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| FEATURE ARTICLE |
| Ejukwa Osam | Thursday, August 24, 2006 |
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ejuks@hotmail.com Minneapolis, MN, USA 
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ISRAEL MUST SURVIVE:
REFLECTING ON THE HISTORY OF ARAB ISRAELI WARS (Part II)
n part one the focus was on the 1948 war of Independence and 1956 Suez Canal war in which Israel prevailed. But that victory humiliated the Arabs and left resentments on the minds of Arab political leaders and their followers.
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In spite of Israel's military might, this did not dissuade Gamal Nasser from planning a future misadventure against the Jewish state.
His cravings became true after his military coup against the government of King Farouk in 1952. Because he had no immediate political interest, at first he appointed a colleague known as Gen Muhammed Naguib to become prime minister, while he was in charge of the revolutionary guards. Two years later differences with Gen. Naguib became glaring especially after the military leader began to expand his powers by merging the office of the President and Prime Minister. The palace coup enabled Gen. Nasser to become Prime Minister in 1954 and at a later stage became the elected president of Egypt. Apart from his domestic priorities, his foreign policy interest was to avenge the 1948 defeat of Egypt hence his alliance with Syria under the name of United Arab Republic. The alliance lasted from 1958-1961. Somehow ideological differences and lack of geographical contiguity played up and the alliance was dissolved.
A vital fact observers of Middle East conflict must not forget is that Gen. Gamal A. Nasser was charismatic and also venerated by the Muslim world. Apart from his commanding height, he was an orator like the Ikemba of Nnewi, Emeka Ojukwu. Gen Gamal was the sort of leader Arabs have been clamoring for as his popularity grew in length and breadth with much hatred and penchant to destroy Israel. He apparently confused the Israelis with series of maneuvers so as not to understand his war plans. That objective was clearly demonstrated when he realigned and simultaneously pledged allegiance to the former Soviet Union. He acquired aircrafts artilleries and sophisticated Kalashnikov weapons from the Soviets. In addition, he held meetings with the late Syrian president Hafez Al Assad (Oct. 6 1930-June 10, 2000) and other Arab cronies for material and logistic support.
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His accelerated pace to build alliances and the presence of as many as twenty thousand Soviet advisers who by the way helped to build the famous Aswan dam in Egypt showed the extent of his adventure. To match his rhetoric for war early in 1956, he unilaterally nationalized the Suez Canal and barred Israeli and foreign shipping vessels from using the Suez Canal. The Suez Canal was vital because its geographical proximity to Europe helped European ships to avoid the long winding route through the Atlantic and Cape of Good Hope South Africa to Asia. By sailing through the Suez and then the Red Sea, Asia was within reach. So it was irresponsible to ban foreign vessels from using the Suez. He unilaterally positioned himself for war without exhausting diplomatic options. By nationalizing the Suez and barring foreign vessels, Nasser miscalculated because on October 29 1956, elite Israeli commandoes landed on the Sinai Peninsula and fought against the Egyptians. Unlike in the past war, Israel was not alone as other developed countries such as France and the UK formed a coalition to deal with the Egyptian armed forces. It took the threat of the Soviet Union and a UN resolution for Israel UK and France to withdraw their forces. In return the Suez Canal was reopened for international ships to sail through.
The 1956 war ended but tensions across the region did not subside as Gamal Nasser had more surprises for his people. His long drawn plan was yet to unfold the mother of all battles which became known as the Six Day War. He kept the timing to himself and it took him over a decade of preparation before confronting Israel. Another vital point is that any potential for war with Israel was predicated on two vital facts; the hatred of Israel and the wish to destroy her. In spite of what any military veteran had advised, it did not change the dynamics of the conflict as Gamal Nasser and his Arab folks intensified rhetoric matched by more hatred. Consequently the state of Israel was omitted from their regional map; sporting, economic and social boycott was intensified with all degrees of seriousness.
In other to proceed to war with Israel, he organized daily military propaganda messages through Arab network news. He became emboldened by the retirement of former president David Ben Gurion and the emergence of a crony Syrian president Hafez Al Assad.
After spending a considerable time of 1966 and early parts of 1967 clamoring for war against the Jewish state, he raised the hopes of Arabs who felt at long last an opportunity exist to avenge the defeat of Egypt in the 1956 Suez crisis.
