An Economic Analysis of September 11th
The United Nations voted in 1947 to partition Palestine, the British mandate, into two states—one for Jews and one for Palestinian Arabs. Through political pressure, the Jewish state assimilated large tracts of land belonging to Palestinians and through intimidation forced three hundred thousand Palestinian Arabs to leave their homes and land and to become refugees. In 1948, when the British gave up Palestine and the United Nations divided Palestine, Israel became an independent state. Palestinian refugees mounted protests in an attempt to get back their land and homes. Through the efforts of provocations on both sides, the protests became violent. Israel then used its army to attack the Palestinian Arabs. Facing death, seven hundred thousand more Palestinians fled their homes and land in terror. Israel promptly announced that it would annex the newly vacated land as a part of the new nation. Angered by that act by Israel, the neighboring Arab countries attacked Israel so that the seven hundred thousand Palestinian refugees could return to their homes and land. The five attacking countries were also former British colonies, and therefore their newly formed armies were ill equipped and poorly trained. By contrast, the United States was committed to the defense of Israel and gave Israel the military equipment and financial means to fight the war successfully. The Israeli forces prevailed in the Arab-Israeli War of 1948. With the military victory of 1948, Israel had the political advantage in negotiations over Palestine, and the 1 million displaced Palestinian Arabs became permanent refugees. Angered and demoralized by the events of 1948, the Arab League refused to recognize Israel as a state and demanded that all Palestine refugees be allowed to return to their homes and land. Realizing that Israel had the upper hand militarily and that the United States gave Israel $4 billion a year in military and financial aid, the Arab League recognized that the imbalance of power favoring Israel would remain indefinitely. Retaliation against Israel began to take different forms. Because of their frustration at the political advantage that Israel and the United States had in the region, protesters resorted to acts of terror, which became widespread in the Middle East.