1948 Palestine war

  • UN Partition Plan

    -Jewish leadership accepted the partition plan
    -The Arab League firmly opposed the UN action
  • Period: to

    Jewish and Arabs clash in mandatory Palestine

    -Britain organised their withdrawal and intervened occasionally
    -An average of more than 100 deaths and 200 casualties per week
  • Egypt, Iraq, Transjordan, and Syria, invaded the former British Mandate of Palestine and fought the Israelis

    -They were supported by the Arab Liberation Army and corps of volunteers from Saudi Arabia, Lebanon and Yemen
    -Egyptian forces invaded from the south
    -Jordanian and Iraqi forces from the east
    -Syrian forces invaded from the north
    -Cooperation among the various Arab armies was poor
  • Operations became increasingly militarised

    • Arab Liberation Army infiltrated Palestine -The Army of the Holy War came from Egypt with several hundred men -Al-Husayni organised the blockade of 100,000 Jewish residents in Jerusalem -Almost all of Haganah's armoured vehicles had been destroyed, the blockade was in full operation, and hundreds of members were killed -This caused the US to withdraw support for the Partition Plan, and the Arab League believed that the Arabs, reinforced by the Arab Liberation Army, could end the partition.
  • British decided on to support Transjordan's annexation of the Arab part of Palestine

  • Battle of Mishmar HaEmek

    -battle fought between the Arab Liberation Army and the Haganah
    -began when ALA launched an attack against Mishmar HaEmek with the intent of taking the town, (strategically placed between Jenin and Haifa)
    -Ceasefire was rejected by Ben-Gurion; instead to launch a counter-attack to clear the ALA and the local Arab inhabitants out of the area
    -All of the Palestinian villages captured were destroyed shortly thereafter
  • Operation Nachshon

    -directed at lifting the blockade on Jerusalem
    -it lasted until 20 April
    -the operation was a military success
    -exposed the poor military organisation of the Palestinian paramilitary groups
    -over 700 lorries were able to reach Jerusalem
    -the Arabs, however, managed to block the road immediately thereafter
  • Deir Yassin massacre

    -Zionist paramilitaries attacked Deir Yassin near Jerusalem killing 107 Palestinian villagers, including women and children
    -The attack was conducted by the Irgun and Lehi, and supported by the Haganah and Palmach
    -The massacre was carried out despite the village having agreed to a non-aggression pact
    -Spread fear throughout the Arab population, causing thousands to flee from elsewhere
  • Israeli proclamation of statehood

    This consisted of the termination of British mandate and the removal of British troops and arms.
  • Period: to

    First Phase

    -South: Egyptians invade and attack Jewish settlements
    -North: Syrian, Iraqi and Lebanese troops cross the border- face heavy Jewish resistance- forced to withdraw
    -Jerusalem: Abdullah moved the Arab Legion in to defend- most well trained and efficient of the Arab armies and so the Israelis focused on defeating them first.
    -Israel gained control of West Jerusalem, but not the entire city- any Arabs living in this part of Jerusalem fled or were forced out
  • UN declared a ceasefire

    -overseen by UN mediator Folke Bernadotte
    -An arms embargo was declared with the intention that neither side would make gains from the truce
    -Neither side respected the truce; both found ways around the restrictions and used the time to improve their provisions
  • Both Israel and the Arabs used the ceasefire to improve their own provisions

    -Arabs: fresh units and prevented supplies from reaching isolated Israeli settlements
    -Israelis: acquiring weapons from Czechoslovakia, improving the training of its forces, and reorganising the army
  • Egyptian forces under General Muhammad Naguib renewed the war by attacking Negba

  • Period: to

    Israeli forces launched a simultaneous offensive on three fronts: Dani, Dekel, and Kedem

    -large-scale Israeli offensives and a defensive Arab posture
    -Operation Dani resulted in the expulsion from Lydda and Ramle of 60,000 Palestinians
    -Operation Dekel, Nazareth was captured on 16 July
    -Operation Brosh, Israel tried and failed to drive the Syrian army out of northeastern Galilee
    -Israel had taken the lower Galilee from Haifa Bay to the Sea of Galilee
  • Period: to

    Second Phase

    -Israel was able to use their new troop numbers and arms to turn the tide against the Arabs on every front
    -Syrian forces were mauled in Galilee and Lebanese were driven back across the border
    -Towns were seized back from the Arabs and Israeli focus turned to Egypt
    -Palestinian Arab refugees numbered tens of thousands
  • Israel bombed a residential neighbourhood in Cairo

    -With smuggled Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress planes acquired in violation of the international arms embargo
  • The second truce of the conflict went into effect after intense diplomatic efforts by the UN

  • Folke Bernadotte killed by the Stern Gang

    -Count Bernadotte arranged the first ceasefire and drafted the new one
    -The ceasefire gave more land to the Israelis in the north and more to the Arabs in the south
    -He was killed by the Stern Gang- leading to their dissolution as well as the Irgun- most members were incorporated into the IDF
  • new partition plan for Palestine was proposed but it was rejected by both sides

  • Plan Dalet

    -Conquest of territory in Palestine in preparation for the establishment of a Jewish state
    -Zionist forces shifted to an offensive strategy
    -Laying siege to Arab villages, bombing neighbourhoods, expulsion of their inhabitants, and setting fields and houses on fire and detonating TNT in rubble to prevent return
    -Some historians characterise it as defensive, while others assert that it was part of a planned strategy for the expulsion of the area's native inhabitants
  • Operation Yoav (Israel to Egypt)

    -Egyptians regularly blocked the passage of supply convoys
    -Yoav goal was to drive a wedge between the Egyptian forces along the coast and Jerusalem
    -The operation was a success, shattering the Egyptian army ranks and forcing Egyptian forces to retreat
  • Period: to

    Third Phase

    -Israel completed the conquest of the Galilee region by forcing all Syrian, Lebanese and Arab forces back into their territories
    -Israel could concentrate their efforts on defeating the Egypt
    -Egypt was surrounded and they were pummelled for weeks by Israel
    -Israel were successful in driving all Arab forces from Palestine and invading Egypt- Sinai desert- forcing Egypt to call on Britain
    -a truce was struck between Egypt and Israel
  • A third truce went into effect

    -in defiance of the UN ceasefire order, ALA units stormed the IDF hilltop position of Sheikh Abd
    -Ben-Gurion initially rejected demands to launch a counteroffensive, he was wary of antagonising the UN
    -the IDF launched Operation Hiram and captured the entire upper Galilee
    -It drove the ALA back to Lebanon
  • Operation Horev

    -to encircle the Egyptian Army in the Gaza Strip and force the Egyptians to end the war
    -decisive Israeli victory, and Israeli raids forced the Egyptian army into the Gaza Strip, where it was surrounded
    -Israeli forces withdrew from Gaza under international pressure and after the British threatened to intervene
    -The Egyptian government announced that it was willing to enter armistice negotiations
  • A truce was achieved

  • Israel signed an armistice with Egypt

  • Operation Uvda

    -the Israelis reached Umm Rashrash and took it without a battle
    -They raised a hand-made flag ("The Ink Flag") and claimed Umm Rashrash for Israel
  • Israel signed an armistice with Lebanon

  • Israel signed an armistice with Transjordan

  • Israel signed an armistice with Syria