1948 War

Civil War in Mandatory Palestine began on November, 30, 1947. From January onwards, operations became increasingly militarized, with the intervention of a number of Arab Liberation Army regiments inside Palestine, each active in a variety of distinct sectors around the different coastal towns. They consolidated their presence in Galilee and Samaria. Abd al-Qadir al-Husayni came from Egypt with several hundred men of the Army of the Holy War.

While the Jewish population had received strict orders requiring them to hold their ground everywhere at all costs, the Arab population was more affected by the general conditions of insecurity to which the country was exposed. Up to 100,000 Palestinians, chiefly those from the upper classes, left the country to seek refuge abroad or to Arab centers eastwards.

In December 1947 the Arab League declared the partition of Palestine illegal and resolved to send to Palestine 10,000 rifles and 3,000 volunteers. Taha Al-Hashmi Pasha (right) was appointed General inspector of the Arab League organised army of volunteers, while Fawzi Al- Qawuqji (left) was to train the volunteers in a camp near Damascus.

Abd al-Qadir al-Husayni, prominent military leader during the Palestinian Civil War.

The 1948 Arab–Israeli War commenced upon the termination of the British Mandate of Palestine in mid-May 1948.

The Israeli Declaration of Independence was made on 14 May 1948 (5 Iyar, 5708), the day the British Mandate expired. It was the official announcement that the new Jewish state named the State of Israel had been formally established in parts of what was known as the British Mandate of Palestine and on land where, in antiquity, the Kingdoms of Israel and Judah had once been.

Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon and Syria attacked the state of Israel, leading to fighting mostly on the former territory of the British Mandate and for a short time also on the Sinai Peninsula and southern Lebanon.

The Arab Liberation Army (Jaysh al-Inqadh al-Arabi) was an army of volunteers from Arab countries led by Fawzi al-Qawuqji.

 

The first contingents of the Arab Liberation Army reached Palestine in January 1948. Between February and May, they suffered a string of defeats in northern Palestine. Between May and October, the Arab Liberation Army controlled parts of western Galilee but by October were completely defeated by Israel's forces.


The Arab Legion actively participated in the 1948 Arab-Israeli war. King Abdullah I of Jordan was the commander of the Arab Legion.

Arab Legion commander Abdullah el Tell (far right) with Captain Hikmat Mihyar (far left) pose with Jewish prisoners after the Fall of Gush Etzion

Jordanian (Arab Legion) artillery illuminate Jerusalem in 1948

King Abdullah outside the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, Jerusalem, 29 May 1948

 

 

 

 

 

The dramatically outnumbered Jews managed to defeat first the Arabs of Palestine, then the combined armies of Egypt, Jordan, Iraq and Syria, along with a smattering of Sudanese, Yemenites, Moroccans, Saudis, Lebanese and others.

 

An Israeli mortar team outside Safsaf in October 1948

 

Jewish soldiers at Katamon, Jerusalem.

The war concluded with the 1949 Armistice Agreements. The West Bank and the Gaza Strip became distinct geographical units as a result of the 1949 armistice.

Captain Avraham ("Bren") Adan raising the Ink Flag in Umm Rashrash (now Eilat) which marked the end of the war.

 The 1948 hostilities witnessed thousands of Palestinians fleeing their homes in Palestine to take refuge in the West Bank, Gaza Strip and neighboring Arab countries.

The hostilities that accompanied the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948 led to the flight of some 750,000 refugees from Palestine. Most of these refugees fled to the West Bank, then held by Jordan, to the Gaza Strip, held by Egypt, and to Lebanon, Syria, Jordan and even further afield.

Arab refugees in northern Israel on the road to Lebanon, November 1948.

1967 War

During the early months of 1966, there were escalating activities against Israel. More and more Israeli civilians were killed in attacks coming from the Syrian and Jordanian borders. The Syrians, from atop the Golan Heights, shelled Israeli towns indiscriminately.

On May 15, 1967, Egyptian forces moved into the Sinai. Ironically, Egypt's move was in reaction to false Soviet information passed to Syria according to which Israel had mobilized forces on her border with Syria in preparation for an invasion of Syria.

On May 18, Egypt expelled the U.N. Peacekeeping forces from Israel's borders. On the 22nd, the Egyptians closed the Straits of Tiran to Israeli shipping. On the 25th, encouraged by Egypt - Syria, Jordan, Iraq and Saudi Arabia moved their troops to Israel's borders. Two days later, on the 26th of May, President Nasser of Egypt declared, "Our basic goal is the destruction of Israel. The Arab people want to fight.... The mining of Sharm El Sheik is a confrontation with Israel".

Modeled after the November 1966 Egyptian-Syrian "defence" pact, other pacts were signed by Egypt with Jordan and Iraq on May 30th and June 4th, thereby completing the encirclement of Israel.

The buildup started because of false Soviet intelligence. But once the buildup started - Field Marshal Amer Abdel Hakim and his military advisers were pressuring Nasser, along with the entire Arab world which had become electrified. It snowballed into a "destroy Israel" campaign with the Arab states all joining together in the United Arab Command.

Caught up in Arab enthusiasm for military action and encouraged by the lack of response to the closure of the Straits, Egyptian Field Marshal Amer planned for initiating an attack on Israel in late May. He told one of his generals that "This time we will be the ones to start the war." This was counter to Nasser's strategy of pushing Israel to start the war.

6 Days War: Crucial quotes

On 25 May 1967, Israeli Foreign Minister Abba Eban landed in Washington to see if the U.S. would force the opening of the Straits of Tiran, and to request an official statement from the United States that an attack on Israel would be viewed as an attack on the United States. The U.S. would not.

 Eshkol was still looking for a way to avoid war - he sent Meir Amit of the Israeli Intelligence Agency to see the head of the CIA in Washington - to see once again if the U.S. Navy would force the opening of the Straits of Tiran - but the U.S. would not.

With diplomatic options exhausted, focus turned to the new Minister of Defense Moshe Dayan. On June 4, Eshkol convened a critical cabinet meeting, but Dayan took charge. The cabinet voted, 12 ministers were for a pre-emptive strike and only 2 were against. Dayan wrote the official text of the decision. It reads: "It is therefore decided to launch a military strike, aimed at liberating Israel from encirclement, and to prevent an impending assault by the United Arab Command."

Egypt, Syria, and Jordan were involved in the fighting. They were aided by Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Sudan and Algeria. Israel captured the Sinai peninsula from Egypt, the Golan Heights from Syria and the West Bank and East Jerusalem from Jordan.

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June, 1967 partial newsreel