Meanwhile, the Old City in Jerusalem had been isolated by an Arab blockade for five months. On May 29, the last holdouts surrendered, marking the end of nearly 2,000 years of continuous Jewish residence in the Old City.
* * *
Ask the Sphinx
The Jews were particularly incensed by the fact that none of the Christian nations or institutions, such as the Vatican or the Church of England, which had campaigned for the internationalization of Jerusalem, protested when the Arab Legion mounted a final assault on the city. Their only concern was for the protection of the Christian holy places.
* * *
Many Jews found the loss of the site of Judaism’s holiest shrine, the Western Wall, spiritually devastating. From a military standpoint, however, it was far more important for Israel to hold the New City, the urban center of Jerusalem that had been developed outside the Old City walls during the preceding 30 years. To save the Jews living there, the Arab blockade had to be broken. As it turned out, the city found an unlikely savior.
The American General
After the partition decision, David Ben-Gurion, the leader of the Jewish community, asked an American friend, Mickey Marcus, to recruit an American officer to serve as military advisor to Israel. The Jewish leader got more than he bargained for.
Marcus was a Jew from Brooklyn who graduated from West Point and became a federal attorney in New York. When it became clear that the United States would eventually enter World War II, he volunteered for service and parachuted into Normandy with D-day airborne forces.
As an attorney, Marcus was involved in drafting the surrender terms for Germany and Italy, and later was chief of the War Crimes Division that gathered evidence and prosecuted the Nazis at Nuremberg. In between, Marcus was given the responsibility for clearing out the concentration camps and ensuring that the survivors of the war did not starve. Never a Zionist, his wartime experiences changed his views and led him to agree that an independent state in Palestine was necessary for Jewish survival and as a homeland for Holocaust survivors.
From Marcus to Stone
When Ben-Gurion came to him, Marcus did not expect to volunteer to assist the Jews in Palestine. Because he was still a reservist, he needed permission from the U.S. War Department, which he received, provided that he did not use his own name or U.S. military rank. Thus, American Michael Stone became Ben-Gurion’s confidant.
* * *
Ask the Sphinx
The Mickey Marcus story was depicted in the film Cast a Giant Shadow (1966), starring Kirk Douglas, John Wayne, Frank Sinatra, and Yul Brynner.
* * *
Stone imposed military discipline on the somewhat ragtag forces of the Yishuv, the Jewish community in Israel. He designed a command structure, wrote training manuals, and taught the Haganah strategy and tactics. His most important contribution may have been to construct the “Burma Road” (named for the military supply route used by the Allies in World War II to cross the mountainous region between Burma and China) through a seemingly impassable area that bypassed the main road to Jerusalem. This allowed the Jewish forces to relieve the Arab siege on June 9, 1948, just days before the United Nations negotiated a cease-fire. Had the convoys not gotten through, the Jews remaining in Jerusalem would have starved or been forced to surrender.
Ben-Gurion rewarded Marcus by giving him the rank of lieutenant general, the first general in the army of Israel in nearly 2,000 years. The story did not end happily, however, because Marcus was killed tragically six hours before the cease-fire went into effect. He had gone for a walk after not being able to fall asleep. When he returned, the Israeli guard asked Marcus to identify himself. Marcus had never learned Hebrew and did not give the proper response, so the guard shot him.
Jew Versus Jew
In late May 1948, the vast majority of the underground was absorbed into the Zahal, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), which was composed primarily of Haganah members. Soon thereafter the Lehi formally disbanded and 850 of its fighters joined the Zahal.
The activities of the underground did not cease entirely, however, and the leaders of the new Israeli government were extremely suspicious of their motivations. This distrust spilled into the open on June 20 when the Altalena, an Irgun ship laden with arms, tried to land at Kfar Vitkim. Ben-Gurion, who had become the head of state in the transition to statehood, feared the remaining dissidents were a threat to the central authority, and he suspected a possible coup attempt. He ordered the Zahal to prevent the ship from landing.
The Irgunists resisted. After suffering a number of casualties, they sailed for Tel Aviv, where the Zahal welcomed the ship with a barrage of shells in what soon became an all-out battle. The Altalena was set on fire and had to be abandoned. The fighting left 14 Irgunists dead and 69 wounded; 2 members of Zahal were killed, with 6 wounded.
Meanwhile, the initial phase of fighting between Jews and Arabs was winding down and ended on July 15, after the Security Council threatened to cite the Arab governments for aggression under the UN Charter. By this time, the fledgling IDF had succeeded in stopping the Arab offensive.
Bernadotte Goes Down with His Plan
During the summer of 1948, the United Nations sent Count Folke Bernadotte, a Swede, to Palestine to mediate a truce and try to negotiate a settlement. Bernadotte’s plan called for the Jewish state to relinquish the Negev and Jerusalem to Transjordan and to receive the western Galilee in return. These proposed new boundaries were similar to those that had been suggested prior to the partition vote. They had been rejected by all sides then—and they were again.
