1948 Arab-Israeli War
The day after Israel declared independence on 14 May 1948, the armies of Egypt, Jordan, Syria, Iraq, and Lebanon invaded, beginning the first Arab-Israeli War (known in Israel as the War of Independence, in Arabic as the Nakba — 'catastrophe'). The Arab states aimed to prevent the establishment of a Jewish state and assist Palestinian Arabs; Israel aimed to survive within whatever borders could be defended. The war lasted until 1949 armistice agreements, leaving Israel in control of 78% of the former British Mandate — more than the 1947 UN partition plan had allocated — while Jordan held the West Bank and Egypt held the Gaza Strip. The Palestinian Arab population was catastrophically displaced: approximately 700,000 Palestinians fled or were expelled, becoming refugees in surrounding Arab states and within Gaza and the West Bank. Their villages were demolished or resettled by Jewish immigrants; the 'right of return' became a permanent point of contention. The war established the territorial and demographic facts of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict that subsequent decades of diplomacy, war, and negotiation have been unable to resolve.
- Year: 1948 CE
- Category: Military
