Figure 1.-- |
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The United States Government was not significantly involved in Palestine or the wider Middle East until World War II. American oil companies were involved in exploration in Saudi Arabia (1933). The American Jewish community was not significantly involved in Zionist emigration, but contributed to Zionist charities. America's first major involvement in the Middle East was to intervene with Britain and the Soviet Union in Iran. The British had ousted a pro-NAZI regime. Iran was important because it was the major conduit for Lend Lease shiopments to the Soviet Union. America launched its for offensive against the NAZIs with the Torch Landings of North Africa (1942). This prevented the Holocaust from reaching North Africa as Vichy had begun actiins against Jews in North Africa. President Roosevelt met with King Abdul Aziz ibn Saud of Saudi Arabia aboard the USS Quincy on his way back from the Yalta Conference (February 1945). The subject of Palestine was discussed. President Truman played a key role in the creation of Israel. He decided to cast the U.S. at the United Nations for partition. The vote was close and if the United States had not voted for partition, the resolution almost certainly would have failed. The United States until after the Six Days War (1967) played only a minor role in the conflict. American Jewish groups contributed considerable sums to support Israel. American foreign aid came to be a major support for Israel. And American arms sales, especially aircraft, financed by the aid became a central support for the IDA. With this support has come strings. A series of American presidents have supported stringly Israel, but not without important differences. President Gerorge W. Bush was the strongest supporter of Israel. President Obama's policy toward Israel is not yet clear.
The United States fought its foreign war with the Barbary pirates declared war against American Christians when the United States refused to pay further tribute. The result was the Barbary Wars (1801-05 and 1815). Missionary groups were concerned about Ottoman attrocuties against Christians in Lebanon (19th century). The United States Government was not significantly involved in Palestine or the wider Middle East until World War II.
The American participation in World war I was primarily on the Western Front in France. The British during the the War ussued the Balfour Seclaration (1917) with a commitment to create aewish Homeland in Palestine. There were few specifics. Near the end of the War invaded Palestine which was a province in the Ottoman Empire (1917). After some hard fighting, the Turks were driven out of bot Palestine, Lebanon, and much of Syria (1918). The question of the future of Palestine was considered as one of the many issues at the Versailles Peace Conference (1919). President Wilson at the Versailles was sympsthetic toward the idea of a Jewish homeland in the Middle East. His staunch Christian beliefs were a factor. He was also influenced by an adviser, Henry Morgenthau, and by jurist Louis Brandeis. There was considerable anti-Semetic feeling in America at the time. The President decided to appoint a commission to study the idea. The resulting Crane Commission included several anti-Semetic politicians and submitted a report arguing against a Jewish homeland.
American oil companies were involved in exploration in Saudi Arabia (1933). The American Jewish community was not significantly involved in Zionist emigration, but contributed to Zionist charities. After the NAZI takeover, President Roosevelt was a staunch critic of Hitler and the NAZis. The Depression and American isolationist feeling prevented the United States from taking any real actuin against the NAZIs. As NAZI persecution and violence against the Jews escalated, Jews fled Germany in large numbers. With the outbreak of World War II, millions of Jews were traped in NAZI-ooccupied Europe. Some Jews found refuge in America. This was, however, just a fraction of the Jews targeted by the NAZIs. The Jewish refugees became a political issue. Some in America wanted the Congress to increase the quota so refugees from the NAZIs could find refuge in America. There was great resuistance to this in Congress as aesult of a mix of concern over unemployed American workers and anti-Semitism. The Roosevelt Administration found itself in a difficult situation because some the strongest supporters for the defense spending needed to rearm America were the southern Democrats who were fervent in increasing immigration quotas that would have allowed large numbers of Jews to enter America. The Evian Conference failed (1938).
After the War began the Emergency Rescue Committee helped some uin occupied France. Inter-Governmental Committee on Refugees was formned during the War, but mostly surved to aid survivors after the War.
America's first major involvement in the Middle East was to intervene with Britain and the Soviet Union in Iran. The British had ousted a pro-NAZI regime. Iran was important because it was the major conduit for Lend Lease shiopments to the Soviet Union. America launched its for offensive against the NAZIs with the Torch Landings in North Africa (1942). This prevented the Holocaust from reaching North Africa as Vichy had begun actiins against Jews in North Africa. President Roosevelt met with King Abdul Aziz ibn Saud of Saudi Arabia aboard the USS Quincy on his way back from the Yalta Conference (February 1945). The subject of Palestine was discussed. President Roosevelt assured King Saud that the United States did not favor an independent Jewish state in Palestine. America has been criticized for not doing more to prevent the Holocaust. Knowing what we know now, we would all like to have seen the United States to have done more. The American response was inadequate at best. American action before the War began could have saved many. Much of the criticism of the United States during the War, however, is based on an unrealistic understanding as to what America coild do. The military options were in fact limited. While this can be discussed, it is incontrovetable that America played a major role in saving the 6 million European Jews that managed to survive the NAZI murder machine.
