Olivia Davies

In what was did the Palestinian Problem contribute to instability in the Middle East?

Since the establishment of Israel as an independent state in 1948, the Middle East was faced with the ever growing Palestinian refugee problem. During the wars between 1948 and 1973, 700 000 Palestinians left their homes, many of which ended up in refugees camps on the border with Israel. This created the inherent problem of disgruntled Palestinian refugees that set into motion the cause-and-effect chain of events that lead to hijackings and hostage events in 1968, the disastrous Battle of Beirut as a result of Israels Operation Galilee, and ultimately the Palestinian Intifada which were all major contributors to instability in the Middle East.

In December 1968, the hijackings and hostages that were carried out by two Palestinians and Israels subsequent reaction lead to increased instability and tension between the Middle East. Israels retaliation, which was a direct reaction to the hijacking of an Israeli passenger plane in which one man was killed, was a heavy destabilising in the Middle East. In the aftermath of the high profile hijacking, Israel retaliated by destroying 13 aircrafts in an attack on Beirut airport. Moreover, other Palestinian bombing and attacks were met with Israeli bombing of Palestinian bases in Lebanon, Jordan and Syria, making it a wider issue. The Palestinian problem contributed to this event which caused a great deal of instability because the initial attack that happened in December 1968 was staged by the PFLP who were officially fighting and protesting for the liberation of Palestine. Without the problem of Israeli occupation of Palestinian lands which caused the refugee crisis, the PFLP would have no motive for gaining attention to their cause. Another way in which the Palestinian Problem contributed to instability was through the Battle of Beirut 1982 as part of Israels Operation Galilee. During this battle, Lebanons capital was bombarded daily from air, sea, and land for two months and over 20, 000 people died during this time. This was a disastrous event and sent shockwaves throughout the Middle East. Not only was it a main contributor to the instability in the Middle East because of the scale of devastation in the number of lives lost, but also in the UNs inability to stop Israels 170, 000 troops and 3500 tanks invading Lebanon. This event had devastating effects, but again, was essentially caused by the Palestinian problem. Seeing as the large amount of Palestinians were made refugees because of Israel occupying their land the PLO was created as a way of combating Israel, yet when it was expelled from Jordan in fear of Israeli reprisals, it moved its bases to Lebanon. From Lebanon the PLO dominated the south and carried out frequent raids and attacks on Israel, particularly Galilee in the north of Israel, leading to Israels retaliation in 1982 which lead to the Battle of Beirut. Finally, despite a single event sparking the Intifada that started in 1987, the Palestinian Problem was the underlying cause of the Intifada that arguably caused the most amount of instability in the region, due to it being a spontaneous national uprising that couldnt even be stopped by Israels iron-fist policy. With the Intifada, all of Palestines issues were brought to the surface and the national feeling of unrest was brought to a boiling point that materialised in an uprising. By 1988, 346 young Palestinians had been killed, and the momentum that was sustained of their fight for greater rights even split the public opinion of Israel.