National Security Council of the State of Israel Pacmun 2018 Chair: Ngoc
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National Security Council of the State of Israel PacMUN 2018 Chair: Ngoc Vo Crisis Director: Jena Liebscher Introduction to the Committee Dear Delegates, Welcome to the Israeli Committee at PacMUN. My name is Ngoc Vo, a current sophomore at Stanford University and I will be having the distinct honour of being your chair for the duration of this conference. I look forward to your participation and insightful discussion as we discuss the relevant and significant political changes in the region. It is my hope that you will be able to hone your public speaking skills, challenge your pre- existing conceptions of the Israeli politics and engage with other delegates in productive discussions to each and every crisis scenario that have been prepared for you. The crisis team and chair team have worked hard in preparing for your experience here at PacMUN, especially with creating interesting and dynamic crisis simulation and background guides to help guide your research as you begin to delve into the intricate webs of Middle Eastern politics. It is my pleasure to serve as your chair and I hope this experience shall serve as memorable and engaging as you hoped it would be. Feel free to contact me at [email protected] if you have any questions and I look forward to seeing you at PACMUN. Sincerely, Ngoc Historical Overview a. The Creation of the State of Israel and Israel’s War of Independence The State of Israel was founded in May 14th, 1948 by David Ben-Gurion, then the head of the Jewish Agency. Following this proclamation, President Henry Truman recognised the legitimacy of this new nation. This recognition followed the previous support for the Balfour Declaration in 1917, which detailed the resettlement of the new Jewish home in Palestine. Initially, there were protest from the Arabs in the region; however, President Roosevelt assured that the United States would not intervene in the region without consulting the Arabs and Jewish. At the time, the British, who were mandated with Palestine till May 1945, was opposed to the creation of this new nation with unlimited Jewish refugees to the region. This was mainly motivated by the desire to preserve the good relations between the British and the Arabs.1 Soon after the Declaration of Independence, the armies of Egypt, Jordan, Syria, Lebanon and Iraq invaded the country. The invasion, soon to be known in Israel as the War of Independence, lasted for 15 months and had casualties of up to 6000 Israelis’ lives. Furthermore, in 1949, the United Nations arbitrated the negotiations between Israel and its respective invading countries except Iraq that resulted in the armistice that ended the invasion. It was agreed under the armistice that the Coastal Plain, Galilee and the Negev would be under Israeli sovereignty, the Jude’s and Samaria (also known as the West Bank) would come under Jordanian sovereignty and the Gaza Strip, which now is under much conflict, would be under Egyptian administration. Jerusalem would be divided between Jordan and Israel, where Israel would control the western sector.2 The creation of Israel was a turmoil beginning for the Jewish state. Even with the United States’ support, Resolution 181, which recommended the creation of the trusteeship that limited Jewish immigration and the division of Palestine into Jewish and Arabs provinces, there were still rising unresolved tension between Palestinian Arabs and Jews that continued to present day. b. Political Structure of Israel 1 https://history.state.gov/milestones/1945-1952/creation-israel 2 http://www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/AboutIsrael/History/Pages/HISTORY-%20The%20State%20of%20Israel.aspx Israel is based on a parliamentary democracy that consists of the legislative, executive and judicial branches and its institutions are the presidency, the unicameral legislature called Knesset, the cabinet of ministers and the judiciary. Like most Western democracies, the separation and independence of the judiciary is guaranteed by law.3 The Knesset employs a nationwide proportional representation system for its 120 seats of 4-year terms. Citizens cast votes for parties instead of individuals, and any party with more than 3.5% of the vote is assigned a proportionate number of seats. Parties then hold internal elections to choose their representatives.4 Golda Meir, Israeli Prime Minister from 1969 to 1974, quipped to President Nixon that Nixon was the President of 150 million Americans while he was the prime minister of "3 million prime ministers."5 Indeed, roughly ten parties forming a coalition government at any given time, and precisely zero have ever formed a majority in Israel's history. This rich—and often fractured— political life follows from the Knesset's voting system, which allows citizens to cast votes for more than one party.6 Many parties specialize around a narrow, special-interesting agenda, elevating even fringe interests on the political periphery to the parliament. With the larger alliances in stiff competition, these smaller unions wield disproportionate influence by breaking ties. Although Israel has raised the minimum threshold from representation several times from 1% to 2% to 3.5%, the kaleidoscopic nature of Israeli politics has not waned. Despite all of the constant flux, the state has demonstrated remarkable stability, earning the title of a "flawed 3 http://www.mfa.gov.il/mfa/aboutisrael/state/pages/the%20state-%20political%20structure.aspx 4 The Government And Politics Of Israel by Donald Perez 5 https://latitude.