The NAZIs never reached Palestine. With the German invasion of Poland, terrible rumors began to reach Palestine about NAZI attrocities. After the fall of France and the withdrawl of the French fleet, Palestine itself became threatened by the Axis. The British 8th Army stopped and subsequently defeated the Afrika Korps at El Alemain (July-October 1942). The NAZIs, however, had an ally in the Grand Mufti of Jurelselum. The Arabs both in Palestine and most other areas supported the NAZIs. There was only the open revolt in Iraq (1941), but most Arabs supported the NAZIs. This was for the most part because the British were the colonial power and the Germans had no Arab colonies. Anti-Semitism was a further factor in Palestine, but much less so among other Arabs. Outside of Iraq, the Grand Mufti Haj Amin al-Husseini issued a formal fatwa-- "a holy war against Britain" (May 1941). The Mufti's announced the fatwa in Iraq and helped to launch "the pro-Nazi" Iraqi uprising. At the time the NAZIs had just seized Greece and Crete, convincing the Iraqis that with Axis aid they could drive out the British. The uprising suprized the NAZIs who were not prepared for it. The NAZI Arab policy was in some way constrained because of Hitler's focus on Russia and his willingness to give deference to Musollini when dealing with the Arabs. The Arab revolt in Iraq was of considerable significance. Iraqwas the source of the oil used by the British Mediterranean Fleet and the 8th Army fishing the Afrika Korps in the Western Desert. The British supressed the Iraqi Revolt (March 1941) with a pick up force from Palestine and then an Indian Division rushed to Iraq. Husseini escaped first to Tehran and then to Italy, finally reaching Berlin. He was enthusiastic received by the "Islamische Zentralinstitut" and the small Islamic community of Germany which due deference to the NAZIs pronounced him the "Führer of the Arabic world." Husseini's first speech in Berlin denounced the Jews as the "most fierce enemies of the Muslims" and an "ever corruptive element" in the world. Arab supporters of the NAZIs seemed to have blithy assumed that they would be liberated by the Axis and thus achieve independence. It is difficult to see how any minimally educated observer in 1940-41 could have reached that conclusion, especially given Italian conduct in Libya and German conduct in the Occupied East. Another largely ignored question is the fact that the Arabs are also semmites. NAZI racist science claimed that the Jews had genitically carried diseases. One wonders why the Arabs did not carry these diseases. Of course the NAZIracist science was a pseudo science so they could invent an Arab people free of such contamination. Husseini was an honored guest of the NAZI's in Berlin. He was received by Hitler twice. He pressed Hitler on the last group of Jews left in NAZI hands--the Hungarian Jews. He did not want them to be allowed to escape, fearing they would come to Palestine. Adolf Eichman at the time was attempting to negotiate with the British to exchange 5,000 Hungarian children for German POWs. Husseini's point of view prevalied. The SS were dispatched the children to the NAZI death camps in Poland. Husseini is reported to have visited Auschwitz and encouraged the SS staff operating the gas chambers to work harder. Husseini was exploited by Goebbels' propaganda machine and made numerous broadcasts in Arabic to the Middle East promoting the NAZIs and giving virulently anti-Semitic sermons.
The Unites States under the Truman Administration played a a major role in creating Israel, both in supporting the U.N. partition plan and in recognozing Israel. The U.S. Government did not, however, provide military support in the resulting First Aran Isreali Wa (1948-49). It is difficult to under stand why the Truman Administration would have supported Isreal's creation, but been unprepared to support it militarily when the Arab states invaded. Here a factor may have been that President Truman could support the U,N. psrtition plan and recognize Israel by executive action. Supporting Israel militarily would have required Congressional action. The creation of Israel raises an important question. Is support of Israel in America's national interest? President Truman appears to have made the decesion largely on moral/sentimental grounds--sympathy for the suffering oif Jews during World war II. From the very begionning, however, there cwere questions asked. Secretary of State George Marshall believed that supporting Israel was not in America's interests. He was concerned with both the presence of Communists in the European Jews ejmigrating to Israel. He also saw a danger in alienating the Arab world, an area of strateh\gic importance in the developing Civil War. So the question needs to be addressed as to just what American interests are concderning Israel.
