Empires of the Sand: The Struggle for Mastery in the Middle East, 1789–1923.
Reshaping Palestine: From Muhammad Ali to the British Mandate, 1831–1922.
Righteous Victims: A History of the Zionist-Arab Conflict, 1881–2001.
Land and Power: Zionist Resort to Force, 1881–1948.
The Concept of 'Transfer' in Zionist Political Thought, 1882–1948, Institute for Palestine Studies, Pappe, Ilan (2006), The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine, Oneworld Publications, Oxford, England, Reiter, Yitzhak, "National Minority, Regional Majority: Palestinian Arabs Versus Jews in Israel" (Syracuse Studies on Peace and Conflict Resolution), (2009) Syracuse Univ Press (Sd).
Comrades and Enemies: Arab and Jewish Workers in Palestine, 1906–1948.
There had been tension and conflict between the Arabs and the Jews, and between each of them and the British forces since the 1917 Balfour Declaration and the 1920 creation of the British Mandate of Palestine.
There had been tension and conflict between the Arabs and the Jews, and between each of them and the British forces since the 1917 Balfour Declaration and the 1920 creation of the British Mandate of Palestine.
All of the Haganah's weapons-manufacturing was centralised and later became Israel Military Industries. ====Manpower==== In November 1947, the Haganah was an underground paramilitary force that had existed as a highly organised, national force, since the Arab riots of 1920–21, and throughout the riots of 1929, Great Uprising of 1936–39, and World War II.
Jewish-Transjordanian Relations 1921–48: Alliance of Bars Sinister.
All of the Haganah's weapons-manufacturing was centralised and later became Israel Military Industries. ====Manpower==== In November 1947, the Haganah was an underground paramilitary force that had existed as a highly organised, national force, since the Arab riots of 1920–21, and throughout the riots of 1929, Great Uprising of 1936–39, and World War II.
Arab opposition developed into the 1936–1939 Arab revolt in Palestine, while the Jewish resistance developed into the 1944–1947 Jewish insurgency in Palestine.
All of the Haganah's weapons-manufacturing was centralised and later became Israel Military Industries. ====Manpower==== In November 1947, the Haganah was an underground paramilitary force that had existed as a highly organised, national force, since the Arab riots of 1920–21, and throughout the riots of 1929, Great Uprising of 1936–39, and World War II.
Khalaf, Issa Politics in Palestine: Arab Factionalism and Social Disintegration, 1939–1948.
Decision on Palestine Deferred: America, Britain and Wartime Diplomacy, 1939–1945.
Documents on Israeli Soviet Relations, 1941–53.
Arab opposition developed into the 1936–1939 Arab revolt in Palestine, while the Jewish resistance developed into the 1944–1947 Jewish insurgency in Palestine.
The Jewish Brigade: An Army With Two Masters, 1944–45.
The Birth of Israel, 1945–1949: Ben-Gurion and His Critics, University Press of Florida, 2001 Karsh, Inari & Karsh, Efraim (1999).
Military Preparations of the Arab Community in Palestine: 1945–1948.
The Arab Legion had about 10,000 soldiers, trained and commanded by British officers. In 1946–47, Abdullah said that he had no intention to "resist or impede the partition of Palestine and creation of a Jewish state." Ideally, Abdullah would have liked to annexe all of Palestine, but he was prepared to compromise.
The Armistice Demarcation Lines, as set by the agreements, saw the territory under Israeli control encompassing approximately three-quarters of the prior British administered Mandate as it stood after Transjordan's independence in 1946.
The 1948 (or First) Arab–Israeli War was the second and final stage of the 1947–1949 Palestine war.
It formally began following the end of the British Mandate for Palestine at midnight on 14 May 1948; the Israeli Declaration of Independence had been issued earlier that day, and a military coalition of Arab states entered the territory of British Palestine in the morning of 15 May. The first deaths of the 1947–1949 Palestine war occurred on 30 November 1947 during an ambush of two buses carrying Jews.
In 1947, these ongoing tensions erupted into civil war following the 29 November 1947 adoption of the United Nations Partition Plan for Palestine, which planned to divide Palestine into an Arab state, a Jewish state, and the Special International Regime encompassing the cities of Jerusalem and Bethlehem. On 15 May 1948, the civil war transformed into a conflict between Israel and the Arab states following the Israeli Declaration of Independence the previous day.
