Israel-+The+Begining

There were three phases of the conflict that brought the state of Israel into being and confirmed its existence: first was the Yishuv's campaign of **//__sabotage against the British administration in Palestine from 1945 to 1947;__ __second was the brief civil war between the Arab and Jewish communities of Palestine in 1947 and 194__//**//__8__//; and **__third was the 1948 war between Israel and the invading forces of the Arab states__**. Each of these phases was accompanied by a flurry of diplomatic activity that consistently failed to produce an agreement acceptable to both Arabs and Jews.

1) The fact that Britain had not abolished any of its immigration laws pertaining to Jewish immigration to Palestine showed they were not serious about developing a true Jewish homeland. a) Ben-Gurion did not wish to challenge the British until the War against the Axis was over but many Jewish radical groups within Palestine (Irgun and Stern Gang), were impatient and wanted change immediately. Throughout 1944-47 Irgun led by Menachem Begin and Stern Gang engaged in many isolated but affective terrorist activities targeted against the British but often affecting a large majority of the population. (King David Hotel car bomb, British HQ 1946) b) The Jewish Agency and Haganah joined the sabotage and momentum against the British in 1945, forcing the British to call upon the United Nations to deal with the unrest.
 * First Phase: //SABATOGE AGAINST THE BRITISH//**
 * c)** The General Assembly created a United Nations Special Committee on Palestine (UNSCOP) and charged it with investigating conditions in Palestine and submitting recommendations by September 1, 1947. UNSCOP unanimously recommended the termination of the British mandate. The minority report called for a federal state. The majority report recommended the partition of the mandate into two states, one Arab and one Jewish, with Jerusalem designated as an internationalized district. Although the provisions of the majority report were far from perfect, they nevertheless offered the possibility of independent Arab and Jewish states within Palestine. **Zionist leaders endorsed the report; Arab leaders rejected it. The Mandate was dissolved May 15, 1948.**

2) In the months between the announcement and the final British withdrawal, Palestine was plunged into chaos. This was the period of civil war during which the Jewish forces sought to secure the territory allotted to the Jewish state in the UN resolution. a) Since most of that territory was still inhabited by an Arab majority, there was quite naturally Arab resistance. However, the scattered Arab bands were no match for the disciplined Haganah forces, and by spring 1948 the major centers of Arab population that fell within the proposed Jewish state were in Jewish control and the Arab inhabitants, about 400,000 Palestinians, had fled. b) In attaining the land allotted to the Jewish by the UN resolution many atrocities occurred. At Dayr Yassin just outside of Jerusalem, Irgun and other forces murdered over 200 Palestinian Arabs. c) News of this massacre spread quickly while Arabs attempting to generate substantial resistance greatly over-exaggerated the numbers. d) Instead of generating overwhelming resistance, the Arab propaganda instilled fear into the heart of every Palestinian Arab in the allotted Jewish territory. Thousands left their homes for safer Arab friendly cities. e) In order to secure the interior of the Israeli state and protect Jewish settlements lying outside its UN-decreed borders, the Haganah in April 1948 authorized a campaign against potentially hostile Arab villages. Known as Plan D, the campaign "provided for the conquest and permanent occupation, or leveling, of Arab villages and towns.The Haganah field officers interpreted Plan D as giving them authority to undertake the systematic expulsion of the Palestinian Arabs living within the area allocated to the Jewish state as well as those whose villages were situated just inside the territory awarded to the Arab state =Third Phase: International Wars= 3) The day after Israel declared Independence, the armies of Syria, Jordan and Iraq all attacked the newly formed state in a poorly executed poorly planned offensive. a) It is a common misconception that the Arab Armies numbered greater than that of Israel forces. The Haganah had an excess of over 25,000 active, well trained, battle hardened soldiers, while the Arabs sick with internal conflict had around the same number but of poorly trained poorly led soldiers. b) Over the course of the next twelve months, each of the belligerent Arab states concluded an armistice agreement with Israel. These agreements were not peace treaties, and they did not constitute recognition of Israel on the part of the Arab signatories; they simply stabilized the cease-fire borders without accepting them as final.
 * Second Phase: //CIVIL WAR BETWEEN ARAB AND JEWISH PALESTINIANS//**
 * f)** **On May 14, 1948**, in the midst of the turmoil, the last British high commissioner, General Alan Cunningham, quietly departed from Haifa. **Ben-Gurion proclaimed the independence of the state of Israel. The new state was immediately recognized by the United States and the Soviet Union.**