World War II

Faced with Field Marshal Rommel's advance in Egypt, the British government decided on 15 April, 1941 that the 10,000 Jews dispersed in the single defense companies of the Buffs should be prepared for war service at the battalion level and that another 10,000 should also be mobilized along with 6,000 Supernumerary Police and 40,000 to 50,000 home guard. The plans were approved by Field Marshall John Dill. The Special Operations Executive in Cairo approved a Haganah proposal for guerrilla activities in northern Palestine led by the Palmach, as part of which Yitzhak Sadeh devised Plan North for an armed enclave in the Carmel range from which the Yishuv could defend the region and from which they could attack Nazi communications and supply lines, if necessary. British intelligence also trained a small radio network under Moshe Dayan to act as spy cells in the event of a German invasion.Israeli and Penkower, 2002, pp. 112-113.

After much hesitation, on July 3, 1944, the British government consented to the establishment of a Jewish Brigade with hand-picked Jewish and also non-Jewish senior officers. On September 20, 1944, an official communique by the War Office announced the formation of the Jewish Brigade Group of the British Army. The Zionist flag was officially approved as its standard. It included more than 5,000 Jewish volunteers from Palestine organized into three infantry battalions and several supporting units.Beckman, 1999, pp. 42-43.

As soon as the war ended British policy reverted to that of the period immediately before the war and arms were confiscated and some Haganah members were arrested and tried, one notable case being that of Eliahu Sacharoff who received a sentence of seven years' imprisonment for possession of two more cartridges than his firearms licence allowed.'The Palestine Problem II - New Factors In The Racial Balance Of Power, Growth Of Jewish Underground Groups,' From a Special Correspondent Lately in Palestine. The Times, Wednesday, 26 September, 1945; pg. 5; Issue 50257; col F

Collaboration between the British Mandate administration and the Arabs

The British responded to the Arab opposition in a number of ways. They kept their distance from the attacks on the Jewish communities, only becoming involved when they deemed it absolutely necessary. Notably, they did not attempt to protect the caravans of food, people, and supplies that traveled to Jerusalem. The hills along the main road to the capital provided staging grounds for Fawzi Al-Qawuqji's bandits. The British, to demonstrate that the road was open, would run a single armored car along the route every couple of days, but would not escort caravans up to the besieged city. Many incidents of British action or inaction have been recorded from different perspectives and with different accounts of the facts.

Twilight of colonial rule in the region

In 1945, at British prompting, Egypt, Iraq, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Transjordan, and Yemen formed the Arab League to coordinate policy between the Arab states. Iraq and Transjordan coordinated policies closely, signing a mutual defense treaty, while Egypt, Syria, Lebanon, and Saudi Arabia feared that Transjordan would annex part or all of Palestine, and use it as a basis to attack or undermine Syria, Lebanon, and the Hijaz.

UN Partition Plan

On November 29 1947, the United Nations General Assembly approved a plan, UN General Assembly Resolution 181, to resolve the Arab-Jewish conflict by partitioning the British Mandate of Palestine into two states, one Jewish and one Arab. Each state would comprise three major sections, linked by extraterritorial crossroads; the Arab state would also have an enclave at Jaffa. In consideration of their religious significance, the Jerusalem area and Bethlehem were assigned to an international zone to be administered by the UN. Although both Jews and Arabs criticized aspects of the plan, the resolution was welcomed by most of the Jewish population, including the Jewish Agency, but was considered unacceptable by the Arab population in Palestine and by the surrounding Arab states.

Political objectives of the protagonists

The Arab Higher Committee of Amin al-Husayni

The Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, Amin al-Husayni, the Chairman of the Arab Higher Committee collaborated with Nazi Germany during the Second World War. In 1940, he asked the Axis powers to acknowledge the Arab right, "to settle the question of Jewish elements in Palestine and other Arab countries in accordance with the national and racial interests of the Arabs and along the lines similar to those used to solve the Jewish question in Germany and Italy." He spent the second half of WWII in Germany making radio broadcasts exhorting Muslims to ally with the Nazis in war against their common enemies. In one of these broadcasts, he said, "Arabs, arise as one man and fight for your sacred rights. Kill Jews wherever you find them. This pleases God, history, and religion. This saves your honor. God is with you."The Mufti of Jerusalem by Maurice Pearlman (1947). The Mufti and the Fuehrer by Joseph Schechtman (1965). In the immediate aftermath of the Holocaust, such statements by Arab leaders (along with the Mufti's violently antisemitic history) led to a widespread belief that the Israelis were facing a new “warrant for genocide.”

