The Relationship Between Britain And Israel From1978to1950

From the end of1948which the end of Mandate for Britain and the founding of state for Israel to1950which they established the diplomatic relations, the relationship between Britain and Israel had experienceda tortuous period. At the beginning, due to the policy of support Arab in the Middle East, Britain washostile to Israel, and refused to recognize statehood of Israel. Britain took various measures to inhibit thedevelopment of Israel, including supported the establishment of Jordan, hindered Israel accession tointernational organizations besides UN. The two sides also occurred the direct confrontation in the air.Britain hoped to maintain its dominance in the Middle East by these measures. But in the face of reality,Britain had to abandon the traditional thinking, accept the reality of Israel, and gradually restore the contactwith Israel. Israel also realized that Britain was still an important force in the Middle East even its statusdeclined after the World War Two. It is beneficial for Israel to restore relation with Britain. After the defacto recognition for transitional phase, the Britain finally recognized Israel in legal, the two sidesestablished normal diplomatic relations.The complexity of the relationship between Britain and Israel largely because too many factors affectbilateral relations. Largely speaking, the change of international environment and situation directly affectedthe British policy which was towards Israel. The real interests of the country occupied a great proportionin the influence factors for both sides. As a member of West camp, the Britain always questioned the natureof Israel state, and feared Israel joined the East camp, so Britain boycotted Israel. Compared with Britain,Israel was more moderate. Since Israel needed to obtain approval from the international community atthe beginning of its foundation, when faced the strong resistance from Britain, Israel took the restrainedattitude. Meanwhile, Israel leaders realized the special relation between Britain and USA, so they kept thegood relations with USA. The relationship between Britain and Israel also influenced by Soviet Union andUSA during the Cold War, especially by USA. We can say that the USA＇attitude toward Israel directlyreversed the Britain＇attitude, Britain was not going to offend USA for Israel. The Arab countries wasanother important factor which affected British policy. In fact, as the succession relation, there are manylegacy of Mandate, especially economic problems. From above points, hostility is unhelpful for both sides to resolve the promblems.Though all sorts of friction even the direct confrontation, Britain and Israel established normaldiplomatic relation finally. The normalization of bilateral relations is the result of the combined effect ofvarious factors.