Historical Dictionary of the Arab-Israeli Conflict

413 Pages·2006·3.24 MB·English

by  P R Kumaraswamy

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HISTORICALDICTIONARIES
OFWAR, REVOLUTION, AND CIVILUNREST
Edited by Jon Woronoff
1. Afghan Wars,Revolutions,and Insurgencies, by Ludwig W.
Adamec. 1996. Out of print. See No. 30.
2. The United States–Mexican War, by Edward H. Moseley and Paul
C. Clark Jr. 1997.
3. World War I, by Ian V. Hogg. 1998.
4. The United States Navy, by James M. Morris and Patricia M.
Kearns. 1998.
5. The United States Marine Corps, by Harry A. Gailey. 1998.
6. The Wars of the French Revolution, by Steven T. Ross. 1998.
7. The American Revolution, by Terry M. Mays. 1999.
8. The Spanish–American War, by Brad K. Berner. 1998.
9. The Persian Gulf War, by Clayton R. Newell. 1998.
10. The Holocaust, by Jack R. Fischel. 1999.
11. The United States Air Force and Its Antecedents, by Michael
Robert Terry. 1999.
12. Civil Wars in Africa, by Guy Arnold. 1999.
13. World War II:The War against Japan, by Anne Sharp Wells.
1999.
14. British and Irish Civil Wars, by Martyn Bennett. 2000.
15. The Cold War, by Joseph Smith and Simon Davis. 2000.
16. Ancient Greek Warfare, by Iain Spence. 2002.
17. The Vietnam War,by Edwin E. Moïse. 2001.
18. The Civil War, by Terry L. Jones. 2002.
19. The Crimean War, by Guy Arnold. 2002.
20. The United States Army,a Historical Dictionary,by Clayton R.
Newell. 2002.
21. Terrorism,Second Edition, by Sean K. Anderson and Stephen
Sloan. 2002.
22. Chinese Civil War, by Edwin Pak-wah Leung. 2002.
23. The Korean War:A Historical Dictionary,by Paul M. Edwards.
2002.
24. The “Dirty Wars,” by David Kohut, Olga Vilella, and Beatrice
Julian. 2003.
25. The Crusades, by Corliss K. Slack. 2003.
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26. Ancient Egyptian Warfare,by Robert G. Morkot. 2003.
27. The French Revolution,by Paul R. Hanson. 2004.
28. Arms Control and Disarmament, by Jeffrey A. Larsen and James
M. Smith. 2005.
29. The Russo–Japanese War, by Rotem Kowner. 2005.
30. Afghan Wars,Revolutions,and Insurgencies,Second Edition,
by Ludwig W. Adamec. 2005.
31. War of 1812,by Robert Malcomson. 2006.
32. Arab–Israeli Conflict,by PR Kumaraswamy. 2006.
06-358_(01)Front.qxd 8/8/06 5:15 AM Page iii
Historical Dictionary of
the Arab–Israeli Conflict
P R Kumaraswamy
Historical Dictionaries of War,
Revolution, and Civil Unrest, No. 32
The Scarecrow Press, Inc.
Lanham, Maryland • Toronto • Oxford
2006
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SCARECROWPRESS, INC.
Published in the United States of America
by Scarecrow Press, Inc.
Awholly owned subsidiary of
The Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group, Inc.
4501 Forbes Boulevard, Suite 200, Lanham, Maryland 20706
www.scarecrowpress.com
PO Box 317
Oxford
OX2 9RU, UK
Copyright ©2006 by PR Kumaraswamy
All rights reserved.No part of this publication may be reproduced,
stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any
means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise,
without the prior permission of the publisher.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Information Available
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Kumaraswamy, PR
Historical dictionary of the Arab–Israeli conflict / PR Kumaraswamy.
p. cm. — (Historical dictionaries of war, revolution, and civil unrest; no. 32)
Includes bibliographical references.
ISBN-13: 978-0-8108-5343-0 (hardcover : alk. paper)
ISBN-10: 0-8108-5343-4 (hardcover : alk. paper)
1. Arab–Israeli conflict—Encyclopedias. I. Title. II. Series.
DS119.7.K85 2006
956.04—dc22
2006010134
(cid:2)™
The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of
American National Standard for Information Sciences—Permanence of
Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI/NISO Z39.48-1992.
Manufactured in the United States of America.
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To
my friend, philosopher, and guide
Appa
and
to the memory of
Amma
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Contents
Editor’s Foreword Jon Woronoff ix
Preface xi
Acknowledgments xiii
Acronyms and Abbreviations xv
Chronology xvii
Introduction xliii
THE DICTIONARY 1
Bibliography 293
About the Author 341
vii
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Editor’s Foreword
One of the most intractable conflicts of the modern period, the Arab–
Israeli conflict has been around in its more acute form for more than
half a century. It has envenomed relations not only between Israel and
its Arab neighbors but also much further afield, afflicting the Middle
East and Muslim world as a whole and seriously complicating relations
with the United States and the West in general. Over this long period,
repeated attempts have been made to resolve it, with only limited suc-
