israel between 1948 and 1952, with approximately 285,000 of them from Arab countries.<ref>[http://www.jewishagency.org/JewishAgency/English/Jewish+Education/Compelling+Content/Jewish+History/Zionist+History/Zionist+Aliyot/1940s.htm '1942–1951'] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081011030256/http://www.jewishagency.org/JewishAgency/English/Jewish+Education/Compelling+Content/Jewish+History/Zionist+History/Zionist+Aliyot/1940s.htm |date=11 October 2008 }}, Jewish Agency for Israel.<br />- During the first four years of statehood, the country had to struggle for its existence, while simultaneously absorbing over 700,000 immigrants.</ref><ref name=neumann>[https://web.archive.org/web/20200726101723/http://repec.iza.org/RePEc/Discussionpaper/dp89.pdf Aliyeh to Israel: Immigration under Conditions of Adversity] – Shoshana Neumann, Bar-Ilan University, page 10. Asia: Yemen – 45,127 (6.7), Turkey – 34,647 (5), Iraq – 124,225 (18), Iran – 25,971 (3.8), Syria and Lebanon – 3,162 (0.5), Eden – 3,320 (0.5); Africa: Morocco, Tunisia and Algeria – 52,565 (7.7), Libya – 32,130 (4.6) (Keren-Hayesod, 1953). Note: The numbers add up to 286,500 (without Turkey, see also: [[History of the Jews in Turkey]]). {{dead link|date=June 2016|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}</ref>

In 1956, Egypt closed the [[Straits of Tiran]] to Israeli shipping, and blockaded the [[Gulf of Aqaba]], in contravention of the [[Convention of Constantinople|Constantinople Convention of 1888]]. Many argued that this was also a violation of the [[1949 Armistice Agreements]].<ref name=Sachar455>[[Howard Sachar|Sachar, Howard M.]] (1976). ''A History of Israel: From the Rise of Zionism to Our Time''. New York: Alfred A. Knopf. p. 455. {{ISBN|978-0-394-48564-5}}</ref><ref name="State Dept: Background Note: Israel">{{cite web| url=https://2009-2017.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/3581.htm| title=Background Note: Israel| access-date=4 March 2007| publisher=US State Department| archive-date=21 January 2017| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170121022132/https://2009-2017.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/3581.htm| url-status=live}}</ref>{{Failed verification|reason=Article does not support that a blockade was in violation of the Armitice agreement|date=February 2015}} On 26 July 1956, Egypt nationalized the [[Suez Canal Company]], and closed the canal to Israeli shipping.<ref name="BBC: 1956: Egypt Seizes Suez Canal">{{cite news| url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/july/26/newsid_2701000/2701603.stm| title=1956: Egypt Seizes Suez Canal| access-date=4 March 2007| publisher=British Broadcasting Service| date=26 July 1956| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070317034109/http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/july/26/newsid_2701000/2701603.stm| archive-date=17 March 2007 | url-status=live}}</ref> Israel responded on 29 October 1956, by invading the [[Sinai Peninsula]] with British and French military support. During the [[Suez Crisis]], Israel captured the [[Gaza Strip]] and Sinai Peninsula. The United States and the United Nations soon pressured it into a ceasefire.<ref name="BBC: 1956: Egypt Seizes Suez Canal"/><ref name="Mideast Web: UN GA Resolution 997">{{cite web|url=http://www.mideastweb.org/ga997.htm |title=UN GA Resolution 997 |access-date=4 March 2007 |publisher=Mideast Web |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20021217025345/http://www.mideastweb.org/ga997.htm |archive-date=17 December 2002 |url-status=live }}</ref> Israel agreed to withdraw from Egyptian territory. Egypt agreed to freedom of navigation in the region and the demilitarization of the Sinai. The [[United Nations Emergency Force]] (UNEF) was created and deployed to oversee the demilitarization.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia|title=Israel – MSN Encarta |url=http://encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_761575008_10/Israel.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060522193526/http://encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_761575008_10/Israel.html |archive-date=22 May 2006 |url-status=dead }}</ref> The UNEF was only deployed on the Egyptian side of the border, as Israel refused to allow them on its territory.<ref name="UN: Middle East – UNEF I, Background"/>

Israel completed work on a [[National Water Carrier of Israel|national water carrier]] in 1964, a huge engineering project designed to transfer Israel's allocation of the [[Jordan river]]'s waters towards the south of the country in realization of Ben-Gurion's dream of mass Jewish settlement of the [[Negev]] desert. The Arabs responded by trying to divert the headwaters of the Jordan, leading to growing [[War over Water (Jordan river)|conflict]] between Israel and Syria.<ref name="JordanGov: The Disaster of 1967"/>

The PLO (Palestinian Liberation Organization) was first established in 1964, under a charter including a commitment to "[t]he liberation of Palestine [which] will destroy the Zionist and imperialist presence..." (PLO Charter, Article 22, 1968).

On 19 May 1967, Egypt expelled UNEF observers,<ref name="UN: Middle East – UNEF I, Background">{{cite web| url=https://www.un.org/Depts/dpko/dpko/co_mission/unef1backgr2.html| title=UN: Middle East – UNEF I, Background| access-date=4 March 2007| publisher=United Nations| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070327073949/http://www.un.org/Depts/dpko/dpko/co_mission/unef1backgr2.html| archive-date=27 March 2007 | url-status=live}}</ref> and deployed 100,000 soldiers in the Sinai Peninsula.<ref name="MFA: The Arab-Israeli Wars">{{cite web|url=http://www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/History/Modern+History/Centenary+of+Zionism/The+Arab-Israeli+Wars.htm |title=The Arab-Israeli Wars |access-date=4 March 2007 |date=2 September 2003 |last=Lorch |first=Netanel |publisher=Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070309115843/http://www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/history/modern%2Bhistory/centenary%2Bof%2Bzionism/the%2Barab-israeli%2Bwars.htm |archive-date=9 March 2007 |url-status=live }}</ref> It again closed the [[Straits of Tiran]] to Israeli shipping,<ref name="The Times: Egypt Closes Gulf of Aqaba to Israel Ships">'Egypt Closes Gulf Of Aqaba To Israel Ships: Defiant move by Nasser raises Middle East tension', ''[[The Times]]'', Tuesday, 23 May 1967; pg. 1; Issue 56948; col A.</ref><ref name="JordanGov: The Disaster of 1967">{{cite web| url=http://www.kinghussein.gov.jo/his_periods3.html| title=The Disaster of 1967| access-date=4 March 2007| publisher=The Jordanian Government| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070219000135/http://www.kinghussein.gov.jo/his_periods3.html| archive-date=19 February 2007 | url-status=live}}</ref> returning the region to the way it was in 1956 when Israel was blockaded.

On 30 May 1967, Jordan signed a mutual defense pact with Egypt. Egypt mobilized Sinai units, crossing UN lines (after having expelled the UN border monitors) and mobilized and massed on Israel's southern border. On 5 June, Israel launched an attack on Egypt. The [[Israeli Air Force]] (IAF) destroyed most of the [[Egyptian Air Force]] in a surprise attack, then turned east to destroy the Jordanian, Syrian and Iraqi air forces.<ref>{{cite book|last=Morris|first=Benny|title=Righteous victims : a history of the Zionist-Arab conflict, 1881–2001|year=2001|publisher=Vintage Books|location=New York|isbn=978-0-679-74475-7|pages=[https://archive.org/details/righteousvictims00morr_0/page/316 316–318]|edition=1st Vintage Books|url=https://archive.org/details/righteousvictims00morr_0/page/316}}</ref> This strike was the crucial element in Israel's victory in the [[Six-Day War]].<ref name="MFA: The Arab-Israeli Wars"/><ref name="JordanGov: The Disaster of 1967"/> At the war's end, Israel had gained control of the Sinai Peninsula, the Gaza Strip, the West Bank (including [[East Jerusalem]]), [[Shebaa farms]], and the Golan Heights. The results of the war affect the geopolitics of the region to this day.

===1967–1973===
{{See also|Closure of the Suez Canal (1967–1975)}}
[[File:Bridge Crossing.jpg|thumb|Egyptian forces crossing the Suez Canal on 7 October 1973]]
At the end of August 1967, Arab leaders [[Khartoum Resolution|met in Khartoum]] in response to the war, to discuss the Arab position toward Israel. They reached consensus that there should be no recognition, no peace, and no negotiations with the State of Israel, the so-called "three no's",<ref name="SIS: President Mubarak Interview with Israeli TV">{{cite web|url=http://www.sis.gov.eg/En/Politics/Presidency/President/Interview/000001/0401050300000000000154.htm |title=President Mubarak Interview with Israeli TV |access-date=4 March 2007 |date=15 February 2006 |publisher=Egyptian State Information Service |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070928001621/http://www.sis.gov.eg/En/Politics/Presidency/President/Interview/000001/0401050300000000000154.htm |archive-date=28 September 2007 }}</ref> which according to Abd al Azim Ramadan, left only one option{{snd}} a war with Israel.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Meital |first1=Yoram |title=The Khartoum Conference and Egyptian Policy after the 1967 War: A Reexamination |journal=Middle East Journal |date=2000 |volume=54 |issue=1 |pages=64–82 |jstor=4329432 |url=http://www.jstor.org/stable/4329432 |access-date=15 June 2021 |archive-date=11 June 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210611042750/https://www.jstor.org/stable/4329432 |url-status=live }}</ref>

