1948 Arab–Israeli War

1948 Arab–Israeli War
Part of the 1947–1949 Palestine war and the Arab–Israeli conflict
Captain Avraham Adan raising the Israeli flag in Umm Rashrash (now Eilat), marking the war's end.
Date May 1948 – March 1949 Location Middle East Result Israeli victory, the Arab nations lost, signing the 1949 armistice agreements Territorial changes Israel established, Jordan took the West Bank, Egypt took the Gaza Strip
Belligerents
Israel Before 26 May 1948: Paramilitary groups: Haganah Palmach Hish Him Irgun Lehi After 26 May 1948: Israeli Defense Force Minorities Unit Foreign volunteers: Mahal	Pan-Arab States  Egypt[1]  Jordan[1]  Iraq[1]  Syria[1]  Lebanon (Lebanon decided not to join the war and only joined the Battle of Al-Malikiya on 5–6 June 1948.[2])  Saudi Arabia[3] Yemen[4] Irregulars: Holy War Army Arab Liberation Army Foreign volunteers: Muslim Brotherhood  Pakistan Sudan[5]
Commanders and leaders
David Ben-Gurion Yisrael Galili Yaakov Dori Yigael Yadin Mickey Marcus † Yigal Allon Yitzhak Rabin David Shaltiel Moshe Dayan Shimon Avidan Moshe Carmel Yitzhak Sadeh	Azzam Pasha King Farouk I King Abdallah I Muzahim al-Pachachi Husni al-Za'im Haj Amin al-Husseini Ahmed Ali al-Mwawi Muhammad Naguib John Bagot Glubb Habis al-Majali Hasan Salama † Fawzi al-Qawuqji
Strength
Israel: Initially 29,677 people, in March 1949 increased to 115,000 people	Egypt: Initially 10,000, then increased to 20,000 Iraq: Initially 5,000, then increased to 15–18,000 Syria: 2,500–5,000 Jordan: 6,000–12,000  Lebanon: Initially 1,000, then increased to 2,000[6]  Saudi Arabia: 800–1,200 Yemen: Unknown Arab Liberation Army: 3,500-6,000
Casualties and losses
6,373 deaths (4,000 soldiers and around 2,400 civilians)	Around 10,000 to 15,000 people

The Arab–Israeli War of 1948, also known as the War of Independence by the Jewish people and the Liberation War/War of Liberation and al Nakba (Arabic: النكبة, "the Castatrophe") by the Palestinian people, was the first war of various conflicts between Israel and the Arab nations. It was also the second and last phrase of the 1947–49 Palestine war.

The war broke out immediately after British-rule Mandatory Palestine ended on 15 May 1948 and the declaration of Israel's independence on 14 May 1948 due to the Arab nations' opposition and continued through the 1947–1948 civil war period, when the Arabs rejected the United Nations' Resolution 181 which established an Arab and a Jewish nation in this territory. A coalition consisted of Egypt, Jordan and Syria with paramilitary troops from Iraq entered Palestine.^[7] The invasion forces immediately gained many Arab territories and began attacking Jewish settlements and Israeli forces.^[8][9][10] The conflict mainly fought in Mandatory Palestine ruled by Britain and a short time in the Sinai Peninsula. Lebanon, Anglo–Egyptian Sudan, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Yemen and Morocco also intervened. The war lasted 10 months and was officially over in Palestine, the Sinai Peninsula and southern Lebanon with the armistice agreements in 1949; however, the Arab–Israeli conflict remains to be continued to this day.^[11]

Due to the war's aftermath, Israel fully took the Jewish Quarter and 60% of the Arab Quarter.^[12] The remaining territories were annexed by Jordan in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip was conquered by Egypt. At the Jericho Conference on 1 December 1948, 2,000 Palestinians had required Palestine and Jordan to be unified.^[13] Palestinian Arabs were not able to create a state.

After the Ottoman Empire lost World War I, the Allies met in San Remo, Italy from 18 to 26 April to discuss treaty terms with Turkey.^[14] The discussion's conclusion mainly confirmed the first London talks and the Sykes–Picot Agreement on 16 May 1916 and the Balfour Declaration on 12 November 1917.^[15][16] According to the agreement, France will control Syria and Britain will control Mesopotamia and Palestine, the borders will be confirmed by the great powers in the talks.^[14]

In a meeting in Cairo and Jerusalem between Winston Churchill and Prince Abdullah (later the King Abdullah I of Jordan) in March 1921, they agreed that Abdullah will control Transjordan (in around 6 months) to represent the Palestinian side. Until the summer of 1921, Transjordan was still under the Mandate Territory, but was not in one of the terms about the Homeland of the Jewish people.^[17] On 24 July 1922, the League of Nations accepted the terms regarding the British control over Palestine and Transjordan. On 16 September, the League of Nations officially ratified the memorandum of Arthur Balfour, confirming the terms about the establishment of the Jewish state except Transjordan.^[18]

Until 1920, the Palestinian citizens consisted of around 589,200 Muslims, 83,800 Jews, 71,500 Christians and 7,600 other more (1922 estimates^[19]). However, this region had a mass Jewish exodus event (mostly fleeing from persecutions in Europe). The exodus and the call for a Jewish nation faced massive backlashes from native Arabs due to the Arabs rumoured that the Jews would enslave the Arabs and deport natives that were not Jewish.

Under Amin al-Husayni's leadership, the Grand Ayatollah in Jerusalem, the Arabs rose against the British and constantly attacking the Jewish communities. Those sporadic attacks began from the Arabs' 1920 revolt and the 1921 revolt in Jaffa. In the uprising of 1929, 67 Jews were killed in Hebron, the remaining survivors were evacuated by British authorities.