Editing 1948 Arab–Israeli War (section)

==Background==
{{Main|1948 Palestine war}}

{{Further|United Nations Partition Plan for Palestine|1947–1948 civil war in Mandatory Palestine}}
[[File:UN Palestine Partition Versions 1947.jpg|thumb|A proposed separation of Palestine]]

Since the 1917 [[Balfour Declaration]] and the 1920 creation of the British Mandate of Palestine, and in the context of [[Zionism]] and the [[Aliyah|mass migration of European Jews to Palestine]], there had been [[Intercommunal conflict in Mandatory Palestine|tension and conflict]] between Arabs, Jews, and the British. British policies dissatisfied both Arabs and Jews. In 1920, the Arab leaders were very disappointed with Britain. In 1916, the British commander-in-chief in Cairo had made an agreement with the Emir of [[Mecca]]: if the Arabs rebelled against the Ottoman Empire, the British would provide them with arms and money and support the formation of an independent Arab state. Around 30,000 older rifles and a smaller amount of modern weapons were supplied by the British, and a very large area from the [[Red Sea]] to [[Damascus]] was conquered.<ref>[[T. E. Lawrence]]: Revolt in the dessert, 1927</ref>

Britain backtracked from its promise that an independent Arab state would be formed. In 1920, Britain let French troops attack the [[Arab Kingdom of Syria]], crushing its army and overthrowing its government. Arab opposition developed into the [[1936–1939 Arab revolt in Palestine]], while the Jewish opposition developed into the 1944–1947 [[Jewish insurgency in Palestine]].On 29 November 1947, the [[United Nations General Assembly]] adopted a resolution recommending the adoption and implementation of a plan to partition the British Mandate of Palestine into two states, one Arab and one Jewish, and the City of Jerusalem.<ref>[http://domino.un.org/unispal.nsf/0/7f0af2bd897689b785256c330061d253 United Nations: General Assembly: A/RES/181(II): 29 November 1947: ''Resolution 181 (II). Future government of Palestine''.] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120524094913/http://domino.un.org/unispal.nsf/0/7f0af2bd897689b785256c330061d253 |date=24 May 2012 }}</ref>

The [[United Nations Partition Plan for Palestine|General Assembly resolution on Partition]] was greeted with overwhelming joy in Jewish communities and widespread outrage in the Arab world. In Palestine, violence erupted almost immediately, feeding into a spiral of reprisals and counter-reprisals. The British refrained from intervening as tensions boiled over into a low-level conflict that quickly escalated into a [[1947–48 Civil War in Mandatory Palestine|full-scale civil war]].<ref>
*Greg Cashman, Leonard C. Robinson, [https://books.google.com/books?id=x7K2GYnXRngC&pg=PA165 ''An Introduction to the Causes of War: Patterns of Interstate Conflict from World War 1 to Iraq,''] Rowman & Littlefield 2007 p. 165.
*Benjamin Grob-Fitzgibbon,[https://books.google.com/books?id=NUeYAAAAQBAJ&pg=PT57 ''Imperial Endgame: Britain's Dirty Wars and the End of Empire,''] Palgrave/Macmillan 2011 p. 57
*Ilan Pappé (2000), p. 111
*{{cite book | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=CC7381HrLqcC | title = 1948: A History of the First Arab-Israeli War | author = Benny Morris | publisher = Yale University Press | page = 76 | year = 2008 | isbn = 978-0-300-14524-3 | access-date = 14 November 2015 | archive-date = 20 March 2023 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20230320123844/https://books.google.com/books?id=CC7381HrLqcC | url-status = live }}
*Efraïm Karsh (2002), p. 30
*Benny Morris (2003), p. 101</ref>

From January onwards, operations became increasingly militarised, with the intervention of a number of [[Arab Liberation Army]] regiments inside Palestine, each active in a variety of distinct sectors around the different coastal towns. They consolidated their presence in [[Galilee]] and [[Samaria]].<ref>Yoav Gelber (2006), pp. 51–56</ref> [[Abd al-Qadir al-Husayni]] came from Egypt with several hundred men of the [[Army of the Holy War]]. Having recruited a few thousand volunteers, al-Husayni organised the blockade of the 100,000 Jewish residents of Jerusalem.<ref>Dominique Lapierre et Larry Collins (1971), chap. 7, pp. 131–153</ref>

To counter this, the [[Yishuv]] authorities tried to supply the city with convoys of up to 100 armoured vehicles, but the operation became more and more impractical as the number of casualties in the relief convoys surged. By March, Al-Hussayni's tactic had paid off. Almost all of [[Haganah]]'s armoured vehicles had been destroyed, the blockade was in full operation, and hundreds of Haganah members who had tried to bring supplies into the city were killed.<ref>Benny Morris (2003), p. 163</ref> The situation for those who dwelt in the Jewish settlements in the highly isolated [[Negev]] and north of Galilee was even more critical.