In 1968, American senator [[Robert F. Kennedy]] was [[Assassination of Robert F. Kennedy|assassinated]] following a speech at the [[Ambassador Hotel (Los Angeles)|Ambassador Hotel]] in [[Los Angeles]], California. The assassin, [[Sirhan Sirhan]], was a Palestinian-Jordanian [[Arab Christians|Arab Christian]]<ref>{{cite news |last1=Gorney |first1=Cynthia |title=Sirhan |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/1979/08/20/sirhan/75cd41f0-e570-4bc4-ac93-83f251eec765/ |newspaper=Washington Post |date=August 20, 1979 |access-date=8 October 2023 |archive-date=18 August 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200818111942/https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/1979/08/20/sirhan/75cd41f0-e570-4bc4-ac93-83f251eec765/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |agency=Associated Press |last1=Shreiman |first1=Jack |title=Who is Sirhan Sirhan? |page=5A |date=June 17, 1968 |via=Google News Archive Search |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1310&dat=19680617&id=vadVAAAAIBAJ&sjid=8OADAAAAIBAJ&pg=5074,3923639&hl=en |newspaper=Eugene Register-Guard |access-date=8 October 2023 |archive-date=8 March 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210308170911/https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1310&dat=19680617&id=vadVAAAAIBAJ&sjid=8OADAAAAIBAJ&pg=5074,3923639&hl=en |url-status=live }}</ref> who cited Kennedy's support for Israel during the [[Six-Day War]] as his motive for the killing;<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.crimemagazine.com/part-ii-why-sirhan-sirhan-assassinated-robert-kennedy|title=Part II: Why Sirhan Sirhan Assassinated Robert Kennedy by Mel Ayton|publisher=Crimemagazine.com|access-date=January 16, 2009|archive-date=30 May 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230530215048/https://crimemagazine.com/part-ii-why-sirhan-sirhan-assassinated-robert-kennedy|url-status=live}}</ref> Sirhan was sentenced to life in prison. Some scholars described Kennedy's murder as the first spillover of the Arab–Israeli conflict (and in particular the Israeli–Palestinian conflict) on American soil.<ref>{{cite news| work= San Diego Union-Tribune (Boston Globe)| url= http://www.signonsandiego.com/uniontrib/20080608/news_1n8rfk.html| title= RFK's death now viewed as first case of Mideast violence exported to U.S.| date= June 8, 2008| access-date= 8 October 2023| archive-date= 11 June 2008| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20080611204140/http://www.signonsandiego.com/uniontrib/20080608/news_1n8rfk.html| url-status= live}}</ref>

In 1969, Egypt initiated the [[War of Attrition]], with the goal of exhausting Israel into surrendering the Sinai Peninsula.<ref name="Britannica: The War of Attrition">{{cite encyclopedia| url=https://www.britannica.com/eb/article-219430/Israel| title=Israel: The War of Attrition| access-date=3 March 2007| encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Britannica| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070222164659/https://www.britannica.com/eb/article-219430/Israel| archive-date=22 February 2007 | url-status=live}}</ref> The war ended following [[Gamal Abdel Nasser]]'s death in 1970. Once Sadat took over, he tried to forge positive relations with the US, hoping that they would put pressure on Israel to return the land, by expelling 15,000 Russian advisors from Egypt.<ref>US Department of State. [https://history.state.gov/milestones/1969-1976/arab-israeli-war-"1973 MILESTONES: 1969–1976"]{{Dead link|date=July 2018 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}, 31 October 2013. Retrieved on 2 July 2014.</ref>

On 6 October 1973, Syria and Egypt staged a surprise attack on Israel on [[Yom Kippur]], the holiest day of the Jewish calendar. The Israeli military were caught off guard and unprepared, and took about three days to fully mobilize.<ref name="Britannica: The Yom Kippur War">{{cite encyclopedia| url=https://www.britannica.com/eb/article-219432/Israel| title=Israel: The Yom Kippur War| access-date=3 March 2007| encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Britannica| archive-date=18 May 2007| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070518065823/http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-219432/Israel| url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="Encarta: Arab-Israeli War of 1973">{{cite encyclopedia|url=http://encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_761564886/Arab-Israeli_War_of_1973.html |title=Arab-Israeli War of 1973 |access-date=4 March 2007 |encyclopedia=Encarta Encyclopedia |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20031205103623/http://encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_761564886/Arab-Israeli_War_of_1973.html |archive-date=5 December 2003 |url-status=dead }}</ref> This led other Arab states to send troops to reinforce the Egyptians and Syrians. In addition, these Arab countries agreed to enforce an oil embargo on industrial nations including the U.S., Japan and Western European Countries. These OPEC countries increased the price of oil fourfold, and used it as a political weapon to gain support against Israel.<ref>Smith, Charles D. (2006) ''Palestine and the Arab-Israeli Conflict'', New York: Bedford, p. 329.</ref> The [[Yom Kippur War]] accommodated [[Cold War|indirect confrontation]] between the US and the Soviet Union. When Israel had turned the tide of war, the USSR threatened military intervention. The United States, wary of [[Nuclear warfare|nuclear war]], secured a ceasefire on 25 October.<ref name="Britannica: The Yom Kippur War"/><ref name="Encarta: Arab-Israeli War of 1973" />

===1974–2000===

====Egypt====
{{Further|Egypt–Israel relations}}
[[File:Begin, Carter and Sadat at Camp David 1978.jpg|right|thumb|Begin, Carter and Sadat at Camp David]]
Following the [[Camp David Accords]] of the late 1970s, Israel and Egypt signed a [[Egypt–Israel peace treaty|peace treaty]] in March 1979. Under its terms, the [[Sinai Peninsula]] returned to Egyptian hands, and the Gaza Strip remained under Israeli control, to be included in a future [[Palestinian state]]. The agreement also provided for the free passage of Israeli ships through the Suez Canal and recognition of the [[Straits of Tiran]] and the [[Gulf of Aqaba]] as international waterways.

====Jordan====
{{Further|Israel–Jordan relations}}
In October 1994, Israel and Jordan signed a [[Israel–Jordan peace treaty|peace agreement]], which stipulated mutual cooperation, an end of hostilities, the fixing of the Israel-Jordan border, and a resolution of other issues. The conflict between them had cost roughly 18.3 billion dollars. Its signing is also closely linked with the efforts to create peace between Israel and the [[Palestine Liberation Organization]] (PLO) representing the [[Palestinian National Authority]] (PNA). It was signed at the southern border crossing of Arabah on 26 October 1994 and made Jordan only the second Arab country (after Egypt) to sign a peace accord with Israel.

====Iraq====
{{Further|Iraq–Israel relations}}
Israel and Iraq have been implacable foes since 1948. Iraq sent its troops to participate in the [[1948 Arab–Israeli War]], and later backed Egypt and Syria in the 1967 Six-Day War and in the 1973 Yom Kippur War.

In June 1981, Israel attacked and destroyed newly built Iraqi nuclear facilities in [[Operation Opera]].

During the [[Gulf War]] in 1991, Iraq [[Iraqi rocket attacks on Israel|fired 39 Scud missiles]] into Israel, in the hopes of uniting the Arab world against the coalition which sought to liberate [[Kuwait]]. At the behest of the United States, Israel did not respond to this attack in order to prevent a greater outbreak of war.

====Lebanon====
{{main|Israeli–Lebanese conflict}}
{{Further|Israel–Lebanon relations|Palestinian insurgency in South Lebanon}}
In 1970, following an extended [[Black September in Jordan|civil war]], King Hussein expelled the [[Palestine Liberation Organization]] from Jordan. September 1970 is known as the Black September in Arab history and sometimes is referred to as the "era of regrettable events". It was a month when Hashemite King Hussein of Jordan moved to quash the autonomy of Palestinian organisations and restore his monarchy's rule over the country.<ref>Shlaim. Avi. ''Lion of Jordan; The life of King Hussein in War in Peace'', 2007, pg. 301.</ref> The violence resulted in the deaths of tens of thousands of people, the vast majority Palestinians.<ref>Massad, Joseph Andoni. "Colonial Effects: The Making of National Identity in Jordan", pg. 342.</ref> Armed conflict lasted until July 1971 with the expulsion of the PLO and thousands of Palestinian fighters to Lebanon.

The PLO resettled in Lebanon, where it began to extend a de facto autonomous rule and from which it staged raids into Israel. PLO was one of the major factors for sectarian destabilization of Lebanon and the eruption of the [[Lebanese Civil War]] in 1975. In 1978, Israel launched [[Operation Litani]], in which it together with the [[Free Lebanon Army]] forced the PLO to retreat north of the Litani river. In 1981 another conflict between Israel and the PLO broke out, which ended with a ceasefire agreement that did not solve the core of the conflict. In June 1982, [[1982 Lebanon War|Israel invaded Lebanon]] in alliance with Christian factions of the Lebanese government. Within two months the PLO agreed to withdraw thence.

In March 1983, Israel and Lebanon signed a [[17 May Agreement|normalization agreement]]. However, Syria pressured President [[Amine Gemayel]] into nullifying the truce in March 1984. By 1985, Israeli forces withdrew to a 15&nbsp;km wide southern strip of Lebanon, following which the conflict continued on a lower scale, with relatively low casualties on both sides. In 1993 and 1996, Israel launched major operations against the Shiite militia of [[Hezbollah]], which had become an emergent threat. In May 2000, the newly elected government of [[Ehud Barak]] authorized a withdrawal from Southern Lebanon, fulfilling an election promise to do so well ahead of a declared deadline. The hasty withdrawal lead to the immediate collapse of the [[South Lebanon Army]], and many members either got arrested or fled to Israel.

====Palestinians====
{{Further|Israeli–Palestinian conflict}}
The 1970s were marked by a large number of major, international terrorist attacks, including the [[Lod Airport massacre]] and the [[Munich massacre|Munich Olympics Massacre]] in 1972, and the [[Operation Entebbe|Entebbe Hostage Taking]] in 1976, with over 100 Jewish hostages of different nationalities kidnapped and held in Uganda.

In December 1987, the [[First Intifada]] began. The First Intifada was a mass Palestinian uprising against Israeli rule in the [[Palestinian territories]].<ref>"Uprising by Palestinians against Israeli rule in the West Bank and Gaza Strip territories", Intifada, Microsoft Encarta.</ref> The rebellion began in the [[Jabalia Camp|Jabalia refugee camp]] and quickly spread throughout Gaza and the West Bank. Palestinian actions ranged from civil disobedience to violence. In addition to general strikes, boycotts on Israeli products, graffiti and barricades, Palestinian demonstrations that included stone-throwing by youths against the Israel Defense Forces brought the Intifada international attention. The Israeli army's heavy handed response to the demonstrations, with live ammunition, beatings and mass arrests, brought international condemnation. The PLO, which until then had never been recognised as the leaders of the Palestinian people by Israel, was invited to peace negotiations the following year, after it recognized Israel and renounced terrorism.

[[File:Bill Clinton, Yitzhak Rabin, Yasser Arafat at the White House 1993-09-13.jpg|thumb|[[Yitzhak Rabin]], [[Bill Clinton]], and [[Yasser Arafat]] at the Oslo Accords signing ceremony on 13 September 1993]]

In mid-1993, Israeli and Palestinian representatives engaged in peace talks in Oslo, Norway. As a result, in September 1993, Israel and the PLO signed the [[Oslo Accords]], known as the ''Declaration of Principles'' or Oslo I. In [[Israel–Palestine Liberation Organization letters of recognition|side letters]], Israel recognized the PLO as the legitimate representative of the Palestinian people, while the PLO recognized the right of the state of Israel to exist and renounced terrorism, violence and its [[Calls for the destruction of Israel|desire for the destruction of Israel]].