The failure of the Bernadotte scheme came as the Jews were becoming more successful in repelling the invading Arab forces and expanding their control over territory outside the partition boundaries.
* * *
Sage Sayings
The Palestinian Arabs have at present no will of their own. Neither have they ever developed any specifically Palestinian nationalism. The demand for a separate Arab state in Palestine is consequently relatively weak. It would seem as though in existing circumstances most of the Palestinian Arabs would be quite content to be incorporated in Transjordan.
—Folke Bernadotte, from his diary, To Jerusalem
* * *
Even though his plan had no support from the parties in the region, the remaining members of the Lehi saw Bernadotte as a threat to its goal of an independent Israel with expanded territory on both sides of the Jordan River. They considered him a Nazi collaborator and a British pawn, neither of which was true, and they assassinated him on September 16. Immediately after the killing, Ben-Gurion denounced it and ordered the arrest of all members of Lehi and the group was disbanded. No one, however, was ever convicted for the murder.
* * *
Ask the Sphinx
Irgun leader Menachem Begin later became prime minister of Israel. He was succeeded by one of the top officials of the Lehi, Yitzhak Shamir. Although he has consistently denied playing a role, Shamir is generally believed to have been involved in ordering the murder of Bernadotte.
* * *
The Search for Guns
The Jews won their war of independence with minimal help from the West. In fact, they won despite efforts to undermine their military strength. As noted earlier, the United States vigorously supported the partition resolution, but the state department didn’t want to supply the Jews with arms. “Otherwise,” Undersecretary of State Robert Lovett argued, “the Arabs might use arms of U.S. origin against Jews, or Jews might use them against Arabs.” Consequently, on December 5, 1947, the United States imposed an arms embargo on the entire region.
Many in the state department saw the embargo as yet another means of accomplishing their goal of obstructing partition. President Truman nevertheless went along with the embargo, hoping it would be a means of averting bloodshed. This was naive given Great Britain’s rejection of Lovett’s request to suspend weapons shipments to the Arabs and subsequent agreements to provide additional arms to Iraq
and Transjordan.
The Arabs had no difficulty obtaining all the arms they needed. In fact, Jordan’s Arab Legion was armed and trained by the British and led by a British officer. At the end of 1948 and the beginning of 1949, British RAF planes flew with Egyptian squadrons over the Israel-Egypt border. On January 7, 1949, Israeli planes shot down four of the British aircraft.
The Jews, on the other hand, were forced to smuggle weapons, principally from Czechoslovakia. When Israel declared its independence in May 1948, the army did not have a single cannon or tank. Its air force consisted of nine obsolete planes. On the eve of the war, Chief of Operations Yigal Yadin told Ben-Gurion, “The best we can tell you is that we have a 50-50 chance.”
After beating those odds over a period of more than nine months, the cost of the fighting was draining Israel, and international pressure began to be applied on Ben-Gurion to accept a cease-fire. The Arab armies were also exhausted and their leaders eager to end the fighting. At the end of December 1948, both sides accepted the UN’s call for a truce. Though some fighting continued, the war was essentially over and UN–mediated negotiations began to make the truce permanent.
None of the Arab countries were prepared to negotiate a peace agreement with Israel. They were willing only to formalize the truce in armistice agreements. Egypt signed the first of these agreements with Israel on February 24, 1949; followed by Lebanon (March 23), Jordan (April 3), and Syria (July 20). Iraq was the only country that did not sign an agreement with Israel, choosing instead to hand over the Palestinian territory its troops controlled to Jordan’s Arab Legion. It would be 30 years before an Arab state would agree to make peace with Israel.
No War, No Peace
The Arab war to destroy Israel failed. Had the West enforced the partition resolution or given the Jews the capacity to defend themselves, many lives might have been saved. Indeed, because of their aggression, the Arabs wound up with less territory than they would have had if they had accepted partition. No new Arab state emerged. Instead, part of what was to have been the Palestinian state, what later became popularly known as the West Bank, was occupied by Jordan, as was half of Jerusalem. The Gaza Strip, which had also been part of the Arab state under partition, was occupied by Egypt. Hundreds of thousands of Palestinian Arabs became refugees and more than 4,000 Arabs from the invading armies died in combat.
The cost to Israel was enormous. A total of 6,373 Israelis were killed, nearly 1 percent of the entire Palestinian Jewish population of 650,000. Military expenditures totaled approximately $500 million, and the prospect of recouping the financial loss was bleak, given that much of the Jewish state’s most productive agricultural land was laid waste. In particular, the citrus groves that had been the basis for the Jewish community’s economy had been ravaged.
On the positive side for Israel, its military victories had allowed it to increase the size of its territory by about 21 percent from that envisioned in the partition agreement. Instead of the partition checkerboard, it now had a contiguous territory stretching from Eilat at the tip of the Negev desert and the Red Sea in the south up to the border of Lebanon and Syria in the north. Israel lost the Old City of Jerusalem, but captured the western half of the city and most of the surrounding area.
After decisively defeating all but Jordan’s Arab Legion, Israel expected its neighbors to accept its independence as a fact and negotiate peace. This was not to be.
