Arab-Israeli conflict

Cultural  

1. A conflict between the Israelis and the Arabs in the Middle East. The United Nations established Israel, a nation under control of Jews (see also Jews), in Palestine in the late 1940s, in territory inhabited by Palestinian Arabs. Israel was placed in the midst of four Arab nations — Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, and Egypt (see also Egypt) — and the presence of Israel has led to constant contention between Israel and the Arab world. Both the Israelis and the Arabs claim land in Palestine as theirs by ancestral rights, and war has periodically broken out between them. (See also Yasir Arafat; Gamal Abdel Nasser; intifada; Oslo Accord; Palestine Liberation Organization; Yitzhak Rabin; Anwar Sadat; and Six-Day War.)

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Example Sentences

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Arab-Israeli conflict

The U.S. built on the goodwill it had generated with grateful Gulf states to convene a peace conference in Madrid aimed at resolving the Arab-Israeli conflict.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 1, 2026

“The question of the Arab-Israeli conflict divided the Black freedom struggle,” Mr. Fischbach said.

From New York Times ● Feb. 6, 2024

During his 39 months as secretary of state between 1973 and 1977, Kissinger flew hundreds of thousands of miles, conferring with world leaders and trying to resolve the Arab-Israeli conflict.

From Seattle Times ● Nov. 29, 2023

Her movement, Women Wage Peace, was established to pressure Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government to reach a peace agreement to end the Arab-Israeli conflict.

From BBC ● Nov. 14, 2023

To put it simply, all key issues in the Middle East—the Arab-Israeli conflict, Iraq, Iran, the need for political and economic reforms, and extremism and terrorism—are inextricably linked.

From The Iraq Study Group Report by Iraq Study Group (U.S.)