The Oslo II agreement was signed in 1995 and detailed the division of the West Bank into [[West Bank Areas in the Oslo II Accord|Areas A, B, and C]]. Area A was land under full Palestinian civilian control, and Palestinians were also responsible for internal security. The Oslo agreements remain important documents in Israeli–Palestinian relations.<ref>[https://remix.aljazeera.com/aje/PalestineRemix/the-price-of-oslo.html#/14 The Oslo II agreement] Retrieved 5 March 2024</ref>

===2000–2005===
The [[Al-Aqsa Intifada]] forced Israel to rethink its relationship and policies towards the Palestinians. Following a [[List of Palestinian suicide attacks|series of suicide bombings]] and attacks, the Israeli army launched [[Operation Defensive Shield]] in March 2002. It was the largest military operation conducted by Israel since the Six-Day War.<ref>{{cite book| publisher=Yedioth Aharonoth Books and Chemed Books and it had a very big conflict| isbn =978-965-511-767-7| last1=Harel| author-link1=Amos Harel| first1=Amos| first2=Avi| last2= Isacharoff| author-link2 = Avi Issacharoff| title=The Seventh War| pages=274–275| location=Tel Aviv|year=2004}}</ref>

As violence between the Israeli army and Palestinian militants intensified, Israel expanded its security apparatus around the West Bank by re-taking many parts of land in Area A. Israel established a complicated system of roadblocks and [[Border checkpoint|checkpoints]] around major Palestinian areas to deter violence and protect Israeli settlements. However, since 2008, the IDF has slowly transferred authority to Palestinian security forces.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.jpost.com/Headlines/Article.aspx?id=172860 |first=Leo |last=Giosuecom |date=April 11, 2010 |title=PA security forces seize 17 bombs, transfer them to IDF |work=The Jerusalem Post |access-date=14 September 2010 |archive-date=20 November 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101120223425/http://www.jpost.com/Headlines/Article.aspx?id=172860 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |agency=Associated Press |url=http://www.jpost.com/Headlines/Article.aspx?id=178633 |title=UN: Israel has dismantled 20 percent of West Bank checkpoint |work=The Jerusalem Post |date=16 June 2010 |access-date=14 September 2010 |archive-date=4 December 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101204000728/http://www.jpost.com/Headlines/Article.aspx?id=178633 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last=Katz |first=Yaakov |author-link=Yaakov Katz (journalist) |url=http://www.jpost.com/Israel/Article.aspx?id=170599 |title=Israel sets up trial program to expedite PA export process |work=The Jerusalem Post |date=26 April 2010 |access-date=14 September 2010 |archive-date=4 December 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101204001039/http://www.jpost.com/Israel/Article.aspx?id=170599 |url-status=live }}</ref>

Israel's then prime minister [[Ariel Sharon]] began a policy of [[Israeli disengagement from Gaza|disengagement]] from the [[Gaza Strip]] in 2003. This policy was fully implemented in August 2005.<ref name="Special Update: Disengagement – August 2005">"[http://www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/History/Modern+History/Historic+Events/Disengagement+-+August+2005.htm Special Update: Disengagement – August 2005] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061116122917/http://www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/History/Modern+History/Historic+Events/Disengagement+-+August+2005.htm |date=16 November 2006 }}", Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs.</ref> Sharon's announcement to disengage from Gaza came as a tremendous shock to his critics both on the left and on the right. A year previously, he had commented that the fate of the most far-flung settlements in Gaza, Netzararem and Kfar Darom, was regarded in the same light as that of Tel Aviv.<ref>Ma'ariv II December 2002</ref> The formal announcements to evacuate seventeen Gaza settlements and another four in the West Bank in February 2004 represented the first reversal for the settler movement since 1968, dividing Sharon's party. It was strongly supported by Trade and Industry Minister [[Ehud Olmert]] and [[Tzipi Livni]], the Minister for Immigration and Absorption, but Foreign Minister [[Silvan Shalom]] and Finance Minister [[Benjamin Netanyahu]] strongly condemned it. It was also uncertain at the time whether this was simply the beginning of further evacuation.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Shindler |first=Colin |author-link =Colin Shindler |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/166357536 |title=A history of modern Israel |date=2008 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-521-85028-5 |location=Cambridge |oclc=166357536 | page = 314}}</ref>

==Shift to Iranian–Israeli conflict (2006–present)==
{{Further|Iran–Israel proxy conflict}}

===Israel's conflicts with Hamas and Hezbollah===
In June 2006, [[Hamas]] militants infiltrated an army post near the Israeli side of the Gaza Strip and abducted Israeli soldier [[Gilad Shalit]]. Two IDF soldiers were killed in the attack, while Shalit was wounded after his tank was hit with an [[Rocket-propelled grenade|RPG]]. Three days later Israel launched [[Operation Summer Rains]] to secure the release of Shalit.<ref>{{cite web |last=Ravid |first=Barak |url=http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/gilad-shalit-to-be-returned-to-israel-within-a-week-1.389655 |title=Gilad Shalit to be returned to Israel within a week – Israel News &#124; Haaretz Daily Newspaper |work=Haaretz |date=12 October 2011 |access-date=19 January 2013 |archive-date=2 February 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130202220410/http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/gilad-shalit-to-be-returned-to-israel-within-a-week-1.389655 |url-status=live }}</ref> He was held hostage by Hamas, who barred the [[International Red Cross]] from seeing him, until 18 October 2011, when he was exchanged for 1,027 Palestinian prisoners.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.haaretz.com/1.5089009|title=Who Are the Deadly Terrorists Israel Refuses to Release for Shalit?|newspaper=Haaretz|access-date=4 September 2021|archive-date=19 October 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211019195309/https://www.haaretz.com/1.5089009|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last=Ravid |first=Barak |url=http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/pages/ShArtStEngPE.jhtml?itemNo=1071934&contrassID=2&subContrassID=1&title=%27Israel%20to%20publish%20Hamas%20prisoner%20list%20%27&dyn_server=172.20.5.5 |title=Israel to publish Hamas prisoner list |work=Haaretz |date=18 March 2009 |access-date=19 January 2013 |df=dmy-all |archive-date=8 December 2011 |archive-url=http://web.archive.bibalex.org/web/20111208125041/http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/news/israel-to-publish-hamas-prisoner-list-1.272320 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

In July 2006, [[Hezbollah]] fighters crossed the border from Lebanon into Israel, attacked and killed eight Israeli soldiers, and abducted two others as hostages, setting off the [[2006 Lebanon War]], which caused much destruction in Lebanon.<ref name=Encarta12>[http://encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_761575008_12/Israel.html Israel (country)], ''Microsoft [[Encarta]] Encyclopedia.'', 2007, p. 12. [https://archive.today/20070506084834/http://encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_761575008_12/Israel.html Archived] 31 October 2009.</ref> A UN-sponsored ceasefire went into effect on 14 August 2006, officially ending the conflict.<ref name="ceasefire-news">"[http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/meast/08/14/mideast.main/index.html Lebanon truce holds despite clashes] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080613073546/http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/meast/08/14/mideast.main/index.html |date=13 June 2008 }}", [[CNN]]</ref> The conflict killed over a thousand Lebanese and over 150 Israelis,<ref>''Lessons of the 2006 Israeli-Hezbollah War'', By Anthony H. Cordesman, William D. Sullivan, CSIS, 2007, page 16</ref><ref name="apstats">{{Cite news|title=Lebanon Sees More Than 1,000 War Deaths |publisher=AP via Usti.net |url=http://news.usti.net/home/news/cn/?/world.mideast.misc/1/wed/bq/Alebanon-war-deaths.RYBR_GDS.html |access-date=25 November 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120206055402/http://news.usti.net/home/news/cn/?%2Fworld.mideast.misc%2F1%2Fwed%2Fbq%2FAlebanon-war-deaths.RYBR_GDS.html |archive-date=6 February 2012 }}</ref><ref>guardian.co.uk (14 September 2006). [https://www.theguardian.com/world/2006/sep/14/syria.israelandthepalestinians "Amnesty report accuses Hizbullah of war crimes"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170218064702/https://www.theguardian.com/world/2006/sep/14/syria.israelandthepalestinians |date=18 February 2017 }}. Retrieved 16 July 2008.</ref><ref>[[Associated Press]] via CHINAdaily (30 July 2006). [https://archive.today/20110806013925/http://chinadaily.cn/world/2006-07/30/content_652972.htm "Rice postpones trip to Beirut"]. Retrieved 16 July 2008.</ref><ref>Sarah Martin and Kristele Younes, [[Refugees International]] (28 August 2006). [http://www.refugeesinternational.org/content/article/detail/9399/ "Lebanon: Refugees International's Statement for Donors' Conference"]. Retrieved 16 July 2008. {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080517000830/http://www.refugeesinternational.org/content/article/detail/9399/ |date=17 May 2008 }}</ref><ref name="fatal_strikes">Human Rights Watch (August 2006). [http://hrw.org/reports/2006/lebanon0806/ "Fatal Strikes: Israel's Indiscriminate Attacks Against Civilians in Lebanon"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080312061222/http://hrw.org/reports/2006/lebanon0806/ |date=12 March 2008 }}. Retrieved 5 April 2007.</ref> severely damaged Lebanese civil infrastructure, and displaced approximately one million Lebanese<ref name="hrc">Lebanon Higher Relief Council (2007). [http://www.lebanonundersiege.gov.lb/english/F/Main/index.asp? "Lebanon Under Siege"]. Retrieved 5 March 2007.  {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090426210424/http://www.lebanonundersiege.gov.lb/english/F/Main/index.asp |date=26 April 2009 }}</ref> and 300,000–500,000 Israelis, although most were able to return to their homes.<ref name="mfa_casualties">Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs (12 July 2006). [http://www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/Terrorism-+Obstacle+to+Peace/Terrorism+from+Lebanon-+Hizbullah/Hizbullah+attack+in+northern+Israel+and+Israels+response+12-Jul-2006.htm "Hizbullah attacks northern Israel and Israel's response"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130328084534/http://www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/Terrorism-+Obstacle+to+Peace/Terrorism+from+Lebanon-+Hizbullah/Hizbullah+attack+in+northern+Israel+and+Israels+response+12-Jul-2006.htm |date=28 March 2013 }}. Retrieved 5 March 2007.</ref><ref name="BBC: Middle East crisis: Facts and Figures">{{cite news| url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/5257128.stm| title=Middle East crisis: Facts and Figures|work=BBC News| date=31 August 2006| access-date =13 July 2008| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20080719103553/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/5257128.stm| archive-date=19 July 2008 | url-status= live}}</ref><ref name="USA Today: Israel says it will relinquish positions to Lebanese army">{{cite news| url=https://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2006-08-14-mideast_x.htm| title=Israel says it will relinquish positions to Lebanese army| work=USA Today| date=15 August 2006| access-date=21 August 2017| archive-date=10 March 2012| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120310183522/http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2006-08-14-mideast_x.htm| url-status=live}}</ref> After the ceasefire, some parts of [[Southern Lebanon]] remained uninhabitable due to [[Allegations of war crimes in the 2006 Lebanon War|Israeli unexploded cluster bomblets]].<ref>{{cite news| url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/5382192.stm| title='Million bomblets' in S Lebanon| work=BBC News| date=26 September 2006| access-date=13 July 2008| archive-date=6 April 2008| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080406112900/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/5382192.stm| url-status=live}}</ref>