While the Jewish population had received strict orders requiring them to hold their ground everywhere at all costs,<ref>Dominique Lapierre et Larry Collins (1971), p. 163</ref> the Arab population was more affected by the general conditions of insecurity to which the country was exposed. Up to 100,000 Arabs, from the urban upper and middle classes in Haifa, Jaffa and Jerusalem, or Jewish-dominated areas, evacuated abroad or to Arab centres eastwards.<ref>Benny Morris (2003), p. 67</ref>

This situation caused the United States to withdraw its support for the Partition Plan, encouraging the [[Arab League]] to believe that the Palestinian Arabs, reinforced by the Arab Liberation Army, could put an end to the plan. However, the British decided on 7 February 1948 to support the annexation of the Arab part of Palestine by Transjordan.<ref>Henry Laurens (2005), p. 83</ref>

Although doubt took hold among Yishuv supporters, their apparent defeats were due more to their wait-and-see policy than to weakness.{{citation needed|date=July 2021}} [[David Ben-Gurion]] reorganised Haganah and made conscription obligatory. Every Jewish man and woman in the country had to receive military training. Thanks to funds raised by [[Golda Meir]] from sympathisers in the United States, and [[Joseph Stalin|Stalin's]] decision to support the [[Zionism|Zionist]] cause, the Jewish representatives of Palestine were able to sign very important armament contracts in the East. Other Haganah agents recovered stockpiles from the Second World War, which helped improve the army's equipment and logistics. [[Operation Balak]] allowed arms and other equipment to be transported for the first time by the end of March.<ref>Arnold Krammer (1974), p. 89</ref>

[[File:PikiWiki Israel 21221 The Palmach.JPG|thumb|A Palmach [[M4 Sherman]] tank leading a convoy]]
Ben-Gurion invested [[Yigael Yadin]] with the responsibility to come up with a plan of offence whose timing was related to the foreseeable evacuation of British forces. This strategy, called [[Plan Dalet]], was readied by March and implemented towards the end of April.<ref>David Tal, ''War in Palestine, 1948: Israeli and Arab Strategy and Diplomacy,'' Routledge 2004 p. 89.</ref> A separate plan, [[Operation Nachshon]], was devised to lift the [[Siege of Jerusalem (1948)|siege of Jerusalem]].<ref name="morris2008p116"/> 1500 men from Haganah's Givati brigade and [[Palmach]]'s Harel brigade conducted sorties to free up the route to the city between 5 and 20 April. Both sides acted offensively in defiance of the Partition Plan, which foresaw Jerusalem as a ''[[Corpus separatum (Jerusalem)|corpus separatum]]'', under neither Jewish nor Arab jurisdiction. The Arabs did not accept the Plan, while the Jews were determined to oppose the internationalisation of the city, and secure it as part of the Jewish state.<ref>David Tal, pp. 89–90.</ref> The operation was successful, and enough foodstuffs to last two months were trucked into Jerusalem for distribution to the Jewish population.<ref>Dominique Lapierre et Larry Collins (1971), pp. 369–381</ref> The success of the operation was assisted by the death of al-Husayni in combat.

During this time, fighters from [[Irgun]] and [[Lehi (group)|Lehi]] [[Deir Yassin massacre|massacred a substantial number of Palestinians at Deir Yassin]].  The attack was widely publicized and had a deep impact on the morale of the Palestinian population and contributed to generate the [[1948 Palestinian exodus|exodus of the Arab population]].<ref>{{cite journal|jstor=24450239|title=The 1948 Massacre at Deir Yassin Revisited|author=Matthew Hogan|journal=The Historian|year=2001|volume=63|issue=2|pages=309–333}}</ref>