Despite concerted diplomatic efforts by the late Israeli foreign minister Abba Eban (Feb. 2, 1915-November 17, 2002) and long drawn meetings to persuade President Gamal Abdel Nasser from embarking on a war with Israel, the rhetoric of war continued and this was matched by visible mobilization of troops across Arab capitals.
In response, the new Israeli Prime Minister a quiet soft spoken but highly resolved individual by name Levi Eshkol (1895- February 26, 1969) became frustrated with the diplomatic efforts that were leading to no where but to more mobilization of troops against Israel. There was no other option but for Israel to use the doctrine of preemption to stop the threats against her existence. Luckily Israel had a capable and veteran officer by name Ezer Weisman (June 15 1924 to August 24 2005) to muster his elite Air force to action. It was this same Ezer Weisman who flew many combat missions in the war of Independence and was a veteran air force pilot in the Second World War. It was Weizman's skill in rebuilding the entire fleet of Israeli air force that altered the destiny of Israeli Air force to this day. He secretly mobilized air force personals to start training for a preemptive action against Egypt. One early morning of June 5 1967, over two hundred Israeli fighter jets left Israel for a brutal action. The fighter planes took off simultaneously in the direction of the Mediterranean Sea and suddenly diverted in organized columns headed for the skies of Egypt. The combat planes flew low on reaching the Egyptian airspace so as to avoid the weak Egyptian radar systems, which by the way were not on. The planes bombed over 450 Egyptian combat aircrafts across seven airfields and devastated airport infrastructure, subsequently leaving deep craters on major airfields in Cairo and major Egyptian air fields. This preemptive strike on formidable Egyptian air force was the beginning of the Six day War and totally incapacitated any effort to hurriedly rebuild the Egyptian air force. The elite Israeli air force only lost seventeen aircrafts due to mechanical failures and the rest turned to Damascus Syria and repeated the same feat. Amazingly almost all the aircrafts returned safely to base in the Negev.
Seizing the initiative, the Israeli infantry confronted the Egyptian forces in the Sinai and destroyed Soviet made tanks, artillery weapons seizing many Kalashnikov weapons and prisoners of war with a devastating casualty on Egyptian soldiers. In addition, the retreating Egyptian soldiers suffered more air strikes from the Israeli Air force jets. The defeat of Egypt was so comprehensive that the whole Sinai Peninsula fell into the hands of Israel as Cairo was within the reach of Israeli artillery barrages. In addition, Israel conquered Gaza Strip to conclude the victory on the Sinai front. The IDF suddenly changed course to face Syria.
But the battle against Syria tested the strength of the IDF as Syria has been known to be an enemy who ought to be dealt a final blow. Let me give a brief description of the strategic Golan Heights. The Golan Heights was highly strategic to Syria defense because it is an elevated highland with natural barriers. Syria used the Heights to shell Israel and the control of it meant an invasion of Israel becomes easy. Israeli Defense Force officers thought control of the Heights could stop artillery barrages against Kibbutz farm settlements. In addition, any plan for invasion or maneuver could be easily detected by the IDF. The Syrians fortified the Golan Height with booby traps, entrenched land mines, and their infantry soldiers were deeply dug into trenches to avoid aerial bombardment. Facing a determined enemy, it took a sustained Israeli air force bombardment for the infantry to gain access for a face to face encounter with the Syrians. Backed by tanks and heavy infantry on the ground, the Israeli's accelerated the pace of heavy artillery shells backed by aerial bombardment that dug craters within the valleys of the Golan. As a result of the heavy military action, the Syrian infantry was pushed to the eastern fringes of the Golan. Consequently Israel captured the Golan Heights which there have controlled to this day.
On another front, Jordan defied warning from Israel and attacked her thereby handing Israel the opportunity to face Jordan a country that was in charge of West Bank and another vital historic city of East Jerusalem. In the ensuing battle, there were hand to hand fights backed by heavy Israeli artillery. By capturing West Bank and East Jerusalem viewed as strategic or symbolic importance, Israel gained access to the Wailing Wall, a significant religious site for Jews.
The consequences of this defeat meant humiliation for Gen. Nasser and a loss of prestige in the Arab world. His effort to resign was rejected as there was no face saving mission left for him. On September 28 1970, Gen. Gamal Nasser died of heart attack at a young age of 48.
