War of Independence

Lexicon of Terms

War of Independence

The War of Independence was the first war held between the State of Israel and its neighboring Arab countries. It began on the day of the Proclamation of Independence (May 14, 1948) and lasted until January 1949. The war was triggered by the rejection of the Arab states and the Arab (Palestinian) Higher Committee of the United Nations Partition Plan (Resolution 181), which had been approved by the General Assembly in on November 29^th 1947. During the debate on the plan, the Arab representatives to the United Nations had made threats that its execution will be prevented by force.

Phase I: November 29^th 1947 – March 31^st 1948.
An outbreak of Arab violence following the approval of resolution 181: A bus driving Jewish passengers came under fire near the Lod Airport; the Arab Higher Committee proclaimed a general strike, and the Jewish commercial zone near Jaffa Gate in Jerusalem was set on fire and looted. The British Army still had about 100,000 soldiers in Palestine, outnumbering both sides of the conflict, but it remained to guard the remaining British facilities and abstained from interfering. The Arab militants focused their fighting during this period on shooting and bombing Jewish vehicles on the main roads and towards isolated Jewish neighborhoods.

The Hagana, the military-like organization of the Yishuv, focused at first on defense, and restricted its actions for retaliations against those directly responsible for the attacks. The Etzel, the underground movement which did not concede to the official establishments of the Yishuv, committed retaliations on a less distinctive basis and in one case was responsible for the laying of a bomb in an Arab market.

Between December 1947 and January 1948, the Arabs, with the help of volunteers from neighboring Arab countries, had made several attempts to conquer secluded Jewish settlements (Kfar Etzion, Tirat Tzvi and Kfar Szold), but they were defeated by the Jewish defensive forces. The Arabs had greater success, some assisted by British defectors, with terror attacks – especially in Jerusalem. Among these were the explosion at the headquarters of the national governing bodies and at the “Palestine Post” (the former name of “Jerusalem Post’) building, as well as an explosion at Ben Yehuda street in Tel Aviv, in which four buildings collapsed and approximately 50 passers-by were killed.

In January 1948, an Arab volunteer force led by Fawzi al-Qawuqji entered Eretz Yisrael and took control over the Arab region in the north. Other volunteer forces, mostly related to the Egyptian “Muslim Brothers” society, entered the areas of Hebron and Bethlehem in the south. Qawuqji’s Liberation Army had expanded between January and April 1948 and grew from 2,000 members to an estimated number of 5,000-8,000. It sent its officers and small combat units to cities such as Haifa and Jaffa, which they expected to conquer, and attacked Jewish settlements in the north (Tirat Zvi, Mishmar HaEmek, Ramat Yohanan and others), but these actions had minimal success. The Liberation Army also attacked Jewish transportation along the main roads, managing to disconnect several remote settlements (including the settlements at Gush Etzion) from Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, the Western Galilee, Haifa and the Negev. These attacks did achieve some political success: On March 19^th the United States offered to set up a temporary governance of the UN, instead of executing the Partition Plan.

Phase II: April 1^st – May 14^th, 1948.
For political and military reasons, the Hagana Command decided to take control over the territories designated for the Jewish state, and to establish contact between them and the Jewish settlements surrounding them. Operation Nachshon had brought, for a short while, the reopening of the road to Jewish Jerusalem which was under siege. The Hagana took hold of Tiberias (April 18^th) and Safed, freeing their old cities from siege. Haifa was also conquered (April 22^nd), as well as the Western Galilee. Also conquered were the Katamon and Sheikh Jarah neighborhoods of Jerusalem (Sheikh Jarah was later evacuated due to an ultimatum of the British) and the area surrounding Tel Aviv. An intervention by the British prevented the conquest of Jaffa, though the city surrendered in May.

Despite the irregular form of fighting, which prevented the capture of prisoners, the rights of Arab civilians were mostly preserved. In Haifa for example, the authorities did their best to prevent a mass departure of Arabs from the city. In other cases, such as the village of Deir Yassin in the outskirts of Jerusalem, the Etzel and Lehi arrived at the village and did not prevent the killing of seniors, women or children. It was later claimed that the killing was intentional for accelerating the emigration of the Arab population.

Some of the attacks made by the Arabs also caused many casualties, such as the attack on the procession leaving the “Hadassah” university hospital on Mount Scopus. These did not even achieve any advantage strategically.

At this time, the Liberation Army of Qawuqji was defeated. The creation of a consecutive territory under Jewish control contributed to the decision of the President of the United States to postpone the UN governance plan, enabling the Proclamation of Independence of the State of Israel on May 14^th 1948.

Phase III: May 15^th – June 10^th 1948.
On May 15^th, Egyptian aircrafts bombarded Tel Aviv. This attack signaled all Arab states to invade Israeli territory. Their original intent was to assist Israeli Arabs by dispatching volunteers, weaponry, money and logistic aid, as well as stationing their militaries along Israeli borders. This plan was changed during the first half of May by King Farouk I of Egypt who imposed the invasion on his military and government against military advice. Among the considerations leading to the invasion was a plan, attributed to King Abdullah of Jordan, for the annexation of the West Bank. The original plan for the invasion, which was not coordinated properly, included the movement of Egyptian forces towards Tel Aviv, the movement of Syrian, Lebanese and Iraqi forces towards Haifa, and the conquest of Jerusalem and the West Bank by the Jordanian Arab Legion.

