3. EFRAIM KARSH is Professor
and Head of the Mediterranean
Studies Programme at King's
College; University of London.
He has held various academic
posts at the Sorhonne, the
London School of Economics,
Columbia University, Helsinki
University and Tel-Aviv
University. Professor Karsh has
published extensively on Middle
Eastern affairs, Soviet foreign
policy and European neutrality.
PROFESSOR ROBERT O'NEILL,
AO D.PHIL. (Oxon), Hon D.
Litt.(ANU), FASSA, Fr Hist S,
is the Series Editor of the Essential
Histories. His wealth of knowledge
and expertise shapes the series
content and provides up-to-the-
minute research and theory. Born
in 1936 an Australian citizen, he
served in the Australian army
(1955-68) and has held a number
of eminent positions in history
circles, including the Chichele
Professorship of the History of
War at All Souls College,
University of Oxford, 1987-2001,
and the Chairmanship of the
Board of the Imperial War
Museum and the Council of the
International Institute for
Strategic Studies, London.
He is the author of many books
including works on the German
Army and the Nazi party, and
the Korean and Vietnam wars.
Now based in Australia on his
retirement from Oxford he is
the Chairman of the Council
of the Australian Strategic
Policy Institute.
6. Contents
Introduction 7
Chronology 9
Background to war
The burden of history 13
Warring sides
Strengths and weaknesses of Arabs and Jews 22
Outbreak
The Arabs of Palestine will never submit to partition' 29
The fighting
From inter-communal strife to inter-state war 34
Portrait of a soldier
Trapped on the battlefield 69
The world around war
The great game 72
Portrait of a civilian
Leaving Jerusalem 80
How the war ended
From ceasefire to armistice 82
Conclusion and consequences
Perpetuating the Arab-Israeli conflict 87
Further reading 93
Index 94
7. Introduction
On 29 November 1947, the United Nations supported the resolution, 13 voted against
General Assembly passed a resolution calling and 10 abstained, including Great Britain,
for the partition of Palestine into two which had ruled Palestine since the early
independent states - one Jewish, the other 1920s under a League of Nations Mandate.
Arab - linked in an economic union. The For Jews all over the world this was the
City of Jerusalem was to be placed under an fulfilment of a millenarian yearning for
international regime, with its residents given national rebirth in the ancestral homeland.
the right to citizenship in either the Jewish For Arabs it was an unmitigated disaster, an
or the Arab states. Thirty-three UN members act of betrayal by the international
The Middle East, 1948
8. 8 Essential Histories • The Arab-Israeli Conflict - The Palestine War 1948
community that surrendered an integral part after the proclamation of the State of Israel,
of the Arab world to foreign invaders. In and involved a concerted attack by the
Tel-Aviv, crowds were dancing in the streets. armed forces of Egypt, Syria, Iraq,
In the Arab capitals there were violent Transjordan, Lebanon, as well as a Saudi
demonstrations. 'We are solidly and contingent, on the nascent Jewish state. It
permanently determined to fight to the last ended on 20 July 1949 with the signing of
man against the existence in our country of the last of the armistice agreements between
any Jewish state, no matter how small it is,' Israel and its Arab neighbours.
Jamal al-Husseini, Vice-President of the Arab By the time the fighting was over, Israel,
Higher Committee (AHC), the effective albeit at the exorbitant human cost of 1 per
government of the Palestinian Arabs, told cent of its population, had survived the Arab
the General Assembly as it was about to cast attempt to destroy it at birth and had asserted
its vote. 'If such a state is to be established, it its control over wider territories than those
can only be established over our dead assigned to it by the UN Partition Resolution.
bodies.' And an AHC circular was even more The Palestinian Arab community was
outspoken. 'The Arabs have taken into their profoundly shattered, with about half of its
own hands the final solution of the Jewish population becoming refugees in other parts
problem,' it read. 'The problem will be of Palestine and the neighbouring Arab states.
solved only in blood and fire. The Jews will The political implications of what would
soon be driven out.' come to be known in Arab political discourse
Thus began the Palestine War, probably as al-Nakba, 'the catastrophe,' would
the most important Middle-Eastern armed reverberate throughout the Middle East for
confrontation since the destruction of the decades. Already before the end of hostilities
Ottoman Empire and the creation of a new the president of Syria was overthrown by a
regional order on its ruins in the wake of the military coup, while the king of Egypt
First World War. It was to be divided into followed suit in the summer of 1952. Within
two distinct phases. The first began on two years of the end of the Palestine War,
30 November 1947, the day after the King Abdallah of Jordan, the foremost Arab
adoption of the Partition Resolution, and combatant during the conflict, was
ended on 14 May 1948 with the termination assassinated, as were the prime ministers of
of the British Mandate. It was essentially a Egypt and Lebanon. For decades inter-Arab
civil war, conducted under the watchful eye politics would be dominated by the 'problem
and occasional intervention of the British of Palestine' as the Arab states and the
Mandatory authorities, in which the Palestinians sought to undo the consequences
Palestinian Arab community, assisted by a of the Palestine War and bring about Israel's
sizeable pan-Arab irregular force, sought to demise by military, political and economic
prevent its Jewish counterpart from laying means. 'Palestine and the self-respect of the
the foundation of statehood in line with the Arabs must be recovered,' the prominent
UN resolution. The second phase started on Palestinian leader Musa Alami wrote in 1949.
the night of 14-15 May 1948, a few hours 'Without Palestine there is no life for them.'
9. Chronology
1917 2 November British Government rest. Jerusalem, Bethlehem, and a
issues the 'Balfour Declaration' corridor leading them to the
supporting 'the establishment in Mediterranean Sea to remain a
Palestine of a national home for the British Mandatory zone
Jewish people' 1938 November Wood head Royal
1920 March Britain awarded the Mandate Commission: recommends the
for Palestine at the San Remo shelving of the Peel Partition Plan
conference 1939 May A White Paper restricts Jewish
April Arab riots in Jerusalem. Five immigration to no more than
Jews killed and 211 wounded 15,000 per year during the next
1921 March British Government excludes five-year period; after that it would
Transjordan from the prospective occur only with Arab consent.
Jewish national home (though not Purchase of land by Jews is
from the Palestine Mandate) prohibited in some areas, restricted
April Hajj Amin al-Husseini in others
appointed Mufti of Jerusalem 1942 May A Zionist conference at the
May Arab riots in Palestine. Ninety Biltmore Hotel, New York, demands
Jews killed and hundreds wounded that 'Palestine be established as a
1922 June A British White Paper Jewish Commonwealth integrated
depreciates the nature of the in the structure of the new
prospective national Jewish home; democratic world'
limits Jewish immigration to the 1946 1 May An Anglo-American
'economic absorption capacity of Commission of Inquiry recommends
the country' the opening of Palestine to
1929 August Arab rioters kill 133 Jews and 100,000 Jewish refugees.
wound hundreds more Recommendation rejected by British
1930 October A White Paper recommends Foreign Secretary Ernest Bevin
harsh restrictions on Jewish June A pan-Arab summit in
immigration and purchase of land Bludan (Syria) adopts a series of
1936 April A 10-member Arab Higher measures to prevent the creation of
Committee established as the a Jewish state
effective leadership of the Palestinian 1947 March Britain refers the Palestine
Arabs; a general Arab uprising begins problem to the UN
October Uprising temporarily 31 August UN Special Committee on
suspended at the request of Arab Palestine (UNSCOP) recommends the
leaders earliest possible termination of the
1937 July A Royal Commission of Inquiry, British Mandate. A majority report
headed by Lord Peel, recommends suggests the partition of Palestine into
the termination of the Mandate and an Arab state, a Jewish state, and an
the partition of Palestine into two internationalised city of Jerusalem -
states: an Arab state, united with all linked in an economic union. A
Transjordan, in some 85 per cent of minority report recommends an
this territory, and a Jewish state in the independent federal state
10. 10 Essential Histories • The Arab-Israeli Conflict - The Palestine War 1948
16-19 September Pan-Arab summit 15-16 January A platoon of
in Sofar (Lebanon). Urges the Arab 35 Jewish fighters sent to reinforce
states to 'open their doors to Etzion Bloc wiped out
Palestinian children, women, and 20 January ALA attack on Yechiam.
the elderly and fend for them, should Failed
the developments in Palestine so 1-15 February Jewish retaliatory
require' strikes in Haifa, Jerusalem and Sasa
29 November UN General Assembly 16 February ALA offensive against
endorses UNSCOP's majority Tirat-Zvi. Failed with heavy casualties
recommendation on the partition 22 February Arab car bomb explodes
of Palestine in Jewish Jerusalem. Fifty people
30 November Arab violence begins. killed, hundreds wounded
Eight Jews killed, others wounded 2-4 March Arab attacks on Magdiel
1 December AHC proclaims a and Ramot-Naftali. Failed
three-day nationwide strike 11 March Arab car bomb destroys
2 December Arab mob destroys the Jewish national headquarters in
new Jewish commercial centre in Jerusalem
Jerusalem 17 March Large Arab arms convoy
4 December Arabs attack on Efal: the destroyed in a battle near Haifa
first large-scale attempt to storm a 19 March US proposes suspension of
Jewish neighbourhood. Failed Partition Plan and a temporary
8 December Arab assault on Hatikva international trusteeship for Palestine
quarter in south Tel-Aviv. Failed with 27 March Jewish convoy from
heavy casualties Nahariya to Yechiam ambushed.