In the [[Battle of Gaza (2007)|Battle of Gaza]] in June 2007, Hamas seized control of the Gaza Strip in a violent civil war with rival Fatah. In the aftermath, Israel placed restrictions on its border with Gaza and ended economic cooperation with the Palestinian leadership based there. Israel and Egypt have imposed a [[blockade of the Gaza Strip]] since 2007. Israel maintains the blockade is necessary to limit [[Palestinian rocket attacks on Israel|Palestinian rocket attacks from Gaza]] and to prevent Hamas from smuggling advanced rockets and weapons capable of hitting its cities.<ref name="BBCProfile">{{cite news |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-19395651 |title=Profile: Rachel; Corrie |work=BBC News |date=28 August 2012 |access-date=21 June 2018 |archive-date=20 December 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191220041348/https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-19395651 |url-status=live }}</ref>

On 6 September 2007, in [[Operation Orchard]], Israel bombed an eastern Syrian complex which was allegedly a nuclear reactor being built with assistance from [[North Korea]].<ref>{{cite news| title=Statement by the Press Secretary |url=https://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2008/04/20080424-14.html |publisher=The White House |date=24 April 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080517105419/http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2008/04/20080424-14.html |archive-date=17 May 2008 }}</ref> Israel had [[Ain es Saheb airstrike|also bombed]] Syria in 2003.

In April 2008, Syrian President [[Bashar al-Assad]] told a [[Qatar]]i newspaper that Syria and Israel had been discussing a peace treaty for a year, with Turkey as a go-between. This was confirmed in May 2008 by a spokesman for Prime Minister [[Ehud Olmert]]. As well as a peace treaty, the future of the [[Golan Heights]] was discussed. President Assad said "there would be no direct negotiations with Israel until a new US president takes office."<ref>{{cite news |first=Peter| last=Walker|author2=News Agencies|title=Olmert confirms peace talks with Syria| url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2008/may/21/israelandthepalestinians.syria |work=The Guardian |date=21 May 2008| access-date=21 May 2008| quote=Israel and Syria are holding indirect peace talks, with Turkey acting as a mediator... | location=London| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20080521213948/http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/may/21/israelandthepalestinians.syria| archive-date= 21 May 2008 | url-status= live}}</ref>

Speaking in Jerusalem on 26 August 2008, then United States Secretary of State [[Condoleezza Rice]] criticized Israel's increased settlement construction in the West Bank as detrimental to the peace process. Rice's comments came amid reports that Israeli construction in the disputed territory had increased by a factor of 1.8 over 2007 levels.<ref>{{cite news | title=Rice calls for Israel to stop building in West Bank | url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/rice-calls-for-israel-to-stop-building-in-west-bank-909669.html | work=The Independent | location=London | first=Kim | last=Sengupta | date=27 August 2008 | access-date=7 April 2010 | archive-date=28 October 2018 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181028160105/https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/rice-calls-for-israel-to-stop-building-in-west-bank-909669.html | url-status=live }}</ref>

A [[2008 Israel–Hamas ceasefire|fragile six-month truce between Hamas and Israel]] expired on 19 December 2008;<ref>{{cite news| title=TIMELINE – Israeli-Hamas violence since truce ended| url=http://uk.reuters.com/article/topNews/idUKTRE50423320090105| work=Reuters| date=5 January 2009| access-date=15 May 2009| archive-date=18 January 2009| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090118161927/http://uk.reuters.com/article/topNews/idUKTRE50423320090105| url-status=dead}}</ref> attempts at extending the truce failed amid accusations of breaches from both sides.<ref>{{cite news | url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7797144.stm | publisher=BBC | title=Hamas 'might renew' truce in Gaza | date=23 December 2008 | access-date=1 January 2010 | archive-date=30 May 2023 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230530105505/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7797144.stm | url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite news | url=http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/01/09/israel-rejected-hamas-cea_n_156639.html?page=2&show_comment_id=19558888#comment_19558888 | work=Huffington Post | title=Israel Rejected Hamas Ceasefire Offer In December | date=9 January 2009 | access-date=15 May 2009 | archive-date=22 January 2009 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090122231902/http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/01/09/israel-rejected-hamas-cea_n_156639.html?page=2&show_comment_id=19558888#comment_19558888 | url-status=live }}</ref><ref>[http://www.csis.org/media/csis/pubs/090202_gaza_war.pdf Anthony H. Cordesman, 'THE "GAZA WAR": A Strategic Analysis,' Center for Strategic & International Studies, February 2009] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090418165547/http://www.csis.org/media/csis/pubs/090202_gaza_war.pdf |date=18 April 2009 }} p.9</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,446805,00.html |title='Israeli Airstrike on Gaza Threatens Truce with Hamas,' Fox News, 4 November 2008 |publisher=Fox News Channel |date=4 November 2008 |access-date=15 May 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081207233009/http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,446805,00.html |archive-date=7 December 2008 |url-status=dead |df=dmy-all }}</ref> Following the expiration, Israel launched a raid on a tunnel suspected of being used to kidnap Israeli soldiers, which killed several Hamas fighters.<ref>{{cite web |last=Derfner |first=Larry |url=https://www.usnews.com/articles/news/world/2008/12/30/why-the-gaza-war-between-israel-and-hamas-broke-out-now.html |title=Larry Derfner (US News): Why the Gaza War Between Israel and Hamas Broke Out Now |work=U.S. News & World Report |date=30 December 2008 |access-date=24 August 2017 |archive-date=8 May 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090508170732/http://www.usnews.com/articles/news/world/2008/12/30/why-the-gaza-war-between-israel-and-hamas-broke-out-now.html |url-status=live }}</ref> Following this, Hamas resumed [[List of Palestinian rocket attacks on Israel, 2008|rocket and mortar attacks]] on Israeli cities, most notably firing over 60 rockets on 24 December. On 27 December 2008, Israel launched [[Gaza War (2008–09)|Operation Cast Lead]] against Hamas. Numerous human rights organizations accused Israel and Hamas of committing [[war crime]]s.<ref>"Demands grow for Gaza war crimes investigation" UK ''Guardian'', 13 January 2009.</ref>

In 2009 Israel placed a 10-month settlement freeze on the West Bank. Then United States Secretary of State [[Hillary Clinton]] praised the freeze as an "unprecedented" gesture that could "help revive Middle East talks."<ref>{{cite web |last=Rozen |first=Laura |url=http://www.politico.com/blogs/laurarozen/1109/Mitchell_brief_as_Netanyahu_to_announce_partial_settlement_freeze.html |title=Clinton praises Netanyahu West Bank settlement moratorium (UPDATED) |publisher=Politico |date=25 November 2009 |access-date=4 May 2012 |archive-date=17 February 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120217150125/http://www.politico.com/blogs/laurarozen/1109/Mitchell_brief_as_Netanyahu_to_announce_partial_settlement_freeze.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite news | url=http://edition.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/meast/11/01/mideast.talks.clinton/index.html | publisher=CNN | title=Palestinians blast Clinton for Israel praise | date=1 November 2009 | access-date=14 September 2010 | archive-date=30 January 2011 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110130225314/http://edition.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/meast/11/01/mideast.talks.clinton/index.html | url-status=live }}</ref>

A raid was carried out by [[Israeli Navy|Israeli naval forces]] on six ships of the ''[[Gaza Freedom Flotilla]]'' in May 2010<ref name=ibhsguardqa53>{{cite news|first=Ian |last=Black |author2=Haroon Siddique |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2010/may/31/q-a-gaza-freedom-flotilla |title=Q&A: The Gaza Freedom flotilla |newspaper=The Guardian |date=31 May 2010 |access-date=2 June 2010 | location=London| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100603133507/http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/may/31/q-a-gaza-freedom-flotilla| archive-date=3 June 2010 | url-status=live}}</ref> after the ships refused to dock at [[Port of Ashdod|Port Ashdod]]. On the [[MV Mavi Marmara|MV ''Mavi Marmara'']], activists clashed with the Israeli boarding party. During the fighting, nine activists were killed by Israeli special forces. Widespread international condemnation of and reaction to the raid followed, Israel–Turkey relations were strained, and Israel subsequently eased its blockade on the Gaza Strip.<ref name=AJEshooting>{{cite news |title=Flotilla activists 'shot 30 times' |url=http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2010/06/20106535425983666.html|date=5 June 2010 |publisher=[[Al Jazeera English|Al Jazeera]] |access-date=6 June 2010| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100605184608/http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2010/06/20106535425983666.html| archive-date=5 June 2010 | url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="latimes">{{cite news |url=http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-israel-flotilla-20100531,0,1839736.story |author=Edmund Sanders |title=Israel criticized over raid on Gaza flotilla |work=Los Angeles Times |date=1 June 2010 |access-date=2 June 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100531101434/http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-israel-flotilla-20100531,0,1839736.story |archive-date=31 May 2010 |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref name="CNN Autopsies">{{cite news |url=http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/meast/06/04/gaza.raid.autopsies/ |title=Autopsies reveal 9 men on Gaza aid boat shot, 5 in head |author=Ivan Watson |author2=Talia Kayali |date=4 June 2010 |publisher=CNN World |access-date=4 June 2010| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20100604101327/http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/meast/06/04/gaza.raid.autopsies/| archive-date= 4 June 2010 | url-status= live}}</ref><ref name="edition.cnn.com">{{cite news |url=http://edition.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/meast/05/31/gaza.protest/index.html?hpt=T1 |title=Israeli assault on Gaza-bound flotilla leaves at least 9 dead |publisher=CNN |date=31 May 2010 |access-date=2 June 2010| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100603211209/http://edition.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/meast/05/31/gaza.protest/index.html?hpt=T1| archive-date= 3 June 2010 | url-status= live}}</ref> Several dozen other passengers and seven Israeli soldiers were injured,<ref name="latimes"/> with some of the commandos suffering from gunshot wounds.<ref name="no choice">{{cite news |title=We had no choice |url=http://www.jpost.com/Israel/Article.aspx?id=177445 |date=4 June 2010 |work=The Jerusalem Post |author=Yaakov Katz |access-date=6 July 2010| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100607061835/http://www.jpost.com/Israel/Article.aspx?id=177445| archive-date=7 June 2010 | url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="vicious conflict">{{cite news |title=Vicious conflict aboard 'Mavi Marmara' |url=http://www.jpost.com/Israel/Article.aspx?id=177067 |date=1 June 2010 |work=The Jerusalem Post |author=Yaakov Katz |access-date=6 July 2010| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100603232420/http://www.jpost.com/Israel/Article.aspx?id=177067| archive-date= 3 June 2010 | url-status=live}}</ref>

