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Event

1948 war

War that followed the partition vote and the end of the British Mandate. Israelis call it the War of Independence; Palestinians call the events of 1948 the Nakba.

24 links, 15 backed by primary records

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Dates
30 Nov 1947 – 20 Jul 1949
Also known as
War of Independence, First Arab-Israeli War, Arab-Israeli War of 1948
How each side tells it

According to Rashid Khalidi

According to Benny Morris

According to United States government

According to Avi Shlaim

Side by side, with proof ›

Connections 24

involved

  • Israel declared independence on 14 May 1948 Primary record 1
  • Palestine (region) the State Department's account of both sides' aims Primary record 1
  • Egypt invaded after 14 May 1948, with Lebanon, Syria and Iraq; Transjordan intervened Primary record 1
  • Israel attacked from the air on 13–14 May Primary record 1
  • Egypt Khalidi: the Egyptian army was the only serious incursion into the Jewish state's territory According to Rashid Khalidi Scholarship & press 2
  • Israel lost about 1 percent of its people According to Benny Morris Scholarship & press 3
  • Palestine (region) fighting began after the partition vote Primary record 1
  • Israel "War of Independence" is the Israeli name for the war Scholarship & press 4
  • West Bank held by Jordan until 1967 Primary record 1
  • Deir Yassin among the cases Morris lists According to Benny Morris Scholarship & press 3
  • Jordan its forces entered only areas designated for the Arab state and Jerusalem Primary record 1

includes

led to

followed from

influenced by

Timeline 1 date
  1. 30 Nov 1947 – 20 Jul 1949 1948 war
Proof 9 sources
  1. The Arab-Israeli War of 1948 (Milestones in the History of U.S. Foreign Relations), U.S. Department of State, Office of the Historian. Primary record
    After Israel declared its independence on May 14, 1948, the fighting intensified with other Arab forces joining the Palestinian Arabs in attacking territory in the former Palestinian mandate.
    The goal of the Arabs was initially to block the Partition Resolution and to prevent the establishment of the Jewish state.
    The Jews, on the other hand, hoped to gain control over the territory allotted to them under the Partition Plan.
    broke out when five Arab nations invaded territory in the former Palestinian mandate
    On the eve of May 14, the Arabs launched an air attack on Tel Aviv, which the Israelis resisted.
    Fighting began with attacks by irregular bands of Palestinian Arabs attached to local units of the Arab Liberation Army composed of volunteers from Palestine and neighboring Arab countries. These groups launched their attacks against Jewish cities, settlements, and armed forces.
    Egypt and Jordan retained control over the Gaza Strip and the West Bank respectively.
    British trained forces from Transjordan eventually intervened in the conflict, but only in areas that had been designated as part of the Arab state under the United Nations Partition Plan and the corpus separatum of Jerusalem.
    The Jewish forces were composed of the Haganah, the underground militia of the Jewish community in Palestine, and two small irregular groups, the Irgun, and LEHI.
    two small irregular groups, the Irgun, and LEHI
    The Palestinian Arabs refused to recognize this arrangement, which they regarded as favorable to the Jews and unfair to the Arab population that would remain in Jewish territory under the partition.
  2. The challenges of writing Palestinian history (adapted from The Iron Cage), History News Network, from the Boston Globe, 2006. Scholarship & press
    The only serious incursion into the territory of the Jewish state was that of the Egyptian army.
  3. Survival of the Fittest? An interview with Benny Morris, by Ari Shavit (Haaretz, 9 January 2004), Haaretz, reprinted by Logos Journal, 9 Jan 2004. Scholarship & press
    we lost an entire 1 percent of the population
    The worst cases were Saliha (70-80 killed), Deir Yassin (100-110), Lod (250), Dawayima (hundreds) and perhaps Abu Shusha (70).
  4. Review of Palestine Betrayed by Efraim Karsh (David Rodman), Middle East Quarterly. Scholarship & press
    leading events of the war of independence
  5. Progress Report of the United Nations Mediator on Palestine, 16 September 1948, The Avalon Project, Yale Law School, 16 Sep 1948. Primary record
    As a result of the conflict in Palestine there are approximately 360,000 Arab refugees and 7,000 Jewish refugees requiring aid
  6. The Palestinians and 1948: the underlying causes of failure (chapter in The War for Palestine), Cambridge University Press (Cambridge Core), 2007. Scholarship & press
    Over this turbulent period, more than half of the nearly 1.4 million Palestinian Arabs were driven from or fled their homes.
    Arabs owned nearly 90 percent of Palestine's privately owned land
    In the months that followed, they decisively defeated several Arab armies
  7. Egyptian-Israeli General Armistice Agreement, 24 February 1949, The Avalon Project, Yale Law School, 24 Feb 1949. Primary record
    delineated without prejudice to rights, claims and positions of either Party
  8. Jordanian-Israeli General Armistice Agreement, 3 April 1949, The Avalon Project, Yale Law School, 3 Apr 1949. Primary record
    the provisions of this Agreement being dictated exclusively by military considerations
  9. Israel's "new history" and the Palestinians (openDemocracy, via History News Network), History News Network. Scholarship & press
    In this war, as in most wars, the stronger side won.
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