President Anwar Sadat of Egypt (December 25 1918- October 6 1981) succeeded him with the same ambition of reclaiming land that was lost to Israel. Although he tried peace overtures with former Prime Minister Golda Meir (1898-1978) and advocated the implementation of UN resolution 242 and 338, it was his alliance with Syria that triggered the 1973 Yom Kippur war. Prior to the war, the same factors that led to past wars were still there. These are the hatred of the Jews, the hope to destroy Israel and the plan to avenge series of defeats in the hands of Israel remained a core objective of any Arab leader. Backed by a sophisticated arsenal of weaponry and surface to air missiles popularly known as the SAM missiles, Egypt prepared for years and secretly imagined how an invasion against the heavily fortified fortress that Israel had built in the Sinai would enhance the image of Egypt before the Arab world. To this end, endless meetings were held in Damascus with the agreement that there has to be a simultaneous attack on Israel by Egypt from the Sinai Peninsula and Syria from the Golan front. Recall that was the same plan of the 1967 Six Day War.
On October 6 1973, Egypt caught the Israeli's by surprise by planning for war on a major Jewish holiday known as Yom Kippur. It was puzzling that Gen. Moshe Dayan (May 20 1915- October16, 1981) the defense Minister and the Israeli secret service Mossad had no prior knowledge of this war and it took some days to remobilize soldiers to the frontlines to confront Egypt. The delay helped Egypt as she clearly overran the security fortification and even gained fifteen Kilometers within the Sinai. As a result of the action, Israel lost vital armaments such as tanks, planes and some prisoners were captured for the first time in the history of Arab-Israeli wars. With weapons depleted and moral near low, former President Nixon and former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger helped the process by airlifting tanks and munitions to Israel. By the second week of the war, the tide turned against Egypt as the Israeli Defense Force repelled the advance of Egypt and started pushing the Egyptians back to the fortification.
A major development in the Yom Kippur war was the recall of the most feared "blood man" Maj. Gen. Ariel Sharon (February 26 1928- ) who has been living a life of retirement. His appearance raised the moral of his command. It was this veteran of wars of 1956, 1967 and now 1973 war that brought a rare brilliance on Major General Ariel Sharon. He intuitively detected a gap within the Egyptian defense and sought to capitalize as a pathway for a vicious attack. Contrary to senior commanders, he defied orders by ferrying troops through the middle of the Suez Canal and subsequently located a bridgehead which he threw for more troops to come on.
He effectively seized the initiative to cut off the Egyptian Third Infantry division. The bridge head Sharon created effectively was the turning point of the Yom Kippur war. This is because it helped Abraham Adan's troops in conjunction with Sharon's own troops to maintain monopoly over the bridgehead in the Suez. With supply lines leading to Egyptian Third division totally cut off Ariel Sharon's soldiers used the same bridge head and ventured into the continental land of Africa. Once again Sharon and Abraham Adan's army advanced 101 kilometers from Cairo.
Sensing heavy humiliation, the late President Sadat called for a ceasefire. He was backed by the Soviet Union who threatened to intervene if Israel does not accept a ceasefire. It took some shuttle diplomacy of Dr Kissinger and threats of nuclear war by the then U.S. President Richard Nixon for matters to calm down. On the Golan front, Israel pushed Syria beyond the eastern fringes of the Golan killing many infantry men and shooting many Syrian airforce jets from the sky. The IDF action destroyed Syrian tanks and captured many weaponry and prisoners of war. In fact Syria lost more of Golan Heights because Israel reached the artillery range of Damascus but stopped short due to UN imposed ceasefires.
Again just like the misadventure of the 1956 Suez Canal closures, the closure and banning of Israeli vessels from the Gulf of Agaba and the subsequent Six Day War, and the 1973 Yom Kippur war, it showed that God Almighty would keep His word to protect Israel from Arab enemies and Soviet support. In spite of Israeli military successes and apparent humiliation of Arab armies, the hatred of the Jews was intensified through different fronts. That hatred has continued to this day.
Israel Must Survive would continue
Ejuks is a Christian apologist. He is also a University of Port Harcourt alumnus and three (ATS) accredited Seminaries in the USA and Canada.