Arab Israel Conflict
Roots:
- Jewish immigration in late 19th century from Europe in response to anti semitism
British Mandate
- League of Nations granted Britain, mandate over Palestine
- Balfour declaration - British support for Jewish homeland in Palestine.
- increased the tensions among Arabs, British, Jews
1948 Arab Israel War - War of Independence - Nakba
- UN's partition plan - separate state for Jewish and Arab
- Israel declared independence in May, 1948
- arab nations attacked Israel in 1948
- war ended in 1949
- Israel controlled majority of the territory than before
Suez Canal - crisis in 1956
6 day war - 1967
- Israel captures Sinai peninsula, Gaza strip, West bank, East Jerusalem, Golan heights
Yom Kippur War - 1973
- high Jewish holiday - Yom Kippur
- Egypt and Syria attacked Israel surprisingly
- ceasefire was reached
- Israel returned Sinai Peninsula to Egypt
Camp David Accords - 1978
Oslo Accords - 1990s
- first direct negotiation between Israel and Palestine
- plans for Palestine self government
Israel - Jordan Peace Treaty - 1994
- 2nd arab country to recognise Israel
Arab Peace Initiative - 2002
- by Saudi Arabia
- Israel recognition by all Arab countries
- exchange for Israel withdrawal from all occupied territories since 1967
- Just settlement for Palestine refugee problem
Hezbollah vs Israel - 2006
- Hezbollah and Israel last fought an all-out war in 2006, and it did not end well for the Jewish state.
Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, 2015
Issues
- Palestine under different control regimes
- West Bank under Fatah
- Gaza Strip under Hamas
March 2025
US enters West Asia
- The U.S. has deployed 7 B-2 Stealth Bombers to Diego Garcia-just a short flight from Iran and Yemen.
- A 2nd U.S. carrier strike group is also heading to the region.
- This is possible the largest concentration of these advanced stealth bombers to date outside US.
Iran - Israel conflict, June, 2025
Political Map of iran
Iran's military bases in Central Asia
Iran's stockpile of enriched uranium
Political landscape of central asia
Iran's ballistic and cruise missiles
Israel killed nuclear scientists of Iran
The Israeli strikes killed at least three of Iran’s top military commanders, as well as nuclear scientists.
Major General Mohammed Bagheri killed
Maj. Gen. Mohammad Bagheri, who is the chief of staff of Iran’s armed forces, was the most senior leader among the dead.
Accurate targeting
Not only did they target Iran’s nuclear program and air defenses, the Israeli attacks also eliminated the top tier of military commanders all at once, targeting their residential homes, including some in secure military complexes. In some areas of the capital, Tehran, entire apartment buildings collapsed.
General Hossein Salami killed
Gen. Hossein Salami, the commander of the powerful Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, was killed in an Israeli strike within Tehran
Khamenei's statement
“The Zionist regime with this crime has created a dark and painful fate for itself, and it will definitely receive it.” Mr. Khamenei's statement.
Iran not attacked since 1989
- Iran had not been attacked by a foreign enemy with such sweeping force since 1989 when the country was at war with Iraq.
- Mr. Khamenei had made averting war a central part of his legacy, taking the country to the brink of conflict several times, including twice with Israel last year, but stopping short of an all-out war.
Iran’s Foreign Minister to Meet With European Counterparts Amid War
Meet at Geneva
Iran’s foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, was scheduled to meet with top diplomats from Britain, France and Germany on Friday in Geneva.
E3 group
Britain, France and Germany are reconstituting a diplomatic group, known as the E3, which conducted on-again, off-again talks with Iran in the early 2000s and again before Iran signed a nuclear agreement with the West in 2015.
Talks about concession in nuclear program?
the European diplomats will deliver an urgent message to Mr. Araghchi that his government must make significant concessions in its nuclear program.
Mr. Araghchi (2013 & 2018 deal)
In Mr. Araghchi, the Iranian minister, the Europeans will confront a seasoned negotiator who hammered out the framework of that deal in secret talks with emissaries from the Obama administration in 2013. Mr. Trump withdrew from the agreement, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, in 2018.
Access to nuclear facilities in Iran?
Among the table are matters of giving outside inspectors unfettered access to Iran’s nuclear facilities, as well as cutting its stockpile of ballistic missiles, which it has fired against Israel in retaliation for Israeli strikes on military bases and nuclear installations.
SPND research institute hit by Israel
Israel struck the headquarters of the S.P.N.D., an advanced research institute connected to Iran’s nuclear program, the Israeli military said
Iran must never have a nuclear weapon
We are determined that Iran must never have a nuclear weapon,” Mr. David Lammy, Britain's Foreign Secretary, said . NYT
Washington Examiner magazine - July 9, 2025
Diverted tactics
Israeli PM Netanyahu had let it be known that he would be taking the weekend off and flying to Athens, for his son's wedding.
President Trump repeated his preference for negotiated end to the Iranian nuclear program and his hope that renewed negotiations, scheduled to take place in Qatar, on June 14.
Operation Rising Lion
Operation Rising Lion, caught the Iranians by surprise. Israel struck in 18 out of Iran's 31 provinces in the first 24 hours.
