The ensuing battles between the fledgling Jewish state & their Arab neighbors forged Israel into a military power that legitimized its existence & furthered its role as a major US economic/military anchor in the Middle East; but it also hardened the evolution of Zionism from a moderately liberal/Leftist attempt at peaceful coexistence to a right-wing/racist "Manifest Destiny"/apartheid mentality. The aggressive influx of Jewish settlers from throughout the world only intensified the strife.
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