Talk:Arab–Israeli conflict

This page is subject to the extended confirmed restriction related to the Arab-Israeli conflict.

Copyedit +

Upon request, I have started a copyedit of this article. My first reaction is that it has more issues than copyediting.

• The article has an exaggerated focus on the conflict between the Palestinians and the Jews. Many other articles cover this subject. I propose that this article focus on the conflict between the larger "Arab" world and Israel. I.e., the focus on Palestinian issues should be reduced, and the larger conflict (led by the Arab League should be the focus here).
• I include here my proposed rewrite of the intro, which I claim is more neutral and more focused on the broader Arab/Israel conflict rather than the more specific Palestine/Israel conflict. I have not changed the article itself, to avoid an edit war. I appreciate your feedback and am prepared to address issues raised here. Thanks for noticing!

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The Arab–Israeli conflict is a multi-decade struggle between Israel and many Arab countries. The conflict's root is Israel's presence in an area also claimed by Palestinian Arabs.

The simultaneous rise of Zionism and Arab nationalism beginning late in the 19th century marked the beginning of the conflict, despite the long-term coexistence of Arab and Jewish peoples in lands that formed part of the Ottoman Empire. Zionists viewed the land as the Jewish ancestral homeland; Arabs saw it as Arab Palestinian land and an essential part of the Muslim world.

By 1920, sectarian conflict had begun with the partition of Ottoman Syria in accord with the 1916 Sykes–Picot treaty between Britain and France that became the basis for the Mandate for Palestine and the 1917 promulgation of the Balfour Declaration that expressed British support for a Jewish homeland. The conflict escalated from an internal struggle with the 1948 establishment of the state of Israel in accord with the United Nations General Assembly's adoption of the Partition Plan for Palestine. The day after the expiration of Mandate Palestine and the Israeli Declaration of Independence, the Arab League launched the 1948 Arab–Israeli War that ended with formal partition along the Green Line. More wars followed, in 1967 and finally 1973.

Peace treaties and other diplomatic and economic accords took place over the ensuing half-century. In 2002, the Arab League offered the Arab Peace Initiative, although diplomatic activity mostly became bilateral between Israel and individual countries, involving ceasefires, and later formal relations. By 2020, Israeli–Gulf state agreements further calmed relations.

Conflicts between Israel and various Palestinian factions ebbed and flowed, including Israel's intervention in the Lebanese Civil War to oust the Palestinian Liberation Organization from Lebanon, the 1987–1993 First Intifada, the Syrian civil war , the 200-2005 Second Intifada, and Hamas's October 7 2024 attack and the ensuing Gaza war. Lfstevens (talk) 03:12, 10 November 2025 (UTC)

@User:Lfstevens, where can editors see the request? What is the origin of the request? What does it say? I looked here and in the archive. Sean.hoyland (talk) 02:25, 15 November 2025 (UTC)

It's not accurate to say there was perfect long term co-existence by modern standards. I made some updates with citations and links to the wikisections on treatment of Jews in the Arabic speaking areas in Medieval and the 19th century period. FarFromTheMiddleEast (talk) 14:20, 30 March 2026 (UTC)

References

Assassination of Anwar Sadat and Abdullah the first of Jordan

Shouldn’t there be the X symbol with the redirection to their respective articles about their assassinations like with Yitzhak Rabin Trojanqq (talk) 19:18, 25 February 2026 (UTC)

Extended-confirmed-protected edit request on 21 March 2026

I highly suggest adding a boldface text here: "Since the declaration of Israel's establishment in 1948, conflict has existed between Israel and the surrounding Arab countries, rooted in the Israeli–Palestinian conflict over the territory also claimed by Palestinian Arabs. This conflict, known as the Arab-Israeli Conflict was caused by the simultaneous rise of Zionism and Arab nationalism beginning late in the 19th century, despite the long-term coexistence of Arab and Jewish peoples in lands that formed part of the Ottoman Empire and beyond." SuperWikiaBros (talk) 18:11, 21 March 2026 (UTC)

 Not done for now: please establish a consensus for this alteration before posting an edit request. See MOS:AVOIDBOLD, also assigning cause to this as you do in your suggestion is likely highly contentious and would require good WP:RS. ScrubbedFalcon (talk) 00:15, 22 March 2026 (UTC)