All of the Haganah's weapons-manufacturing was centralised and later became Israel Military Industries. ====Manpower==== In November 1947, the Haganah was an underground paramilitary force that had existed as a highly organised, national force, since the Arab riots of 1920–21, and throughout the riots of 1929, Great Uprising of 1936–39, and World War II.
Few of the units had been trained by December 1947. On 5 December 1947, conscription was instituted for all men and women aged between 17 and 25 and by the end of March, 21,000 had been conscripted.
Towards the end of 1947, the League established a military committee commanded by the retired Iraqi general Isma'il Safwat whose mission was to analyse the chance of victory of the Palestinians against the Jews.
According to Gelber, in June 1947, Ben-Gurion "arrived at an agreement with the Maronite religious leadership in Lebanon that cost a few thousand pounds and kept Lebanon's army out of the War of Independence and the military Arab coalition." A token force of 436 soldiers crossed into northern Galilee, seized two villages after a small skirmish, and withdrew.
Subsequently, the Syrians reverted to a defensive posture, conducting only a few minor attacks on small, exposed Israeli settlements. ==== Palestinian forces ==== In the continuity of the civil war between Jewish and Arab forces that had begun in 1947, battles between Israeli forces and Palestinian Arab militias took place, particularly in the Lydda, al-Ramla, Jerusalem, and Haifa areas.
On 2 June, Holy War Army commander Hasan Salama was killed in a battle with Haganah at Ras al-Ein. ==== Air operations ==== All Jewish aviation assets were placed under the control of the Sherut Avir (Air Service, known as the SA) in November 1947 and flying operations began in the following month from a small civil airport on the outskirts of Tel Aviv called Sde Dov, with the first ground support operation (in an RWD-13) taking place on 17 December.
According to Laurens, the largest part of Palestinian casualties consisted of non-combatants and corresponds to the successful operations of the Israelis. ===Demographic outcome=== ====Palestinian Arabs==== During the 1947–1948 Civil War in Mandatory Palestine and the 1948 Arab–Israeli War that followed, around 750,000 Palestinian Arabs fled or were expelled from their homes, out of approximately 1,200,000 Arabs living in former British Mandate of Palestine.
According to estimate based on earlier census, the total Muslim population in Palestine was 1,143,336 in 1947.
Israel's Wars: A History Since 1947.
Norton & Company 2010 Morris, Benny (1988), The Birth of the Palestinian Refugee Problem, 1947–1949, Cambridge Middle East Library Morris, Benny (1994), 1948 and after; Israel and the Palestinians Morris, Benny (2001).
Arab-Israeli Air Wars 1947–82.
The 1948 (or First) Arab–Israeli War was the second and final stage of the 1947–1949 Palestine war.
It formally began following the end of the British Mandate for Palestine at midnight on 14 May 1948; the Israeli Declaration of Independence had been issued earlier that day, and a military coalition of Arab states entered the territory of British Palestine in the morning of 15 May. The first deaths of the 1947–1949 Palestine war occurred on 30 November 1947 during an ambush of two buses carrying Jews.
In 1947, these ongoing tensions erupted into civil war following the 29 November 1947 adoption of the United Nations Partition Plan for Palestine, which planned to divide Palestine into an Arab state, a Jewish state, and the Special International Regime encompassing the cities of Jerusalem and Bethlehem. On 15 May 1948, the civil war transformed into a conflict between Israel and the Arab states following the Israeli Declaration of Independence the previous day.
At the Jericho Conference on 1 December 1948, 2,000 Palestinian delegates called for unification of Palestine and Transjordan as a step toward full Arab unity.
The British, on the other hand, decided on 7 February 1948 to support the annexation of the Arab part of Palestine by Transjordan. Although a certain level of doubt took hold among Yishuv supporters, their apparent defeats were due more to their wait-and-see policy than to weakness.
In the United States, Yishuv agents purchased three Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress bombers, one of which bombed Cairo in July 1948, some Curtiss C-46 Commando transport planes, and dozens of half-tracks, which were repainted and defined as "agricultural equipment".
Through his leadership, the Arabs fought the 1948 war to meet Abdullah's political goals. ===Other Arab states=== King Farouk of Egypt was anxious to prevent Abdullah from being seen as the main champion of the Arab world in Palestine, which he feared might damage his own leadership aspirations of the Arab world.
According to Collins and LaPierre, by April 1948, the Haganah had managed to accumulate only about 20,000 rifles and Sten guns for the 35,000 soldiers who existed on paper.
