The 1948 Arab-Israeli War, also known by Israeli's as the War of Liberation/Independence, and by Palestinians as Al Nakba, was the first in a series of wars fought between the newly declared State of Israel and its Arab neighbors in the long-running Arab-Israeli conflict. The War, began immediately on the termination of the Mandate on 15 May 1948, was fought mostly on the territory of the British Mandate of Palestine, and for a short time also on the Sinai Peninsula.

The war background – the security situation in Israel in the war Eve

The war erupted as a result of resistance of the Israeli Arabs and the Arab states, to the United Nations recommendation to establish a Jewish state in the Land of Israel on May14, 1948.

The Arabs acted immediatly to prevent the decision attainment by attacking and fighting used with great help from outside. Compared to them, the Jewish forces were mainly 3 underground organizations:

1. Haganah –was a Jewish paramilitary organization in what was then the British Mandate of Palestine from 1920 to 1948, which later became the core of the Israel Defense Forces.

2. National Military Organization, IZL - was a militant Zionist group that operated in Palestine between 1931 and 1948.

3. Fighters for the Freedom of Israel (Lechi) - was an armed underground Zionist faction in Mandatory Palestine that had as its goal the eviction of the British authorities from Palestine to allow unrestricted immigration of Jews and the formation of a Jewish state.

After the UN decision, it was very obvious that the Arabs will start a war against the Jewish settlements in the land of Israel. Therefore, the underground organizations started to enlist manpower and training them, continue with the illegal immigration and keep buying weapon overseas and smuggling it to the country. Getting organized was still on voluntary basis but David Ben Gurion adopted a clear sharp unequivocal position, to combine all the military underground organizations to one, united military force. Likewise, in this period Ben Gurion determined the ethical morality codes for the Israeli Army.

Hagana Troops

The war stages from the UN committee decision until program D operation

Shortly after the general UN committee in November 29, 1947, who decided on the division plan that ends the British mandate on Palestine and establish 2 countries in the land of Israel – Jewish and Arab state, Arab Forces attack the Jewish population. The Jewish settlements were defended by the Haganah organization that included dozens of thousands of man, and in addition there were three thousands of IZL man and few hundreds of Lechi warriors.

At this stage, the British began to leave the country, and the evacuated areas become to a battle fields. Likewise, in certain cases the British forced the conquerors to evacuate those areas in order to allow them leave securely.

During the excursive fighting, the battles focused in three central areas:

1. Fighting in the mixed population cities like Haifa, Tiberius, Jerusalem, Tel Aviv - Jaffa and Zephath. The fighting occurred mainly in shooting attacks and insertion of demolition charges that brought to the paralysis of life, commerce, Education etc in the cities.

2. Fighting in the insulator Jewish settlements: This fighting, destined to defend the Jewish settlements that were under Arab control such as: Gush Etzion, Tirat Zevi, Ramat Rahel, Yehiam, Yad Mordekhay and the Negev settlements. Those settlements changed quickly to a militaristic bases and were invested many efforts to protect on them and to lead food and equipment to them.

3. Fighting on traffic arteries: Taking control on the traffic arteries by the Arabs, prevented passage of food, equipment supply and medicines to the settlements. Therefore the Arab forces invested many efforts in this fighting which did not require a militaristic orderly and strong organization. The Arabs that their villages were spread out lengthwise the traffic arteries to Jerusalem, in most of the cases controlled on strategic observation points. This fighting suffered many casualties and the road to Jerusalem erupted and blocked intermittently, likewise, many motorcades such as Yhiam motorcade, Hadassah motorcade and Nbi Daniel motorcade were completely or partly destroyed.

Intervention by Arab countries

Five of the seven countries of the Arab League at that time, namely Egypt, Iraq, Transjordan, Lebanon and Syria, backed with Saudi Arabian and Yemenite contingents invaded the territory of the former British Mandate of Palestine on the night of 14–15 May 1948. The main objection the Arab League had to the division of Palestine in UN Resolution 181 was that it did not respect the rights of its Arab inhabitants in accordance with the provisions of the Covenant of the League of Nations and the Charter of the United Nations.

The Arabs forces were equipped with armored warfare and artillery, likewise, they used also the sea force, the Egyptian air force and the Arab legion was from the exquisite in the Middle East forces, which most of his training took place in Britain. Many settlements stood bravery in the siege and the battles, but many settlements fell by the hands of Arab armies. The attack braking continued one month, and considered as amazing achievement to the young state, her residents and her army.

In October 15, 1948, minute after midnight, the Egyptian army crossed the South border enters Gaza with force of 10,000 soldiers, starting 6:00 AM airplanes flew over Tel Aviv and bombarded the harbor and the airport. The Egyptian airplanes came up against antiaircraft shooting and lost 2 airplanes. In the south the Egyptian army moved in two columns. One from Gaza to Tel Aviv and the other one through Be'er-Sheva to Hebron and Jerusalem. The kibbutz of Yad Mordechai who was the Egyptian main axis of advance, fall to the hands of the Egyptian after 5 fighting days. Afterwards, the Egypt progressed across Ashdod until their progress blocked by the Givati brigade who exploded the bridge the Egyptian passed on. The Syria Army progressed across the Jordan Valley and conquered Zemach police and began attacking the settlements of Degania Alef and Degania Bet.