At the same time, the Arab Liberation Army was roundly defeated at [[Mishmar HaEmek]] in its first large-scale operation,<ref>Benny Morris (2003), pp. 242–243</ref> coinciding with the loss of their [[Druze]] allies through defection.<ref>Benny Morris (2003), p. 242</ref>

[[File:Haifa 1948 expulsion.jpg|thumb|Palestinians being expelled from Haifa, April 1948]]

With the implementation of Plan Dalet, the Haganah, Palmach and Irgun forces began conquering mixed zones. The Palestinian Arab society was shaken as [[Tiberias]], [[Haifa]], [[Safed]], [[Beisan]], [[Jaffa]] and [[Acre (city)|Acre]] were all captured and more than 250,000 [[1948 Palestinian expulsion and flight|Palestinian Arabs fled or were expelled]].<ref>Henry Laurens (2005), pp. 85–86</ref>

The British had essentially withdrawn their troops. This pushed the leaders of the neighbouring Arab states to intervene, but they were not fully prepared, and could not assemble sufficient forces to turn the tide.  The majority of Palestinian Arab hopes lay with the [[Arab Legion]] of Transjordan's monarch, King Abdullah I, but he had no intention of creating a Palestinian Arab-run state, since he hoped to annex as much of the territory of the [[Mandatory Palestine|British Mandate for Palestine]] as he could. He was playing a double game, being just as much in contact with the Jewish authorities as with the Arab League.{{Citation needed|date=May 2021}}

In preparation for the offensive, Haganah successfully launched Operations [[Operation Yiftah|Yiftah]]<ref>Benny Morris (2003), pp. 248–252</ref> and Ben-'Ami<ref>Benny Morris (2003), pp. 252–254</ref> to secure the Jewish settlements of [[Galilee]], and [[Operation Kilshon]], which created a united front around Jerusalem. The inconclusive meeting between [[Golda Meir]] and Abdullah I, followed by the [[Kfar Etzion massacre]] on 13 May by the Arab Legion led to predictions that the battle for Jerusalem would be merciless.{{citation needed|date=May 2021}}

On 14 May 1948, [[David Ben-Gurion]] declared the establishment of the [[State of Israel]] and the [[1948 Palestine war]] entered its second phase with the intervention of the Arab state armies and the beginning of the 1948 Arab–Israeli War.{{Citation needed|date=May 2021}}

===Armed forces===
By September 1947, the [[Haganah]] had "10,489 [[Rifle|rifles]], 702 [[Light machine gun|light machine-guns]], 2,666 [[Submachine gun|submachine guns]], 186 [[Medium machine gun|medium machine-guns]], 672 [[Two-inch mortar|two-inch mortars]] and 92 three-inch (76&nbsp;mm) mortars".<ref name="morris_2003_16"/>

====Importing arms====
[[File:Avia S-199 in June 1948 (Israeli Air Force).png|thumb|An Israeli [[Avia S-199]], June 1948]]

In 1946, Ben-Gurion decided that the Yishuv would probably have to defend itself against both the Palestinian Arabs and neighbouring Arab states and accordingly began a "massive, covert arms acquisition campaign in the West", and acquired many more during the first few months of hostilities.<ref>Leonard Slater (1970), p. 31</ref>

The Yishuv managed clandestinely to amass arms and military equipment abroad for transfer to Palestine once the British blockade was lifted. In the [[United States]], Yishuv agents purchased three [[Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress]] bombers, one of which bombed Cairo in July 1948, some [[Curtiss C-46 Commando]] transport planes, and dozens of half-tracks, which were repainted and defined as "agricultural equipment". In Western Europe, [[Haganah]] agents amassed fifty 65mm French mountain guns, twelve 120mm mortars, ten [[Hotchkiss H35|H-35]] light tanks, and a large number of half-tracks. By mid-May or thereabouts the Yishuv had purchased from [[Czechoslovakia]] 25 [[Avia S-199]] fighters (an inferior version of the [[Messerschmitt Bf 109]]), 200 heavy machine guns, 5,021 light machine guns, 24,500 rifles, and 52&nbsp;million rounds of ammunition, enough to equip all units, but short of heavy arms.<ref>[[Martin Van Creveld]], ''Sword and the Olive: A Critical History of the Israeli Defense Force'', Public Affairs (1998) 2002 p. 78</ref> The airborne arms smuggling missions from Czechoslovakia were codenamed [[Operation Balak]].

