Israel has been in its current form (the parliamentary republic) since 1948. From roughly that time until 1967, it held certain borders – borders to which President Obama basically demanded she revert. That demand has caused great anger in Israel and among her strongest supporters here, which has caused confusion with everyone else.
This confusion is based on several assumptions imposed by recent history: namely the security of an alliance with the United States, a continuous claim to a Palestinian “homeland”, and relatively stable views from Israel’s largely Muslim neighbors. In fact, during the critical yet largely ignored period in Israel’s history (the first two decades), none of these were completely true – and for a time, none of them were true at all.
This series of posts will work forward from Israel’s re-founding (1948) to explain why the pre-1967 borders were anything but stable in the eyes of the Middle Eastern powers of that time, and how events since then have clouded this critical historical reality.
This, of course, is the introduction. The parts will be forthcoming.
Cross-posted to the right-wing liberal