Until January 1948, it was reinforced by the 3,000-strong Transjordan Frontier Force.
In the later stages of the war, Latrun proved to be of extreme importance, and a decisive factor in Jerusalem's fate. In 1948, Iraq's army had 21,000 men in 12 brigades and the Iraqi Air Force had 100 planes, mostly British.
These forces were to operate under Jordanian guidance The first Iraqi forces to be deployed reached Jordan in April 1948 under the command of Gen.
Nur ad-Din Mahmud. In 1948, Egypt's army was able to put a maximum of around 40,000 men into the field, 80% of its military-age male population being unfit for military service and its embryonic logistics system being limited in its ability to support ground forces deployed beyond its borders.
In February 1948, around 800 tribesmen had gathered near Aqaba so as to invade the Negev, but crossed to Egypt after Saudi rival King Abdallah officially denied them permission to pass through Jordanian territory.
By July 1948, the Saudis comprised three brigades within the Egyptian expeditionary force, and were stationed as guards between Gaza city and Rafah.
At midnight on 15 May 1948, the British Mandate was officially terminated, and the State of Israel came into being.
On 26 May 1948, Israel established the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), incorporating these forces into one military under a central command. ====Southern front – Negev==== The Egyptian force, the largest among the Arab armies, invaded from the south. On 15 May 1948, the Egyptians attacked two settlements: Nirim, using artillery, armoured cars carrying cannons, and Bren carriers; and Kfar Darom using artillery, tanks and aircraft.
It was disputed whether Wasson was killed by the Arabs or Israelis. In mid to late October 1948, the Harel Brigade began its offensive in what was known as Operation Ha-Har, to secure the Jerusalem Corridor. ====Northern Samaria==== An Iraqi force consisting of two infantry and one armoured brigade crossed the Jordan River from northern Jordan, attacking the Israeli settlement of Gesher with little success.
The Galilee Squadron was formed at Yavne'el in March 1948, and the Negev Squadron was formed at Nir-Am in April.
By the end of May 1948, almost the entire REAF Spitfire squadron based in El Arish had been lost, including many of its best pilots. Although lacking fighter or bomber aircraft, in the first few days of the war, Israel's embryonic air force still attacked Arab targets, with light aircraft being utilised as makeshift bombers, striking Arab encampments and columns.
On 28 May 1948, Sherut Avir became the Israeli Air Force. Many of the pilots who fought for the Israeli Air Force were foreign volunteers or mercenaries, including many World War II veterans. On 3 June, Israel scored its first victory in aerial combat when Israeli pilot Modi Alon shot down a pair of Egyptian DC-3s that had just bombed Tel Aviv.
By the fall of 1948, the IAF had achieved air superiority and had superior firepower and more knowledgeable personnel, many of whom had seen action in World War II.
On 21 May 1948, the three ships set sail for Tel Aviv, and were made to look like ships that had been purchased by foreign owners for commercial use.
In October 1948, a submarine chaser was purchased from the United States.
In July 1948, the IDF had 63,000 troops; by early spring 1949, they had 115,000.
The Arab armies had an estimated 40,000 troops in July 1948, rising to 55,000 in October 1948, and slightly more by the spring of 1949. Upon the implementation of the truce, the IDF had control over nine Arab cities and towns or mixed cities and towns: New Jerusalem, Jaffa, Haifa, Acre, Safed, Tiberias, Baysan (Beit She'an), Samakh and Yibna (Yavne).
800 Jews were taken hostage by the Arabs and 1,300 Arabs were taken hostage by the Jews, mostly Palestinians. ===First truce: 11 June – 8 July 1948=== The UN declared a truce on 29 May, which came into effect on 11 June and lasted 28 days. The truce was designed to last 28 days and an arms embargo was declared with the intention that neither side would make any gains from the truce.
The Arabs rejected both the extension of the truce and the proposal. ===Second phase: 8–18 July 1948 ("Ten Day Battles")=== On 8 July, the day before the expiration of the truce, Egyptian forces under General Muhammad Naguib renewed the war by attacking Negba.
At 05:45 on 17 July, Shaltiel ordered a retreat and to cease hostilities. On 14 July 1948, Irgun occupied the Arab village of Malha after a fierce battle.
