**3. Syria and Israel**

The State of Israel was officially declared on May 14,1948, following the partition resolution 181 passed in the United Nations on November 29, 1947. This was the legal and political basis for the establishment of two states "for two peoples", and it was accepted by the Jewish state but rejected by the entire Arab world and most Moslem states then and until this day. Immediately Israel was invaded by five regular Arab armies with the intent of strangling the new Jewish state at birth, and among these was the Syrian army. An armistice with Syria was signed on July 29, 1949, notably being the last agreement to be signed and illustrative of the fact that Syria has traditionally been the most ferocious and inflexible of Israel's enemy neighbours. This reputation was reinforced after the 6-day war of 1967 and the Yom Kippur War of 1973. Israel prisoners of war were particularly badly treated by Syria including illegal denial of Red Cross rights, torture and other criminal acts. Syrian hostility and hatred for Israel has been a constant feature of its Middle East posture, and this has included gross anti-Semitic statements by Assad himself and other members of the regime. In addition, Syria has rejected various peace feelers sent out over the years even after Egypt, and later Jordan signed peace agreements with Israel in 1979 and 1994. On the Israeli side, attitudes towards Syria have similarly been marked by disdain and disgust. This intransigence and immovable hostility form the background for the state of relations between the two states and help inform the reader as to the mentality and attitude of the Syrian population which has been exposed throughout its life to the monopoly of hatred and fear provided by the Assad regimes. In the light of these facts, the campaign of humanitarian and medical aid for Syrians that took place in Israel between 2013 and 2018 is even more remarkable than the facts themselves.