8-17 December Arab League summit Forty-two fighters killed
in Cairo. Decides to contribute 27-28 March A large Jewish convoy
one million Egyptian pounds and returning from Etzion Bloc to
10,000 rifles to the Palestine war Jerusalem ambushed near Nabi
effort Daniel. Jewish fighters evacuated by
12 December Jewish car bomb near British army. Weapons and vehicles
the Old City in Jerusalem. Twenty lost to Arabs
Arabs killed and five wounded 31 March Jewish convoy to
14 December Arab Legion attacks a Jerusalem ambushed. Seventeen
Jewish supply convoy to Ben-Shemen, people killed
killing 12 people 6-15 April Operation Nachshon:
18 December Eight Arabs killed in a Jewish offensive to open the road to
Jewish retaliatory action against the Jerusalem
Galilean village of Khasas 4-12 April ALA offensive against
30 December Irgun bomb kills six Mishmar-Haemek. Failed with heavy
Arab workers near the Haifa oil losses
refinery. Arab workers at the plant 8 April The prominent Palestinian
kill 39 Jewish workers military commander Abd al-Qader
1948 4 January Lehi blows up the al-Husseini killed
headquarters of the Jaffa National 9 April Irgun and Lehi forces occupy
Committee Deir Yasin. Some 100 people killed
10 January Arab Liberation Army 10 April Muslim Brothers attack
(ALA) attack on Kfar-Szold. Failed Kfar-Darom. Failed
14 January Large-scale Arab attack 13 April Arabs ambush Jewish
on Etzion Bloc. Failed with heavy medical convoy in Jerusalem. Some
casualties 80 nurses and doctors killed
11. Chronology 11
13-16 April Druze offensive against 17 May Egyptian forces enter
Ramat-Yohanan. Failed Beersheba. Move northwards to the
15-21 April Operation Harel: three outskirts of Jerusalem
large supply convoys break through 16-19 May Israeli raids on military
to Jewish Jerusalem targets in Syria and Lebanon
18 April Tiberias falls to the Hagana. 17-18 May Israeli forces capture Acre
Arab population evacuated at their 18 May Syrian forces occupy
request Zemakh, Masada and Shaar-Hagolan
21-22 April Haifa captured by the 20 May Large-scale Syrian assault on
Hagana. Arab leaders refuse to Deganiya. Failed with heavy casualties.
surrender and order the evacuation of UN appoints Count Folke Bernadotte
the city's Arab population of Sweden as Mediator for Palestine
22-30 April Operation Jebusite: 19-24 May Egyptian attack on
Jewish offensive to secure outlying Yad-Mordechai. Settlement captured
Jerusalem neighbourhoods. Failed to after defenders' withdrawal
occupy Nabi Samuel; seized Sheikh 21-25 May E g y p t i a n - Transjordanian
Jarrah but relinquished control at attack on Ramat-Rahel. Failed
British demand; captured Qatamon 21-27 May Egyptian attack on
1-12 May Arab attacks on Galilee Negba. Failed
kibbutzim (Dan, Dafna, Kfar-Szold, 22 May Israeli forces complete
Ramot-Naftali, Maayan-Baruch). occupation of western Galilee
Failed. Operation Yiftach: Hagana 24 May Israeli forces recapture
captures Arab villages and towns in Shaar-Hagolan and Masada
eastern Galilee in anticipation of the 25 May An Iraqi attack in the
Arab invasion direction of Netanya. Failed.
4-15 May Operation Barak: capture Operation Ben-Nun A: Israeli attack
of Arab villages in the southern on the Latrun fortress. Failed with
sector, in preparation for Arab heavy casualties
invasion 28 May The Israel Defence Forces
8-18 May Operation Maccabee: (IDF) established. Jewish Quarter in
Jewish offensive to clear the road to the Old City of Jerusalem falls to
Jerusalem. Partial success Arab Legion
11 May Jewish forces capture Safed 30 May Operation Ben-Nun B:
11-12 May Muslim Brothers attack Second Israeli attack on Latrun. Failed
on Kfar-Darom. Failed 2 June Egyptian attack on Negba.
12 May Jewish forces occupy Beisan Failed
13 May Jaffa surrenders to the 3-4 June Israeli forces occupy Jenin.
Hagana. Arab Legion occupies the Dislodged by Iraqis
Etzion Bloc. Dozens of civilians and 6 June Combined
fighters killed after surrendering Syrian-Lebanese-ALA force captures
14 May Termination of the British Malkiya
Mandate over Palestine. Proclamation 6 June First convoy to Jerusalem
of the State of Israel through Burma Road
15 May Armies of Egypt, Syria, 6-7 June Egyptian forces occupy
Trans Jordan, Lebanon, and Iraq Nitzanim, some 30 kilometres south
invade Israel. Egyptian air force of Tel-Aviv
bombs Tel-Aviv. Egyptian attacks on 7-8 June Operation Yitzhak: Israeli
Kfar-Darom and Nirim. Failed attack on Isdud. Failed
15-22 May Iraqi attacks on Gesher 9 June Iraqi army occupies the head-
and the castle of Belvoir. Failed waters of the Yarkon River at Ras el-Ein
12. 12 Essential Histories • The Arab-Israeli Conflict - The Palestine War 1948
10 June Syrians occupy Mishmar- 18 July Second truce begins
Hayarden. Fail to capture Ein-Gev and 18 July-30 November Intermittent
Ramot-Naftali fighting in Jerusalem
9-10 June Operation Yoram: Third 22 July Egyptians block Israeli
Israeli attack on Latrun. Failed communications with the Negev
10-11 June Israeli forces capture a 4-8 August Egyptians prevent Israeli
number of villages in southern sector convoys to the Negev in
but fail to occupy the strategic police contravention of truce terms
fort of Iraq Sueidan 17 September Bernadotte
11 June Four-week truce begins assassinated by the Lehi group.
8 July Egyptians resume fighting. Ralph Bunche appointed Acting
Kfar-Darom vacated Mediator
9-14 July Operation Brosh: Israeli 20 September The 'Bernadotte Plan'
attempt to dislodge Syrians from published by the UN
Mishmar-Hayarden. Failed 15 October-5 November Operation
9-18 July Operation Dekel: IDF Yoav: Israeli offensive drives
capture central Galilee (Nazareth Egyptians from the coastline and the
falls on 16 July) Judean and Hebron Hills. Captures
10 July Iraqis drive the IDF from Beersheba and traps an Egyptian
the Jenin environs brigade in Faluja Pocket
10-15 July Egyptian attack on Negba, 29-31 October Operation Hiram:
Beerot-Yitzhak, Julis, and Ibdis. Failed Israeli offensive expels ALA and
with heavy casualties Syrian forces from Upper Galilee.
11-12 July Operation Danny: IDF Sweeps into Lebanon
captures Lydda, Ramie, and a string 5 November The IDF captures
of Arab villages in the central front, Majdal and Yad-Mordechai
including Ras el-Ein. Failed to occupy 9 November IDF occupies Iraq
Latrun Sueidan
16-17 July Operation Qedem: Israeli 22 December-2 January 1949
attempt to break into the Old City. Failed Operation Horev: IDF expel Egyptians
17-18 July Operation'Death to the from Israeli territory and invade the
Invader': IDF open a corridor to Sinai Peninsula. Withdrawal under
besieged Negev settlements international pressure
13. Background to war
The burden of history
Wars are much like road accidents, the
eminent British historian A. J. P. Taylor
famously quipped. They have a general cause
and particular causes at the same time. Even'
road accident is caused, in the last resort, by
the invention of the internal combustion engine
and by men's desire to get from one place to
another ... But a motorist, charged with
dangerous driving, would be ill-advised if he
pleaded the existence of motor cars as his sole
defence. The police and courts do not weigh
profound causes. They seek a specific cause for
each accident - error on the part of the driver-
excessive speed; drunkenness; faulty brakes; bad
road surface. So it is with wars.
