ABSTRACT
The inconclusive outcome of the first Arab-Israeli war and the inabil-ity to conclude a peace agreement led both Israel and its Arab neigh-bours to believe that ultimately there was going to be a second round. Israeli diplomats had been unsuccessful in attaining the recognition and international legitimacy Israel desired, and Israel’s army was unable to fully secure its borders. The Arab regimes, in turn, were suffering from domestic challenges as well as regional insecurity. Arab-Israeli tensions were further exacerbated by the unresolved issue of Palestinian refugees, and influenced by the emerging Cold War in the Middle East. The latter has set in motion the on-going debate over whether the Cold War was imposed upon the region by the superpowers, or whether it was imported by regional actors for their own ends.