At the beginning of 1948 al-Husayni was in exile in Egypt. The mufti was involved in some of the high level negotiations between Arab leaders, at a meeting held in Damascus in February 1948 to organize Palestinian Field Commands; however, the commanders of his Holy War Army, Hasan Salama and Abd al-Qadir al-Husayni, were allocated only the Lydda district and Jerusalem. This decision

"paved the way for an undermining of the Mufti's position among the Arab States. On 9 February, only four days after the Damascus meeting, a severe blow was suffered by the Mufti at the Arab League session in Cairo his demands for the appointment of a Palestinian to the General Staff of the League, the formation of a Palestinian Provisional Government, the transfer of authority to local National Committees in areas evacuated by the British, a loan for administration in Palestine and appropriation of large sums to the Arab Higher Executive for Palestinians entitled to war damages all rejected."Levenberg, 1993, p. 198.

The Arab League blocked recruitment to the mufti's forcesSayigh, 2000, p. 14., which collapsed following the death of his most charismatic commander, his cousin, Abd al-Qadir al-Husayni, on 8 April.

Following rumors that King Abdullah was re-opening the bi-lateral negotiations with Israel that he had previously conducted in secret with the Jewish Agency, the Arab League, led by Egypt, decided to set up the All-Palestine Government in Gaza on 8 September under the nominal leadership of the mufti. Avi Shlaim writes:

The decision to form the Government of All-Palestine in Gaza, and the feeble attempt to create armed forces under its control, furnished the members of the Arab League with the means of divesting themselves of direct responsibility for the prosecution of the war and of withdrawing their armies from Palestine with some protection against popular outcry. Whatever the long-term future of the Arab government of Palestine, its immediate purpose, as conceived by its Egyptian sponsors, was to provide a focal point of opposition to Abdullah and serve as an instrument for frustrating his ambition to federate the Arab regions with Transjordan.Shlaim, 2001, p. 97.

King Abdullah of Transjordan

Arab League

Arab States

United Kingdom

USA and USSR

Initial balance of forces

Military assessments

Summarising the military assessments of the British, Jewish Agency and the Arabs, Morris writes, "all observers - Jewish, British, Palestinian Arab, and external Arab - agreed on the eve of the war that the Palestinians were incapable of beating the Zionists or of withstanding Zionist assault. The Palestinians were simply too weak.Morris, 2003, p. 33.

However, on 12 May Ben Gurion was told by his chief military advisers (who tended to overestimate the strength of Arab armies) that Israel's chances of winning a war against the Arab states was only about even ('הצ'אנסים שקולים מאד).Morris, 2003, p. 35.

Yishuv forces

Few of the units had been trained by December 1947.Morris, p.16.

In 1946 Ben-Gurion decided that the Yishuv would probably have to defend itself against both the Palestinian Arabs and neighbouring Arab states and accordingly began a "massive, covert arms acquisition campaign in the West". By September 1947 the Haganah had "10,489 rifles, 702 light machine-guns, 2,666 submachine guns, 186 medium machine-guns, 672 two-inch mortars and 92 three-inch mortars" and acquired many more during the first few months of hostilities. The Yishuv also had "a relatively advanced arms producing capacity," that between October 1947 and July 1948 "produced 3 million 9mm bullets, 150,000 mills grenades, 16,000 submachine guns (Sten Guns) and 210 three-inch mortars".Morris, 2003, p. 16. Still, however, before the arrival of arms shipments from Czechoslovakia as part of Operation Balak, there was roughly one weapon for every three fighters and even the Palmach armed only two out of every three of its active members. Initially, the Haganah had no heavy machine guns, artillery, armoured vehicles, anti-tank or anti-aircraft weapons.Karsh, p.25.