Taylor was writing about the origins of
the Second World War, but no modern-day
conflict would seem to epitomise this
intricate linkage between past and present
more than the 1948 Palestine War. At a
deeper level, the roots of this conflict stretch
back to the Roman destruction of Jewish
statehood in the land that has since come to
be known as Palestine. Since then, exile and On 2 November 1917 the British Foreign Secretary,
dispersion have become the hallmark of Arthur James Balfour informed Lord Rothschild of his
Jewish existence. Even in its ancestral government's support for the'establishment in Palestine
homeland the Jewish community was of a national home for the Jewish people.' (Ann Ronan
relegated to a small minority under a long Picture Library)
succession of foreign occupiers - Byzantines,
Arabs, Seljuk Turks, Crusaders, Mamluks and homeland, or Zion, occupied a focal place in
Ottoman Turks - who inflicted repression their collective memory for millennia and
and dislocation upon Jewish life. At the became an integral part of Jewish religious
time of the Muslim occupation of Palestine ritual. Moreover, Jews began returning to
in the seventh century, the Jewish Palestine from the earliest days of dispersion,
community in the country numbered some mostly on an individual basis, but also on a
200,000; by the 1880s it had been reduced wide communal scale. The expulsion of the
to about 24,000, or some five per cent of Jews from Spain in 1492, for example,
the total population. brought in its wake a wave of new
This forced marginalisation immigrants; an appreciable influx of
notwithstanding, not only was the Jewish religious Jews from eastern Europe occurred
presence in Palestine never totally severed, in the late eighteenth century, the same
but the Jews' longing for their ancestral from Yemen 100 years later.
14. 14 Essential Histories • The Arab-Israeli Conflict - The Palestine War 1948
In the 1880s, however, an altogether RIGHT In March 1921 the British excludedTransjordan
different type of immigrant began arriving: from the territory of the prospective Jewish national
home, making Emir Abdallah Ibn Hussein of the
the young nationalist who rejected diaspora Hashemite family its effective ruler In the following
life and sought to restore Jewish national decades Abdallah would doggedly seek to incorporate
existence in the historic homeland. Dozens Palestine into h i s Transjordanian emirate. (The State of
of committees and societies for the Israel: The National Photo Collection)
settlement of the Land of Israel mushroomed
in Russia and eastern Europe, to be November 1917, in which the British
transformed before long into a fully fledged Government endorsed 'the establishment in
political movement known as Zionism. Palestine of a national home for the Jewish
In August 1897 the First Zionist Congress people' and pledged to 'use its best
was held in the Swiss town of Basle, under endeavours to facilitate the achievement of
the chairmanship of Theodore Herzl, a this object, it being clearly understood that
young and dynamic Austro-Hungarian nothing shall be done which may prejudice
journalist. A milestone in modern Jewish and the civil and religious rights of existing
Middle-Eastern history, the congress defined non-Jewish communities in Palestine',
the aim of Zionism as 'the creation of a generated no immediate antagonism. It took
home for the Jewish people in Palestine to be one full year for the first manifestation of
secured by public law'. It also established local opposition to emerge in the form of a
institutions for the promotion of this goal. petition by a group of Palestinian dignitaries
By the outbreak of the First World War in and nationalists proclaiming their loyalty to
1914, the Jewish community in Palestine (or the Arab government established in
the Yishuv as it was commonly known) had Damascus in the wake of the First World
grown to some 85,000-100,000 people, War. But then, the head of the very
nearly 15 per cent of the total population. government to which they swore their
Palestine at the time did not exist as a allegiance, Emir Faisal Ibn Hussein, the
unified geopolitical entity; rather, it was celebrated hero of the 'Great Arab Revolt'
divided between the Ottoman province of against the Ottoman Empire and the
Beirut in the north and the district of effective leader of the nascent Arab national
Jerusalem in the south. Its local inhabitants, movement, evinced no hostility towards the
like the rest of the Arabic-speaking Balfour Declaration. On the contrary, in
communities throughout the region viewed January 1919 he signed an agreement with
themselves as subjects of the Ottoman Dr Chaim Weizmann, head of the Zionist
Empire rather than as members of a wider movement, expressing support for 'the
Arab Nation bound together by a shared fullest guarantees for carrying into effect the
language, religion, history or culture. They British Government's Declaration of the
were totally impervious to the nationalist 2nd November 1917' and for the adoption of
message of the handful of secret Arab 'all necessary measures ... to encourage and
societies operating throughout the empire stimulate immigration of Jews into Palestine
prior to the First World War. Their on a large scale'.
immediate loyalties were parochial - to one's This is not what happened. No sooner had
clan, tribe, village, town, or religious sect - the ink dried on the agreement than Faisal,
which co-existed alongside their overarching under the influence of his nationalist officers,
submission to the Ottoman sultan-caliph in reneged on this historic promise. Moreover,
his capacity as the religious and temporal on 8 March 1920 the emir was crowned by
head of the world Muslim community. his supporters as King Faisal I of Syria,
Consequently, the growing Jewish 'within its natural boundaries, including
presence in Palestine encountered no Palestine', and the newly installed monarch
widespread opposition beyond the odd local had no intention of allowing the Jewish
dispute. Even the Balfour Declaration of national movement to wrest away any part of
16. 16 Essential Histories • The Arab-Israeli Conflict - The Palestine War 1948
his kingdom. Indeed, the crowning ceremony Husseini, the Mufti of Jerusalem and his
was followed by violent demonstrations in half-brother, Hajj Amin, presented his
Palestine as rumours spread regarding the candidacy to the prestigious post. He failed
country's imminent annexation to Syria. owing to unsatisfactory religious credentials,
These culminated in early April 1920 in a but his family applied heavy pressure on the
pogrom in Jerusalem in which five Jews were High Commissioner, with one of the three
killed and 211 wounded. short-listed candidates stepping down in his
Though in July 1920 Faisal was favour. Having received Hajj Amin's pledge to
overthrown by the French, his brief reign in use his family's prestige to restore calm to the
Syria delineated the broad contours of the country, Samuel relented and in April 1921
nascent Arab-Israeli conflict for decades to appointed him to Palestine's highest Islamic
come. It did so by transforming the bilateral post. In January 1922 al-Husseini consolidated
dispute between Arabs and Jews in Palestine his power still further by establishing the
into a multilateral Arab-Jewish conflict, and, Supreme Muslim Council (SMC), which
no less importantly, by making physical oversaw all religious appointments in the
force the foremost instrument of political country's Islamic community. In subsequent
discourse. In May 1921 Arab riots were years, the Mufti quickly developed into the
renewed on a far wider scale than the foremost Palestinian Arab political figure,
previous year, leaving some 90 Jews dead cowering the feeble voices in favour of
and hundreds wounded. This paled in peaceful co-existence and putting his
comparison to the wave of violence that followers on a relentless collision course with
erupted in the summer of 1929. Originating the Zionist movement.
in religious incitement over Jewish prayers For quite some time this confrontational
at the Wailing Wall, a remnant of King approach seemed to be working. Though
Solomon's Temple and Judaism's holiest site, accepting the Mandate for Palestine by March
Arab violence quickly spread from Jerusalem 1920, with a view to 'putting into effect the
to engulf the entire country, resulting in the declaration originally made on November 2,
death of 133 Jews and the wounding of 1917, by the British Government, and
hundreds more. A particularly gruesome fate adopted by the other Allied Powers, in favour
befell the ancient Jewish community of of the establishment in Palestine of a
Hebron, dating back to biblical times, where national home for the Jewish people,' the
67 people were brutally slaughtered by their British quickly excluded the territory of
Arab neighbours, many dozens of others Transjordan from the prospective Jewish
were wounded, property ransacked, and national home (though not from the
synagogues desecrated. Palestine Mandate), making Emir Abdallah
The driving force behind the violence was Ibn Hussein, Faisal's elder brother, the
the young and militant religious leader Hajj effective ruler of this territory. In June 1922
Amin al-Husseini. Scion of a prominent the British went further in distancing
Jerusalem family, Husseini served in the themselves from the Balfour Declaration by
Ottoman army during the war, after which issuing a White Paper depreciating the
he became an ardent proponent of nature of the prospective national Jewish
Palestine's incorporation into Greater Syria. home and seeking to limit Jewish
Having played a major role in inciting the immigration in line with the 'economic
April 1920 riots, he was sentenced by a capacity of the country'. Eight years later, in
British military court to 15 years' response to the Arab riots of 1929, another
imprisonment, but managed to flee the White Paper advocated even harsher
country, and in September 1920 was restrictions on immigration and land sales to
pardoned by Sir Herbert Samuel, the first Jews, though these recommendations were
British High Commissioner for Palestine. A swiftly disowned by Prime Minister Ramsay
year later, following the death of Kamil al- MacDonald in response to Zionist pressure.