The Israeli Air Force also bombed Damascus for the first time. ===Second truce: 18 July – 15 October 1948=== At 19:00 on 18 July, the second truce of the conflict went into effect after intense diplomatic efforts by the UN. On 16 September, Count Folke Bernadotte proposed a new partition for Palestine in which the Negev would be divided between Jordan and Egypt, and Jordan would annexe Lydda and Ramla.
Bernadotte's deputy, American Ralph Bunche, replaced him. On 22 September 1948, the Provisional State Council of Israel passed the Area of Jurisdiction and Powers Ordnance, 5708–1948.
Traffic along the Haifa-Hadera coastal railway was also restored. ===Third phase: 15 October 1948 – 10 March 1949=== Israel launched a series of military operations to drive out the Arab armies and secure the northern and southern borders of Israel. ====Northern front – Galilee==== On 22 October, the third truce went into effect.
On 22 October, Israeli naval commandos using explosive boats sank the Egyptian flagship Emir Farouk, and damaged an Egyptian minesweeper. On 9 November 1948, the IDF launched Operation Shmone to capture the Tegart fort in the village of Iraq Suwaydan.
High-flying British aircraft frequently flew over Haifa and Ramat David Airbase, and became known to the Israelis as the "shuftykeit." On 20 November 1948, an unarmed RAF photo-reconnaissance De Havilland Mosquito of No.
The British Foreign Office presented the Israeli government with a demand for compensation over the loss of personnel and equipment. ====UN Resolution 194==== In December 1948, the UN General Assembly passed Resolution 194.
However, many of the resolution's articles were not fulfilled, since these were opposed by Israel, rejected by the Arab states, or were overshadowed by war as the 1948 conflict continued. ==Weapons== Largely leftover World War II era weapons were used by both sides.
According to Laurens, the largest part of Palestinian casualties consisted of non-combatants and corresponds to the successful operations of the Israelis. ===Demographic outcome=== ====Palestinian Arabs==== During the 1947–1948 Civil War in Mandatory Palestine and the 1948 Arab–Israeli War that followed, around 750,000 Palestinian Arabs fled or were expelled from their homes, out of approximately 1,200,000 Arabs living in former British Mandate of Palestine.
More than 400 Arab villages, and about ten Jewish villages and neighbourhoods, were depopulated during the Arab–Israeli conflict, most of them during 1948.
The causes of the 1948 Palestinian exodus are a controversial topic among historians.
During the Second Intifada after the failure of the Camp David 2000 Summit, the attendance at the demonstrations against Israel increased. ====Jews==== During the 1948 War, around 10,000 Jews were forced to evacuate their homes from Arab dominated parts of former Mandatory Palestine.
But in the three years from May 1948 to the end of 1951, 700,000 Jews settled in Israel, mainly along the borders and in former Arab lands, doubling the Jewish population there.
Israeli-Jordanian Dialogue, 1948–1953: Cooperation, Conspiracy, or Collusion?.
Israeli Units Since 1948.
"The Palestinians and 1948: the underlying causes of failure." In Eugene Rogan and Avi Shlaim (eds.).
From Haven to Conquest: Readings in Zionism and the Palestine Problem Until 1948.
Norton & Company 2010 Morris, Benny (1988), The Birth of the Palestinian Refugee Problem, 1947–1949, Cambridge Middle East Library Morris, Benny (1994), 1948 and after; Israel and the Palestinians Morris, Benny (2001).
Morris, Benny (2004), The Birth of the Palestinian Refugee Problem Revisited, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge UK, Morris, Benny (2008), 1948: The First Arab-Israeli War, Yale University Press, New Haven, Oring, Elliott (1981).
The War for Palestine: Rewriting the History of 1948.
"Jordan and 1948: the persistence of an official history." Rogan and Shlaim.
Militarization and State Power in the Arab-Israeli Conflict: Case Study of Israel, 1948–1982.
"Iraq and the 1948 War: mirror of Iraq's disorder." in Rogan and Shlaim.
With the subsequent armistice of 24 February 1949 and evacuation of almost 4,000 Arab soldiers and civilians from Gaza, the Saudi contingent withdrew through Arish and returned to Saudi Arabia. During the first truce, Sudan sent six companies of regular troops to fight alongside the Egyptians.
In July 1948, the IDF had 63,000 troops; by early spring 1949, they had 115,000.
