Arab Israeli Conflict example essay topic

The second major concern in Rise to Globalism is the Arab-Israeli conflict, which can trace its accentuation into the forefront of world politics back to the British and Americans after the end of World War II and the formation of the United Nations. Israel was created by the United Nations to provide a homeland for the many millions of persecuted Jews throughout the world. It also created a serious conflict with the Arab countries of the region. It was created from land the Turks had conquered almost 1,000 years before and which the Arabs then controlled. The newly created country had the backing of the United States and Great Britain, while the Arabs, for the most part, had the backing of the Soviet Union. Yet, Iran, Egypt, and Jordan were friendly to the U.S. and this presented a unique problem for America.

They supplied billions of dollars of military aid to Israel to help them to fight wars to keep the Arabs out of the new country. The U.S. needed oil from the Arab countries and supported the Arabs enemy, Israel with military. The conflict required a special solution and Ambrose had it. The Israelis, after having fought to defend and even expand their ancient homeland, were unwilling to give up anything they had gained or to give the Palestinians a homeland of their own if it was to be created out of Israeli soil. The Arabs, for the most part, were calling for the abolition of the newly formed country, or at least the return of the territories it had captured. The conflict involved the United States in two ways.

The U.S. sold military goods to, maintained trade and diplomatic relations with Israel, and needed to maintain that relationship to show other countries that America would stand behind her friends. In addition, the U.S. also needed Arab oil. The need was so great that the oil embargo that was imposed on the U.S. by the Arab countries actually forced the U.S. to speed up peace efforts in the Middle East. The Arabs, small and somewhat unorganized, could yield some power over the greatest superpower in the world. The U.S. had to and did act to overcome the situation.

Henry Kissinger, and later President Jimmy Carter, acted in accordance with Americas best interests to gain a peace agreement. Although little was done to resolve this conflict, they landed several treaties, which ended most of the open warfare and provided for many of the issues that concerned each side. Ambrose does an excellent job of showing the impact of these accomplishments on the United States. Kissinger got the oil embargo lifted and Carter negotiated a treaty to end Arab-Israeli hostilities. Ambrose fit this into Americas continuing foreign policy so well that the reader does not realize until afterward that this conflict set the tone for America in dealing with the question of developing nations. Americas third and minor problem was dealing with third world countries.

Ambrose does an excellent job of walking the reader through the various ways America approached relationships with developing countries, in chronological order, and the success or failure of each approach. This may have been his greatest success in this book: third world foreign policy is explained clearly and concisely with little room left for understanding. He walks the reader through the topic, starting with the rebuilding of Europe after World War II. He shows the common thread, massive amounts of foreign aid money, which is found in every dealing with third world countries. He shows the reader the effects of each approach, as well as, the mediocre success of the Truman doctrine and the Marshall Plan, to the failure of containment and linkage, all the way up to the success of the hardball tactics of the Reagan administration.

He traces the debacle in Vietnam back to its source in the policy of containment, and he shows why America bothered to get involved. He shows the lessons learned from this event and how they were later applied to situations in the Dominican Republic and Grenada. He showed the U.S. lack of involvement in Africa and explained why America had little reason to meddle in African affairs. Americas dealings with the third world, while altogether confusing and often unsuccessful, were easier to understand and to track using Ambrose simple words. Although he did an excellent job, there were some places where Ambrose could have improved upon his work. He did an excellent job of explaining the American, Soviet, Arab, and Israeli sides of issues, but seldom was another country, or at least its opinion, mentioned.

Another absence in this work was an in-depth analysis of the problems in the Far East. China was covered extremely well, but the book lacked a sufficient section discussing the recent balance of trade problems with Japan. This had played a big role in American foreign policy recently and should have been included. In addition, there were only two economic issues discussed: the Arab oil embargo and the Russian wheat sales. Economics, however, were linked to many different government decisions and should have played a greater role in the explanations and descriptions given in the book.

Seldom was anything mentioned about the situation at home and its relation to foreign policy. In fact, not until the Carter administration does Ambrose give more than passing mention to Congress affect on foreign policy. The only thing that he noted was when Congress handed the president the ability to act without a Congressional vote for a certain period. Congress has the exclusive right to ratify treaties and to control the budget, so they had more of an effect on foreign policy than Ambrose led the reader to believe. Overall, however, Ambrose did an excellent job in creating a work that will open its readers mind to an understanding of American foreign policy since 1938 until Reagan Presidency..