17. Background to war 17
The Arabs remained defiant. In October Mandatory zone. To reduce future friction
1933 a new cycle of violence erupted, between the two communities, the
followed three years later by a general commission proposed a land and population
uprising. By now the Mufti had consolidated exchange between the Jewish and the Arab
his grip over Palestinian Arab politics and states, similar to that effected between
marginalised the more moderate elements Turkey and Greece in the wake of the
within the leadership, headed by the First World War.
Nashashibi clan. Capitalising on mounting After a heated debate, the Zionist
Arab fears of Jewish immigration - which leadership gave the plan its qualified
intensified in the early 1930s following the support. The AHC and the Arab governments
Nazi rise to power in Germany and rampant dismissed it out of hand, insisting instead on
anti-Semitism in Poland - and on surging the creation of an Arab-dominated unitary
nationalist sentiments in the neighbouring state in which the Jews would remain a small
Arab states, Hajj Amin had little difficulty minority. The only Arab leader to have
in setting Palestine on fire. In April 1936 a welcomed the plan was Abdallah, who
10-member Arab Higher Committee (AHC) viewed the unification between the
was established as the effective national prospective Arab state and Transjordan as a
leadership, and an indefinite general strike first step towards the vast Arab empire that
was declared. This was accompanied by he had been striving to create throughout
attacks on Jewish neighbourhoods his career.
throughout the country, as well as on The uprising was thus renewed with
British forces, by local guerrilla bands and increased vehemence, only now it was also
Arab volunteers from the neighbouring directed against the Mufti's internal Arab
countries, headed by Fawzi al-Qawuqji, a opposition, especially the Nashashibis. For
former officer in the Ottoman army. their part, the British sought to calm the
In October 1936 the uprising was situation through the simultaneous use of the
suspended at the request of a number of stick and the carrot. On the one hand, they
Arab leaders, notably Emir Abdallah of suppressed the uprising with crude force -
Transjordan, King Ghazi of Iraq and Saudi imposing collective punishments,
Arabia's King Abd al-Aziz Ibn Saud. In return, bombarding villages and executing guerrillas.
the British Government approved only The AHC was outlawed, and the Mufti, who
1,800 Jewish entry permits for the next was sacked from the presidency of the
six-month period, of the 11,200 requested by Supreme Muslim Council, fled the country
the Zionist movement. Far more importantly, together with some of his leading chieftains.
a Royal Commission of Inquiry, headed by At the same time, the British moved closer
Lord Peel, was established to study the to the Arab position by backtracking on the
Palestine problem and to suggest possible idea of partition. Moreover, on 17 May 1939,
ways for its resolution. When its as the clouds of war gathered over Europe,
recommendations were published in July they issued yet another White Paper which
1937, they proved to be nothing short of restricted Jewish immigration to no more
revolutionary. Viewing Jewish and Arab than 15,000 per year during the next
national aspirations as irreconcilable under five-year period; after that it would occur
the terms of the Palestine Mandate, the only with Arab consent. Purchase of land by
commission suggested its abandonment Jews was prohibited in some areas, restricted
and the partition of Palestine into two states: in others. The White Paper also envisaged an
an Arab state, united with Transjordan, in independent state within a decade, in which
some 85 per cent of this territory, and a the Jews would comprise no more than
Jewish state in the rest. Jerusalem, Bethlehem one-third of the total population.
and a corridor leading them to the World Jewry responded with vehement
Mediterranean Sea were to remain a British indignation to what it saw as the subversion
18. 18 Essential Histories • The Arab-Israeli Conflict - The Palestine War 1948
of Jewish national revival in Palestine and of the Peel Commission and Winston
the abandonment of European Jewry to their Churchill, who viewed the White Paper as 'a
Nazi persecutor as did a number of British low-grade gasp of a defeatist hour'. Yet the
politicians, such as the surviving members Arabs were not satisfied with this major
achievement, demanding the immediate
creation of an Arab state in Palestine, the
In the spring of 1936 the Palestinian Arabs mounted a
complete cessation of Jewish immigration
general uprising, which was to continue intermittently for
the next three years before being suppressed by the
and a review of the status of every Jew who
British authorities. Here British troops impose a curfew in had entered the country after 1918.
the Old City of Jerusalem. (The State of IsraehThe The outbreak of the Second World War
National Photo Collection) temporarily shelved this issue, but the
19. Background to war 19
struggle over the White Paper was resumed
immediately after the war. Much to Jewish
The United Nations
disappointment, not only did the Labour Partition Plan
Government, which came to power in July
1945, fail to live up to its pre-election
pro-Zionist stance but it turned out to be a
bitter enemy of the Jewish national cause.
The White Paper restrictions were thus kept
in place and the Jews were advised by
Foreign Secretary Ernest Bevin not 'to get too
much at the head of the queue'. Dozens of
thousands of Holocaust survivors who chose
to ignore the warning and to brave the
British naval blockade were incarcerated in
Cyprus for years. When in August 1945 US
President Harry Truman endorsed the Zionist
demand for the immediate admission of
150,000 Jewish refugees into Palestine, Bevin
sought to nip the idea in the bud by
suggesting an Anglo-American Commission
of Inquiry to 'examine what could be done
immediately to ameliorate the position of
the Jews now in Europe'. Yet when the
following year the commission unanimously
recommended the issue of 100,000
immigration certificates and the abolition of
restrictions on Jewish purchase of land the
British Government refused to comply.
20. 20 Essential Histories • The Arab-Israeli Conflict - The Palestine War 1948
The alarmed Zionists were quick to al-Husseini, who returned to the Palestinian
respond. Already on 6 May 1942, as news of helm after having spent most of the war in
the real magnitude of the Nazi atrocities Nazi Germany collaborating with Hitler,
began to filter through to Britain and the vowed from his Cairo headquarters that 'we
United States, and as the British Government would rather die than accept minority rights'
was adamant that 'all practicable steps in a prospective Jewish state. In a message to
should be taken to discourage illegal President Truman, King Ibn Saud warned
immigration into Palestine', a Zionist that 'the Arabs are determined to wage war
conference at the Biltmore Hotel in New with the same determination and force as
York decided that Britain could no longer during the crusades', while the secretary-
be trusted to discharge its Mandatory general of the Arab League, Abd al-Rahman
obligations, and that 'Palestine be Azzam, promised to 'defend Palestine no
established as a Jewish Commonwealth matter how strong the opposition and no
integrated in the structure of the new matter what means are used by the partition
democratic world.' Now that the Labour supporters'. 'We will ultimately be
Government seemed to have vindicated this victorious,' he vowed confidently. 'You will
stark prognosis, the Zionist movement achieve nothing with talk of compromise
embarked on a combined military and or peace,' he told a secret delegation of
political struggle for Jewish statehood. The peace-seeking Zionists in September 1947:
foremost Jewish underground resistance
organisation, the Hagana (Defence), resorted For us there is only one test, the test of
to shows of force such as the destruction of strength ... We will try to rout you. I am not sure
roads and bridges and obstruction of British we will succeed, but we will try. We succeeded in
anti-immigration measures, while the two expelling the Crusaders, but lost Spain and
small dissident organisations - Irgun Zvai Persia, and may lose Palestine. But it is too late
Leumi (National Military Organisation) and for a peaceable solution.
Lehi (Fighters for Israel's Independence,
better known as the 'Stem gang' after its Azzam was completely wrong. The Zionist
commander, Avraham Stern) - waged an 'talk of compromise or peace' was making
all-out assault on Britain's military and real international headway. On 15 May 1947,
administrative institutions. At the political two months after the British Government
level the Zionists mounted an international had referred the Palestine problem to the
political and diplomatic campaign for the newly established United Nations, the
partition of Palestine into two states - one 11-member UN Special Committee on
Jewish, one Arab. Palestine (UNSCOP) was established to study
This was totally unacceptable to the the question and to suggest possible ways for
Arabs. In May 1946, a pan-Arab summit in its resolution. In its recommendations,
Cairo vowed to keep Palestine an integral published at the end of August, the
part of the Arab world and denounced committee advocated the earliest possible
Zionism as 'a danger not only to Palestine termination of the British Mandate. The
but to all Arab and Muslim peoples'. The majority report recommended the partition
following month yet another general Arab of Palestine into an Arab state, a Jewish state,
summit in the Syrian town of Bludan and an internationalised city of Jerusalem -
adopted a series of measures to prevent all linked in an economic union. The
the creation of a Jewish state, including minority report suggested an independent
anti-British and anti-American sanctions federal state, established after a transitional
if the two powers implemented the period of up to three years and comprising
recommendation of the Anglo-American an Arab state and a Jewish state with
commission and introduced 100,000 Jewish Jerusalem as the federal capital. The Jews
refugees into Palestine. Hajj Amin wholeheartedly endorsed the majority
21. Background to war 21
recommendations. The Arab states and the As Britain maintained a tight naval blockade around
AHC, re-established in 1946 under Hajj Palestine after the Second World War so as to prevent
Jewish immigration, the Hagana sought to covertly
Amin's headship as the effective government
smuggle many Holocaust survivors into the country.
of the Palestinian Arabs, rejected both (The State of Israel:The National Photo Collection)
proposals. Yet they were fighting a rearguard
action. On 29 November 1947, the UN
General Assembly endorsed UNSCOP's
majority recommendation on the partition
of Palestine by a two-thirds majority.