The Arab armies had an estimated 40,000 troops in July 1948, rising to 55,000 in October 1948, and slightly more by the spring of 1949. Upon the implementation of the truce, the IDF had control over nine Arab cities and towns or mixed cities and towns: New Jerusalem, Jaffa, Haifa, Acre, Safed, Tiberias, Baysan (Beit She'an), Samakh and Yibna (Yavne).
Traffic along the Haifa-Hadera coastal railway was also restored. ===Third phase: 15 October 1948 – 10 March 1949=== Israel launched a series of military operations to drive out the Arab armies and secure the northern and southern borders of Israel. ====Northern front – Galilee==== On 22 October, the third truce went into effect.
The operation was a huge success, shattering the Egyptian ranks and forcing the Egyptian Army from the northern Negev, Beersheba and Ashdod. In the so-called "Faluja Pocket", an encircled Egyptian force was able to hold out for four months until the 1949 Armistice Agreements, when the village was peacefully transferred to Israel and the Egyptian troops left.
Israeli forces pulled out of the Sinai on 2 January 1949 following joint British-American pressure and a British threat of military action.
The pilot and navigator were both killed. Just before noon on 7 January 1949, four Spitfire FR18s from No.
Later in January 1949, the British managed to prevent the delivery of aviation spirit and other essential fuels to Israel in retaliation for the incident.
Britain, Israel and Anglo-Jewry 1949–57.
Armed Struggle and the Search for State: The Palestinian National Movement, 1949–1993.
In the 1950s, these were transformed into transition camps ("Ma'abarot"), where living conditions were improved and tents were replaced with tin dwellings.
In 1951, the UN Conciliation Commission for Palestine estimated that the number of Palestinian refugees displaced from Israel was 711,000. This number did not include displaced Palestinians inside Israeli-held territory.
But in the three years from May 1948 to the end of 1951, 700,000 Jews settled in Israel, mainly along the borders and in former Arab lands, doubling the Jewish population there.
These camps began to decline in 1952, with the last one closing in 1963.
In 1958, Palestinian historian Aref al-Aref calculated that the Arab armies' combined losses amounted to 3,700, with Egypt losing 961 regular and 200 irregular soldiers and Transjordan losing 362 regulars and 200 irregulars.
These camps began to decline in 1952, with the last one closing in 1963.
SUNY Press, 1991 Khalidi, Rashid (2001).
University of California Press, 1996 Makdisi Saree, Palestine Inside Out: An Everyday Occupation, W.W.
During the Second Intifada after the failure of the Camp David 2000 Summit, the attendance at the demonstrations against Israel increased. ====Jews==== During the 1948 War, around 10,000 Jews were forced to evacuate their homes from Arab dominated parts of former Mandatory Palestine.
The Birth of Israel, 1945–1949: Ben-Gurion and His Critics, University Press of Florida, 2001 Karsh, Inari & Karsh, Efraim (1999).
Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 2001 Rogan, Eugene L.
Stearns (general editor), 2001 Houghton Mifflin Company, at Bartleby.com. Tripp, Charles.
New York: Continuum, 2002.
Oren, Michael, Six Days of War, Random House Ballantine Publishing Group, (New York 2003, Pappe, Ilan (2006), The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine, Oneworld Publications, Oxford, England, Penkower, Monty Noam (2002).
According to their own perception, had the invasion not taken place, there was no Arab force in Palestine capable of checking the Haganah's offensive". ===King Abdullah I of Transjordan=== King Abdullah was the commander of the Arab Legion, the strongest Arab army involved in the war according to Rogan and Shlaim in 2007.
Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 2007 Rogan, Eugene L.
However, Morris wrote in 2008 that the Egyptian army was the most powerful and threatening army.
Norton & Company 2010 Morris, Benny (1988), The Birth of the Palestinian Refugee Problem, 1947–1949, Cambridge Middle East Library Morris, Benny (1994), 1948 and after; Israel and the Palestinians Morris, Benny (2001).
Krämer, Gudrun, A History of Palestine: From the Ottoman Conquest to the Founding of the State of Israel, Princeton UP 2011. Levenberg, Haim (1993).
Introduction to Geopolitics, Routledge 2012 Heller, Joseph.
According to a 2019 study, "senior British intelligence, military officers and diplomats in Cairo were deeply involved in a covert scheme to drive the King to participate in the Arab states' war coalition against Israel." These intelligence officers acted without the approval or knowledge of the British government. Nuri as-Said, the strongman of Iraq, had ambitions for bringing the entire Fertile Crescent under Iraqi leadership.
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