Summary
This study is a content analysis of 1,243 speeches on the Middle East situation in the United Nations General Assembly among 87 member nations of the United Nations in the period 1953-1965. The speeches are coded for overall tone, attitudes toward the West, Arabs, and Israel, charges of aggression against the United States, Israel, Arab nations, Britain, and France, Israeli and Arab military preparedness, charges of recurrent attacks by one party in the Middle East disputes on the other, faith in the United Nations' effectiveness to solve the problems, value of United Nations debates, violation of international agreements by either the Israelis or the Arabs, causes of conflict in the Middle East, failure to submit conflict to international agencies, Zionism, religious differences, Soviet intentions in the Middle East, statements on the recognition of Israeli statehood, use of preventive war or force, rationality of positions, Israeli expansionist plans, Israeli denial of freedom and independence to the Arabs, and interference with rights of sovereign states. Additional variables are coded for the Egyptian seizure of the Suez Canal, right of free passage, conspiracy, Israeli and Arab refusals to comply with international obligations, reactions to domestic and world public opinion, economic motives behind aggressions, violation of law by use of force, intra-Arab disputes, problem of Palestinian refugees, use of international force, possibility of world war, safety of holy places, Israeli and Arab refusals to comply with United Nations resolutions, and Israeli and Arab attitudes toward international law.Cf: http://doi.org/10.3886/ICPSR05506.v1