Introduction needs to be rewritten

Starting with the first paragraph, which makes a variety of inaccurate, imbalanced, and misleading claims, the introduction needs to be improved with regard to WP:Verifiability and WP:NPOV. It currently states, with recent POV injections:

Since the declaration of Israel's establishment in 1948, conflict has existed between Israel and the surrounding Arab countries, rooted in conflict over territory also claimed by Palestinian Arabs. Medieval antisemitism in Arabic-speaking lands was less than in Europe, but Jews remained subject to persecution. The rise of Zionism and Arab nationalism in the late 19th century is believed by some scholars to have caused a rise in Arab antisemitism. Jews viewed the area as the Land of Israel, the Jewish ancestral homeland, while Arabs saw the region of Palestine as Arab Palestinian land and an essential part of the Arab world.

Some observations:

• There is no mention of the Nakba.
• The first sentence gives the impression that there was not conflict before 1948.
• It states that the land is "also claimed by Palestinian Arabs"—as if an afterthought—but the Zionist claim to the land is elided.
• Astoundingly, it discusses medieval antisemitism in the Arab world before it addresses Zionism.
• The impact of the rise of nationalist movements, Zionist and Arab, is simply antisemitism, but somehow not anti-Palestinianism or the whole conflict itself. The rise of Zionism should be accorded much more prominence—probably first sentence.
• The text Jews viewed the area as the Land of Israel, the Jewish ancestral homeland, while Arabs saw the region of Palestine as Arab Palestinian land and an essential part of the Arab world is very sloppy and loose. Among other things it places these views in the past and the text "while Arabs saw the region of Palestine as Arab Palestinian land and an essential part of the Arab world" entirely ignores the fact that the Palestinian Arabs were the majority of the inhabitants of the region and that the Zionist population was overwhelmingly an immigrant one.
• The current text also ignores the fact that Zionist movement had the support of and collaborated with imperial powers colonizing the region.

Per MOS:FIRST, I would suggest that the first sentence should something like:

The conflict between the State of Israel and neighboring Arab states is rooted in the Israeli–Palestinian conflict, a conflict about land and self-determination in the region of Palestine that has its origins in the rise of Zionism.

إيان (talk) 07:15, 17 April 2026 (UTC)

Indeed, the first paragraph is embarrassing. Both sentences about antisemitism should be nuked. The rest of the lead section is not great either. Your first sentence is better; why not suggest a complete replacement paragraph. Zero^talk 09:31, 17 April 2026 (UTC)

So Mizrahi Jews don't see the conflict that way:

"Israeli historian Benny Morris wrote that "the experience of discrimination and persecution in the Arab world, and the centuries of subjection and humiliation that preceded 1948 ... [left] a deep dislike, indeed hatred, of that world among [first generation Mizrahim] and their descendants." FarFromTheMiddleEast (talk) 10:18, 17 April 2026 (UTC)

• There is no mention of the Nakba.

This is the Arab-Israeli conflict. It's not supposed to center the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, that is a different page.

• The first sentence gives the impression that there was not conflict before 1948

Before 1948, the conflict is the Arab-Jewish conflict which is the inter-communal conflict in mandatory Palestine and Ottoman Tanzimat era situation of Jewish in Arabic speaking areas.

• It states that the land is "also claimed by Palestinian Arabs"—as if an afterthought—but the Zionist claim to the land is elided.

This page is about the Arab States and Israel.

• Astoundingly, it discusses medieval antisemitism in the Arab world before it addresses Zionism.

Because it is going in chronological order and medieval antisemitism was one of the factors in Zionism.

• The impact of the rise of nationalist movements, Zionist and Arab, is simply antisemitism, but somehow not anti-Palestinianism or the whole conflict itself. The rise of Zionism should be accorded much more prominence—probably first sentence.

This is not a page about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict

• The text Jews viewed the area as the Land of Israel, the Jewish ancestral homeland, while Arabs saw the region of Palestine as Arab Palestinian land and an essential part of the Arab world is very sloppy and loose. Among other things it places these views in the past and the text "while Arabs saw the region of Palestine as Arab Palestinian land and an essential part of the Arab world" entirely ignores the fact that the Palestinian Arabs were the majority of the inhabitants of the region and that the Zionist population was overwhelmingly an immigran t one.

