Assess the role of the U.S.A and the U.S.S.R in the Arab-Israel conflict between 1948-79.

Superpower conflict on the Middle East was remarkably different from other global Cold War issues. Although the Cold War is traditionally seen as an ideological conflict, the role of ideology in the Middle East was usurped by other factors (notably economic and nationalistic), thus superpower intervention was motivated more by "anti-Soviet" and "anti-West" (as opposed to "anti-Communist" and "anti-Capitalist") sentiment. In general, the roles of the US and the U.S.S.R in the …

…introduced global Cold War tensions into an area already burdened with regional dispute, aggregated the conflict by insisting on alignment, and that gave their clients weapons to fight the conflict with. In undertaking a minatory role, it exacerbated risks of superpower confrontation and made further involvement obligatory. To conclude, therefore, the main roles adopted by the U.S.A and U.S.S.R contributed towards the further aggravation of the Arab-Israel conflict between 1948-79.