Editing History of Israel (section)

===Civil War===
{{Main|1947–1948 civil war in Mandatory Palestine}}
[[File:Jerusalem convoy.jpg|thumb|upright|left|Supply convoy on its way to [[Battle for Jerusalem (1948)|besieged]] [[Jerusalem]], April 1948]]
The General Assembly's vote caused joy in the Jewish community and anger in the Arab community. Violence broke out between the sides, escalating into [[1947–1948 civil war in Mandatory Palestine|civil war]]. From January 1948, operations became increasingly militarized, 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]].{{sfn|Gelber|2006|pp=51–56}} [[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, he organized the blockade of the 100,000 Jewish residents of Jerusalem.{{sfn|Lapierre|Collins|1971|loc=chap. 7|pp=131–153}} The [[Yishuv]] tried to supply the city using convoys of up to 100 armoured vehicles, but largely failed. By March, almost all [[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.{{sfn|Morris|2004|p=163}}

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.{{sfn|Morris|2004|p=67}} This situation caused the US to withdraw their support for the Partition plan, thus encouraging the [[Arab League]] to believe that the Palestinian Arabs, reinforced by the Arab Liberation Army, could put an end to the plan for partition. The British, on the other hand, decided on 7 February 1948 to support the annexation of the Arab part of Palestine by [[Jordan|Transjordan]].{{sfn|Laurens|2005|p=83}} The [[Arab Legion|Jordanian army]] was commanded by the British.

[[File:Declaration of State of Israel 1948.jpg|thumb|[[David Ben-Gurion]] proclaiming the [[Israeli Declaration of Independence]] in 1948]]
[[David Ben-Gurion]] reorganized the 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 Stalin's decision to support the [[Zionism|Zionist cause]], the Jewish representatives of Palestine were able to [[arms shipments from Czechoslovakia to Israel 1947–1949|purchase important arms in Eastern Europe]].

Ben-Gurion gave [[Yigael Yadin]] the responsibility to plan for the announced intervention of the Arab states. The result of his analysis was [[Plan Dalet]], in which Haganah passed from the defensive to the offensive. The plan sought to establish Jewish territorial continuity by conquering mixed zones. [[Tiberias]], [[Haifa]], [[Safed]], [[Beisan]], [[Jaffa]] and [[Acre, Israel|Acre]] fell, resulting in the flight of more than 250,000 Palestinian Arabs.{{sfn|Laurens|2005|pp=85–86}} The situation was one of the catalysts for the intervention of neighbouring Arab states.

On 14 May 1948, on the day the last British forces left from Haifa, the [[Jewish People's Council]] gathered at the [[Tel Aviv Museum]] and proclaimed [[Israeli Declaration of Independence|the establishment]] of a [[Jewish state]] in [[Eretz Israel]], to be known as the [[State of Israel]].<ref>[http://www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/Peace+Process/Guide+to+the+Peace+Process/Declaration+of+Establishment+of+State+of+Israel.htm Declaration of Establishment of State of Israel: 14 May 1948: Retrieved 2 June 2012] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120321213130/http://www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/Peace%20Process/Guide%20to%20the%20Peace%20Process/Declaration%20of%20Establishment%20of%20State%20of%20Israel.htm |date=21 March 2012 }}</ref>
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