The airborne smuggling missions were carried out by mostly American aviators – Jews and non-Jews – led by ex-U.S. Air Transport Command flight engineer [[Al Schwimmer]].<ref>Leonard Slater (1970), p. 100</ref> Schwimmer's operation also included recruiting and training fighter pilots such as [[Lou Lenart]], commander of the first Israeli air assault against the Arabs. Several Americans, including Schwimmer, were later prosecuted by the U.S. government for violating the [[Neutrality Act of 1939]].<ref>{{Cite web|url = https://www.aptonline.org/catalog.nsf/vLinkTitle/WING+AND+A+PRAYER+A|title = A Wing and a Prayer|website = American Public Television|access-date = 15 December 2015|archive-date = 11 October 2016|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20161011072502/https://www.aptonline.org/catalog.nsf/vLinkTitle/WING+AND+A+PRAYER+A|url-status = dead}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |title=Al Schwimmer, Founder of Israel Aircraft Industries, Dies at 94 |language=en |work=Haaretz |url=https://www.haaretz.com/2011-06-11/ty-article/al-schwimmer-founder-of-israel-aircraft-industries-dies-at-94/0000017f-dbec-db22-a17f-fffdedfb0000 |access-date=2023-12-07}}</ref>

====Arms production====
The Yishuv also had "a relatively advanced ''arms producing'' capacity", that between October 1947 and July 1948 "produced 3&nbsp;million 9&nbsp;mm bullets, 150,000 [[Mills bomb|Mills grenades]], 16,000 submachine guns ([[Sten]] Guns) and 210 three-inch (76&nbsp;mm) mortars",<ref name="morris_2003_16"/> along with a few "[[Davidka]]" mortars, which had been indigenously designed and produced. They were inaccurate but had a loud explosion that demoralised the enemy. Much of the munitions used by the Israelis came from the [[Machon Ayalon|Ayalon Institute]], a clandestine bullet factory beneath kibbutz [[Ajalon|Ayalon]], which produced about 2.5&nbsp;million bullets for Sten guns. The munitions produced by the Ayalon Institute were said to have been the only supply that was not in shortage during the war. Locally produced explosives were also plentiful. After Israel's independence, these clandestine arms manufacturing operations were moved above ground. All of the Haganah's weapons-manufacturing was centralised and later became [[Israel Military Industries]].<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.haaretz.com/news/remembrance-and-independence-2013/how-a-fake-kibbutz-was-built-to-hide-a-bullet-factory.premium-1.515584|title=How a Fake Kibbutz Was Built to Hide a Bullet Factory|first=Debra|last=Kamin|date=15 April 2013|newspaper=Haaretz|access-date=16 September 2013|archive-date=12 June 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190612112259/https://www.haaretz.com/.premium-how-a-fake-kibbutz-hid-a-bullet-factory-1.5238288|url-status=live}}</ref>

====Manpower====
In November 1947, the Haganah was an underground paramilitary force that had existed as a highly organised, national force, since the Arab riots of [[1920 Palestine riots|1920]]–[[Jaffa riots|21]], and throughout the [[Riots in Palestine of 1929|riots of 1929]], [[1936–1939 Arab revolt in Palestine|Great Uprising of 1936–39]],<ref name="morris_2003_16">Morris, 2003, p. 16.</ref> and World War II. It had a mobile force, the [[Hish (Haganah corps)|HISH]], which had 2,000 full-time fighters (men and women) and 10,000 reservists (all aged between 18 and 25) and an elite unit, the [[Palmach]] composed of 2,100 fighters and 1,000 reservists. The reservists trained three or four days a month{{Citation needed|reason=not true. where is the source?|date=November 2013}} and went back to civilian life the rest of the time. These mobile forces could rely on a garrison force, the HIM (''Heil Mishmar'', lit. Guard Corps), composed of people aged over 25. The Yishuv's total strength was around 35,000 with 15,000 to 18,000 fighters and a garrison force of roughly 20,000.<ref name="morris_2003_16"/><ref>Gelber, p. 73; Karsh 2002, p. 25.</ref>