22. Warring sides
Strengths and weaknesses of
Arabs and Jews
The 1948 Palestine War was no 'ordinary' Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, and a Saudi contingent.
confrontation between two combatants. To complicate things still further, in its
Rather it was a complex multilateral conflict capacity as the governing power in Palestine
in which the Jewish community in until the termination of the Mandate in
Mandatory Palestine (or the Yishuv), then mid-May 1948, Britain kept substantial
the newly proclaimed State of Israel, fought military forces there and maintained official
against three distinct, if interconnected, responsibility for the country's internal and
enemy forces: the Palestinian Arabs, a pan- external security. And while these forces
Arab volunteer force and the regular armed neither played an active part in the
forces of six Arab states - Egypt, Transjordan, Arab-Jewish military confrontation nor
23. Warring sides 23
seriously attempted to enforce nationwide The Jewish position
law and order, their presence in the country
had a major impact on the general course of As it braced itself for the promised Arab
the conflict. For one thing, it deterred the backlash to the Partition Resolution, the
Arab states from sending their armies into Yishuv could hardly ignore its stark
Palestine prior to the termination of the inferiority to the Arab World on every
Mandate. For another, the pattern and pace quantitative index of power, from
of the British withdrawal influenced Jewish demography, to territory, to geostrategic
and Palestinian operational planning and location, to wealth. Its 650,000-strong
execution and at times even determined the population was about half the size of the
outcome of critical military encounters, Palestinian Arab community, and less than
notably the battle for the strategic port town three per cent of the population of those
of Haifa. Not least, the tight British naval Arab states that had vowed to abort Jewish
blockade around Palestine substantially statehood by force. Its tenuous geographical
weakened the Yishuv's war effort by disposition, with many villages dispersed in
preventing the influx of Jewish refugees and predominantly Arab areas, and the Arabs
newly acquired weapons into the country. controlling most of Palestine's hill region and
its major road arteries, made it vulnerable
both to attacks on isolated neighbourhoods
and to the disruption of communication
between entire parts of the country. Moreover,
Palestine's encirclement by four Arab states -
Lebanon and Syria in the north, Transjordan
in the east and Egypt in the south-west -
made its Jewish community virtually
landlocked and dependent for its very
existence on naval and aerial transportation.
But then, the port of Haifa, Palestine's
primary naval outlet, was controlled by the
British until their departure, while the
country's sole civilian airport was a short
distance from the Arab town of Lydda.
All this created a fundamental asymmetry
between the positions of the Yishuv and its
Arab adversaries. While the former could
not afford a single strategic defeat, as it
would inexorably lead to its destruction,
the Arabs world could absorb successive
setbacks and still remain, in Abd al-Rahman
Azzam's words, 'fully confident of ultimate
success though it might take some years. It
would be a war of attrition since manpower
reserves upon which the Arab side could
draw were inexhaustible.' This prognosis
In an attempt to incorporate its diverse underground
units into a unified force, on 28 May the Israeli
Government ordered the establishment of a national
army - the Israel Defence Forces (IDF). (Topham
picturepoint)
24. 24 Essential Histories • The Arab-Israeli Conflict - The Palestine War 1948
was shared by the US intelligence agencies. Jews will be able to hold out no longer
'The Jewish forces will initially have the than two years.'
advantage,' opined a report issued a day What these predictions failed to consider,
before the passing of the Partition however, was the extraordinary resilience of
Resolution. 'However, as the Arabs gradually
co-ordinate their war effort, the Jews will be
Established in the early 1920s as the underground
forced to withdraw from isolated positions,
military arm of the Palestine Jewish community, the
and having been drawn into a war of Hagana (Defence) developed in subsequent decades into
attrition, will gradually be defeated. Unless a well-organised and highly motivated movement. Here
they are able to obtain significant outside Hagana members training in Tel-Aviv. (The State of Israel:
aid in terms of manpower and materiel, the The National Photo Collection)
25. Warring sides 25
the Yishuv. A vibrant national community Mishmar, or guard force), consisting of men
with an unwavering sense of purpose, it and women of 25 and over who were unfit
could rely on an extensive network of for combat units and were assigned to static
indigenous social, economic, financial, defence missions, especially in villages
educational and military institutions that had throughout the country.
turned it into a state in waiting. Chief of In terms of weaponry, the Hagana held at
these were the Jewish Agency, created under its secret caches (under Mandatory laws
the terms of the League of Nations Mandate possession of arms was a crime punishable
for Palestine and led by an Executive which, by death) some 10,000 rifles and
over time, became the effective government 1,900 submachine guns: one weapon for
of the Yishuv and of the worldwide Zionist every three fighters (even the Palmach could
movement; the elected Va'ad Leumi (or only arm two out of every three of its active
Representative Council) of Palestine's Jewish members), as well as 186 medium machine
population; the Histadrut workers' guns, 444 light machine guns, and some
organisation, and the semi-clandestine 750 mortars. It had no heavy machine guns,
military arm of the Yishuv, the Hagana. artillery, armoured vehicles, or anti-tank and
Established in the early 1920s in response anti-aircraft weapons. Its nucleus air arm
to mounting Arab violence, the Hagana consisted of 11 single-engined light civilian
developed in subsequent decades into a aircraft, while its naval platoon included
well-organised and highly motivated some 350 sailors with a few motor boats.
underground movement. Subordinated to The other two underground Jewish
the Yishuv's civilian leadership, on the eve of organisations operating in Palestine at
the 1948 War its political control was in the the time were far smaller in size and
hands of David Ben-Gurion, Chairman of equipment. The Irgun numbered some
the Jewish Agency and soon to become the 2,000-4,000 members, armed with 200 rifles,
first prime minister of the new State of 500 submachine guns, and 160 machine
Israel. Professional military control was guns, while the far smaller Lehi (500-800
exercised by an underground general staff of members) had at its disposal some
some 400 full-time salaried activists who 130 submachine guns, 120 revolvers and
constantly evaded the watchful eyes of no rifles at all.
the British. Finally, there were a few thousand men
The Hagana's foremost unit was the and women who had served in the British
Palmach (Plugot Mahatz, or shock platoons), army during the Second World War. They
an elite force established in 1941 when the did not belong to any of the underground
spectre of a German invasion of Palestine organisations, but their military experience
loomed large. In late 1947, it included some would be of great help to the Yishuv during
2,100 men and women on active duty, plus the war.
1,000 trained reservists who had returned
to civilian life but could be recalled at a
moment's notice. It was supported by a The Palestinian Arabs
12,000-strong infantry force (2,000 on active
service and 10,000 reserves) called the Hish In terms of social cohesion and organisation,
(Heil Sadeh, or field force). Comprising men the Palestinian Arab community was
of 18-25 voluntarily devoting weekends and distinctly inferior to its smaller Jewish
vacations to military training, the Hish's counterpart. Unlike the Yishuv it had totally
largest tactical unit was the company, and failed to develop a corporate national
the normal unit of training or operation was identity, remaining instead an uncertain
the platoon. amalgam of internal schisms and
On top of its field units, the Hagana had a animosities: between town dwellers and
20,000-strong garrison force, the Him (Heil countrymen, Muslims and Christians, rival
26. 26 Essential Histories • The Arab-Israeli Conflict - The Palestine War 1948
families, clans, tribes and so on. Moreover, creation deprived the Palestinians of much
the suppression of the 1936-39 uprising left needed arms and funds that would have
Palestinian society economically weakened otherwise been transferred directly to them.
and politically leaderless with the collapse of All that the Mufti managed to achieve with
its foremost institutions and the flight of its great difficulty was the appointment of his
leadership to the neighbouring Arab two foremost proteges to key military
countries. And while the AHC was positions: his nephew, Abd al-Qader al-
reconstituted as the effective government of Husseini, was made commander of the
the Palestinian Arab community, Hajj Amur's Jerusalem front, while Hasan Salame, a
loyal service on behalf of the Nazis during veteran of the 1936-39 uprising who had
the war had largely discredited him in the spent much of the war years in the service
eyes of the great powers. of the Nazis, was given command over the
No less importantly, despite their fiery Lydda-Ramle area.