Depending on how the borders were drawn, different groups were a majority. Jews were a minority in the partition plan of 1947, it other plans there was a much smaller state where Jews were the majority. Also, before the war, the political entity was the Ottoman Empire. Most of the Israeli population descends from people in the Ottoman Empire, not immigrants from outside it.

• The current text also ignores the fact that Zionist movement had the support of and collaborated with imperial powers colonizing the region.

This is about the Arab-Israeli confict. Also, while they used the word colonization in English, they used the word Aliyah in Hebrew. The use of colonization externally was equivalent to how they viewed what happened internally. That seems to much for a paragraph lead. FarFromTheMiddleEast (talk) 10:27, 17 April 2026 (UTC)

I don't find your objections at all convincing. Historical antisemitism in Arab lands was not a primary driver of the Arab-Israeli conflict. Antisemitism in Europe was a historical factor, but the primary driver was Palestinian-Zionist conflict which became the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. The singular historical event above all others was Israeli independence and the Nakba. You keep saying that this is not a page about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict but I must invite you to read the page, which references the Zionist/Israeli-Palestinian conflict in almost every section, and some sections are entirely about it. Not mentioning the Nakba in the lead is a severe distortion. Incidentally, the fact that a Jewish majority can be created in a region by drawing a line around the places where Jews live is mathematically sound but a really weak debating point. Zero^talk 11:29, 17 April 2026 (UTC)

Benny Morris disagrees with you:

"Israeli historian Benny Morris wrote that "the experience of discrimination and persecution in the Arab world, and the centuries of subjection and humiliation that preceded 1948 ... [left] a deep dislike, indeed hatred, of that world among [first generation Mizrahim] and their descendants." Morris' view that Israeli politics, especially right wing politics, is driven by the experience of antisemitism in the Arab world and the effect it had on Mizrahi Jews is not uncommon. Right wing Likud voter is essentially a euphamism for Mizrahi.

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King Hussein Bin Ali was not a Palestinian nationalist, nor were the Hashemites historically. They were involved because their goal was to create a unified Arab state as they declared openly in WWI and after. That was why they were part of the Arab revolt. In fact, Abdullah I of Jordan was assassinated because he essentially wasn't a Palestinian nationalist and there was essentially a civil war in Jordan over it. The Assads weren't Palestinian nationalists, they wanted to create Greater Syria. You could maybe say that between Farouk I and Nasser Palestinian nationalism was Egyptian policy, but that was fairly quickly replaced by linguistic pan-Arab nationalism as opposed to the original Hashemite ethinic / geographic Arab nationalism.

The Wahhabis who over threw the Hashemites in Arabia were not Palestinian Nationalists. The political establishment of Saudi Arabia didn't really share the goals of the religious establishment, but they weren't Palestinian Nationalists in 1948. They were supporting the wider Arab league struggle, and not in a leading capacity. Most of the regular troops in 1948 were Syrian and Jordanian. FarFromTheMiddleEast (talk) 11:46, 17 April 2026 (UTC)

Also, the land was only defined by the mandate as the place to establish the Jewish area of the Ottoman empire. This was about dividing the Ottoman Empire. That the amount of land Jews got was somewhat proportional to their numbers in the Ottoman Empire, rather than proportional to their numbers in the local region, reflects that it was thought there was going to be population transfer from the other areas. FarFromTheMiddleEast (talk) 11:49, 17 April 2026 (UTC)

It's probably not a bad idea to go through the article and start adding historic statements from Arab, Egyptian, and Syrian rulers about their war aims. I will try to do that when I have a chance. FarFromTheMiddleEast (talk) 11:56, 17 April 2026 (UTC)

You quote Benny Morris too much. Anyway he has a point about modern Israeli politics but he certainly does not attribute the A-I conflict to historical Arab antisemitism. It does not disagree with what I wrote about historical origins. Why do you think there were Arab forces in Palestine in 1948 at all—nothing to do with Palestinians or Zionism? I mean, really? If there had been no antisemitism in Arab countries prior to WWI the development of the story would have been exactly the same. The first section is absolutely dreadful, and there's hardly any point in working on the rest of the article until it is fixed. The first step is to remove the fringe claim that it is all about Arab antisemitism. Zero^talk 12:20, 17 April 2026 (UTC)

It's not just Morris. Rubin's Book he did with Syracuse University did view Arab anti-Semitism as a political factor. He said that "Ibn Saud’s anti-Semitism approached the pathological." This is not an uncommon view among historians.