Arab forces

Arab Palestinian forces

In December, Abd al-Qadir Husseini arrived in Jerusalem with one hundred combatants who had trained in Syria and that would form the cadre of the Holy War Army. His forces were joined by a few hundred young villagers and veterans of the British army.Gelber, pp. 36-37.

The equipment of the Palestinian forces was very poor. The British confiscated most of their arsenal during the 1936-39 rebellion and World War IIGelber, p. 13. A report of 1942 by the Haganah intelligence service assessed the number of firearms at the disposal of the Palestinian at 50,000 (...) ^* this was probably an overestimateKarsh, p. 27. or even "highly exaggerated".Gelber, p. 39.

Arab Liberation Army

Approx. 6,000

Transjordan

Iraq

The first Iraqi forces to be deployed reached Transjordan in April, 1948 under the command of Gen. Nur ad-Din Mahmud. On 15 May Iraqi engineers built a pontoon bridge across the Jordan River and attacked the Israeli settlement of Gesher with little success. Following this defeat Iraqi forces moved into the Nablus-Jenin-Tulkarm strategic triangle, where they suffered heavy casualties in the Israeli attack on Jenin which began on 3 June, but managed to hold on to their positions. Active Iraqi involvement in the war effectively ended at this point.Pollack, 2002, pp. 149-155.

Egypt

The Egyptian Air Force had over 30 Spitfires, 4 Hawker Hurricanes and 20 C47s modified into crude bombers.

By the time of the second truce the Egyptians had 20,000 men in the field in thirteen battalions equipped with 135 tanks, (...) and 90 artillery pieces.Pollack, 2002, 15-27.

Syria

On 14 May Syria invaded Palestine with the 1st Infantry Brigade supported by a battalion of armoured cars, a company of French R 35 and R 37 tanks, an artillery battalion and other units. On 15-16 May they attacked the Israeli village Zemach, which they captured, following a renewed offensive, on 18 May. The village was abandoned following Syrian forces' defeat at the Deganias a few days later. Subsequently, the Syrians scored a victory at Mishmar HaYarden on 10 June after which they reverted to a defensive posture, conducting only a few minor attacks on small, exposed Israeli settlements.Pollack, 2002, pp. 448-457.

Lebanon

The weak link in the Arab coalition is Lebanon. Muslim rule is artificial and easy to undermine. A Christian state should be established whose southern border would be the Litani. We shall sign a treaty with it. By breaking the power of the Legion and bombing Amman, we shall also finish off Transjordan and then Syria will fall. If Egypt still dares to fight - we shall bomb Port Said, Alexandria and Cairo.quoted in Shlaim, 2001, pp. 93-94.

Saudi Arabia and Yemen

Yemen also committed a small expeditionary force to the war effort.

British forces in Palestine

Phases of the War

First phase: November 29 1947 - April 1 1948

As the end of British involvement in Palestine drew nearer and attacks on them by Irgun and Lehi increased, their intervention grew steadily more inconsistent and reluctant. Two British deserters, Eddie Brown, a police captain who claimed that the Irgun had killed his brother, and Peter Madison, an army corporal, are known to have taken part in car bomb attacks on the Palestine Post on 1 February and on a shopping crowd in Ben-Yehuda Street on 22 February. Bowyer Bell, 1996, p. 268. British deserters also fought with Jewish units; most notably with Yitzhak Sadeh's Eighth Armored Brigade along with Moshe Dayan.

At the same time, violence steadily increased as both Jews and Arabs engaged in sniping, raids, and bombings that cost many lives on both sides. Between November 30 1947 and February 1 1948 427 Arabs, 381 Jews and 46 British were killed and 1,035 Arabs, 725 Jews and 135 Brits were wounded. In March of 1948 alone, 271 Jews and 257 Arabs were killed.

Over the months following the partition, larger organized forces became increasingly engaged in the violence. The Arab Legion attacked a Jewish civilian bus convoy at Beit Nabala on December 14, and on December 18 Haganah forces, possibly belonging to its kibbutz-based force, the Palmach, attacked the village of Al-Khisas. Three weeks later the first Arab irregulars arrived and the Arab leadership began to organize Palestinians in order to wage guerrilla war against the Jewish forces. The largest group was a volunteer army, the Arab Liberation Army, created by the Arab League and led by Arab nationalist Fawzi Al-Qawuqji. In January and February, Arab irregular forces attacked Jewish communities in northern Palestine but achieved no substantial successes.