Following [[2010–2011 Israeli–Palestinian peace talks|the 2010–2011 round of peace talks between Israel and the Palestinian Authority]], 13 Palestinian militant movements led by [[Hamas]] initiated a [[2010 Palestinian militancy campaign|terror campaign]] designed to derail and disrupt the negotiations.<ref>{{cite journal |url=http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Middle-East/2010/0831/Hamas-targets-Israeli-Palestinian-talks-by-killing-four-Israelis |title=Hamas targets Israeli–Palestinian talks by killing four Israelis |journal=The Christian Science Monitor |date=31 August 2010 |access-date=29 September 2010 |archive-date=13 April 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190413074210/https://www.csmonitor.com/World/Middle-East/2010/0831/Hamas-targets-Israeli-Palestinian-talks-by-killing-four-Israelis |url-status=live }}</ref> Attacks on Israelis increased after August 2010, when [[August 2010 West Bank shooting attack|4 Israeli civilians were killed]] by Hamas militants.
Palestinian militants also increased the frequency of [[Palestinian rocket attacks on Israel|rocket attacks aimed at Israelis]]. On 2 August 2010, Hamas militants [[Rocket attacks on Eilat and Aqaba#2 August 2010 Attack|launched seven]] [[Katyusha rocket launcher|Katyusha rockets]] at [[Eilat]] and [[Aqaba]], killing one Jordanian civilian and wounding 4 others.<ref>{{cite news|last=Blomfield |first=Adrian |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/jordan/7922624/Jordanian-national-killed-in-multiple-militant-rocket-strike.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220111/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/jordan/7922624/Jordanian-national-killed-in-multiple-militant-rocket-strike.html |archive-date=11 January 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live |title=Jordanian national killed in multiple militant rocket strike |work=The Daily Telegraph |date=2 August 2010 |location=London}}{{cbignore}}</ref>

[[File:Israel-Palestine Diplomacy.svg|thumb|right|upright=1.35|
{{legend|#000000|Israel and Palestine}}
{{legend|#0052ff|Recognition of only Israel}}
{{legend|#5fadff|Recognition of Israel, with some relations to Palestine}}
{{legend|#cdcd9c|Recognition of both Israel and Palestine}}
{{legend|#E5A238|Recognition of Palestine, with some relations to Israel}}
{{legend|#FF4500|Recognition of only Palestine}}
{{legend|#e0e0e0|No data}}
]]
Intermittent fighting continued since then, including 680 rocket attacks on Israel in 2011.<ref name=Rockets2011-1>{{cite web |url=http://www.idf.il/1283-14436-en/Dover.aspx |title=IDF Spokesperson |publisher=Idf.il |access-date=19 January 2013 |archive-date=12 October 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171012054345/https://www.idf.il/1283-14436-en/Dover.aspx |url-status=live }}</ref> On 14 November 2012, Israel killed [[Ahmed Jabari]], a leader of Hamas's military wing, launching [[Operation Pillar of Cloud]].<ref name="telegraph jabari">{{cite news| location=UK| url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/palestinianauthority/9677782/Hamas-military-chief-killed-in-Gaza-air-strike.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220111/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/palestinianauthority/9677782/Hamas-military-chief-killed-in-Gaza-air-strike.html |archive-date=11 January 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live|date=14 November 2012|newspaper=The Daily Telegraph| first=Barney|last=Henderson|title=Hamas military chief killed in Gaza air strike}}{{cbignore}}</ref> Hamas and Israel agreed to an Egyptian-mediated ceasefire on 21 November.<ref name="wp ceasefire">{{cite news| title=Full text: Terms of Israel–Palestinian cease-fire| url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/worldviews/wp/2012/11/21/full-text-terms-of-israel-palestinian-cease-fire/| newspaper=The Washington Post| access-date=22 November 2012| archive-date=22 November 2012| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121122114550/http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/worldviews/wp/2012/11/21/full-text-terms-of-israel-palestinian-cease-fire/| url-status=live}}</ref>

The [[Palestinian Centre for Human Rights]] said that 158 Palestinians were killed during the operation, of which: 102 were civilians, 55 were militants and one was a policeman; 30 were children and 13 were women.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-20444499 |access-date=28 November 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121128084157/http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-20444499
|title=Gaza and Israel begin to resume normal life after truce |date=22 November 2012 |work=BBC News |archive-date=28 November 2012 }}[348] The UN has given a figure of 103 dead civilians.</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.thenews.com.pk/Todays-News-13-18932-Israeli-strikes-kill-23-in-bloodiest-day-for-Gaza |title=Israeli strikes kill 23 in bloodiest day for Gaza |work=The News International |date=19 November 2012 |access-date=19 January 2013 |archive-date=8 November 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141108192346/http://www.thenews.com.pk/Todays-News-13-18932-Israeli-strikes-kill-23-in-bloodiest-day-for-Gaza |url-status=live }}</ref> [[B'Tselem]] stated that according to its initial findings, which covered only the period between 14 and 19 November 102 Palestinians were killed in the Gaza Strip, 40 of them civilians. According to Israeli figures, 120 combatants and 57 civilians were killed.<ref name=aftereight>{{cite web|url=http://www.timesofisrael.com/several-casualties-in-explosion-in-central-tel-aviv/|title=After eight days of fighting, ceasefire is put to the test|work=The Times of Israel|date=21 November 2012|access-date=22 November 2012|archive-date=1 October 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181001222925/http://www.timesofisrael.com/several-casualties-in-explosion-in-central-tel-aviv/|url-status=live}}</ref> International outcry ensued, with many criticizing Israel for what much of the international community perceived as a disproportionately violent response.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/video/2012/nov/21/gaza-israel-war-protests-video|title=Gaza-Israel war rages amid international protests – video|work=The Guardian|access-date=19 January 2013|location=London|date=21 November 2012|archive-date=4 September 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130904140708/http://www.theguardian.com/world/video/2012/nov/21/gaza-israel-war-protests-video|url-status=live}}</ref> However, the governments of the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Germany, France, Australia, Belgium, Bulgaria, Czech Republic and Netherlands expressed support for Israel's right to defend itself, and/or condemned the Hamas rocket attacks on Israel.<ref name=ashton>{{Cite news|last=Lazaroff|first=Tovah|url=http://www.jpost.com/DiplomacyAndPolitics/Article.aspx?id=292162|title=Ashton, Merkel say Israel has right to defend itself|newspaper=The Jerusalem Post|date=16 November 2012|access-date=11 December 2012|archive-date=25 November 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121125013151/http://www.jpost.com/DiplomacyAndPolitics/Article.aspx?id=292162|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name=us>{{cite press release|title=Gaza Rocket Attacks|location=US|publisher=Department of State|date=14 November 2012|url=https://2009-2017.state.gov/r/pa/prs/ps/2012/11/200551.htm|access-date=14 November 2012|archive-date=30 June 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190630145600/https://2009-2017.state.gov/r/pa/prs/ps/2012/11/200551.htm|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name=uk>{{cite web| title=Foreign Secretary statement on Gaza and southern Israel| location=UK| url=http://www.fco.gov.uk/en/news/latest-news/?view=News&id=835485682| publisher=Foreign & Commonwealth Office| access-date=15 November 2012| archive-date=16 November 2012| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121116074657/http://www.fco.gov.uk/en/news/latest-news/?view=News&id=835485682| url-status=live}}</ref><ref name=france>{{cite news|url=https://www.reuters.com/article/palestinians-israel-idUSL5E8MF10320121115|title=UPDATE 8-Rockets hits near Tel Aviv as Gaza death toll rises|work=Reuters|date=14 November 2012|access-date=18 November 2012|first=Nidal|last=al-Mughrabi|archive-date=17 November 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121117183223/http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/11/15/palestinians-israel-idUSL5E8MF10320121115|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name=australia>{{cite press release| title=Gillard condemns attacks on Israel| location=Australia| date=16 November 2012| first=Bianca| last=Hall| url=http://www.theage.com.au/opinion/political-news/gillard-condemns-attacks-on-israel-20121116-29fx8.html| access-date=16 November 2012| archive-date=18 November 2012| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121118081303/http://www.theage.com.au/opinion/political-news/gillard-condemns-attacks-on-israel-20121116-29fx8.html| url-status=live}}</ref><ref name=belgium>{{Cite web | url=http://m.euractiv.com/details.php?aid=516096 |language=fr |title=Les ministres européens mettent en garde Israël quant à l'escalade de la violence à Gaza |trans-title=European ministers warn Israel about escalade of violence in Gaza |website=[[EurActiv]] |date=16 November 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130606104652/http://m.euractiv.com/details.php?aid=516096 |archive-date=6 June 2013 }}</ref><ref name=bulgaria>{{cite web|url=http://www.mfa.government.bg/en/events/73/4/539/index.html|title=Commenting on the situation in southern Israel and the Gaza Strip, Foreign Minister Nickolay Mladenov said |publisher=[[Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Bulgaria)]]|date=15 November 2012|access-date=16 November 2012|archive-date=27 December 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121227113145/http://www.mfa.government.bg/en/events/73/4/539/index.html|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref name=canada>{{cite press release|title=Canada Condemns Hamas and Stands with Israel|publisher=Foreign Affairs and International Trade|location=Canada|date=14 November 2012|url=http://www.international.gc.ca/media/aff/news-communiques/2012/11/14a.aspx?lang=eng&view=d|access-date=15 November 2012|archive-date=11 September 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150911124726/http://www.international.gc.ca/media/aff/news-communiques/2012/11/14a.aspx?lang=eng|url-status=dead }}</ref><ref name=czech>{{cite web |url-status=dead |url=http://www.mzv.cz/jnp/en/issues_and_press/statements/x2012_11_15_prohlaseni_mzv_cr_k_aktualnimu_vyvoji_situace_v_izraeli_a_pasmu_gazy.html |title=Statement of MFA on Israel and the Gaza Strip |website=Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic |date=15 November 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130523074243/http://www.mzv.cz/jnp/en/issues_and_press/statements/x2012_11_15_prohlaseni_mzv_cr_k_aktualnimu_vyvoji_situace_v_izraeli_a_pasmu_gazy.html |archive-date=23 May 2013 }}</ref><ref name=netherlands>{{cite web |url-status=dead |url=http://www.government.nl/news/2012/11/13/timmermans-condemns-rocket-attacks-on-israel-from-gaza.html |title=Timmermans condemns rocket attacks on Israel from Gaza |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150720212004/http://www.government.nl/news/2012/11/13/timmermans-condemns-rocket-attacks-on-israel-from-gaza.html |archive-date=20 July 2015 |website=Government of the Netherlands |date=13 November 2012}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|location=Lebanon|url=http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Middle-East/2012/Nov-15/195155-russia-condemns-disproportionate-strikes-on-gaza.ashx#axzz2CJLCPknc|title=Russia condemns 'disproportionate' strikes on Gaza|work=The Daily Star|date=15 November 2012|access-date=15 November 2012|archive-date=2 October 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181002020201/http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Middle-East/2012/Nov-15/195155-russia-condemns-disproportionate-strikes-on-gaza.ashx#axzz2CJLCPknc|url-status=dead }}</ref>

