The Palestine Conflict in the History of Modern Iraq

The Palestine conflict constitutes one of the most prolonged and complex disputes of the twentieth century. It has consistently dominated Arab-Jewish relations and has been affected in turn by social, political and ideological tensions and struggles within the Arab states as well as within Israel. This book describes the influence and functions of the Palestine conflict in the history of a modernizing Arab state.
Iraq was the first Arab state for which the Palestine conflict became an internal political issue and a weapon of foreign policy. Three main elements contributed to this. First, the basic weakness of the Iraqi state as an artificial creation whose population, ruled by the Arab-Sunni minority, lacked unity, common purpose and national identity. Second, the confused relationship and mutual interdependence between the ruling elite and the emergent new middle class. Third, the complex relations between Iraqi politicians, who were or claimed to be anti-British, and Great Britain, whose support was vital to maintaining the status quo in Iraq and to Iraq's very existence as a state.
Iraq played a major role in the increasing involvement of the Arab states in Palestine which raised the Palestine conflict to a new regional and international level. By 1945-47 Iraq had become the extremist banner-bearer in its struggle against the Egyptian domination of the Arab League. Iraqi activists were thus crucial in creating the dynamics of militant extremism against Zionism and the partition of Palestine. This contributed in turn to the situation leading to the Arab states' invasion of Israel in May 1948.