Wars and Conflicts in the Middle East Since 1945

Conflicts and wars in the Middle East since 1945 find their roots in a struggle for both ideological and territorial supremacy. The struggle among Arabs and Israelis and inter-Arab Persian Gulf questions erupted into long term conflict with the recognition of the statehood of Israel. It is this event in the history of the Middle East which served as a primary motivating factor for future wars and power struggles. Although interstate conflicts and ideological tensions between secularists and Islamists subsisted prior to the establishment of an Israeli state, it was this event that would trigger ensuing wars that culminated in territorial disputes and was the major divide among the Arab world where you either came down on the Islamic/Arab side or were with the secular west. It was the displacement of the Palestinian populations in 1947 with Israeli recognition that led to the 1948 War and the 1956, 67 and 73 wars resulted over escalating territorial disputes motivated by ideological differences between a secular Jewish state and the Islamic Arab world. Since this time it is important to note that constantly shifting political ideologies and sentiments in the Middle East, have arisen in an attempt to combat Israel and western influence associated with stabilizing the unwanted Israeli state in the Arab world. For example, pan Arabism and the Nasser movement were so popular with the people because they were built on the foundation of strong opposition to Israel and challenging Western, (especially British) influence in the region. Likewise, Islam was a rise against the increasing secularism, associated with the West and Israel, that reverberated throughout the Arab world with Arab nationalism and was seen as the new method of eliminating Israel and western influence after the pan Arab movement failed. The internal conflict generated in the Arab world essentially results from the occurrences of the results from external conflict with Israel and the west.