The Arabs concentrated their efforts on cutting off roads to Jewish towns and Jewish neighborhoods in areas with mixed populations. They also massacred several Jewish convoys. At the end of March, the Arabs completely cut off the vital road going from Tel-Aviv to Jerusalem, where one sixth of Palestine's Jews lived.

The Haganah armed itself with arms bought from Czechoslovakia (see Operation Balak). The Yishuv began working on a plan called Plan Dalet (or Plan D).

Second phase: April 1 1948 - May 15 1948

The road to Jerusalem was interdicted by Arab fighters located in the villages surrounding the road. The city of Jerusalem was under siege by the Arabs. Numerous convoys of trucks bringing food and other supplies to the besieged city were attacked. In Operation Nachshon, the Haganah continued its attacks on Arab fighters co-located with civilians, and temporarily opened the road to Jerusalem (April 20).

Some of these villages along Jerusalem road were attacked and demolished. The April 9 Deir Yassin massacre, by Irgun and Lehi forces, of at least 107 Arabs was denounced by Ben Gurion. Some claim the denouncement was part of an attempt to distance himself and the Haganah from the attackers, possibly to gain political advantage in the struggle to lead the as yet unformed Israeli state. In any case, the events at Deir Yassin panicked Arab villagers, causing many to flee. While this may have benefited the Jewish forces, who then encountered less resistance from depopulated villages, it also inflamed public opinion in Arab countries, providing those countries further reason for sending regular troops into the conflict. Four days later, on April 13, the Arabs launched a strike on a medical convoy traveling to Hadassah Hospital. Around 77 doctors, nurses, and other Jewish civilians were massacred.

To lift the siege, the Jewish forces (guided by the American Army Colonel David (Mickey) Marcus) constructed the "Burma Road" (named for the road built by the Allies from Burma to China during World War II), a make-shift winding road through the difficult mountains to Jerusalem. The Burma Road allowed the Jewish forces to relieve the Arab siege on June 9, just days before the United Nations negotiated a cease-fire.

Meanwhile, frantic diplomatic activity took place between all parties. On May 10, Golda Meir represented the Yishuv in the last of a long series of clandestine meetings between the Zionists and Transjordan's King Abdullah. Whereas for months there had been a tacit agreement between the Zionists and Transjordan to prevent the establishment of a Palestinian state, with Transjordan taking over the Arab areas, at the May 10 meeting Abdullah offered the Yishuv leadership only autonomy within an enlarged Hashemite kingdom. This was unacceptable to the Jewish leadership. Nevertheless, with one exception, the Transjordanian army refrained from attacking the designated Jewish areas of Palestine in the ensuing war.

On May 13, the Arab League met and agreed to send regular troops into Palestine when the Mandate expired. Abdullah of Transjordan was named as the commander-in-chief of the Arab armies, but the various Arab armies remained largely uncoordinated throughout the war.

Third phase: May 14 1948 - June 11 1948

Over the next few days, approximately 1,000 Lebanese, 5,000 Syrian, 5,000 Iraqi, 10,000 Egyptian and 4,000 Transjordanian troops invaded the newly-established state. They were aided by corps of volunteers from Saudi Arabia, Libya and Yemen.

In an official Cablegram from the Secretary-General of the League of Arab States to the Secretary-General of the United Nations to the UN Secretary-General on May 15 1948, the Arab states publically proclaimed their aim of creating a "United State of Palestine" in place of the Jewish and Arab, two-state, UN Plan. They claimed the latter was invalid, as it was opposed by Palestine's Arab majority, and maintained that the absence of legal authority made it necessary to intervene to protect Arab lives and property.'The Origins and Evolution of the Palestine Problem: 1917-1988. Part II, 1947-1977. On the same day, however, the Arab League Secretary-General, Abdul Razek Azzam Pasha, said, "This will be a war of extermination and a momentous massacre which will be spoken of like the Mongolian massacres and the Crusades". Sachar, 1979, p. 333. The source of this quotation has not been verified.