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/12/01/a-libel-law-and-balancing-act 6 https://www.knesset.gov.il/description/eng/eng_mimshal_yesod.htm democracy" by the Economist Intelligence Unit and a reputation as one of the freest states in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA).7 Among the most significant players, the socialist Labour party traces its origin to the Zionist movements that founded the state, dominating coalitions until 1977 when the revisionist Likud party cannibalized its political base with a slightly more leftist agenda open to compromise on land. Other leftists include a communist faction and a plethora of smaller nationalist and fundamentalist Arab parties. Centrist movements find a home in the political sphere as well (e.g., Yesh Atid and Kulanu), advocating for a more secular state focused on social change.8 c. Significant Israeli conflicts through history i. The Six Day War (June 1967) The Six Day War was perhaps a demonstration of the sour relationship between Israel and Syria. Years of hostility and an immediate catalyst, the series of border disputes between Syria-backed Palestinian groups and Israeli border forces. These disputes escalated and Egypt, acting on information from the Soviet Union that Israeli forces were gathering North of Syria, led an attack into the Sinai Peninsula, pushing out the UN peacekeeping forces that were present there. This resulted in a brief but violent war between Israel, Egypt, Syria and Jordan. The IDF launched pre-emptive air strikes that destroyed the Egyptian air forces and staged successful ground offensive that reached the Sinai Peninsula and the Gaza Strip, the West Bank and East Jerusalem and the Golan Heights.9 On June 7th, the Israeli had achieved serious geopolitical success and celebrated by praying at the Western Wall.10 One of the most significant consequences of the war was the greater domestic effects on nationalism in Israel. It had caused the growth of nationalism and in turn ignited the mounting hostility between the Arab-Israeli conflict. This was especially demonstrated by the meeting of Arab leaders in Khartoum, Sudan in August 1967 that emphasised "no peace, no recognition and no negotiation" with Israel, which was seen as the long-term cause of the Yom-Kippur War. It also laid down the fundamental framework of contention that still exist now in the Arab-Israeli conflict. Especially, as Israel still occupy and settle over the territories that it seized during the conflict especially the Golan Heights and the West bank. This also resulted in one of the worse refugee crises of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip that persist today. ii. Yom-Kippur War (October 1973) The Yom Kippur War was perhaps one of the most significant demonstration of the hostility and sour relationship between Israel, Egypt and Syria. On the Day of Atonement, considered to be one of the most important days in the Jewish calendar, Israel was attacked by Egypt and Syria. 7 https://www.eiu.com/public/topical_report.aspx?campaignid=DemocracyIndex2016 8 https://www.economist.com/the-economist-explains/2015/03/15/the-evolution-of-israeli-politics 9 Refer to Creation of the State of Israel for the significance of these places that were seized by the Israeli forces 10 https://www.history.com/topics/six-day-war The lack of awareness had allowed Egypt to cross the Suez Canal and reach the east bank and Syria to reach the Golan Heights and the Sea of Galilee. However, the Israeli was able to push back to the west bank of the Suez Canal within 100km of Cairo and within artillery range of Damascus. Because of this, it established major treaties and agreements with Syria and Egypt: The Separation-of-Forces Agreements, which created a demilitarised strip and a militarily restricted strip between Syria and Israel and the Egypt-Israel Peace Treaty in 1979, which demilitarised the entirety of Sinai Peninsula. The Separation-of-Forces Agreement is still today under effect enforced by the United Nations Disengagement Observer Force (UNDOF). Despite these achievements, the Yom-Kippur War brought much damage to the Israeli military. First of the all, the failure to recognise and warn of the incoming attack had resulted in the resignation of the Chief of Staff and the Chief of Intelligence. Many planes were destroyed by the Russian-made SAM missiles, only 100 of 265 tanks of the first echelons survived and Israel lost 2688 of its soldiers.