Isreali defense thinking, influenced by the experience of the First Arab-Isreali War, was for Israel to develop its iwn arms industry and not be dependant on any foreign country. This might have been possible despite the desparity in the size of Israel and that of its Arab adversaries. The Arab countries with primitive industrial and scientific establishments did not have the capsbility to produce advanced weapons. And this has not changed over time. The advent of the Cold war changed this dynamic. The Arab countries were able to acquire advanced weapons from the Soviet Union as part of its efforts to acuire influence in the Middle. Stalin's initial support of Isreal was very quickly shifted to supporting the Arabs and advanced weapns were supplied to Egypt, Iraq, and Syria. While Israel rapidly expanded its domestic arms industry, it did not have the resources to copete with the Soviet Union. Israel was able to acquire advaznced fighters from France which played aey role in the Six Day War. The French motivation was arms sales, but even before the war, France began to shift its policy. Here the key was the defendence oif France on oil imports and the more lucrative export possibilities in arab countries. The Six Days War also changed the chsracyer of the conflict because Israel occupied Arab populated areas.
While the United States during the Truman Administration played a key role in estanlishing Israel, it did not play a major role in supporting Israel durung its early years. Here we are talking about the United states Government. American Jews were a major financial supporter of Israel. American planners began to shift their opinion of Israel. Unlike the Truman Administration policies, the American policies after the Six Days War began to see Israel as a means of countering Soviet influence in the region. Yitzhak Rabin was the principal architect of Isreali defense thinking. He was an influential officer and IDF chief-of-staff (1965-68), ambassador to the U nited States (1968-1973), defense minister (1984-1990; 1992-95), and as prime minister (1974-77; 1992-95). He saw the declining power and will of Europe and argued for developing a strategic relatiionship with the United States. Rabin did not base his argument on any emotional tie or to support of Israeli democracy, but rather on strategic thinking centered on the Cold war. The result was the delivery of Phantom jets and other American weapons. These and emergency deliveries by the Nixon Administration proved decisive in the Yom Kipur war. The end of the Cold War meant a readjustmeny of the Isreali-American relationship. The 9-11 attacks and President Budh's War on Terror has deplyed that readjustment. President Obama is now involved in a major reconsideration of that reklstionship. The results of that reexamination and the Isreali reponse are yet to be seen.
President Roosevelt died of a hear attack after only 2 months into his fourth term. Vice-President Truman became president. He had no executive experience or had President Roosevelt taken any scioin to involve him in the Administration. He was thrust into major issues including ending the war win the Pacific, the post-War settlement in Europe, the develooing Cold War, and economic adjustment. The developing situation on Palestine was one of many issues that the President had tob confront with little or no experience. We do not know how President Roosevely would have dealt with these issues. The decesions President Truman took were critical for the creation of Israel. President Truman's decesions do not seem to have been based on any har-hitting anaysis of American interests, but rather sympsthy for the Jewish people and what they experuenced during World War II.
With rising viloence in Palestine, the United Nations attempt to solve the problem. The United States used its influence to prevent the United Nations from assigning the Negev to the Arab partition zone as recommended by the Bernadotte Plan. A partition resolution was placed before the General Assembly. President Truman played a key role in the creation of Israel.
The U.S, State Department wanted the United States to vote against the partition resolution. There was considerable anti-Semetic feeling within the State Department beaureaucracy. State Department officials had impeded Jewish immigration before the War. It is difficult to know how this affected actul policy. Secretary of State Marshall empatically advised the President against supporting partition. Here his concern was a simple calculation of the national interest. Marshall believed that a partition of Palestine would damage relations in the Middle East which was becoming a key theater in the developing Cold war. He was also concerned about the Communist connections od some Jewish refugees.
President Truman decided to cast the U.S. at the United Nations for partition. The vote was close and if the United States had not voted for partition, the resolution almost certainly would have failed. President Truman also recognized Israel when it declared its independence.