Russia and China left Iran
Neither Russia, as in 1967, the key supplier and diplomatic protector of a radically anti western alignment, nor China, Iran's more discreet supplier of nuclear technology and the chief buyer of Iran's illegal oil exports stepped in to support Iran.
Arab allies airspace used for Israel
Over 60% of the missiles and drones launched by Iran against Israel, were intercepted successfully over Iraqi and Jordan and other Arab Allies airspace itself.
Operation Midnight Hammer
On June 22, 2025 the 10th day of fighting, Trump launched Operation Midnight Hammer, 7 B-2s from Whiteman air force base in Missouri flew eastward for 18 hours, while 2 B-2s flew westward to Guam as diversion. Total of 125 US aircrafts took part in the operation.
A submarine launched 24 Tomahawk cruise missiles at the Isfahan nuclear site.
Orchestrated attack by Iran
In retaliation, Iran attacked the largest air base of US in Qatar, which was designated as the major non NATO ally by then President Joe Biden in 2021 for services rendered by the country during the withdrawal from Afghanistan.
Nothing from Obama
Former President Barack Obama, the architect of 2015 Iran deal said nothing about the attack and counter attack.
Rings of Fire strategy of Iran
Israel has smashed the Rings of Fire strategy of Iran in this 600 day + war that was started in October 7, 2023. This strategy is to encircle Jewish state with islamist militias and asymmetric terrorism. Hamas in Gaza, Hezbollah in Iraq, Houthi in Yemen.
Clock in Tehran's Palestine Square
Khamenei prophesied that Israel would be destroyed before 2040 and unveiled the countdown clock in Tehran's Palestine Square on Quds day in 2017.
Significance of Iran
Iran is at the heart of central asia and it has a long history, at the cross roads of the energy pipelines and strategic pathways that connect Eurasia and the Middle east. While the mullahs saw Iran as the mothership of the Shiite revolution, Russia and China used it as a satellite in a greater game against America and the West.
July 2025
4th important mosque in Islam, under the control of Israel
- Israel officially announced the annexation of the Ibrahimi Mosque/ Cave of the Patriarchs in Hebron and withdrawing all the powers of the Hebron Municipality from it, and giving them to the settlers' municipal council in the Kiryat Arbaa settlement
Hebron city
- in the southern west bank
- The capital of Hebron governorate, which is the largest in the West Bank, located 30 km south of Jerusalem.
- The population is 201,063 and it spans over an area of 74.1 km².
- It is the third largest city in the country after Gaza and East Jerusalem.
- It is one of the four holy cities in Judaism, as well as in Christianity and Islam.
- According to the biblical tradition, the patriarchs Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, along with their wives Sarah, Rebecca, and Leah, were buried in the cave.
- Since the Six Day War in 1967, the city has been under Israeli control.
Israel sovereignty over Judea and Samaria
- Tomorrow the Knesset (the Israeli parliament) will vote on a historic declaration to apply Israel's sovereignty over Judea and Samaria.
- Means there will never be a Palestinian State.
August 2025
Britain getting ready to recognise Palestine
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, declared that UK would recognise the state of Palestine during the coming UN General Assembly session in September, unless Israel agrees to a ceasefire in Gaza and commits itself to the two state formula. 1
Countries recognising
This comes after the French President Emmanuel Macron declared the same.
Canada and Portugal also expressed the intention to do the same. All this comes, after the 21 month long war in Gaza.
Of the 193 countries in the UN, 147 have already recognised the state of Palestine. But the powerful western countries resisted such recognition until now.
Of the five members of the UNSC, Russia and China have already recognised the Palestine. If France and UK also do, then US, will be isolated at the council.
These are also the countries in the G7.
108th year of Balfour declaration
The move of Britain carries a historic significance, as this year marks the 108th year of Balfour declaration.
November 2, 1917
In 1917, Balfour declaration, Britain became the first major power to endorse the Zionist demand for the establishment of a Jewish homeland in Palestine.
The declaration was issued by Sir Arthur Balfour, the then British Foreign Secretary, on November 2, 1917, addressed to Lord Lionel Walter Rothschild, a Zionist leader of the British Jewish Community in the midst of the first world war.
Jews in the Europe had already started migrating to Palestine, which was then part of the Ottoman empire until the end of the first world war.
9% of population in 1917
By the time Balfour declaration was issued, there were 9% population of jews in the Palestine's total population.
Britain promised to support the arab independence if the arabs revolted against the Ottomans.
Secret agreement between France and Britain
France and Britain had already agreed to a secret agreement (Skyes - Picot) to divide Ottoman lands once the war was over. After the war, the Britain established a colonial administration in Palestine under the League of Nations mandate.
The Jewish community in Palestine began building their own institutions, trade unions, industries, paramilitary groups, and administrative frameworks.
30% population by 1945
By the end of second world war, Jews made up of 30% of the Palestine population.
Partition of Palestine
Britain concluded that, the mandate became unworkable and supported the partition of Palestine.
May 15, 1948
After the war, the Britain informed the UN of its intention to end the mandate, which was set to expire in may 15, 1948.
May 14, 1948
On may 14, the Zionist leaders unilaterally declared the state of Israel, which was recognised by the US within minutes.
First Arab Israel War
The declaration immediately triggered the first Arab israel war.
References
Footnotes
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The Hindu 03. 08. 2025 ↩