cess thus far, and the hopes that arise are frequently and sometimes bru-
tally crushed one after the other. Thus the possibilities that opened up
after the death of Yasser Arafat, the new leadership of the Palestinian
Authority, and the partial withdrawal by Israel were quickly reversed
with the electoral success of Hamas and friction among the Palestinians,
which only paralleled the division within Israel. No one knows what
will happen next, and all sorts of scenarios are possible aside, it seems,
from a satisfactory solution.
Whatever the future may bring, it is always helpful to have a good
guide to the past, and although others exist, Historical Dictionary of the
Arab–Israeli Conflictwill certainly be useful for those who want to bet-
ter understand the situation. The chronology traces the many twists and
turns, marking the most decisive steps. The introduction places the con-
flict in its broader context and helps explain just why it is so intractable.
The list of acronyms, too, should be helpful in reading not only this but
any other book on the topic. But it is the dictionary section that is obvi-
ously most important, providing hundreds of entries on the military, po-
litical, economic, and social aspects of the situation in Israel and its ri-
val nations, and also among the Palestinians as well as the outside
countries that have sought to resolve or destabilize the situation. These
entries include the major wars and lesser actions, terrorism and assassi-
nations, political parties and resistance organizations, countless plans
ix
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x • EDITOR’S FOREWORD
and proposals along with those who supported or blocked them, and
faits accomplis on the ground. The bibliography then offers further
reading on a dispute that is among the most studied and written about
ever.
This book was not written by an Arab, nor an Israeli, nor a Westerner,
but by an Indian—one with considerable familiarity with the subject
and the region. PR Kumaraswamy studied international relations at the
School of International Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University in New
Delhi. There he specialized in Middle Eastern studies, and not political
science, which is probably also to the good. After graduation, Ku-
maraswamy worked as a research fellow at, among other places, the
Truman Institute of the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. In recent
years, he has taught at his alma mater and written articles and books on
the conflict and Israel’s relations with Asia. In a field in which bias is
almost impossible to avoid no matter how hard one tries, there are ad-
vantages to relative neutrality, and this book does a better job than most
in presenting the facts as facts, showing the good and bad points of the
various participants, and leaving it up to the reader to draw conclusions.
Jon Woronoff
Series Editor
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Preface
With the contentious Arab–Israeli conflict being the most widely
written-about subject in the world, why another dictionary? As an
outsider to the Middle East, I have approached the whole conflict
with sympathy to none and compassion to all. There is no overall bias
in favor or against any party to the conflict. For example, I see and
recognize the city of Jerusalem—where most of the dictionary was
compiled—as holy and sacrosanct to all three major religions of the
region: Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.
I primarily see the conflict—especially the Israeli–Palestinian conflict
—as two intense rival nationalisms fighting over the same piece of
territory. Aware of my ethno-cultural baggage, I have sought to present
an outsider’s view of the conflict and tried to avoid any value judgment
or prescription.
Some might question the selection of entries or the choice of expres-
sion. With each passing day, a dictionary like this would have to ac-
commodate new entries, data, and at times new interpretations. While
most of the entries are contemporary in nature, the dictionary traces as
the major milestone the Jewish immigration to Palestine, the Aliyathat
began in the late 19th century.
Military operations undertaken by Israel are referred to here by their
specific titles because they are widely known and present a better un-
derstanding. Thus for example, “Operation Peace for Galilee” rather
than “Israeli Invasion of Lebanon.” At the same time, neutral expres-
sions are used to refer to specific Arab–Israeli wars; for example, the
“Arab–Israeli War of 1947–1948,” as opposed to the “War of Indepen-
dence” or “al-Naqba” as it is commonly known among Israelis and
Palestinians, respectively. With sufficient cross-references, the entries
have been kept reasonably short. The basic idea is to provide the reader,
xi