Israel, the US and the Soviets called the Arab states' entry into Palestine illegal aggression, UN secretary general Trygve Lie characterized it as "the first armed aggression which the world had seen since the end of the World War." China broadly backed the Arab claims. Both sides increased their manpower over the following months, but the Israeli advantage grew steadily as a result of the progressive mobilization of Israeli society and the influx of an average of 10,300 immigrants each month.

(Source: Bregman, 2002, p. 24 citing Ben Gurion's diary of the war)

On May 26, 1948, the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) was officially established and the Haganah, Palmach and Etzel were dissolved into the army of the young Jewish state.

However, on paper, the Arabs had clear superiority in heavy arms and firepower. The ordnance on May 15 were as follows:

This imbalance in ordnance, along with the entry into the fray of the regular, relatively well-equipped and trained forces of the armies from the neighboring Arab states, led to a nearly universal, world military opinion about the outcome of the conflict. A typical example was the statement by Field Marshall Montgomery, commander of the victorious Allied armies in North Africa and Northern Europe, that the new State of Israel would be defeated within two weeks.

However as the war progressed, the IDF managed to field more troops than the Arab forces. By July 1948, the IDF was fielding 63,000 troops; by early spring 1949, 115,000. The Arab armies had an estimated 40,000 troops in July 1948, rising to 55,000 in October 1948, and slightly more by the spring of 1949.

All Jewish aviation assets were placed under the control of the Sherut Avir (Air Service, known as the SA) in November 1947 and flying operations began in the following month from a small civil airport on the outskirts of Tel Aviv called Sde Dov, with the first ground support operation (in an R.W.D. 13) taking place on 17 December. The Galilee Squadron was formed at Yavniel in March 1948 and the Negev Squadron was formed at Nir-Am in April. By 10 May, when the SA suffered its first combat loss, there were three flying units, an air staff, maintenance facilities and logistics support. At the outbreak of the war on 15 May the SA became the Israeli Air Force, but, during the first few weeks of the war, with its fleet of light planes it was no match for Arab forces flying T-6s, Spitfires, C-47s and Arab Ansons and indeed the main Arab losses were the result of RAF action in response to Egyptian raids on the British air base at Ramat David near Haifa on 22 May during which 5 Egyptian Spitfires were shot down. It was also during this time that the balance of air power began to swing in favor of the Israeli Air Force following the purchase of 25 Avia S-199s from Czechoslovakia, the first of which arrived in Israel on 20 May. This created the ironic situation of the young Jewish state using Nazi-designed Bf-109 derivatives to help counter the Egyptian Spitfires. The first raid on an Arab capital followed on the night of 31 May/1 June when three Israeli planes bombed Amman. Aloni, 2001, pp. 7-11. The IDF achieved air superiority by the fall of 1948. And the IDF had superiority in firepower and knowledgeable personnel, many of whom had seen action in World War II.Morris, 2001, pp. 217-18.

The first mission of the IDF was to hold on against the Arab armies and stop them from destroying major Jewish settlements, until reinforcements and weapons arrived.

The heaviest fighting would occur in Jerusalem and on the Jerusalem-Tel Aviv road, between Transjordan's Arab Legion and the Israeli forces. Abdullah ordered Glubb Pasha, the commander of the Transjordanian Arab Legion, to enter Jerusalem on May 17, and heavy house-to-house fighting occurred between May 19 and May 28, with the Arab Legion succeeding in expelling Israeli forces from the Arab quarters of Jerusalem as well as the Jewish Quarter of the Old City. All the Jewish inhabitants of the Old City were expelled by the Jordanians. Iraqi troops failed in attacks on Jewish settlements (the most notable battle was on Mishmar Haemek), and instead took defensive positions around Jenin, Nablus, and Tulkarm.

In the north, the Syrian army was blocked in the kibbutz Degania, where the settlers managed to stop the Syrian armored forces only with light weapons. One tank that was disabled by a Molotov cocktail is still present at the Kibbutz. Later, an artillery bombardment, made by cannons jury-rigged from 19th century museum pieces, led to the withdrawal of the Syrians from the Kibbutz.

