AHC: Israel has friendly relations with its neighbors

so here's the challenge, with a POD after the end of the 1948 war have Israel have friendly relations with all its neighbors, Israel has to still be "the Jewish State" and it can't be smaller than post-1948 border, more points if its post six-day war and keeps the 1967-1973 borders.
 
so here's the challenge, with a POD after the end of the 1948 war have Israel have friendly relations with all its neighbors, Israel has to still be "the Jewish State" and it can't be smaller than post-1948 border, more points if its post six-day war and keeps the 1967-1973 borders.

A Palestinian state in the '90s could very well result in Egypt, Jordan and Israel being de jure allies. Syria's a lost cause by this stage, but even the Saudis will start to normalise their behaviour (they have fairly neutral relations today, albeit unofficially).
 
so here's the challenge, with a POD after the end of the 1948 war have Israel have friendly relations with all its neighbors, Israel has to still be "the Jewish State" and it can't be smaller than post-1948 border, more points if its post six-day war and keeps the 1967-1973 borders.

Post '67... What about if the Israelis help establish a Palestinian state in Jordan after the Jordanian monarchy flees to Iraq after the capture of Amman? If this included the majority of the West Bank, with some sort of Palestinian influence in Jerusalem, the Palestinians might have actually become Israel's de-facto ally. With that, Egypt with have more of an incentive to make peace earlier, leading to no Yom Kippur War, with probably a demilitarization and partition of the Sinai (giving Israel more of a buffer). With that, all it takes is Assad's government to collapse and be replaced by an American-aligned one, and we're set.
 
This is as likely as the USA and USSR post-WWII staying special buds forever without any rivalry or a Cold War. The ideological gaps between the Arab states, the Palestinian nationalists, and the founders of Israel were in some ways for all three yawning chasms where crossing them requires a lot of things to go so differently that Israel would not be OTL Israel and the Arab states certainly would not be OTL Arab states.
 
This is as likely as the USA and USSR post-WWII staying special buds forever without any rivalry or a Cold War. The ideological gaps between the Arab states, the Palestinian nationalists, and the founders of Israel were in some ways for all three yawning chasms where crossing them requires a lot of things to go so differently that Israel would not be OTL Israel and the Arab states certainly would not be OTL Arab states.

I think you overestimate ideology. In the Middle East, that rarely seems to matter, its more about who is willing to give you what. So, if there was a credible threat or incentive that made the Israelis and Arabs group together, along with a reasonable solution to the Palestinian issue, I see no reason why they shouldn't be, if not friendly, cordial towards each other.
 
I think you overestimate ideology. In the Middle East, that rarely seems to matter, its more about who is willing to give you what. So, if there was a credible threat or incentive that made the Israelis and Arabs group together, along with a reasonable solution to the Palestinian issue, I see no reason why they shouldn't be, if not friendly, cordial towards each other.

No, it really does matter. The Iran-Iraq War would never have lasted as long as it did or been as costly as it was if it did not. Nor would Egypt and Syria have really tried to form a Pan-Arab state.
 
Post '67... What about if the Israelis help establish a Palestinian state in Jordan after the Jordanian monarchy flees to Iraq after the capture of Amman? If this included the majority of the West Bank, with some sort of Palestinian influence in Jerusalem, the Palestinians might have actually become Israel's de-facto ally. With that, Egypt with have more of an incentive to make peace earlier, leading to no Yom Kippur War, with probably a demilitarization and partition of the Sinai (giving Israel more of a buffer). With that, all it takes is Assad's government to collapse and be replaced by an American-aligned one, and we're set.

I don't think King Hussein would run to the country that killed his Cousin King Faisal II, the UK seems more likely given the Jordanian Hashemite disposition
 
Israelians and Palestinians could have mended their relations, and the neighbooring countries could have made peace on both sides, had cooler heads prevaled on everyone's sides - in theory. In theory.

Improbable? Maybe. impossible? No.
 
Post '67... What about if the Israelis help establish a Palestinian state in Jordan after the Jordanian monarchy flees to Iraq after the capture of Amman? If this included the majority of the West Bank, with some sort of Palestinian influence in Jerusalem, the Palestinians might have actually become Israel's de-facto ally. With that, Egypt with have more of an incentive to make peace earlier, leading to no Yom Kippur War, with probably a demilitarization and partition of the Sinai (giving Israel more of a buffer). With that, all it takes is Assad's government to collapse and be replaced by an American-aligned one, and we're set.

All much easier said than done. A Hashemite restoration in Iraq is probably impossible after the first Baathist Coup. A significant portion of Israeli public opinion will never accept any Palestinian influence over Jerusalem, and a very large portion of Arab/Muslim opinion will never accept Israeli control over any part of the city. Egypt wouldn't have settled for anything less than all of the Sinai, and partitions haven't worked very well in this part of the world. Hafez Assad was without doubt the smartest and craftiest of all the Arab dictators of his generation, and getting his government to collapse will be very, very difficult, especially since he still has strong Soviet support at this stage, and until the Hama Massacre in 1982, he was fairly popular in Syria.
 
Post-1967, the Israelis take parts of the West Bank for defensive and/or ideological purposes (i.e. Jerusalem) and allow for a weak Palestinian state in the rest?

De Gaulle warned the Israelis not to occupy the West Bank because it would "create a Palestinian nationalism and you will never be rid of it." Maybe the Israelis listen to him?

With a Palestinian homeland, a lot of the fire will go out of the PLO movement (although pre-1967 Israel will be an issue for some time) and it'd be harder to demagogue the Israelis as the oppressors of the Palestinians when they are, for the most part, not.
 
Post-1967, the Israelis take parts of the West Bank for defensive and/or ideological purposes (i.e. Jerusalem) and allow for a weak Palestinian state in the rest?

De Gaulle warned the Israelis not to occupy the West Bank because it would "create a Palestinian nationalism and you will never be rid of it." Maybe the Israelis listen to him?

With a Palestinian homeland, a lot of the fire will go out of the PLO movement (although pre-1967 Israel will be an issue for some time) and it'd be harder to demagogue the Israelis as the oppressors of the Palestinians when they are, for the most part, not.

well Levi Eshkol tried in the 1 year after the war and before his death to get moderate Arab partners to form a Palestinian Republic in federation with Israel, however Eshkol found that no two Arab leaders seemed to agree on what Palestinian nationalism was and how it should take form in the state, also the PLO and King Hussein worked very hard to make it hard for Eshkol to find Arab Partners, his death in early 1969 spelled the end of that
 
Some solution to the Palestinian question, whether it's a Palestinian state, integration to Israel, or just keeping the west Bank as part of Jordan and Gaza as part of Egypt, is vital. Beyond that, I think you'd need to rely on events outside the immediate area to go beyond a somewhat uneasy peace. If there was some threat to the whole region, like resurgent Nazis or Soviet backed Communist revolutions, I could see Israel and it's neighbors putting aside their differences to deal with it.
 
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