There were also several thousand men and women who had served in the British Army in World War II who did not serve in any of the underground militias but would provide valuable military experience during the war.<ref name="Karsh2002p25">{{harvnb|Karsh|2002|p=25}}</ref> Walid Khalidi says the Yishuv had the additional forces of the Jewish Settlement Police, numbering some 12,000, the Gadna Youth Battalions, and the armed settlers.<ref name="Palestine1">W. Khalidi, 'Plan Dalet: Master Plan for the Conquest of Palestine', J. Palestine Studies 18(1), pp. 4–33, 1988 (reprint of a 1961 article)</ref> Few of the units had been trained by December 1947.<ref name="morris_2003_16"/> On 5 December 1947, [[conscription]] was instituted for all men and women aged between 17 and 25 and by the end of March, 21,000 had been conscripted.<ref>{{cite book|title=The faithful city: the siege of Jerusalem, 1948|first=Dov|last=Joseph|author-link=Dov Yosef|publisher=Simon and Schuster|year=1960|lccn=60-10976|oclc=266413|url=https://archive.org/details/thefaithfulcity0000unse|url-access=registration|pages=[https://archive.org/details/thefaithfulcity0000unse/page/23/mode/2up 23], [https://archive.org/details/thefaithfulcity0000unse/page/38/mode/2up 38]}}</ref> On 30 March, the call-up was extended to men and single women aged between 26 and 35. Five days later, a General Mobilization order was issued for all men under 40.<ref>Levin, Harry. "Jerusalem Embattled – A Diary of the City under Siege." Cassels, 1997. {{ISBN|978-0-304-33765-1}}. pp. 32, 117. Pay £P2 per month. c.f. would buy 2lb of meat in Jerusalem, April 1948. p. 91.</ref>

By March 1948, the Yishuv had a numerical superiority, with 35,780 mobilised and deployed fighters for the [[Haganah]],<ref>Benny Morris (2004), p. 16</ref><ref>Gelber (2006), p. 73</ref> 3,000 men under [[Lehi (militant group)|Lehi]] and [[Irgun]], and a few thousand armed settlers.<ref>D. Kurzman, "Genesis 1948", 1970, p. 282.</ref> Irgun was eventually absorbed into the Jewish Defence Army.<ref name="Mi5">{{cite web |title=Mi5 Files of Jewish Interest "the activities of Irgun, the Jewish organisation involved or implicated in numerous acts of terrorism in the closing years of the British mandate in Palestine" |url=http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/releases/2006/march/jewish.htm |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151016054552/http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/releases/2006/march/jewish.htm |archive-date=16 October 2015 |access-date=29 June 2014 |publisher=Nationalarchives.gov.uk}}</ref> The activities of Irgun was monitored by [[MI5]], which found that Irgun was "involved or implicated in numerous acts of terrorism" during the end years of the [[Mandatory Palestine|British mandate in Palestine]] such as the attacks on trains and the kidnapping of British servicemen.<ref name="Mi5" />

====Arab forces====
According to [[Benny Morris]], by the end of 1947, the Palestinians already "had a healthy and demoralising respect for the Yishuv's military power" and if it came to battle, the Palestinians expected to lose. When the first violent incidents broke out in Jerusalem on the 29 November, the [[Arab Higher Committee]], well aware of  their lack of armaments, had called for a three-day strike: the most militant Palestinian group in the city, consisting of 44 fighters, was furnished with 12 rifles, some handguns and a few kilograms of explosives.<ref>[[Henry Laurens (scholar)|Henry Laurens]], ''[[La Question de Palestine]]'', vol.3, [[Fayard]] 2007 p. 41</ref>

The effective number of Arab combatants was listed as growing to 12,000 by{{when|date=October 2024}} some historians<ref>[[Henry Laurens (scholar)|Henry Laurens]], ''La Question de Palestine'', vol. 3, Fayard 2007 p. 70</ref> while others calculate an eventual total Arab strength of approximately 23,500 troops,{{when|date=October 2024}} and with this being more of less or roughly equal to that of the Yishuv.  However, as Israel mobilised most of its most able citizens during the war while the Arab troops were only a small percentage of its far greater population, the strength of the Yishuv grew steadily and dramatically during the war.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Bregman|first1=Ahron|title=Israel's Wars : A History Since 1947|date=2010|publisher=Taylor & Francis|location=London|isbn=978-0-415-42438-7|pages=23, 24|edition=3rd|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=K1hsUGt8fSMC&pg=PA24|access-date=19 April 2015|archive-date=20 March 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230320123845/https://books.google.com/books?id=K1hsUGt8fSMC&pg=PA24|url-status=live}}</ref>