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Relationship between Israel and the United States

On 14th May 1948, Israel was declared an independent state by David Ben Gurion, who

was the chairman of the Jewish Agency for Palestine. The independence of Israel marked the end

of British rule in Palestine.1 One day after the declaration of independence, the great news of

Israel reached the United States through a New York Times report. Israel had fought for its state

independence for more than 50 years. In 1917, there was a Balfour declaration that allowed the

British government to take over Palestine and Israel and rule them. Moreover, Israel experienced

heavy impacts on the holocaust and World War II. Most of the European Jews in Israel were

killed in this war.2 The killings caused a lot of tension in the country and forced the United

Nations to partition people into two sections, the Jewish and Arab sections in 1947. The Jewish

remained in Israel while the Arabs moved into Palestine.

However, these divisions led to the outbreak of the Israeli Palestine war. Since most of

the Arabs felt that they were the owners of the land of Israel. However, the Arabs were defeated

by the Israelis since they had a robust workforce and weapons. The Palestine war caused a

massive negative effect on the Israelis as the United States withdrew its support from them.

1
Dana Allin, and Simon Steven. The Sixth Crisis. (2010)

2
Herbert Druks. The Uncertain Alliance. (2001)
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However, after the declaration of Israel's independence, the United States immediately embraced

the move and decided to take its support back to the country.3 The recognition was evident when

the New York Times report indicated various messages from the United States' top official

leaders. The leaders congratulated Israel for the achievement and stated that they had now joined

the international fraternity. On the other hand, some countries such as Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, and

Egypt fought back the Israelis for their state independence.4 The anger of these countries

contributed to great enmity that is experienced in the country up to date.

Due to the anger, these countries decided to invade Israel one day after the declaration of

independence. They managed to invade the country since Great Britain had already withdrawn

its military troops. However, by the end of 1949, the Israel forces had defeated all its enemies.

The victory enabled Israel to expand its borders beyond those that were established by the United

Nations. Moreover, after the end of the six-day war, which took place in 1967, Israel received

full control over all the four countries. However, this war caused severe effects that are felt up to

date. For instance, Israel has continuously been expanding its territory by changing the borders

of its four neighboring countries. Currently, Lebanon borders Israel in the north, Syria at the

northeast, Egypt at the southeast, and Jordan at the east. The United States, which is the greatest

ally of Israel, has been playing a significant role in bringing peace between Israel and the

neighboring states.

After the independence of Israel, the country maintained a unique and healthy

relationship with the United States. From the day of freedom, Israel became one of the most

reliable United States partners in the Middle East. In 2017, the United States was at the forefront

3
Herbert Druks The Uncertain Alliance (2001)

4
Noam Chomsky. The Fateful Triangle. (1999)
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of recognizing Jerusalem as the capital city of Israel. 5The two countries are tightly bound

together by historic mutual interests and cultural ties. The United States has been giving Israel

different forms of assistance. For instance, it has been providing the country with over $3 billion

in financial aid annually.

This aid aims to provide the country with basic needs such as foodstuff. Moreover, the

U.S has been participating in an exchange of various services with Israel. For example, the two

countries have been exchanging new ideas on weapon development, military research, and

exercises. The strong relationship between the two states led to the development of a joint

counterterrorism group.6 The group aimed at fighting terrorism in Palestine and the whole of the

Middle East. Arabs are known for performing terrorism attacks in different states on the

continent. Hence the two countries decided to come up with the group to counter these attacks,

which were causing massive deaths.

The United States is known to be one of the most exceptional trading partners of Israel.

The U.S exports most of its products in Israel. These products include agricultural products,

diamonds, civilian aircraft, semiconductors, and telecommunication equipment.7 On the other

hand, Israel also exports various products such as medical equipment, pharmaceutical products,

and telecommunication equipment to the United States. The two countries are also known for

having direct investment in the manufacturing sector. Investment play a significant role in

enhancing the growth and development of the two states. In 1985, the two nations came up with

a Free Trade Agreement, which was to remove all the trading and promotion barriers in their

5
Dumbrell, John, and Axel R Schäfer. America's 'Special Relationships.' (2009)

6
Noam Chomsky. The Fateful Triangle. (2016)

7
, John, Dumbrell and Axel R Schäfer. America's 'Special Relationships' (2009)
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trade. The agreement enhanced the transparency of their business, which expanded the trade and

investment of the two nations.

Furthermore, to enhance the economic cooperation between the two states, they came up

with a joint economic development group. The group discusses the economic conditions in the

two states yearly and makes new reforms to promote economic growth each coming year. For the

past years, the two countries coordinate well in the cultural and scientific exchange programs

through various foundations.8 These foundations include the U.S Israeli Education Foundation,

Binational Agricultural Research and Development Foundation. The strong relationship between

the two nations is evident in various ways. For instance, the countries have the same membership

state in most of the international organizations. These organizations include the World Bank,

United Nations, and the World Trade Organization. Moreover, the two nations belong to a

European corporation, which oversees the security of the European states.