I would say it did have to do with Zionism, but it was because they wanted to control the same territory Zionism wanted to control. It wasn't because they shared the goals of the Palestinians.

The first section is about history, and the historical views are not the modern views. FarFromTheMiddleEast (talk) 12:36, 17 April 2026 (UTC)

You didn't include the first part of the sentence: "In sharp contrast [to 'almost every other Arab leader'] Ibn Saud's anti-Semitism approached the pathological". So Rubin states this as an exception, which is not exactly what you need to support your case. In any case, I've read many dozens of books on the Arab-Israeli conflict and I can't remember any that didn't place Palestine and Palestinians at the center. Even Rubin's book, which is specifically about the Arab states, mentions Palestinians 140 times and Palestine more than a thousand times, compared to mentioning antisemitism twice (one being about Britain). We need to write this article according to the sources, and the sources do not agree with you. Zero^talk 14:29, 17 April 2026 (UTC)

Morris mentions antisemitism 34 times in the Righteous Victims books. It's definitely relevant and affected Arab actions. I would say its debatable if Hussein Bin Ali was an antisemite, but it was less of an issue by 1948. I would say effectively the case that Abdullah I was not an antisemite, and I would further say it had major effect on the war. He was the only one who viewed the Jewish military logically and sent troops prepared.

By contrast, its pretty clear that Farouk I had bizarre views about Jews that affected his thinking about the war. He told the Egyptian army to invade something like two days before and sent them without basic equipment like shovels needed for trench warfare. WWI had occurred over 30 years previously, and it was widely known that trench warfare gave a huge advantage to the defender. I don't really any explanation other antisemitism for the decisions taken by Faouk I and Shukri al-Quwatli. al-Quwatli pretty openly made antisemitic statements to the US ambassador in Syria, and its hard to believe those types of views didn't affect Syrian military of political decision. They essentially should have either won in 1948, or they should have taken a much more favorable deal politically in the 1930s. FarFromTheMiddleEast (talk) 14:45, 17 April 2026 (UTC)

If we want to cite Mizrahi authors rather than Ashkenazi authors, Memmi essentially viewed Zionism as anti-imperialism and anti-colonialism. He wrote pretty extensively about antisemitism Jews experienced leading to their flight. It is not a minor thing in historic sources, although I think its less mentioned by Ashkenazi authors. FarFromTheMiddleEast (talk) 14:47, 17 April 2026 (UTC)

Rubin is using other words to describe Egyptian and Iraqi attitudes: "n some quarters, particularly in Egypt and Iraq, “a certain degree of undisguised admiration of Nazi achievements and power is ex­pressed.” FarFromTheMiddleEast (talk) 14:53, 17 April 2026 (UTC)

When he says "traditional prejudice" he means antisemitism (He also used the phrase "anti-Jewish" in other places):

"The June 1941 Baghdad pogrom was almost followed by a massacre in Damascus two years later. Traditional prejudice, second-hand Nazi explanations, and anti-Zionism merged to form an acid brew. Sometimes mercenary mo­tives were also present: Yemeni Jews were permitted to leave for Pales­tine after 1943 on condition that they turn their property over to the government. FarFromTheMiddleEast (talk) 14:54, 17 April 2026 (UTC)

WP:LEADFOLLOWSBODY. If you want stuff mentioning in the lede, it must be in the article body first. -- Cdjp1 (talk) 19:18, 17 April 2026 (UTC)

So this a good point, when I edited the lede, it already had antisemitism in it. However, looking at the body, it is not present. FarFromTheMiddleEast (talk) 19:22, 17 April 2026 (UTC)

So on further review, the article does have this:

The status of Jewish citizens in Arab states worsened during the war. Anti-Jewish riots erupted throughout the Arab World in December 1947. Jewish communities were hit particularly hard in Aleppo, Syria and British-controlled Aden, with hundreds of dead and injured.