The issue of recognizing Israel caused a major debate within the Administration. The differences over Israel almost caused a break between Marshall and Truman. The issue came to a head in alimatic meeting in the Oval Office (May 12, 1948). President Truman met with Secretary Marshall, Under Secretary of State Robert Lovett, Counsel to the President Clark Clifford and several others to discuss Palestine. Clifford relecting Truman's developing opinion argued that the United States should recognize Israel. Marshall vociferously rejected Clifford's arguments. He charged that they were based on domestic political considerations. He even stated that if the President followed Clifford's advice and recognized Israel that he would vote against Truman in the upcoming election. Truman listens, but not make a decesion, apparently not wishing to confront Marshall. The Truman Administration recognied Israel, but did nothing to support it when the surronding Arab countries invaded. In fact, the Truman administration imposed an arms embargo. Like the arms embargo during the Spanish Civil War, it affected primarily one side--Israel. The Arabs countries were organized national states with well armed armies, including tanks and heavy weapons. The Isreali Defense Force (IDF) had mostly small arms to defend the new country. They launched a major effort to optain eapons, but this was made difficult because of the U.S. arms embargo. The Isralis managed to get some arms from Czechoslovakia wuithout which their sucessful defense would have been impossible. After the war, the United States prosecuted Americans who had broken the law and violated the embargo, smuggling aircraft to Israel. The Truman Administration pressured Israel to accept Arab peace offers which included return of 500,000 Palestinian Arab refugees and territorial concessions.
The United States also provided Israel a $100 million dollar loan to help ressettle 250,000 European refugees and to help rebuild the war-devestated country.
The Eisenhower administration was much less suportive of Israel. The Isrealis saw the Administratiin as basically antagonistic. The United States and Britain pressured Israel to turn over a portion of the Negev to Egypt. A CIA operative in Cairo advised Presidentb Gamal Abdul Nasser to camouflage a Soviet arms deal as a Czech arms deal, so it would appear less threatening to Americans in the Cold War. I do not know enough about this incident to know if it was an a agennt acting on his own or under the direction of higher authority. The Administration in the United Nations supported U.N. condemnations of Israel for violations of the international status of Jerusalem. The city in the U.N. partition plan was to be an international city, but in the First Arab-Isreali War was seized by Israel and Jordan. The Administration refused, however, to equally criticize Jordanian violations of the cease fire agreement as well as the international status in Jerusalem. American Jews help finance a hotel built over part of the Jewish cemetery on Mt Olives. President Eisenhower forced Israel to withdraw from Sinai and Gaza after the Suez War. The Administration offered Israel a memorandum about freedom of navigation through the Suze Cana after they withdrew. Egyot refused to honor the agreement and Isreali ships were denied use of the Canal. President Eisenhower entertained King Saud of Saudi Arabia with considerable pomp. (The King owned slaves at the time during the Civil Rights Movement in America.) No Israeli leader during the Eisenhower Administration was accorded comparable honors.
American relations with Israel warmed during the Jennedy Administration. Israel got some minor military aid. The United States was not, however, a major azrms supplier. American aid to Israel was largely symbolic. Much oif it was loans rather than grants. Aid levels were less than 0.1 billion annually. Israel did get extensive support from American Jewss. If Israel had apecial relationship it was with France. Most of Israel's high performance aircraft came from France. The French motive was basically the lucrative export sales. The IDF at the time of the Six Days War was largeky equipped with French military equipment. This was not foreign aid, but straight forward purchases.
The United States until after the Six Days War (1967) played only a minor role in equipping the IDF with arms. American Jewish groups cobntinued to contribute considerable sums to support Israel. President Johnson spoke suportuvely about Israel. Even so American policy toward arms purchases did not change apreciably. Nor did the Administration push on the Suez Canal issue. The President of course was mired in Viet Nam. During the final years of the Administration, the Six Days War War broke out (1967).
American foreign aid under the Nixon Administration came to be a major support for Israel. And American arms sales, especially aircraft, financed by the aid became a central support for the IDF. With this support has come strings.
Israel is the largest cumulative recipient of U.S. foreign assistance since World War II. Most of that assistance has come since the Yon Kimpur War (1973). Israel wa the largest recipient for many years (1976-2004).Only recently has Israel been supplanted by Iraq. The United States has provided Israel about $3 billion in grants annually. [Sharp]
President Gerorge W. Bush was the strongest supporter of Israel of any president since Truman. The initial contacts were not that warm, but the 9-1 attacks appears to have changed the direction od Administration policy/. A hard to quantify factor was the strong support for Israel anong the religious right, a strong force in the Republocan Party.
President Obama's policy toward Israel is not yet clear. He delivered a major address at Cairo University in an effort to engage the Muslim world in the peace process (2009).
Sharp, Jeremy M. (CRS Middle East Policy Analyst, Foreign Affairs, Defense, and Trade Division) "U.S. Foreign Aid to Israel," CRS Report for Congress (January 5, 2006). Order Code RL33222. The Congressional Reserch Service (CRS) is a unit of the Lobrary of Congress. It prepares studies requested by the Congress.
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Created: 7:28 PM 6/9/2009
Last updated: 7:28 PM 6/9/2009