The United States has a bilateral representation in Israel by an ambassador known as

David Friedman. In 2017, president Trump acknowledged a move that was made in 1950. About

the moving of the capital city of Israel to Jerusalem. 9To support the idea entirely, on 6th

December, the same year, the United States decided to move its embassy to Tel Aviv facility,

which is located in Jerusalem. United States embassy maintains a large branch in the city up to

date. The embassy plays a significant role in maintaining international relationships between the

two countries. Moreover, it enhances close coordination, which contributes to the growth of the

two nations.

8
Orna Almog. Britain, Israel, and the United States (2016)

9
Dana Allin, H, and Steven Simon. The Sixth Crisis. (2010)
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Most of the Arabs who reside in Palestine are great enemies to Israel. In 2001, the United

States decided to reexamine its relationship with the Arab world through the use of a world trade

center.10 During the reexamination process, the United States realized that most of the Arab

population had a lot of anger deep inside their hearts due to the support the U.S was giving it.

According to research conducted by the U.S, most of the Arabs population felt that the U.S had

lost its concern on the Palestinians. The poor support offered by U. S to the Arabs contributed to

its defeat.

During the Israel Palestinian war the Arab government expected the United States to find

new resolutions to reduce the conflict. However, at that time, the Bush government focused more

on fighting terrorism in Iraq and the overthrowing of Saddam Hussein. Moreover, the U.S

continued to offer free violent responses to the Palestine attacks and condemned the Islamic Arab

for terrorism. The reactions of the United States to the war made Arabs conclude that Israel was

the leading cause of the poor support they received from the United States. Hence, this worsened

its relationship with the country and became the worst enemy. 11This led the Arabs to seek

revenge through performing constant attacks in Israel. Fortunately, Israel had the necessary

fighting equipment, which helped them to defeat most of the Arab countries.

On the other hand, through the excellent rapport between Israel and the U.S, Israeli Egypt

and Israel were able to mend their broken relationships. During various wars, the United States

played a significant role in refraining Israel from severe damage to Egypt. 12It controlled all the

10
Herbert Druks. (2001)

11
Dumbrell John, and Axel R Schäfer. America's 'Special Relationships' (2009)

12
Herbert Druks. The Uncertain Alliance (2001)
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fighting arms in the country. The U.S restricted acquisition of new firearms and other weapons in

Israel, which prevented suicidal bombing and attacks in Egypt. The last war between Egypt and

Israel, which happened in 1973, changed the perspective of the two nations.

Egyptians had planned the attack off guard to the Israelites. However, due to the

powerful war weapons that the country had, it managed to defeat the Egyptians. To end the war,

the United States brokered in through the Soviet Union to mediate peace between the nations.13

U.S officials sat done with the Israel officials and made all the efforts to ensure Israel realized; it

could not continuously sustain all the hatred it was receiving from its neighbors. The United

States advised Israel to create peace treaties with the fighting countries to avoid further attacks.

Thus, Israel hid to the U.S advice and came up with a peace treaty in 1978.

One part of the treaty indicated that Israel was ready to withdraw its forces from Sinai if

only Egypt recognized it. Egypt agreed to recognize Israel as an independent state. Thus, through

the developed treaty, the countries started to heal from their past experiences, and their good

rapport grew. Since that time, the two nations have been enjoying peace.14 On the other hand, the

strong relationship between Israel and the U.S created a seesaw effect between Israel and Saudi

Arabia. After the end of the First World War, the United States decided to offer national security

to Saudi Arabia to secure the oil sources in the country.15 However, the security offered by the

U.S was not enough for the Saudi Arabians since the United States did not drop their excellent

rapport with Israel. The dissatisfaction effect posed a significant threat to Israel since Saudi

Arabians felt that Israel was receiving more significant support compared to them. Saudi

13
Orna Almog. Britain, Israel, and the United States(2016)

14
Herbert Druks. The Uncertain Alliance. (2001)

15
Dumbrell, John, and Axel R Schäfer. America's 'Special Relationships' (2009)
 Surname: 7

Arabians decided to revenge their anger by causing various attacks in Israel. These attacks

caused more hostility between the two states that before.

Work Cited

Allin, Dana H, and Steven Simon. The Sixth Crisis. Oxford Univ. Press, 2010.

Almog, Orna. Britain, Israel, and the United States, 1955-1958. Frank Cass, 2016.

Chomsky, Noam. The Fateful Triangle. 3rd ed., South End Press, 1999.

Druks, Herbert. The Uncertain Alliance. Greenwood Press, 2001.

Dumbrell, John, and Axel R Schäfer. America's 'Special Relationships.' 1st ed., Routledge, 2009.