That doesn't use the word antisemitism, but it describes part of it. FarFromTheMiddleEast (talk) 19:26, 17 April 2026 (UTC)

So I moved two sentences from the lede into background that were in the realm of things objected to here:

• Astoundingly, it discusses medieval antisemitism in the Arab world before it addresses Zionism.

FarFromTheMiddleEast (talk) 19:32, 17 April 2026 (UTC)

I have reverted Jews viewed the area as the Land of Israel, the Jewish ancestral homeland, while Arabs saw the region of Palestine as Arab Palestinian land and an essential part of the Arab world to the version prior to @FarFromTheMiddleEast's edits, Zionists viewed the region of Palestine as the Jewish ancestral homeland, while Arabs saw it as Arab Palestinian land and an essential part of the Arab world. The change from "Zionists" to "Jews" is a rather egregious NPOV violation that inappropriately conflates Zionism with Judaism, while putting the POV of Zionists in WP:WIKIVOICE.

Elsewhere, FarFrom defends this edit: saying the biblical hebrew "land of Israel" is part of Zionism is just trivially incorrect. That's trivially a biblical phrase. I mean, if something is in the Bible is not really in dispute, and states That's Judaism. This ignores that the "Land of Israel," itself added by FarFrom, is also reverted. To unpack this a little, the in making this claim, FarFrom may be conflating the Zionist concept of the "Jewish ancestral homeland" with the Biblical "Land of Israel." The WL to Homeland for the Jewish people would, I think, have been adequate to explain that, but perhaps there's a more precise wording than "Homeland for the Jewish people" that could be used.

إيان has identified some other real roblems with the lead. It is also worse off now that the sentences to which "antisemitism" were added by FarFromTheMiddleEast were moved to the body, rather than returned to as they were without the UNDUE mentions of antisemitism and the medieval period, as that sentence helped defining the what and when of the article's scope. —BrechtBro (talk) 02:48, 18 April 2026 (UTC)

Let me make this more clear.

Judaism viewed the region of Palestine as the ancestral Jewish homeland. (the Land of Israel)

Zionism wanted the region of Palestine to become a national Jewish homeland. (the State of Israel)

The wikilink is to an article about a Zionist concept, the name is aliased to a Jewish concept.

FarFromTheMiddleEast (talk) 02:50, 18 April 2026 (UTC)

So what I wrote was correct. Land of Israel is the Jewish concept ( ארץ ישראל) , the ancestral Jewish homeland. Zionism was about creating a Jewish state (מדינת ישראל). The former is in the Bible, the latter is not. Jewish ancestral homeland was misaliased to the Zionist concept.

Jews viewed the area as the Land of Israel, the Jewish ancestral homeland, while Arabs saw the region of Palestine as Arab Palestinian land and an essential part of the Arab world. FarFromTheMiddleEast (talk) 02:56, 18 April 2026 (UTC)

No, in this context it was not only NPOV, it was also inflammatory. It was also less accurate, ignoring that Zionism is not an exclusively Jewish ideology. The sentence is factually accurate as written. As I wrote, perhaps there is more precise wording to be found. —BrechtBro (talk) 03:14, 18 April 2026 (UTC)

This is a page about the Arab-Israeli conflict, its not a page about Christian Zionism. The sentence is not accurate because it is conflating Judaism and Zionism.

To be even more clear:

Judaism: Land of Israel (past, biblical history), Jewish ancestral homeland,

Zionism: Homeland for the Jewish people (for, as in future, not past) - note history starts in 1881 FarFromTheMiddleEast (talk) 03:19, 18 April 2026 (UTC)

The Casualties section is too bad

Please make a standard "Casualties section". The current one is very low standard, please remove it.

Description of suggested change:

Todaywrite2026 (talk) 09:30, 28 April 2026 (UTC)

 Not done You would need to suggest a new format for that section here first. -MPGuy2824 (talk) 09:58, 28 April 2026 (UTC)

Proxy conflict

In this edit: https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Arab%E2%80%93Israeli_conflict&diff=prev&oldid=1306070337, the conflict was described in the infobox as being part of Middle Eastern proxy conflicts, however, neither this article nor the article linked to describe the Arab-Israeli conflict as a proxy conflict. Iluzalsipal (talk) 22:24, 10 August 2026 (UTC)