The Least You Need to Know
Arabs used violence to try to prevent the implementation of the Palestinian partition.
Israel declared independence on May 14, 1948; five Arab armies invaded the following day.
The Jews’ ability to defend themselves was hampered by a U.S. arms boycott. Great Britain prevented Israel from importing weapons, while arming the Arabs.
Israel survived the war at great human and economic cost, but the peace treaties it expected to sign with the Arabs never materialized.
Part 4
A State for the Jews
A half-century of conflict between Jews and Palestinians follows the 1948 war, in which Israel wins its independence. Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians become refugees. Part 4 explores why that happened and what happened to these people. It also offers a reminder about the often-overlooked Jewish refugees who fled Arab countries and were welcomed in Israel.
This part contains an analysis of the early development of Israel, the ingathering of Jews from around the world, and the difficulties of reconciling the desire to become a democracy with the necessity of maintaining the unique character of a Jewish state. This new state also must cope with continuing threats from its neighbors. Ultimately, Israel decides it must go to war with Egypt—in a campaign that results in another military victory, but a political defeat when the United States forces it to give up the territory it wins.
You’ll also read about the development of Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and Jordan, and the increasing involvement of the United States in the region’s affairs, which ultimately leads to a deployment of U.S. troops to Lebanon to protect American interests there.
Chapter 11
The Wanted and the Unwanted
In This Chapter
Palestinians flee their homes
No future for Jews in Arab lands
The United Nations creates a welfare system for Palestinians
Arab states use Palestinian refugees as a weapon
Even before the fighting in Palestine began, a population shift began to occur. Although the doors remained barred by the British until the day of Israel’s independence—and to some extent afterward—Jews from around the world tried to make their way to the Jewish homeland. By contrast, Arabs began to leave, first in a trickle and eventually in a flood.
The population transfer that occurred during and after the war has left a lasting impact. The Jews who came to Israel helped to build the state and contributed to its growth. The Palestinians who fled became bitter wards of the international community and, to this day, seek to return to their original homes.
For the past 50 years, Arabs have maintained that the Jews drove the Palestinians from their homes, while Jews have been equally insistent that the Arabs left willingly. Perhaps it is not surprising that the truth lies somewhere in between.
Fleeing the War
The Palestinians left their homes in 1947 and 1948 for many reasons. Thousands of wealthy Arabs left in anticipation of a war, thousands more responded to Arab leaders’ calls to get out of the way of the advancing armies, a handful were expelled, but most simply fled to avoid being caught in the crossfire of a battle. Had the Arabs accepted the 1947 UN resolution, not a single
Palestinian would have become a refugee, and an independent Arab state would share an anniversary celebration with Israel each May.
* * *
Sage Sayings
The Arabs thought they would win in less than the twinkling of an eye and that it would take no more than a day or two from the time the Arab armies crossed the border until all the colonies were conquered, and the enemy would throw down his arms and cast himself on their mercy.
—Aref el-Aref, Palestinian nationalist
* * *
The beginning of the Arab exodus can be traced to the weeks immediately following the announcement of the UN partition resolution. The first to leave were roughly 30,000 wealthy Arabs who anticipated the upcoming war and fled to neighboring Arab countries to await its end. Less-affluent Arabs from the mixed cities of Palestine moved to all-Arab towns to stay with relatives or friends. All of those who left fully anticipated being able to return to their homes after an early Arab victory.
By the end of January 1948, the exodus was so alarming that the Palestine Arab Higher Committee asked neighboring Arab countries to refuse visas to these refugees and to seal the borders against them.
Caught in the Middle
Meanwhile, Jewish leaders urged the Arabs to remain in Palestine and become citizens of Israel.
On November 30, the day af
ter the UN partition vote, the Jewish Agency announced, “The main theme behind the spontaneous celebrations we are witnessing today is our community’s desire to seek peace and its determination to achieve fruitful cooperation with the Arabs.”
Israel’s Proclamation of Independence, issued May 14, 1948, also invited the Palestinians to remain in their homes and become equal citizens in the new state:
In the midst of wanton aggression, we yet call upon the Arab inhabitants of the State of Israel to preserve the ways of peace and play their part in the development of the state, on the basis of full and equal citizenship and due representation in all its bodies and institutions. We extend our hand in peace and neighborliness to all the neighboring states and their peoples, and invite them to cooperate with the independent Jewish nation for the common good of all.
Throughout the period that preceded the May 15 invasion of the Arab regular armies, Arabs engaged in large-scale military engagements, incessant sniping, robberies, and bombings. In view of the thousands of Jewish casualties that resulted from the pre-invasion violence, it is not surprising that many Arabs would have fled out of fear for their lives.
Please Don’t Go
The second phase of the Arab flight began after the Jewish forces started to register military victories against Arab irregulars. Among the victories were the battles for Tiberias and Haifa (discussed in the next section), which were accompanied by the evacuation of the Arab inhabitants.
The Complete Idiot's Guide to Middle East Conflict Page 20