The invasion of five armies placed the Hagana (the IDF was not officially formed until May 28^th), which was yet to have artillery, armored forces and an air force, in a critical state. The Egyptian army moved along the coastline, assaulting Jewish settlements on its way, bypassing some (such as Kfar Darom and Nirim) and conquering others (Yad Mordechai, Nitzanim and others). They were blockaded only 35 kilometers south to Tel Aviv by a force recruited for this purpose, aided by the first fighter aircrafts that were brought over from Czechoslovakia.

The Arab Legion conquered Gush Etzion, Beit HaArava and the factories north of the Dead Sea. Two other settlements north of Jerusalem were evacuated. The Legion entered Jerusalem, conquering the Jewish Quarter in the Old City and failing, despite repeated attempts, to invade the western parts of the city. The Hagana failed to banish the Legion from the Latrun Fort, overlooking the road to besieged Jerusalem. An alternative route was quickly set up – the “Burma Road” – which saved the city from starvation and defeat due to lack of arms and food.

The Syrian Army began an attack on Tzemah on May 16^th, in an attempt to break through into the Jordan Valley, Tiberias and the Galilee. They were faced with forces of the Hagana and members of the local Kibbutzim, but managed to seize Tzemah after three days of fighting. The counterattack on the conquered settlement was halted on May 18^th, simultaneously with the Syrian progression to invade and destroy Kibbutz Masada and Kibbutz Shaar HaGolan. On May 20^th, Kibbutz Degania Alef was attacked but its members defended it successfully. Several Syrian tanks were damaged, among them a tank which was neutralized by a Molotov cocktail at the heart of Degania, which remains to this day as a monument to the battle. Later that day, the Syrians moved their forces to Degania Bet, but also failed in their attack there, later moving to the north, crossing the Jordan River south to the Hulah Valley, conquering Moshava Mishmar HaYarden and setting their base there. The Lebanese Army seized Malkiyya, but had little part in future attacks.

In early June the Arab attack had lost its advantage and their hopes for a victory dissolved. Israeli forces were also severely impaired, thus allowing both sides to readily accept the United Nations’ Security Council call for a break. The truce was brought into affect on June 10^th 1948.

Phase IV: June 10^th – July 18^th 1948.
When the battle was renewed on July 8^th, there was a significant change: The IDF now had heavy artillery, acquired before the proclamation of independence but brought to Israel only after the British Mandate ended. The organizational and operational structure of the IDF was changed, and Israel took back the northern region. The Lower Galilee was recaptured in Operation Dekel, and Operation Brosh had minimized the Syrian hold next to Mishmar HaYarden. In the center region, Lod and Ramla were conquered from the Arab Legion in Operation Danny (including the essential airport). The second phase of the Operation, which failed, intended to seize Latrun and Ramallah to creating a wider passage to Jerusalem. Despite continuous fighting within Jerusalem, the Old City remained under Jordanian control and no significant changes were made at the borderline.

In the South, the Egyptians succeeded in blocking the main road to the Negev. A massive battle was held around Kibbutz Negba, near the road leading from the seashore to Mount Hebron, but an alternative path was used for transportation during the night. It was intertwined with a road used during the day by the Egyptian military. In all, the control was in the hands of Israel, which was asked by the Arabs through a British mediator to commit to an indefinite ceasefire. The truce came into affect after 10 days of fighting, on July 18^th.

Phase V: July 19^th 1948 – January 5^th 1949.
During the second break, UN mediator Count Berandotte attempted to reach a diplomatic solution, but failed to do so. The State of Israel had raised during this time an army of more than 100,000 people, recruiting every sixth person to the war effort. Despite the attempts made by Egypt to disconnect the Negev from Israel and Bernadotte’s proposal not to include it within the State’s borders, the IDF succeeded on October 15^th to open the road to the south. This was done with Operation Yoav which included the conquest of Be’er Sheva on October 21^st. The Egyptian forces at Mount Hebron and the southern outskirts of Jerusalem were now secluded from their bases. A part of this operation involved the widening of the narrow and unsafe passage to Jerusalem.

The Arab militias, who were never supportive of a truce, continued harassing Jewish forces and settlements in the north. In the Israeli counterattack, Operation Hiram (October 29^th – 31^st), the Upper Galilee was seized from Safed in the east to the Mediterranean Sea at the west. A portion of Lebanese territory was also conquered. Operation Horev (December) was aimed to expel all remaining Egyptian forces within the country; IDF forces moved through the desert towards the Sinai Peninsula, conquering Abu Ageila and arriving south to Gaza Strip. Israel was forced to withdraw from Sinai under American-British pressure, but its forces were realigned east to the border of Gaza.

The Egyptian forces in Gaza Strip were under threat of seclusion. On January 5^th 1949, Egypt agreed to negotiate an armistice, which was encouraged by the UN since November 16^th. A new truce was in effect starting January 7^th, leaving a sole Egyptian brigade, containing Major Gamal Abdel Nasser, under siege in Al-Faluja.

The War of Independence had devastating outcomes for Israel: More than 6,000 casualties – 1% of the population – and among them about 4,000 soldiers. The death toll for the Arab countries was estimated at 2,000 soldiers and an unknown number of irregular Palestinian fighters.