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1948 War

Upon Britain’s 1947 announcement that it would quit governing Palestine, communal violence between Jews and Arabs flared, but the hostilities dramatically escalated after the U.N. General Assembly voted Nov. 29, 1947, to partition Palestine into Arab and Jewish states. When the British left in May 1948 and Israel declared independence, the armies of Egypt, Syria, Transjordan, Iraq and Lebanon attacked but failed to prevent Israel’s creation.

Arab states’ earlier rejection of two states and the war’s outcome had gripping consequences. The dream of creating a Jewish state was realized. No Arab or Palestinian state came into being. Israel increased its size by nearly 37% above what the U.N. plan had allocated to it. Transjordan held the West Bank and parts of Jerusalem, including the Old City, and transformed into Jordan. Egypt held the Gaza Strip. Some 700,000 Palestinian Arabs were displaced. More than 800,000 Jews fled Arab lands over the next five years as anti-Jewish sentiment soared, and most settled in Israel. Armistice agreements but no treaties were signed at the end of the war.

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The Key Curated Essentials for the 1948 War

Map of Israel’s 1949 Borders CIE+ members only

Maps of Israel|February 24, 1949|Spanish

Explainer: The Arab-Israel War of 1948 — A Short History CIE+ members only

Otherwise known as Israel’s War of Independence, or, “the nakbah” or disaster to the Arab world because a Jewish state was established, the war was fought between the newly established Jewish state of Israel opposed by Palestinian irregulars, and armies from five Arab states. Official beginning of the war is usually given as May 14, 1948, the date Israel declared itself an independent Jewish state, but the war’s first of four phases began in November 1947. Lasting for two years, the war ended with armistice agreements signed in 1949 between Israel and four Arab states.

Explainer Articles, Ken's Blog|May 1948-March 1949|Spanish|Polish|German

Yigal Allon, Lessons From the War of Independence, 1948 CIE+ members only

Documents and Sources|1952|Spanish

Era II: Zionism to Israel, 1898 to 1948

From 1898 to 1948, Zionism evolved from an idea to a concrete reality: the actual establishment of the Jewish state, Israel. Slowly, a few immigrating Jews created facts by linking people to the land. For half a century, fortuity and fortitude made the Zionist undertaking a reality. They exhibited pragmatism and gradually constructed a nucleus for a state. Through perseverance Zionists empowered themselves.

Moshe Naor, “Israel’s 1948 War of Independence as a Total War,” 2008 CIE+ members only

Examination of the mobilization of society for the Israeli War of Independence effort enables one to present a more extended process that began in October 1947 — some two months prior to the outbreak of the war — and ended, from the standpoint of mobilization of personnel, at the beginning of 1949, when demobilization of the first draftees from the wartime army took place, and from an economic standpoint in April 1949, when an Austerity system was declared in the State of Israel.

Issues and Analyses|December 28, 2022