Following an escalation of rocket attacks by Hamas, Israel started an [[Operation Protective Edge|operation]] in the Gaza Strip on 8 July 2014.<ref>{{cite news|title=Israel and Hamas Trade Attacks as Tension Rises|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/09/world/middleeast/israel-steps-up-offensive-against-hamas-in-gaza.html?module=Search&mabReward=relbias%3Aw%2C%7B%222%22%3A%22RI%3A17%22%7D&_r=0|website=The New York Times|date=8 July 2014|access-date=21 February 2017|archive-date=6 July 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170706121157/https://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/09/world/middleeast/israel-steps-up-offensive-against-hamas-in-gaza.html?module=Search&mabReward=relbias%3Aw%2C%7B%222%22%3A%22RI%3A17%22%7D&_r=0|url-status=live |first1=Steven |last1=Erlanger |first2=Isabel |last2=Kershner}}</ref> In May 2021, another [[Operation Guardian of the Walls|round of fighting]] took place in Gaza, lasting eleven days.<ref>{{cite news|title=Israel and Hamas agree Gaza truce, Biden pledges assistance|url=https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/hamas-official-predicts-ceasefire-soon-israel-gaza-fight-goes-2021-05-19/|website=Reuters|date=21 May 2021|access-date=31 May 2021|archive-date=31 May 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210531014137/https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/hamas-official-predicts-ceasefire-soon-israel-gaza-fight-goes-2021-05-19/|url-status=live |first1=Nidal |last1=Al-Mughrabi |first2=Dan |last2=Williams}}</ref>

===During Syrian Civil War===
{{Main|Iran–Israel conflict during the Syrian civil war|Israeli–Syrian ceasefire line incidents during the Syrian civil war}}
Israel's military role in the [[Syrian Civil War]] has been limited to missile strikes,<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.timesofisrael.com/idf-official-confirms-attack-in-syria-first-strike-on-live-iranian-targets/|title=IDF official said to confirm attack in Syria: 'First strike on Iranian targets' |website=The Times of Israel |access-date=25 July 2018|archive-date=24 April 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190424163916/https://www.timesofisrael.com/idf-official-confirms-attack-in-syria-first-strike-on-live-iranian-targets/|url-status=live |date=16 April 2018}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/israel-blamed-airstrike-syria-after-suspected-ghouta-chemical-weapon-attack-n863821|title=U.S. officials confirm Israel launched pre-dawn airstrike on Syria|website=NBC News|date=9 April 2018 |first1= Ken |last1=Dilanian |first2=Courtney |last2=Kube |access-date=25 July 2018|archive-date=26 July 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180726081159/https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/israel-blamed-airstrike-syria-after-suspected-ghouta-chemical-weapon-attack-n863821|url-status=live}}</ref> which until 2017 were not officially acknowledged. While the Israeli [[#Official standpoint|official position]] is neutrality in the conflict, Israel is opposed to Iran's presence in Syria. Israel has [[#Israeli humanitarian aid to Syrians|provided humanitarian aid]] to Syrian war victims, an effort that was drastically geared up since June 2016 when the ''[[Operation Good Neighbour]]'' was launched by the [[Israel Defense Forces|Israeli military]]. There are many different national interests playing a role in the war. One of them is Iran, which Israel is concerned could gain too much regional influence. Iranian proxies such as [[Hezbollah]] are suspected of [[Iran–Israel relations#Iranian funding of Hamas and Hezbollah|carrying out attacks]] against Israeli positions on the borders to Syria and [[Lebanon]], and Israel is suspected of [[Iran–Israel proxy conflict|carrying out air strikes]] against convoys transporting weapons to such organisations.

On 9 December 2017, US president [[Donald Trump]] announced the [[United States recognition of Jerusalem as capital of Israel|United States recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel]], prompting [[United States recognition of Jerusalem as capital of Israel#International response|condemnation by other world leaders]] as well as the [[2018 Gaza border protests]]. The new [[Embassy of the United States, Jerusalem|United States Embassy]] opened in Jerusalem on 14 May 2018.

===Israeli normalization with Gulf states and Sudan===
{{Main|Arab–Israeli alliance against Iran|Abraham Accords}}
The [[Arab–Israeli alliance against Iran]] emerged by November 2017,<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-42094105|title=Israel and Saudi Arabia: What's shaping the covert 'alliance' |last=Marcus|first=Jonathan|date=24 November 2017|work=[[BBC News]]|access-date=20 January 2020|language=en-GB|archive-date=24 June 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220624122036/https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-42094105|url-status=live}}</ref> upon warming ties between Israel and the Gulf States and received broad media attention in light of the [[February 2019 Warsaw Conference]]. The coordination took place in light of the mutual regional security interests of Israel and Sunni [[Arab League|Arab States]] led by [[Saudi Arabia]],<ref name="businessinsider">{{cite web|url=https://www.businessinsider.com/saudi-arabia-and-israel-anti-iran-alliance-2017-2|title=Saudi Arabia and Israel anti-Iran alliance|website=Business Insider|date=2017-02-19 |first1= John |last1=Irish |first2=Andrea |last2=Shalal|access-date=2019-02-14|archive-date=4 April 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190404070438/https://www.businessinsider.com/saudi-arabia-and-israel-anti-iran-alliance-2017-2|url-status=live}}</ref> and their standoff against Iranian interests across the Middle East - the [[Iran–Israel proxy conflict]] and the [[Iran–Saudi Arabia proxy conflict]]. The Arab states participating in the coordination group are the core of the [[Gulf Cooperation Council]]. Those include [[Saudi Arabia]], [[United Arab Emirates]] and [[Oman]].<ref name=gri>{{cite web |url-status=live |url=https://globalriskinsights.com/2019/01/the-solidifying-of-the-arab-israeli-alliance/ |title=The solidifying Arab-Israeli Alliance |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220624175443/https://globalriskinsights.com/2019/01/the-solidifying-of-the-arab-israeli-alliance/ |archive-date=24 June 2022 |quote=Relations between Israel, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Saudi Arabia continue in the shadows, with reports of senior Israeli officials regularly visiting [[Arab states of the Persian Gulf|the Gulf States]]. Israeli cabinet ministers have openly visited the UAE and Oman, with more set to take place in the future. |date=January 23, 2019 |first=Ezra |last=Friedman	}}</ref> In 2018, [[Israeli Prime Minister]] [[Benjamin Netanyahu]] led a delegation to Oman and met with [[Sultan Qaboos]] and other senior Omani officials.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/netanyahu-makes-historic-visit-to-oman-570388|title=Netanyahu makes historic visit to Oman|website=The Jerusalem Post |date=Oct 26, 2018 |first=Tovah |last=Lazaroff |access-date=31 August 2020|archive-date=17 June 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200617033922/https://www.jpost.com/Israel-News/Netanyahu-makes-historic-visit-to-Oman-570388|url-status=live}}</ref>

In February 2020, Israeli Prime Minister [[Benjamin Netanyahu]] and the Chairman of the Sovereignty Council of Sudan, [[Abdel Fattah al-Burhan]], met in Uganda, where they both agreed to normalize the ties between the two countries.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/.premium-alongside-netanyahu-ugandan-president-says-he-s-considering-embassy-in-jerusalem-1.8492154|title=Netanyahu, Sudanese Leader Meet in Uganda, Agree to Start Normalizing Ties|first=Noa|last=Landau|date=3 February 2020|newspaper=Haaretz|access-date=14 August 2020|archive-date=18 October 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201018151627/https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/.premium-alongside-netanyahu-ugandan-president-says-he-s-considering-embassy-in-jerusalem-1.8492154|url-status=live}}</ref> Later that month, Israeli planes were allowed to fly over [[Sudan]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-israel-sudan/netanyahu-says-israeli-airliners-have-started-overflying-sudan-idUSKBN20A0NK|title=Netanyahu says Israeli planes have started overflying Sudan|website=Reuters|date=16 February 2020|access-date=14 August 2020|archive-date=8 October 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201008180854/https://www.reuters.com/article/us-israel-sudan/netanyahu-says-israeli-airliners-have-started-overflying-sudan-idUSKBN20A0NK|url-status=live}}</ref> This was followed by the [[Abraham Accords]]<ref name=Reuters>{{cite news|title=With Trump's help, Israel and the United Arab Emirates reach historic deal to normalize relations|url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-israel-emirates-trump/with-trumps-help-israel-and-the-united-arab-emirates-reach-historic-deal-to-normalize-relations-idUSKCN25926W|first=Steve|last=Holland|date=13 August 2020|access-date=13 August 2020|work=Reuters|archive-date=13 August 2020|archive-url=https://archive.today/20200813154056/https://www.reuters.com/article/us-israel-emirates-trump/with-trumps-help-israel-and-the-united-arab-emirates-reach-historic-deal-to-normalize-relations-idUSKCN25926W|url-status=live}}</ref> which were agreed to by Israel and the [[United Arab Emirates]] (UAE) on 13 August 2020, and [[Bahrain]] shortly thereafter. The treaty was intended to settle [[Israel–United Arab Emirates relations|relations between the two countries]]. Concurrently, Israel agreed to suspend plans for the [[annexation of the Jordan Valley]].<ref>{{cite news|title=Israel and United Arab Emirates strike historic peace accord|url=https://www.ft.com/content/2712a625-e2d4-41f3-9ef1-536d0700cbb8|publisher=FT|date=13 August 2020|access-date=13 August 2020|archive-date=13 August 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200813171226/https://www.ft.com/content/2712a625-e2d4-41f3-9ef1-536d0700cbb8|url-status=live}}</ref>