During the following months, the Syrian army was repelled, and so were the Palestinian irregulars and the ALA.

In the south, an Egyptian attack was able to penetrate the defenses of several Israeli kibbutzim, but with heavy cost. This attack was stopped near Ashdod.

The Israeli military managed not only to maintain their military control of the Jewish territories, but to expand their holdings.

First truce: June 11 1948 - July 8 1948

Fourth phase: July 8 1948 - July 18 1948

In a second planned stage of the operation the fortified positions of Latrun, overlooking Jerusalem, and the city Ramallah were also to be captured.

The second plan was Operation Dekel whose aim was to capture the lower Galilee including the Arab city Nazareth. The third plan, to which fewer resources were allocated, Operation Kedem was to secure the Old City of Jerusalem.Map of the Attacks.

Operation Dani

The next day, July 12 1948 Ramle also fell to the hands of Israel.

July 15-16 an attack on Latrun took place but did not manage to occupy the city. A desperate second attempt occurred July 18 by units from the Yiftach Brigade equipped with armored vehicles, including two Cromwell tanks, but that attack also failed. Despite the second truce, which began on July 18, the Israeli efforts to conquer Latrun continued until July 20.

Operation Dekel

Operation Kedem

The Irgun forces that were commanded by Yehuda Lapidot (Nimrod) were to break through at The New Gate, Lehi was to break through the wall stretching from the New Gate to the Jaffa Gate and the Beit Hiron Batallion was to strike from Mount Zion.

The battle was planned to begin on the Sabbath, at 20.00 Friday July 16 a day before the Second Cease-fire of the Arab-Israeli war. The plan went wrong from the beginning and was postponed first to 23.00 and then to midnight. It wasn't until 02.30 that the battle actually began. The Irgunists managed to break through at the New Gate but the other forces failed in their missions. At 05.45 in the morning Shaltiel ordered a retreat and to cease the hostilities.

Second truce: July 18 1948 - October 15 1948

On September 16, Folke Bernadotte proposed a new partition for Palestine in which Transjordan would annex Arab areas including the Negev, al-Ramla, Lydda. There would be a Jewish state in the whole of Galilee, internationalization of Jerusalem, and return or compensation for refugees. The plan was once again rejected by both sides. On the next day, September 17, Bernadotte was assassinated by the Lehi and his deputy the American Ralph Bunche replaced him.

Fifth phase: October 15 1948 - July 20 1949

Israeli operations

On October 24, the IDF launched Operation Hiram and captured the entire Upper Galilee, driving the ALA and Lebanese army back to Lebanon. It was a complete success and at the end of the month, Israel had not only managed to capture the whole Galilee but had also advanced 5 miles into Lebanon to the Litani River.

On October 15, the IDF launched Operation Yoav in the northern Negev. Its goal was to drive a wedge between the Egyptian forces along the coast and the Beersheba-Hebron-Jerusalem road and ultimately to conquer the whole Negev. Operation Yoav was headed by the Southern Front commander Yigal Allon. The Operation was a huge success as it shattered the Egyptian army ranks and forced the Egyptian forces to retreat from the northern Negev, Beersheba and Ashdod. On October 22 the Israeli Navy commandoes sunk the Egyptian flagship Amir Faruk.

On December 22, the IDF drove the remaining Egyptian forces out of Israel, by launching Operation Horev (also called Operation Ayin). The goal of the operation was to liberate the entire Negev from Egyptian presence, destroying the Egyptian threat on Israel's southern communities and forcing the Egyptians into a cease-fire after all the Negev was liberated.

The operation was a decisive Israeli victory, and Israeli raids into the Nitzana and the Sinai peninsula forced the Egyptian army, which was encircled in the Gaza Strip, to withdraw and accept cease-fire. On January 7, a truce was achieved. Israeli forces withdrew from Sinai and Gaza under international pressure.

On March 5, Operation Uvda was launched. On March 10, the Israelis reached Umm Rashrash (where Eilat was built later) and conquered it without a battle. The Negev Brigade and Golani Brigade took part in the operation. They raised an ink-made flag ("The Ink Flag") and claimed Umm Rashrash for Israel.