rhetoric, the Arab regimes were far less Nor did the Mufti manage to integrate
concerned with defending the Palestinian Palestinian society into a comprehensive war
Arabs than with promoting their own self- fighting machine. While national
serving interests. Transjordan's King committees were established in most towns
Abdallah was keen to incorporate the whole and rural areas to control the war operations
of Palestine into the Greater Syrian empire in their respective vicinities, the social and
that he had been toiling to establish political fragmentation of Palestinian society
throughout his political career, while Egypt turned the traditional local armed band into
was anxious to prevent this eventuality and the regular fighting formation. Yet this by no
to wrest whatever parts of southern Palestine means reduced to insignificance the
it could. Syria and Lebanon set their sights potential military capabilities of Palestinian
on certain areas in northern Palestine, while society. On the contrary, numerous Arab
Iraq harboured its own ambition for the villagers carried weapons and could be called
unification of the Fertile Crescent under to action by the local sheikh or strong man
its leadership. at a moment's notice, and many of them
Consequently, the Arab states were had gained valuable experience in guerrilla
unwilling to allow the Mufti to lead the warfare during the 1936-39 uprising. To this
struggle for Palestine. He was excluded from should be added the 7,500 Palestinians who
the Arab League's deliberations in the run-up had undergone combat training by the
to the UN vote on partition, and in its wake British during the Second World War, and
he was denied command over the Palestine the 10,500 Arabs serving in the British police
military campaign, which was entrusted to force on either a full-time or auxiliary basis.
the Iraqi General Ismail Safwat under the As the situation deteriorated, many of these
supervision of the Arab League's newly deserted their units with their weapons to
established military committee. Yet another join the numerous armed groups operating
Iraqi general, Taha al-Hashemi, former chief in the country.
of staff of the Iraqi army, was appointed On a more organised basis, the
commander of the Arab Liberation Army Palestinians had two paramilitary groups, the
(ALA), a pan-Arab volunteer force established Husseini-sponsored Futuwa, and the Najada,
by the League in early 1948. His deputy and which had been created by opponents of the
the person who would lead this force into Husseinis though eventually came under
battle was the Syrian Fawzi al-Qawuqji, their sway and merged with the Futuwa.
veteran of the 1936-39 uprising. This Both engaged in elementary training in
constituted a double blow to the Mufti. urban guerrilla warfare and on the eve of
Not only was this relatively efficient and their merger in July 1947 their joint strength
well-equipped force placed under one of his totalled some 11,000-12,000 members, about
erstwhile rivals (al-Qawuqji), but its very a tenth of whom were ex-servicemen.
27. Warring sides 27
As hostilities broke out in late 1947, new entities, could and did precisely this. As a
local militia groups, commonly known as result, at the time of the 1948 War they were
the National Guard, mushroomed in able to field well-organised and equipped
Palestinian towns and cities. Consisting of armies, armed with tanks, artillery and
war veterans and members of existing fighting aircraft.
organisations, they assumed responsibility As the largest and most populous Arab
for the defence of their specific country, Egypt had the most extensive
neighbourhoods, taxing the local military establishment. Supplied and
population for their upkeep and weaponry. trained by Britain, the Egyptian armed
Yet another militia, al-Jihad al-Muqadas forces trebled their order of battle in the
(The Holy War), expanded rapidly from a wake of the Second World War to
modest group of a few hundred Palestinian 35,000-45,000 troops. The ground forces
war veterans and Arab volunteers, created by consisted of three infantry brigades, one tank
Abd al-Qader al-Husseini in early 1948, to a brigade (with some 50 tanks) and three
force boasting several thousand young artillery battalions armed with 65 Howitzer
Palestinians. They were supported by Hasan guns, while the air force comprised five
Salame's 1,000-strong force operating on the squadrons of 18 fighting aircraft each and
central front. one transport squadron.
The lack of a centralised Palestinian Owing to the hegemonic aspirations of its
organisation makes it difficult to assess rulers, Iraq had made a comparatively greater
their level of armament. Like the Yishuv, effort than any other Arab state in the
they had no major weapons systems such as development of its military potential. By
fighting aircraft, tanks or artillery and were 1948 its armed forces had expanded to
in possession of substantial quantities of approximately the same size as those of
small arms. As early as 1942, the Hagana's larger Egypt, but were better equipped,
intelligence service assessed the number of organised and trained. The main bulk of its
firearms at the disposal of the Palestinians at ground forces was structured in three
50,000; and while this was probably an divisional formations - two infantry and one
overestimate, it nevertheless reflected the 'training' - supported by an armoured
prevalence of private weapons in Palestinian battalion of 15-20 tanks, some 200 armoured
society. In the wake of the Second World vehicles and 70-80 artillery pieces. The Iraqi
War, and especially as the spectre of partition air force consisted of 80 aircraft, about half
loomed larger, the Palestinians intensified of which were operational.
their arms procurement efforts. Most of their By far the most effective Arab force was
newly obtained weapons were smuggled Transjordan's Arab Legion. Armed, trained
from the neighbouring Arab states, while the and commanded by British officers, this
rest were stolen from British military and 10,000-strong force was organised in four
police bases. infantry/mechanised regiments supported by
some 40 artillery pieces and 75 armoured
cars. Until January 1948, it was reinforced by
The Arab states the 3,000-strong Transjordan Frontier Force,
at which time it was disbanded and its
The material and organisational Palestinian members joined the Arab Legion or other
weakness was more than compensated for by armed forces, many of them taking their
the combined strength of the Arab world. arms with them.
Unlike Palestine's Jewish and Arab The Syrian and Lebanese armies, both
communities which, by virtue of their established by the French during their rule of
imperial domination, could not develop the Levant, were apparently the weakest of
regular armies or obtain major weapons the Arab interventionary forces. Totalling a
systems, the Arab states, as independent mere 3,500 troops, the Lebanese army
28. 28 Essential Histories • The Arab-Israeli Conflict - The Palestine War 1948
consisted of four infantry brigades, a Armed, trained and commanded by British officers,
mechanised company, some cavalry units Transjordan's 10,000-strong Arab Legion was by far the
most effective Arab army to participate in the Palestine
and a number of artillery pieces. The
War. Here King Abdallah is inspecting a guard of Arab
Syrian armed forces, though three times as Legion soldiers. (The State of lsrael:The National
large, were in the spring of 1948 in the Photo Collection)
midst of transition from an old-fashioned
gendarmerie and cavalry force to a modern
infantry division. As a result, only two of The British forces
the division's three brigades were in a
position to take part in the war, together At the time of the UN vote on partition,
with a mechanised battalion of French-built there were some 100,000 British troops
tanks and a modest air force of some deployed in Palestine, organised in two
20 training aircraft converted into bombers ground forces divisions, two independent
and fighters. infantry brigades, two mechanised
Syria's contribution to the general war regiments, some artillery units and a number
effort, however, extended well beyond its of RAF squadrons. The elite 6th Airborne
direct involvement as it played the key role Division was deployed in northern Palestine,
in the creation of the ALA. Though the 1st Infantry Division was in charge of
hypothetically a pan-Arab force aimed at the central and southern areas, including
assisting the Palestinian struggle until the Tel-Aviv, Samaria, the coastal plain and the
Arab states were able to send their armies Negev (together with the 61st Infantry
into Palestine, it was Syria that provided the Brigade), while the Jerusalem area was the
ALA with most of its officers, recruits, responsibility of the 8th Infantry Brigade. In
weapons and training. Envisaged as a addition, the Palestine Command had at its
divisional force, the ALA comprised, at its disposal the Arab Legion, the Transjordan
peak, some 8,000 fighters organised in six Frontier Force, the naval units of the
battalions and armed with light weapons, Mediterranean Fleet, and over 4,000 British
mortars and guns. members of the Palestine Police Force.
29. Outbreak
The Arabs of Palestine willl
never submit to partition'
Violence came to Palestine within hours of attacked Jewish inmates, who barricaded
the UN vote on partition. In the early hours themselves in their cells until the British
of 30 November 1947 as Jewish revellers authorities managed to restore calm. In
were making their way home after the Haifa, shots were fired at Jews passing
previous night's celebrations, an ambulance through Arab neighbourhoods, while
en route to the Hadassah Hospital on Mount Jewish vehicles were stoned throughout
Scopus came under fire. A few hours later a the country.
group of Arabs ambushed a Jewish bus The next day saw no reduction in
bound from the coastal town of Netanya to violence. Shooting, stoning and rioting
Jerusalem, killing five of its passengers and continued apace. The consulates of Poland
wounding several others. They then attacked and Sweden, both of which had voted for
another bus travelling from Hadera to partition, were attacked. Bombs were
Jerusalem, killing two more passengers.
