Editing 1948 Arab–Israeli War (section)

====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" />