UN Resolution 194

British aeroplanes

Aftermath

1949 Armistice Agreements

Casualties

The exact number of Arab losses is unknown but are estimated at between 5,000 and 15,000 people.Mid-Range Wars and Atrocities of the Twentieth Century.

Demographic outcome

Around 758,000 to 866,000 of the Jews living in Arab countries and territories left or were forced to leave the countries of their birth; 600,000 of these people fled or emigrated to Israel, with another 300,000 seeking refuge in various Western countries, primarily France. The United Nations estimated that 711,000 Palestinians fled or emigrated during this conflict.General Progress Report and Supplementary Report of the United Nations Conciliation Commission for Palestine, Covering the Period from 11 December 1949 to 23 October 1950, published by the United Nations Concilation Commission, October 23, 1950. (U.N. General Assembly Official Records, 5th Session, Supplement No. 18, Document A/1367/Rev. 1) The Committee believed the estimate to be "as accurate as circumstances permit", and attributed the higher number on relief to, among other things, "duplication of ration cards, addition of persons who have been displaced from area other than Israel-held areas and of persons who, although not displaced, are destitute."

The status of Jews in Arab states varied greatly from state to state. Some observers maintain that the Jewish populations were more "prevented from leaving" than "expelled." Their civil liberties, too, were in many cases vastly inferior to those of their Muslim fellow citizens. For example, in Yemen, Jews were and are prohibited from carrying weapons of any type, even to the point of prohibiting traditional ceremonial Yemeni knives, carried by a large portion of the Yemeni population. The net result was that after over two thousand years of living in Arab controlled countries, the atmosphere was sufficiently anti-Jewish that entire communities of Jews in the hundreds of thousands felt they had no option but to take leave of old homes and move to the uncertainties of the new Jewish state of Israel, in effect becoming "refugees" in everything but name. These war-intensified fears came upon the heels of the Holocaust, which ended with the defeat of Nazi Germany three years before the founding of the state of Israel.

Arab Palestinians have staged annual demonstrations and protests on May 15 of each year, one day after the anniversary of Israel's declaration of independence. The popularity and number of participants in these annual al Nakba demonstrations has varied over time, though the increasing anti-Israeli sentiment in the Middle East has tended to increase the attendance in recent years. During the al-Aqsa Intifada after the failure of the Camp David 2000 Summit, the attendance at the demonstrations against Israel increased exponentially.

See also

• League of Nations Palestine Mandate
• 1947 UN Partition Plan
• 1949 Armistice Agreements
• Arab-Israeli conflict
• Balfour Declaration 1917
• British Mandate of Palestine
• Declaration of the Establishment of the State of Israel, May 14 1948
• Israeli-Palestinian conflict
• List of villages depopulated during the 1948 Arab-Israeli war
• List of Israeli military operation in the 1948 Arab-Israeli war
• List of massacres committed during the 1948 Arab-Israeli war
• Plan Dalet
• 1947-UN-Partition-Plan-1949-Armistice-Comparison.png

People involved in the war

• Yigal Allon
• David Ben-Gurion
• Folke Bernadotte
• Abd al-Qadir al-Husayni
• Glubb Pasha
• Fawzi al-Qawuqji
• David Shaltiel

