Israel at War: 1948 | 5 Minute Videos

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On November 29, 1947, after a hotly contested debate, the United Nations decided to partition British-ruled Palestine into two separate states, one for the Jews and one for the Arabs.

After 2,000 years of exile, and a mere three years after the Holocaust, the Jews would once again be a free nation in their ancient homeland. But having a claim to land was one thing – being able to keep it was another. The Jews were euphoric, but the Arabs were enraged. They swore to destroy the Jewish state before it could even be born.

Arab armies, supplied with tanks, guns, and planes by Britain and France, were poised to attack the Jewish forces, who were only lightly armed.

“It will be a war of annihilation,” declared Azzam Pasha, Secretary-General of the Arab League.

And the threat was not idle.

The war can be broken down into four phases.

The first phase began immediately after the UN partition resolution in November 1947.

Palestinian Arabs and irregulars from Syria, Lebanon, and Gaza attacked Jewish settlements.

Arab forces also laid siege to Jerusalem, depriving 100,000 Jews of food and water. Repeated Jewish attempts to break the siege were repulsed.

The situation was desperate. While frantically trying to procure weapons from abroad, Zionist leader David Ben-Gurion, fearful that the world would retreat from the partition resolution, refrained from ordering a counter-offensive. But the Arab attacks proved too devastating, forcing the Jews to strike back.

In brutal battles, the Jews scored victories in Haifa, Safed, Jaffa, and Tiberias. Assuming these defeats