During the 2023 Hamas–Israel War, the [[Arab League]] countries refrained from officially interfering in the conflict initiated by the Iranian proxy Hamas. According to Foreign Affairs, the Hamas War has fractured the Arab World,<ref>{{cite journal | url=https://www.foreignaffairs.com/israel/hamas-has-fractured-arab-world | title=Hamas Has Fractured the Arab World | journal=Foreign Affairs | date=13 October 2023 | last1=Al-Omari | first1=Ghaith | access-date=23 October 2023 | archive-date=20 October 2023 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231020232214/https://www.foreignaffairs.com/israel/hamas-has-fractured-arab-world | url-status=live }}</ref> and Hamas failed to raise support across the Middle East,<ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.economist.com/briefing/2023/10/12/hamas-has-failed-to-rally-the-middle-east-to-its-cause | title=Hamas has failed to rally the Middle East to its cause | newspaper=The Economist | access-date=23 October 2023 | archive-date=23 October 2023 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231023031424/https://www.economist.com/briefing/2023/10/12/hamas-has-failed-to-rally-the-middle-east-to-its-cause | url-status=live }}</ref> except among Iranian-affiliated organizations and regimes. While Arab leaders at the Cairo summit on October 21, 2023 condemned Israeli bombardment of Gaza,<ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/cairo-peace-summit-grapples-with-gaza-war-risks-region-rise-2023-10-21/ | title=Cairo Peace Summit ends without Gaza breakthrough | newspaper=Reuters | date=21 October 2023 | last1=Lewis | first1=Aidan | last2=Eltahir | first2=Nafisa | last3=Eltahir | first3=Nafisa | access-date=23 October 2023 | archive-date=23 October 2023 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231023090714/https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/cairo-peace-summit-grapples-with-gaza-war-risks-region-rise-2023-10-21/ | url-status=live }}</ref> Egypt said it had hoped participants would call for peace and resume efforts to resolve the decades-long Palestinian quest for statehood and there was no joint summit statement.<ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.nytimes.com/2023/10/21/world/middleeast/peace-summit-gaza-egypt.html | title=Peace Summit in Egypt Shows a Shift in Rhetoric but no Consensus | work=The New York Times | date=21 October 2023 | last1=Yee | first1=Vivian | last2=Stevis-Gridneff | first2=Matina | access-date=23 October 2023 | archive-date=23 October 2023 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231023090738/https://www.nytimes.com/2023/10/21/world/middleeast/peace-summit-gaza-egypt.html | url-status=live }}</ref> [[Khalid bin Bandar Al Saud (born 1977)|Khalid bin Bandar Al Saud]], the Saudi ambassador to the United Kingdom, said in a January 9, 2024 BBC interview that Saudi Arabia was interested in peace and normalized relations with Israel following the war, on the condition of the creation of a Palestinian State.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2024-01-09 |title=Saudi Arabia wants peace with Israel after Gaza war, envoy tells BBC |url=https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/article-781454 |access-date=2024-01-10 |website=The Jerusalem Post {{!}} JPost.com |language=en-US}}</ref>

==Notable wars and violent events==
{| class="wikitable sortable"
! Time
! Name
! style=width:7em | Israeli deaths{{cn|date=October 2024}}
! style=width:7em | Arab deaths
! Notes 
|-
| rowspan="1"| 1948–1949
| [[1948 Arab–Israeli War|First Arab–Israeli War]]
| 6,373 
| 10,000<ref>{{cite book| title=Contemporary Cases in U.S. Foreign Policy: From National Security to Human Security |first=Ralph |last=Carter| publisher=Rowman & Littlefield |year=2021 |isbn= 9781538141427| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=g7cmEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA172| page=172}}</ref>
| Israeli victory, independence confirmed
|-
| 1951–1955
| [[Palestinian Fedayeen insurgency]]
| 967 
| 3,000–5,000<ref>{{cite book| title=Israel's Armor: The Israel Lobby and the First Generation of the Palestine Conflict| first=Walter L. |last=Hixson|publisher=Cambridge University Press |year= 2019| isbn=9781108483902| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nG2MDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA90 | page=90}}</ref>
| Israeli victory
|-
| 1956
| [[Suez Crisis|Suez War]]
| 231
| 2,000<ref>{{cite book| title=Warfare Since the Second World War |first1=Klaus Jürgen |last1=Gantzel |first2= Torsten |last2= Schwinghammer |publisher=Transaction Publishers |isbn=9781412841184| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=A1P97i-eQ6sC&pg=PA475| page=475}}</ref>
| Israeli military victory, Egyptian political victory<br />Israeli occupation of the Sinai Peninsula until March 1957
|-
| 1967
| [[Six-Day War]]
| 776 
| 12,000<ref>{{cite book| title=The Political Impact of African Military Leaders |first1=Sabella |last1=Ogbobode Abidde |first2=Felix |last2=Kumah-Abiwu| publisher=Springer Nature| year=2023
|isbn=9783031314278 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uKXIEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA319| page=319}}</ref>–13,000<ref>{{cite book| title=The Arab-Israeli Six-Day War: Perspectives on Modern World History |first=Jeff |last=Hay |publisher=Greenhaven Publishing LLC |year=2012 |isbn=9780737767995 | pages=49–50}}</ref>
| Israeli victory<br />Israel captures and occupies the [[Gaza Strip]] and [[Sinai Peninsula]] from Egypt, the [[West Bank]] from Jordan, and the [[Golan Heights]] from Syria
|-
| 1967–1970
| [[War of Attrition]]
| 1,424 
| 2,500<ref>{{cite book| title=1001 Facts Everyone Should Know about Israel |first1=Mitchell Geoffrey |last1=Bard |first2=Moshe |last2=Schwartz |publisher=	Rowman & Littlefield |year=2005 |isbn= 9780742543584 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hohspDWqzjwC&pg=PA128| page=128}}</ref>
| Both sides claim victory, continued Israeli control of Sinai
|-
| 1968–1982
| [[Palestinian insurgency in South Lebanon]]
|
|
|Israeli victory
|-
| 1973
| [[Yom Kippur War]]
| 2,688 
| 11,000<ref>{{cite book| title=Chronicle of Jewish History: From the Patriarchs to the 21st Century| first=Sol |last=Scharfstein| publisher=KTAV Publishing House, Inc.| year=1997 |isbn=9780881256062| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PrAdxFjB7k4C&pg=PA297| page=297}}</ref>–13,000<ref>{{cite book| title=A History of the Seventies: The political, cultural, social and economic developments that shaped the modern world| first=Bas |last=Dianda| publisher=Vernon Press| year=2019| isbn=9781622735891| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZsCSDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA103 |page=103}}</ref>
| Israeli victory, Arab offensives repulsed<br />[[Camp David Accords]] followed by [[Egypt–Israel peace treaty]]; Israel returns Sinai Peninsula in exchange for mutual recognition
|-
| 1978
| [[1978 South Lebanon conflict|First Israeli invasion of Lebanon]]
|18
|1,100
|Israeli victory, PLO expelled from southern Lebanon
|-
| 1982
| [[1982 Lebanon War|Second Israeli invasion of Lebanon]]
| 1,216
| 19,085<ref>{{cite web| title=Ten years after Israeli invasion, war looms over Lebanon| author=Dalal Saoud| url=https://www.upi.com/Archives/1992/06/05/Ten-years-after-Israeli-invasion-war-looms-over-Lebanon/8473707716800/ | date=5 June 1992| work=[[United Press International|UPI]]}}</ref>
| Israeli tactical victory but strategic failure<br />Syrian political advantage<br />PLO expelled from Lebanon
|-
| 1982–2000
| [[South Lebanon conflict (1985–2000)|South Lebanon conflict]]
| 559 
| 1,897
|Hezbollah victory<br />Israeli withdrawal from southern Lebanon <br />1,276 Hezbollah soldiers, and 621 soldiers of the pro-Israel [[South Lebanon Army]] died. 
|-
| 1987–1993
| [[First Intifada|First Palestinian Intifada]]
| 200 
| 1,491<ref>{{cite web| title=Fatalities in the first Intifada| url=https://www.btselem.org/statistics/first_intifada_tables| work=[[B'Tselem]]}}</ref> 
| Israeli victory, uprising suppressed
|-
| 1991
| [[1991 Iraqi missile attacks against Israel|Iraqi rocket attacks on Israel]]
| 13 
| 0 
| Iraqi strategic failure, Iraq fails to provoke Israeli retaliation
|-
| 2000–2008
| [[Second Intifada]]
| 1,100 
| 4,973<ref>{{cite news| work=Al Jazeera| title=Palestinian Intifada: How Israel orchestrated a bloody takeover |date=28 September 2020| url=https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/9/28/palestinian-intifada-20-years-later-israeli-occupation-continues}}</ref>
| Israeli victory, uprising suppressed
|-
| 2006
| [[2006 Lebanon War]]
| 165<ref name="bbc12072016"/>
| 1,191<ref name="bbc12072016">{{cite news| work=BBC News| title=Ten years on, is Hezbollah prepared for another war with Israel? |date=12 July 2016| url=https://www.bbc.com/news/36559373}}</ref>
| Inconclusive, <br />44 Israeli civilians, 121 Israeli soldiers, 281 Hezbollah and various other militias, 43 Lebanese soldiers, 867 Lebanese civilians died. 
|-
| 2014
| [[2014 Gaza War]]
| 73<ref name="bbc22062015"/>
| 2,251<ref name="bbc22062015">{{cite news| work=BBC News| title=Gaza conflict 2014: 'War crimes by both sides' - UN |date=22 June 2015| url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-33223365}}</ref>
| Inconclusive
|-
| 2023–present
| [[Israel–Hamas War]]
| (As of October 2024)<br/>1,770
| 36,000<ref>{{cite web| title=Hostilities in the Gaza Strip and Israel - reported impact - Day 236 | work=[[United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs|OCHA]]| url=https://www.ochaopt.org/content/hostilities-gaza-strip-and-israel-reported-impact-day-236| date=October 2024}}</ref>–43,000<ref>{{cite web| title=Blinken Says 'Now Is The Time' To End War In Gaza| work=[[Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty]]| url=https://www.rferl.org/a/blinken-end-war-israel-gaza-lebanon/33170280.html| date=23 October 2024}}</ref>
| Ongoing
|-
| 2023–present
| [[Israel–Hezbollah conflict (2023–present)|Israel-Hezbollah War]]
| 100
| 2,500<ref>{{cite news| work=Euronews| title=Israeli airstrike killed journalists covering the war in Lebanon as they slept |date=26 October 2024| url=https://www.euronews.com/2024/10/26/israeli-airstrike-killed-journalists-covering-the-war-in-lebanon-as-they-slept}}</ref>
| Ongoing
|-
|}

