WAR AND INDEPENDENCE

INDEPENDENCE

• MAY 14, 1948 THE YISHUV DECLARES INDEPENDENCE

• UNILATERAL DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE

• REMOVED THE BIRTH OF THE STATE FROM THE UNITED NATIONS

ARAB ARMIES ENTER PALESTINE

• EGYPT: 10,000

• JORDAN: 4,500

• SYRIA: 7,000 (= ONE BRIGADE)

• IRAQ: 8,000

• LEBANON: 3,000

• TOTAL: 32,500

ISRAELI MILITARY SITUATION

• ABOUT 30,000

• MORE EXPERIENCED IN COMBAT

• MORE HIGHLY MOTIVATED

• A UNIFIED COMMAND STRUCTURE

• INTERIOR LINES

THE ARAB MILITARY SITUATION

• NOMINALLY UNDER A SINGLE COMMAND BUT REALLY NOT

• ON THREE WIDELY SEPARATED FRONTS

• LITTLE COMMUNICATION

• GOVERNMENTS WITH DIFFERENT AIMS; ESPECIALLY JORDAN AND EGYPT

JORDAN

• LONG-STANDING RELATIONSHIP WITH THE YISHUV

• OCCUPATION OF CENTRAL PALESTINE WAS A LONG-STANDING GOAL

• DESPITE FIERCE BATTLES THE TWO SIDES WILLING TO DIVIDE ON POPULATION LINES

EGYPT

• FEARED THE EMERGENCE OF A POWERFUL JORDAN

• A POORLY PLANNED INVASION

• POORLY TRAINED TROOPS

• DIFFICULTY DEFEATING WELL-ENTRENCHED ENEMIES

INTERIOR LINES

• THE ISRAELIS LOST INDIVIDUAL BATTLES

• BUT HAD A SUPERIOR ABILITY TO RE-DEPLOY FORCES

• BOTH SIDES PREFERRED TO OPERATE IN AREAS OF POPULATION ADVANTAGE

PHASE ONE OF THE WAR

MAY 15-JUNE 11

• EGYPTIANS HALTED IN SOUTH BEFORE THEY COULD REACH TEL AVIV

• IRAQIS MAINTAINED W/IN “ARAB” PALESTINE

• SYRIANS REPULSED

TRUCE

• JUNE 11-JULY 8

• BOTH SIDES REINFORCED AND RE-SUPPLIED

• THE ISRAELI FORCES INCREASED TO ABOUT 65,000

THE ALTALENA AFFAIR

• THE IZL SHIP ALTALENA ANCHORED AND IZL CLAIMED THE ARMS FOR ITSELF

• BEN GURION CALLED THIS A REBELLION

• JUNE 21 THE SHIP WAS BOMBARDED AND SUNK12

• THE HULK OF THE ALTALENA

PHASE TWO

• JULY 8-JULY 18– A DRAW IN THE SOUTH – CAPTURE OF LYDDA AND RAMLA GAVE

DOMINANCE OVER CENTRAL COAST

SECOND TRUCE

• JULY 19-OCTOBER 15, 1948

• AGAIN BOTH SIDES REINFORCED

• IDF = 88,000

• ARAB ARMIES = 67,000

• ISRAELI CABINET DECIDES TO FOCUS ON THE SOUTH NOT CENTRAL PALESTINE

PHASE THREE

• OCTOBER-NOVEMBER 1948– DEFEAT OF THE EGYPTIANS IN THE

SOUTH– CAPTURE OF THE ENTIRE NEGEV– THE ARMISTICE AGREEMENT OF 1949

CREATED THE “GREEN LINE”– THE ARAB LEGION RETAINED CONTROL

OF CENTRAL PALESTINE

WAR’S END—ISRAELI PERSPECTIVE

• ISRAEL CONTROLLED ABOUT 75% OF THE TERRITORY OF MANDATORY PALESTINE

• THE POPULATION OF THE NEW STATE WAS 90% JEWISH

• THE STATE WAS SOVEREIGN

WAR’S END—PALESTINIAN ARAB PERSPECTIVE

• “CASTASTROPHE” OR NAKBA• DESTRUCTION OF OLD SOCIETY• ABOUT 700,000 OF 1.2 MILLION

PALESTINIANS HAD BECOME REFUGEES

• FLIGHT RESULTED FROM ATTACKS ON COMMUNITIES, FEAR, REPRISALS, AND LACK OF EFFECTIVE LEADERSHIP

AN IMPORTANT NOTE

• MOST ARABS FLED WITHIN WHAT HAD BEEN MANDATORY PALESTINE

• MOST REFUGEES AND MOST PALESTINIANS REMAINED IN MANDATORY PALESTINE

THREE IMPORTANT POINTS

• A SOVEREIGN JEWISH STATE ABLE TO WRITE ITS OWN CITIZENSHIP LAWS AND

• UNWILLINGNESS OR INABILITY OF ANY EXTERNAL ACTOR, INCLUDING THE UN, TO REVERSE THE VERDICT OF THE FIGHTING

• A LARGE POPULATION OF PALESTINIAN REFUGEES

ISRAELI CITIZENSHIP

• SOVEREIGN STATES DETERMINE CITIZENSHIP

• NATIONALITY LAW 1952 PROVIDED FOUR WAYS TO ACQUIRE NATIONALITY:

• RETURN (ALIYAH), • RESIDENCE, • BIRTH • NATURALIZATION.

BY RESIDENCE

• ONE HAD TO BE IN ISRAEL CONTINUOUSLY FROM MAY 15, 1948 UNTIL MARCH 1 1952 AND HAD TO REGISTER IN A TIMELY FASHION.

• THIS EFFECTIVELY EXCLUDED THE PALESTINIAN REFUGEES FROM ISRAELI CITIZENSHIP WHILE INCLUDING ARABS WITHIN THE BOUNDARIES OF THE STATE.

NATIONALIZING THE LAND

• THE ISRAELI GOVERNMENT CREATED AN AGENCY TO OVERSEE THE PROPERTY OF THOSE WHO HAD FLED

• THE STATE TOOK CONTROL OF MOST OF THE LAND (TERRITORY) OF THE STATE

1948 AS DISCONTINUITY

• THE CREATION OF A STATE IS A SOVEREIGN ACT

• IMPOSSIBLE WITHOUT INSTITUTIONS OF THE YISHUV

• IT IS NOT THE SIMPLE CONTINUATION OF THOSE TRENDS

• THE SCATTERING OF PALESTINIANS WAS ALSO A DISCONTINUITY

INTERNAL SOVEREINGTY

• RECOGNITION BY SOCIETY OF THE STATE’S SUPREMACY

• OF ITS MONOPOLY OVER FORCE

• OF ITS INSTITUTIONS OF LAW-MAKING

• IN A DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF ITS CLAIM TO REPRESENTIVENESS

EXTERNAL SOVEREIGNTY

• NEIGHBORING STATES RECOGNIZE ITS BORDERS

• OTHER STATES RECOGNIZE ITS CLAIMS TO LEGITIMACY INTERNALLY

• OTHER STATES RECOGNIZE ITS CLAIMS TO REPRESENTATIVENESS– That is, its “national story”