The Lebanon Army invaded to Upper Galilee and conquered the Nbi Yosha police. The Israeli Army attack on Jenin followed with many casualties. The Jordan army fought in Jerusalem area and his forces capture Latrun and block the main road to Jerusalem but, a bypass was paved during the fights and called Burma Road that enable an open pathway to Jerusalem. Iraq, which also didn’t have communal border with Israel, took part in the fighting – Iraqi force invaded to the kibbutz of Gesher area and captured the Naharayim power station, but his attempt to occupy failed.

First Truce (11 June 1948 – 8 July 1948)

The UN declared a truce on 29 May which came into effect on 11 June and would last 28 days. The cease-fire was overseen by the UN mediator Folke Bernadotte. An arms embargo was declared with the intention that neither side would make any gains from the truce. At the end of the truce, Folke Bernadotte presented a new partition plan that would give the Galilee to the Jews and the Negev to the Arabs. Both sides rejected the plan. On 8 July, before the expiration of the truce, Egyptian General Naguib renewed the war by attacking the Negba position.

The ten days at the height of the summer between the two truces were dominated by large scale Israeli offensives and a defensive posture from the Arab side. Operation Dani was the most important Israeli offensive, aimed at securing and enlarging the corridor between Jerusalem and Tel Aviv by capturing the roadside cities Lydda (later renamed Lod) and Ramle. Following their capture, the residents of Lydda and Ramle, some 50,000 Palestinians, were forced to leave the city by the Israelis, in the largest single exodus of the war.

In a second planned stage of the operation the fortified positions of Latrun, overlooking the Tel Aviv-Jerusalem highway, and the city of Ramallah, were also to be captured but this part of the operation failed.

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

Second Truce: 18 July 1948–15 October 1948

19:00 18 July, the second truce of the conflict went into effect after intense diplomatic efforts by the UN. On 16 September, Folke Bernadotte proposed a new partition for Palestine in which Transjordan would annex Arab areas including the Negev, al-Ramla, and 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, 17 September, Bernadotte was assassinated by the Lehi and his deputy.

The liberation of the Negev and the Galilee

On 24 October, the IDF launched Operation Hiram and captured the entire Upper Galilee, driving the 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 8 km into Lebanon to the Litani River.

On 15 October 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 22 October the Israeli Navy commandoes sunk the Egyptian flagship Amir Faruk.

On 22 December the IDF drove the remaining Egyptian forces out of Israel, by launching Operation Horev. 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 7 January a truce was achieved. Israeli forces withdrew from Sinai and Gaza under international pressure.

On 5 March Operation Uvda was launched. On 10 March 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 and claimed Umm Rashrash for Israel.

The War Results

War casualty: Israel = 6,000 man and woman were killed. Among them 2,000 Jewish civilians, while the all population was only 650,000 when the state declared for independence. Arabs = the Arab forces lost between 3,000 15,000 man and woman. Approximately armed Arab forces that got killed: Egypt – 2,000 casualties, Syria – 1000 casualty, Iraq – 500 casualties, Palestinian and other Israeli Arabs – 3,000 casualties. Total casualties among the Arab forces: 8,000.

The state of Israel compared to the division plan: The green border line set as border of ceasefire and changed gradually to Israel officially border, but Israel never recognized in the green line. Following the war, in addition to the boundaries that were determined in the division program, the Jewish state was expanded about 5,700 square km more that her originally mandatory territory.

Jerusalem: According to the division program, Jerusalem set as an international area, but as a result of the war, Jerusalem divided to two parts when Israel held in the western side.

(The modern) whereas Jordan held in the eastern side, which includes also the old city, when the temple mount and the Western Wall within. Israel announced Jerusalem as her capital city and moved all of her authority institutions to the western side of Jerusalem.

The Arab state: The Arab state that was supposed to establish, according to the "division program”, didn’t established eventually. The Jordan kingdom took over on the land of the western bank of the Jordan River (West Bank) and the Egyptian took control on Gaza and avoid from the Palestinians Arabs to proclaim on their independence.

The Arabs refugees: Many refugees remained lacking nationality, because the British mandate already not took place, and the states the refugees escaped to, refused to give them citizenship.

United Nations General Assembly Resolution 194: Towards to the end of the war, the United Nations Security Council announce on decision 194 that calls to establish a committee of appeasement in which both sides will arrive to agreement as regards all the disputable subjects.

The Jewish refugees: About 700 thousand refugees Jews fled from the Arab states after many pogroms which open against them following Israel victory on the Arabs.

Most of the immigrants arrived to Israel at the start of the 50^th and were put in Maabarot (transit camp in Isr.). They had a very hard time and very difficult melting pot process in severities and in economic austerity.

I.D.F establishment: During the war, the Israeli Army (Israel Defense Force) was founded while the other Jewish military organizations were dismantled. David Ben Gurion believed that sovereign state should have one armed force which will be subordinate to the state, and this there will be the official Israeli Army.