==Cost of conflict==
{{See also|Arab League boycott of Israel}}
A report by the [[Strategic Foresight Group]] estimated the [[opportunity cost]] of conflict for the Middle East from 1991 to 2010 at $12 [[trillion]]. The report's opportunity cost calculates the peace [[GDP]] of countries in the Middle East by comparing the current GDP to the potential GDP in times of peace. Israel's share is almost $1 trillion, with Iraq and Saudi Arabia having approximately $2.2 and $4.5 trillion, respectively. For example, had there been peace and cooperation between Israel and Arab League nations since 1991, the average Israeli citizen would be earning over $44,000 instead of $23,000 in 2010.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.strategicforesight.com/Cost%20of%20Conflict%20-%206%20pager.pdf |title=''Cost of Conflict in the Middle East'', Strategic Foresight Group |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090201053723/http://www.strategicforesight.com/Cost%20of%20Conflict%20-%206%20pager.pdf |archive-date=1 February 2009 }}</ref>

In terms of the human cost, it is estimated that the conflict has taken 92,000 lives (74,000 military and 18,000 civilian from 1945 to 1995).<ref name="buzan">{{cite book| author=[[Barry Buzan]] | title=Regions and powers|title-link=Regions and Powers: The Structure of International Security | publisher=Cambridge University Press | date=2003 | isbn=978-0-521-89111-0}}</ref>{{page needed|date=August 2020}}

==See also==
{{columns-list|colwidth=30em|
*[[One-state solution]]
*[[Two-state solution]]
*[[International law and the Arab–Israeli conflict]]
*[[Media coverage of the Arab–Israeli conflict]]
*[[Arab League and the Arab–Israeli conflict]]
*[[Soviet Union and the Arab–Israeli conflict]]
*[[Foreign relations of Israel]]
*[[Israel–European Union relations]]
*[[Timeline of the Israeli–Palestinian conflict]]
*[[Policide]]
*[[Muhammad's views on Jews]]
*[[Conflict: Middle East Political Simulator]]
*[[Civil defense in Israel]]
*[[List of wars involving Israel]]
*[[Israeli casualties of war]]
*[[Palestinian casualties of war]]
*[[Palestinian political violence]]
*[[Sykes–Picot Agreement]]
*[[Zionist political violence]]
*[[List of wars by death toll]]
*[[History of the Israel Defense Forces]]
}}

==Notes==
{{notelist}}

==References==
{{reflist}}

==Further reading==
{{See also|Bibliography of the Arab–Israeli conflict}}
*[[Associated Press]], comp. (1996). ''Lightning Out of Israel: [The Six-Day War in the Middle East]: The Arab–Israeli Conflict''. Commemorative Ed. Western Printing and Lithographing Company for the Associated Press. ASIN B000BGT89M.
*[[Mitchell Bard|Bard, Mitchell]] (1999). ''Middle East Conflict''. Indianapolis: Alpha Books. {{ISBN|978-0-02-863261-2}}.
*[[Gad Barzilai|Barzilai, Gad]] (1996). ''Wars, Internal Conflicts and Political Order: A Jewish Democracy in the Middle East''. Albany: State University of New York Press. {{ISBN|978-0-7914-2944-0}}
*Brown, Wesley H. & Peter F. Penner (ed.): ''Christian Perspectives on the Israeli–Palestinian Conflict''. Neufeld Verlag, Schwarzenfeld 2008. {{ISBN|978-3-937896-57-1}}.
*[[Jimmy Carter|Carter, Jimmy]] (2006). ''[[Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid]]''. New York: Simon & Schuster. {{ISBN|978-0-7432-8502-5}}.
*Casper, Lionel L. (2003). ''Rape of Palestine and the Struggle for Jerusalem''. New York & Jerusalem: Gefen Publishing House. {{ISBN|978-965-229-297-1}}.
*[[Sabina Citron|Citron, Sabina]] (2006). ''The Indictment: The Arab–Israeli Conflict in Historical Perspective''. New York & Jerusalem: Gefen Publishing House. {{ISBN|978-965-229-373-2}}.
*{{cite book |last=Cramer |first=Richard Ben |year=2004 |title=How Israel Lost: The Four Questions |url=https://archive.org/details/howisraellost00rich |url-access=registration |publisher=[[Simon & Schuster]] |location=New York |isbn=978-0-7432-5028-3|ref=none}}
*[[Alan Dershowitz|Dershowitz, Alan]] (2004). ''The Case for Israel''. New York: John Wiley & Sons. {{ISBN|978-0-471-67952-3}}.
*[[Avner Falk|Falk, Avner]] (2004). ''Fratricide in the Holy Land: A Psychoanalytic View of the Arab–Israeli Conflict.'' Madison: U of Wisconsin P. {{ISBN|978-0-299-20250-7}}
*{{cite book |last=[[Gelvin]] |first=James L. |year=2005 |title=The Israel–Palestine Conflict: 100 Years of War |publisher=Cambridge UP |location=New York & Cambridge, Eng. |isbn=978-0-521-61804-5 |ref=none}}
*{{cite book |last=Gold |first=Dore |author-link=Dore Gold |year=2004 |title=Tower of Babble: How the United Nations Has Fueled Global Chaos |publisher=Crown Forum |location=New York |isbn=978-1-4000-5475-6 |url=https://archive.org/details/unset0000unse_h8s1 |ref=none}}
*[[Norman Finkelstein|Finkelstein, Norman G.]] (2003). ''Image and Reality of the Israel–Palestine Conflict''. Verso Books. {{ISBN|978-1-85984-442-7}}.
*Goldenberg, Doron (2003). ''State of Siege''. Gefen Publishing House. {{ISBN|978-965-229-310-7}}.
*[[Marc Gopin|Gopin, Marc]]. (2002). ''Holy War, Holy Peace: How Religion Can Bring Peace to the Middle East''. Oxford University Press. {{ISBN|978-0-19-514650-9}}.
*{{cite journal|last=Hamidullah|first=Muhammad |author-link=Muhammad Hamidullah |date=January 1986|title=Relations of Muslims with non-Muslims|journal=Journal of Muslim Minority Affairs|volume=7|issue=1|page=9|doi=10.1080/13602008608715960|url=https://dergipark.org.tr/tr/pub/istem/issue/26528/279243 |ref=none | issn = 0266-6952}}
*Howell, Mark (2007). ''What Did We Do to Deserve This? Palestinian Life under Occupation in the West Bank'', Garnet Publishing. {{ISBN|978-1-85964-195-8}}
*[[Raphael Israeli|Israeli, Raphael]] (2002). ''Dangers of a Palestinian State''. New York & Jerusalem: Gefen Publishing House. {{ISBN|978-965-229-303-9}}.
*[[Shmuel Katz (politician)|Katz, Shmuel]] (1973). ''Battleground: Fact and Fantasy in Palestine''. Shapolsky Pub. {{ISBN|978-0-933503-03-8}}.
*{{cite book |last=Khouri |first=Fred J. |year=1985 |title=The Arab–Israeli Dilemma |url=https://archive.org/details/arabisraelidilem0000khou |url-access=registration | edition=3rd |publisher=Syracuse University Press |location=Syracuse, New York |isbn=978-0-8156-2339-7 |ref=none}}
*{{cite book |last=Lewis |first=Bernard | author-link=Bernard Lewis |year=1984 |title=The Jews of Islam |publisher=Princeton UP |location=Princeton, New Jersey |isbn=978-0-691-05419-3 |ref=none}}
*{{cite book |last=Lesch |first= David |year=2007 |title=The Arab–Israeli Conflict A History |publisher=Oxford University Press, USA |isbn=978-0-19-517230-0 |ref=none}}
*–––. (September 1990). "The Roots of Muslim Rage." ''[[The Atlantic Monthly]]''.
*[[Zeev Maoz|Maoz, Zeev]] (2006). ''Defending the Holy Land''. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan. {{ISBN|978-0-472-11540-2}}
*{{cite book |last=Morris |first=Benny | author-link=Benny Morris |year=1999 |title=Righteous Victims: A History of the Zionist-Arab Conflict, 1881–2001 |publisher=Knopf |location=New York|isbn=978-0-521-00967-6 |ref=none}}
*{{cite book |last=Morris |first=Benny | author-link=Benny Morris |year=2004 |title=The Birth of the Palestinian Refugee Problem Revisited|publisher=Cambridge University Press|location=Cambridge|edition=2nd|isbn=978-0-679-42120-7 |ref=none}}
*Morris, Benny (2009). ''1948: A History of the First Arab–Israeli War'', Yale University Press. {{ISBN|978-0-300-15112-1}}
*[[Yitzhak Reiter|Reiter, Yitzhak]] (2009). ''National Minority, Regional Majority: Palestinian Arabs Versus Jews in Israel (Syracuse Studies on Peace and Conflict Resolution)'', Syracuse University Press (Sd). {{ISBN|978-0-8156-3230-6}}
*Pressman, Jeremy (2020). The Sword is Not Enough: Arabs, Israelis, and the Limits of Military Force, Manchester University Press. {{ISBN|978-1-5261-4617-5}}
* Quandt, William B. "Lyndon Johnson and the June 1967 war: what color was the light?." ''Middle East Journal'' 46.2 (1992): 198–228. [https://www.jstor.org/stable/4328430 online] on US strategy
*Rogan, Eugene L., ed., and [[Avi Shlaim]], ed. (2001). ''The War for Palestine: Rewriting the History of 1948''. Cambridge: Cambridge UP. {{ISBN|978-0-521-79476-3}}.
*[[Tom Segev|Segev, Tom]] (1999). ''One Palestine Complete: Jews and Arabs Under British Mandate''. New York: Henry Holt & Co. {{ISBN|978-0-8050-6587-9}}.
* Ziv, Guy. ''Why hawks become doves: Shimon Peres and foreign policy change in Israel'' (SUNY Press, 2014).

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