Meanwhile, in Tel-Aviv's Carmel Market,
Having spent most of the Second World War years in
on the fault line between the Jewish city and
the service of Nazi Germany, the former Jerusalem Mufti,
what was Arab Jaffa, a Jewish person was Hajj Amm al-Husseini (second from the left) arrived in
murdered. In the country's main gaol, in the Cairo in 1945 to lead the Palestinian Arab campaign
northern town of Acre, Arab prisoners against the partition of Palestine. (Topham Picturepoint)
30. 30 Essential Histories • The Arab-Israeli Conflict - The Palestine War 1948
thrown into cafes, killing and maiming, were running towards the neighbourhood.
molotov cocktails were hurled at shops, a Some of them carried torches while others
synagogue was set on fire. Scores of young fired on the fly. Behind them we saw flashes
Arabs flooded the offices of the local of fire from machine guns covering them as
national committees demanding weapons. they ran amok.' By the time the British
To inflame the situation further, the AHC troops arrived at the scene, the Arabs had
proclaimed a three-day nationwide strike to been forced into a hasty retreat, leaving
begin the following day. It enforced the behind some 70 dead.
closure of all Arab shops, schools and places This failure notwithstanding, the Hatikva
of business and organised and incited large attack constituted a watershed in the general
Arab crowds to take to the streets to attack deterioration to war. Planned and executed
Jewish targets. by Hasan Salame, the Mufti-appointed
The main such attack took place in commander of the Lydda front, and
Jerusalem on Tuesday 2 December, when a including an unspecified number of fighters
crowd of several hundred Arabs ransacked who had arrived from Nablus to this end,
the new Jewish commercial centre, lying the operation inaugurated a trend that was
opposite the Old City's walls, looting and to gain momentum in the coming weeks,
burning shops and stabbing and stoning transforming the conflict from mob rioting
whoever they happened upon. A Hagana and local clashes to a more orderly guerrilla
platoon that was rushed to the area to campaign aimed at achieving specific
protect civilians was peremptorily stopped objectives. Indeed, two days after the
and disarmed by the British police, with abortive Hatikva assault, yet another
16 of its members arrested for illegal concerted Arab attack was rebuffed - this
possession of weapons. Some of the time on the Jewish Quarter of Jerusalem's
confiscated weapons were later found on Old City.
killed and captured Arab rioters.
From the commercial centre, the mob
proceeded to the City Hall, where they The Arab states
attempted to lynch several Jewish
municipal workers and to plunder nearby Violence was by no means confined to
stores. 'For a long time the police did not Palestine. Throughout the Arab world, Jewish
interfere with this little mob,' recollected the communities were singled out for attack. In
city's British mayor, Richard Graves, 'and it British-ruled Aden, 82 Jews were slaughtered
was heartbreaking to see these young by rioting mobs, while another 130 Jews
hooligans being given a free hand to destroy were massacred in Tripolitania. In Beirut,
the products of man's labours ... I Cairo, Alexandria and Aleppo Jewish houses
remonstrated with the police [who] told me and businesses were ransacked and
that they had orders not to interfere till they synagogues desecrated.
were reinforced.' Between 8 and 17 December the heads of
On 4 December, some 120-150 armed the Arab states met in Cairo for a series of
Arabs attacked kibbutz Efal, on the outskirts meetings, under the auspices of the Arab
of Tel-Aviv, in the first large-scale attempt to League, to discuss the Palestine situation.
storm a Jewish settlement. Four days later a The gathering defined the overarching Arab
more audacious assault was launched when objective as 'obstructing the partition plan,
hundreds of armed Arabs attacked the preventing the creation of a Jewish state,
Hatikva quarter in south Tel-Aviv. They were and preserving Palestine as an independent
followed by scores of women, bags and sacks unified Arab state'. To this end, the Arab
in hand, eager to ferry off the anticipated states would contribute one million
spoils. 'The scene was appalling,' recalled Egyptian pounds to the Palestine war effort
one of the Jewish defenders. 'Masses of Arabs (on top of the same amount promised three
31. Outbreak 31
months earlier by another Arab League thrown into crowds leaving movie theatres on
summit in the Lebanese town of Sofar), Saturday nights. That will start the ball rolling.
would place some 10,000 rifles at the For no doubt the Jews will react, and as a
disposal of the League's military committee reaction to a reaction there will be outbreak
and would make the necessary arrangements in another place ... [until] the whole country
for the recruitment of 3,000 volunteers for will be stirred up, trouble will be incited, and
the ALA that was being established in Syria. the neighbouring Arab countries will be
They also reaffirmed the decision, taken at compelled to start a 'holy war' to assist the
the Alei summit of October 1947, to deploy Palestinian Arabs.
their forces along the Palestine border so
long as the British remained in the country, To prevent this scenario from becoming a
in order to extend active support for the self-fulfilling prophecy, the Hagana's initial
ALA's operations within Palestine. response to the outbreak of violence was
essentially defensive, trying to strike a
delicate balance between the need to create a
The Jewish response credible deterrence and the desire to prevent
the cycle of violence from spiralling to
The outbreak of Arab violence did not take uncontrollable peaks. It was only on
the Yishuv by surprise. Since assuming the 9 December, as Arab attacks on Jewish
defence portfolio in December 1946, in transportation across the country began to
addition to the chairmanship of the Jewish have a palpable effect, that the Hagana's
Agency, David Ben-Gurion had been head of operations, Yigael Yadin, ordered
labouring under the assumption that upon commanders to respond in kind so as to
the termination of the Mandate the Yishuv curtail the Arab campaign against Jewish
would have to confront the full military transportation.
might of the Arab world, rather than that of In addition, the Hagana began to carry
the Palestinian Arabs alone. Consequently, out retaliatory actions against specific
in late 1947 and early 1948 the Hagana targets, such as known perpetrators of
underwent a major structural change, aimed violence, bases of armed gangs, and villages
at transforming its semi-mobilised units into or localities serving as springboards for
a national army based on compulsory anti-Jewish attacks. One such action took
conscription that would be able to resist an place in Ramie on 11 December, when a
invasion by the regular Arab armed forces. Palmach squad managed to infiltrate the
Most notably, the Hish was restructured into '.own and to set fire to 15 Arab vehicles in a
five regional brigades: Levanoni in the parking lot. On another instance, an
northern part of the country (it later infantry platoon entered the southern
developed into two separate brigades - village of Karatiya, which had been used as
Carmeli and Golani); Alexandroni, with a base for attacks on Jewish traffic in the
responsibility for the central sector; Givati in area, and blew up a building after evacuating
southern Palestine; and the Etzioni brigade its residents. A similar operation, in the
in the Jerusalem area. Galilee village of Khasas went terribly
Nor did the actual pattern of the wrong, as sappers miscalculated the
Palestinian violence come as a surprise. A amount of explosives needed for
month before the passing of the UN demolishing a building, causing the
Resolution, Israel Galili, the Hagana's Chief collapse of a neighbouring house and
of staff estimated that: killing eight people.
While the Hagana did its utmost to avoid
As far as we know, it is the Mufti's belief attacks on innocent civilians, the smaller
that there is no better way to 'start things off Jewish underground organisations had no
than by means of tenor, isolated bombs such scruples: if Jews were to be
32. 32 Essential Histories • The Arab-Israeli Conflict - The Palestine War 1948
indiscriminately attacked throughout the 20 people and wounding another five. Lehi
country, so too would Arabs. Thus, hours used the same method to blow up the
after the Arab attack on the Jerusalem headquarters of the Jaffa national committee
commercial centre on 2 December, the Irgun on 5 January 1948.
set fire to a Jerusalem cinema house On 30 December, a group of Irgun
frequented by Arabs. Ten days later, on members threw a bomb at a group of Arab
12 December, it placed a car bomb opposite workers waiting outside the Haifa oil
the Damascus Gate of the Old City, killing refinery, killing six people and wounding
33. Outbreak 33
others. Within hours the Arab workers at in flames as Arabs and Jews were fighting
the plant turned on their Jewish colleagues, each other in its towns, villages and on its
slaughtering 39 of them and injuring many roads. From the passing of the Partition
more. In response, the Hagana raided the Resolution on 29 November 1947 to the
village of Balad al-Sheikh, from where many beginning of the new year, some 207 Jews
of the rioters came, killing and wounding and 220 Arabs were killed, according to
some 60 people. official British figures, while several
By the end of 1947, then, Palestine was hundred others were wounded.
