1948 Arab–Israeli War
The 1948 Arab-Israeli War (called by the Israelis the Israeli War of Independence and by Arabs as al Naqba, the catastrophe)
Background
See British Mandate of Palestine.
In 1936, the Arab leadership led by Haj Abd-el-Qadr Al-Husseini (the father of Faisal Husseini) declared a general strike to protest the little Jewish immigration still allowed. One of the following two competing explanations are generally given for those riots, depending on the partiality of the speaker:
- Discontent and feuds with the British leadership; and
- Palestinians' fear of being pushed out of their own country.
Rather than inflicting economic damage to the Jewish population, the strike resulted in a sharp economic rise. The Arab leadership then began a series of violent actions, during which dozens of Jews were killed. The British administration did little to mitigate the riots.
This period was characterized by the rise of Jewish defence movements. The first of them, the Haganah (Hebrew for "defence") was accepted by the majority of the Jewish public. Although still a civilian force at that stage, it performed military-style operations, almost always targeted solely at military objectives. A group called the Irgun branched off Haganah, and a small faction of the Irgun then branched off into Lehi. The latter two organizations did not confine themselves to strictly military objectives, and were criticized because of their terrorist tactics.
In 1939, after three years of rioting, the unrest was put down by the British administration with the help of Jewish volunteers from the Hagana. The British government issued a White Paper and, in effect, reversed their support of the Balfour Declaration by announcing an absolute limit of only 75,000 on future Jewish immigration to Palestine. This limit was maintained even during the Holocaust.
UN Partition plan
1947 November 29. The United Nations General Assembly approved a plan which partitioned the British Mandate of Palestine into a Jewish and Arab state (Map More Detailed Map). The Jewish population welcomed the partition plan (in spite of numerous failings, the main of which was the lack of territorial continuity for the Jewish state), while the Arabic leadership opposed it. The Arab claimed it was unreasonable that Israel should receive 55% of Mandatory Palestine, including the fruitful shore plain (it should be mentioned that at least a third of these 55% is taken by the Negev desert, which is not suitable for agriculture, and was not suitable urban development at that period; it should also be noted that the coastal area, previously swampy, was developed into a zone suitable for agriculture by the Jews), when they made up less than a third of the population (Map). The Arab leadership rejected the partition offer, turning to neighboring Arab nations to ask for their help in removing the Jews from Palestine, in return for political control over its lands.
Shortly after, the same leadership began to organize tribal bands from Palestinians Arabs in order to wage guerrilla war on Israelis. The British representatives, having no desire to maintain order and their force waning, effectively left the Jews and Arabs alone to fight between themselves. During the next six months, most of the fighting was be made using guerrilla tactics, small Arab and Jewish forces conducting brief gunfights at various spots, without achieving any territorial goal but for the protection of the de-facto limits.
TODO: first period of the war (Civil War, Part I - Israeli defensive, Part II - Israeli offensive). Proper discussion, include references to Deir Yassin.
- See external links:
1948 May 14. The State of Israel declared itself as an independent nation, stating in its Declaration of Independence that "We extend our hand to all neighbouring states and their peoples in an offer of peace and good neighbourliness". Andrei Gromyko, the Soviet Union's UN ambassador, called for the UN to accept Israel as a member state. The UN approved on the same day, the Soviet Union doing the same three days later.
- See external links to Israeli sites:
Israel's defense as a state
1948 May 15. Lebanese, Syrian, Iraqi, and Egyptian troops invaded Israel and join Palestinian guerrillas. Bitter fighting ensues.
'TODO: second period, defense against the Jordanians, Egyptians and who else. First cease fire; 10 Days' fighting; Second cease-fire
1948 May 28. Two weeks after the creation of the state, the Haganah forces were declared an army, Israel Defence Force. Irgun and Lehi were merged into it as well (see Altalena).
During the following months, the Syrian army was repelled, and so were guerrillas led by Kawkaji. In the south, an Egyptian attack was able to penetrate the civilian-manned defences of several Israeli civilian kibutzes, killing their inhabitants. This attack was stopped near Ashdod. A second axis of attack to the east was also blocked, at the expense of diverting forces from Jerusalem. Jerusalem with its Western Wall, Judaism's most holly site, as well as the mountain ridges to its north and south (what was to become known as the West Bank) were blocked by Jordanian forces.
TODO: operations on border with Egypt (and beyond it), final state, refugees. PROPER DISCUSSION, NOT FLAMES
Results
In 1949, in separate ceasefire agreements signed with Jordan, Syria and Egypt, Israel was able to draw its own borders, which represented a 50% gain over the UN partition proposal and have been known afterwards as the "Green Line". Israel occupied about 70% of the mandatory Palestine, with the Gaza Strip and West Bank in Egyptian and Jordanian hands respectively, and Syria retaining the Golan Heights.
About 700,000 Arab refugees (See Israeli Map, French Map and Israeli Estimate), and more than 600,000 Jewish refugees (See Map and Israeli Estimate, were created during this conflict. Jewish refugees from Arab lands immigrated to Israel, while Arab refugees were not able to find a replacement homeland and have remained in refugee camps up to the time of writing.
M: Misleading to describe Jewish refugees as created by 1948 War. The status of Jews in Arab states varied greatly from state to state. In many cases, the Jewish populations were more prevented from leaving than expelled, and Israel certainly made efforts to allow Arab Jews to come to Israel. "Operation Magic Carpet" culminated a deal to transport 45,000 Yemeni Jews to Israel and "Operation Ezra and Nechemia" transported 130,000 Iraqi Jews to Israel. In both cases, the Arab states of origin had beforehand prohibitted their Jewish populations from leaving. See http://www.us-israel.org/jsource/Immigration/carpet.html and http://www.us-israel.org/jsource/Immigration/ezra.html. Egyptian Jews were expelled after Israel's 1956 invasion of the Sinai Peninsula, and in the context that some of them had participated in an Israel-sponsored bombing plot in 1953. And Morocco, the source of some 240,000 Jewish refugees, prohibited emigration to Israel until 1961.
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 Naqba demonstrations has varied over time, though increasing anti-Israeli sentiment in the Middle East since the current intifada has seen increased numbers of persons taking part in the demonstrations against Israel.
See external links