Footnotes

References

• Aloni, Shlomo (2001). Arab-Israeli Air Wars 1947-82. Osprey Publishing. ISBN 1841762946
• Beckman, Morris (1999). The Jewish Brigade: An Army With Two Masters, 1944-45. Sarpedon Publishers. ISBN 188511956
• Benvenisti, Meron (2002). Sacred Landscape. University of California Press. ISBN 0520234227
• Bickerton, Ian and Hill, Maria (2003). Contested Spaces: The Arab-Israeli Conflict. McGraw-Hill. ISBN 0074712179
• Black, Ian (1992). Israel's Secret Wars: A History of Israel's Intelligence Services. Grove Press. ISBN 0802132863
• Bowyer Bell, John (1996). Terror Out of Zion: The Fight For Israeli Independence. Transaction Publishers. ISBN 1560008709
• Bregman, Ahron (2002). Israel's Wars: A History Since 1947. London: Routledge. ISBN 0415287162
• Brown, Judith and Louis, Roger (1999). The Oxford History of the British Empire. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0198205643
• Gelber, Yoav (2006). Palestine 1948. WAr, Escape and the Emergnece of the Palestinian Refugee Problem. Sussex Academic Press. ISBN 1845190750
• Gilbert, Martin (1976). The Arab-Israeli Conflict Weidenfeld & Nicholson. ISBN 0297772414
• Gilbert, Martin (1998). Israel: A History. Black Swan. ISBN 0552995452
• Israel Foreign Ministry, Foreign Ministry of the Russian Federation, Israel State Archives, Russian Federal Archives, Cummings Center for Russian Studies Tel Aviv University, Oriental Institute (2000). Documents on Israeli Soviet Relations, 1941-53. London: Routledge. ISBN 0714648434
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• Karsh, Efraim (2002). The Arab-Israeli Conflict. The Palestine War 1948. Osprey Publishing. ISBN 1841763721
• Katz, Sam (1988). Israeli Units Since 1948. Osprey Publishing. ISBN 0850458374

• Khalidi, Rashid (2001). The Palestinians and 1948: the underlying causes of failure. In Eugene Rogan and Avi Shlaim (eds.). The War for Palestine (pp. 12-36). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0521794765
• Khalidi, Walid (1987). From Haven to Conquest: Readings in Zionism and the Palestine Problem Until 1948. Institute for Palestine Studies. ISBN 0887281559
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• Morris, Benny (2001). Righteous Victims: A History of the Zionist-Arab Conflict, 1881-2001. Vintage. ISBN 0679744754
• Oring, Elliott (1981). Israeli Humor-The Content: The Content and Structure of the Chizbat of the Palmah. SUNY Press. ISBN 0873955129
• Pollack, Kenneth (2004). Arabs at War: Military Effectiveness, 1948-1991. University of Nebraska Press. ISBN 0803287836
• Richelson, Jeffery T. (1997). A Century of Spies: Intelligence in the Twentieth Century. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 019511390X
• Sadeh, Eligar (1997). Militarization and State Power in the Arab-Israeli Conflict: Case Study of Israel, 1948-1982. Universal Publishers. ISBN 0965856461
• Sachar, Howard M. (1979). A History of Israel, New York: Knopf. ISBN 0679765638
• Sayigh, Yezid (2000). Armed Struggle and the Search for State: The Palestinian National Movement, 1949-1993. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0198296436
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• Shlaim, Avi (2001). Israel and the Arab Coalition. In Eugene Rogan and Avi Shlaim (eds.). The War for Palestine (pp. 79-103). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0521794765
• Sheleg, Yair (2001). A Short History of Terror Haaretz.
• van Creveld, Martin (2004). Moshe Dayan. Weidenfeld & Nicholson. ISBN 0297846698
• Zertal, Idith (2005). Israel's Holocaust and the Politics of Nationhood. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0521850967

External links

• About the War of Independence
• United Nations: System on the Question of Palestine
• Palestinian viewpoint
• Israeli viewpoint
• PLO position This link is 404.
• The BBC on the UN Partition Plan
• The BBC on the Formation of Israel
• Interview with Israeli historian Benny Morris

Maps

• Arab invasion May 15 1948
• Israeli military operations May 15 - 11 June 1948
• Israeli military operations July 8 - 18, 1948
• Israeli military operations July 18 1948 - November 1948
• Operation AYIN December 22 1948 - January 7 1949

1948 Arab-Israeli War

حرب 1948 | Арабско-израелска война (1948) | Palestinská válka | Arabisch-Israelischer Krieg von 1948 | Guerra árabe-israelí de 1948 | جنگ اعراب و اسرائیل در ۱۹۴۸ (میلادی) | Guerre israélo-arabe de 1948 | מלחמת העצמאות | Palestijnse Oorlog | 第一次中東戦争 | Pierwsza wojna izraelsko-arabska 1948-1949 | Арабо-израильская война 1948 года | Vojna za nezávislosť (Izrael) | Арапско-израелски рат 1948. | 1948 års arab-israeliska krig | Digmaang Pangkalayaang Israeli | 第一次中东战争

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