Violence came to Palestine on 30 November 1947, a
day after the UN had passed the Partition Resolution.
Here Tel-Aviv residents, under fire from Arab snipers,
running for cover: (The State of lsrael:The National
Photo Collection)
34. The fighting
From inter-communal strife
to inter-state war
In mid-December 1947, a fortnight after the communication lines and protecting
outbreak of inter-communal violence, a outlying settlements left the initiative in the
British intelligence report estimated that 'the hands of the Arabs who could determine at
Arabs are beginning to succeed in making will where and when to launch their attacks.
the ordinary daily round of the Jews The decision to hang on to every single
extremely difficult. Since the beginning of settlement substantially extended the
the month there have been numerous Yishuv's lines of defence, necessitating the
attacks on communications, causing dispersal of forces throughout the country
considerable concern to the community and rather than their concentration into larger
in some cases seriously affecting their and more effective formations.
economy. This, it is thought, may possibly
be the plan of the Arab Higher Committee
and the Mufti - in other words, not to have Jewish vulnerabilities
a 'bloodbath', in which the Arabs would
suffer from their inferior armament, but to Three areas were particularly vulnerable to
break the economic life of the Jews and so Arab attacks. First there were the 33 Jewish
squeeze them out of business and Palestine.' settlements to be excluded from the
This assessment was shared by Jewish prospective Jewish state, which were located
military planners. As they saw it, the deep in Arab territory. Then there was the
Palestinian strategy was designed to break Negev, that vast and largely unpopulated
the physical unity of the Yishuv through desert south of the Gaza-Beersheba line,
disruption of its land communications, thus which occupied about 80 per cent of the
constraining it in a number of isolated territory assigned to the Jewish state by the
'pockets' and undermining its ability to Partition Resolution. The 27 isolated Jewish
resist the imminent pan-Arab invasion in the villages established in this area, with their
wake of the forthcoming British withdrawal tiny population of a few hundred farmers,
from Palestine. were widely seen as an operational liability
To forestall such an eventuality the Yishuv that had to be removed at the first available
had two possible courses of action: to occupy opportunity. Yet when some military advisers
Arab positions controlling key roads or to took up this matter with Ben-Gurion, they
vacate outlying Jewish settlements. But the were instructed to reinforce the settlements
former option was deemed impractical for with men and equipment. 'If we fail to
lack of sufficient weaponry and fear of defend the Negev, Tel-Aviv will not stand
British military intervention, while the latter either,' he argued. 'If we will not be in the
was precluded for political reasons, notably Negev, the [Arabs] will occupy it, and it is an
Ben-Gurion's conviction that any areas illusion to think that they will subsequently
surrendered to the Arabs would be excluded return it to us.'
from the territory of the nascent Jewish state Last but not least was the question of
in the post-war negotiations regardless of Jerusalem. By virtue of geography and
their assignment by the Partition Resolution. topography the city was the most isolated of
These constraints had far-reaching the Yishuv's urban centres. Lying at the heart
operational implications for the Yishuv. The of an Arab area with only a handful of
adoption of a defensive strategy of securing neighbouring Jewish settlements and with its
35. The fighting 35
lifeline passing through hostile Arab Jewish Jerusalem's precarious geopolitical location, at the
territory, Jerusalem's Jewish population could heart of an Arab area with only a handful of
neighbouring Jewish settlements, allowed the Arabs to
easily be held captive to Arab war plans. To subject it to a protracted siege, resulting in severe food
this must be added the extreme difficulty of and water shortages. (The State of Israeli The National
ensuring security along the 60-kilometre- Photo Collection)
36. 36 Essential Histories • The Arab-Israeli Conflict - The Palestine War 1948
long road between Tel-Aviv and Jerusalem, neighbourhoods in Jerusalem had been
nearly half of which wound through rough precarious even in the best of times and
and hilly country, rising up to a height of subject to regular disruptions by Arab mobs,
over 900 metres with frequent steep especially on Muslim religious festivals. Once
gradients and deep, narrow, tortuous defiles. hostilities broke out, the quarter came under
All the Arabs had to do was to block the immediate siege.
stretch of road running near their village, It will be recalled that according to the
then sit on the overlooking ridge and aim Partition Resolution, Jerusalem was to be
their shots at the trapped Jewish convoys as placed under an international regime, with
they were busy removing the roadblocks. its residents given the right to apply for
To make the problem of defence still citizenship in either the Arab or the Jewish
harder, the Jewish population of Jerusalem states. The Zionist leadership, though
was dispersed into non-contiguous suburbs, begrudgingly acquiescing in this decision,
many of them surrounded by Arab
neighbourhoods. The position of the Jewish
Car bombs constituted a popular weapon in the fighting
quarter of the Old City, where some between Palestine's Arab and Jewish communities. Here
2,500 Jews were living among 22,000 Arabs, Jerusalem's Ben-Yehuda Street after a bombing in
was particularly dire. Communication February 1948 in which 50 people were killed and
between this area and the rest of the Jewish hundreds wounded. (Topham Picturepoint)
37. The fighting 37
had little doubt that Jerusalem would were killed when a convoy to Gush Etzion, a
continue to play a pivotal role in the life and cluster of four settlements north of Hebron,
development of the nascent Jewish state was ambushed by a large Arab force. Three
despite its exclusion from its territory. Not days later yet another relief convoy on its
only was it the holiest of sites for Judaism way to the besieged settlement of
and Jews and the epitome of the Zionist Ben-Shemen, near Lydda, was attacked by
yearning for national rebirth, but its the Arab Legion. Thirteen fighters were
100,000-strong Jewish community killed, nine were seriously wounded. Another
constituted nearly one-sixth of the Yishuv's two Jewish drivers were killed when a
entire population. Hence, unlike the Negev convoy was trapped for hours in the Arab
and other outlying settlements, there was no village of Yazur, south of Jaffa.
doubting the need to prevent the fall of Alongside their attacks on Jewish
Jewish Jerusalem come what may. The cost transportation, the Arabs attempted to
of such an endeavour, however, was to be occupy a number of outlying settlements
exorbitant given that Jewish Jerusalem was throughout the country. On 10 January
heavily dependent on outside supplies for its 1948, some 900 fighters of the newly
very survival, having no real industrial established ALA crossed the Syrian border
infrastructure and producing only a fraction and attacked kibbutz Kfar-Szold. Despite
of its food and other requirements. Indeed, their overwhelming inferiority in numbers
more Jews would be killed in the fighting and equipment, the defenders managed to
over the road to Jerusalem than in any other hold their ground and were eventually saved
campaign of the 1948 War. by a British armoured unit sent to their aid.
An even more ferocious attack was
launched on 14 January on the Etzion Bloc. In
The Arabs on the offensive the largest offensive in the war until then the
Arabs put into battle some 1,000 men headed
The Arabs were quick to exploit their by Abd al-Qader al-Husseini himself. The main
operational advantage. Already on the first assault, involving a battalion of 400 trained
day of the fighting, on 30 November 1947, and armed fighters, was mounted against the
seven people were killed in two attacks on bloc's main settlement, Kfar-Etzion, while
Jewish buses to Jerusalem. On 7 December, diversionary attacks were launched against the
Ben-Gurion himself ran into an Arab neighbouring kibbutzim of Masuot-Yitzhak
obstruction as he was making his way to and Ein-Zurim. So confident were the Arabs of
Jerusalem for a meeting with the British High their success that they brought with them
Commissioner. 'Our radiators overheated hundreds of non-combatants, men, women
and a tire went flat,' recalled the head of and children, carrying empty bags for the loot.
Ben-Gurion's security team. T saw some They were to be bitterly disappointed.
movement on one of the hills and sent two Anticipating the thrust of the assault, the
fighters to check it out. Three men stayed defenders took up concealed positions along
with me to protect Ben-Gurion and [Moshe] the main route of advance, taking the
Sneh (a prominent Zionist leader). As we attackers completely by surprise. By dusk the
were changing the tire, Ben-Gurion asked to Arabs had retreated in disarray, leaving behind
get out. I told him: 'Excuse me, sir, but I am some 200 dead and a similar number of
responsible for your safety. You'll sit inside, wounded, inflicted by less than 30 defenders.
bent down'. The tire was changed. The boys The large British police and military forces
sent to the hills drove away the Arabs. stationed in the neighbourhood made no
attempt to stop the fighting.
Later that day, at approximately the same
place, a senior Hagana commander was Before long, however, the Arabs were to
killed as he made his way from Jerusalem to exact their revenge. With Kfar-Etzion's
Tel-Aviv. On 11 December, 10 Jewish fighters meagre reserves of arms and ammunition
