Phases of the war

2. Phases of the war • 15th May to 11th June • UN imposed ceasefire: both sides used this time to arm themselves, especially Israel • 9th July to 19th July fighting resumes • 2nd ceasefire : Bernadotte plan • Unacceptable to both • Bernadotte assassinated by Lehi • Fighting resumes sporadically from September to January 1949 • Egypt pushed back into borders and Israel forced to withdraw. • Armistice talks in January 1949

3. Interpretation of the war • Key disagreements about the nature of the war • Role of British Policy • The military balance itself • Origins of the Palestinian Refugee problem • Israeli Jordanian relations • Arab war aims • The historiography itself is not new what is new is the interpretation of the war: Was it really such a David and Goliath struggle as it is made out to e?

4. Inconclusive debate • Has generated much debate between old and new historians • The new historians contradict the old versions • Claim that their work is based on archival documents • Attempts to analzse the situation rather than a knee jerk response to the situation on the ground • New historians are deeply critical of Ben Gurion and his biographer ShabtaiTeveth to lionize him

5. Debate of ‘old’ vs ‘new’ Leads to a new interpretation of the causes of the war itself Questions the heroic David vs Goliath motive Questions the nature of the war itself.

6. The road to the Second Arab Israeli Conflict • Results of the Arab Israeli War • Armistice agreement s with Lebanon Syria and Jordan • These defined Israel’s borders until 1967 • Armistice arrangement was seen as the forerunner to peace. The Armistice Demarcation Line was not to be construed as a political or territorial boundary and was delineated without prejudice to rights claims and position of either Party to the Armistice as regards the ultimate settlement of the Palestine problem.

7. Israel’s position at the end of the war • Territory increase by 21% • Demographic make-up 716,700 Jews • 591,400 were Askenazy • 105,000 were Sephardic • 165,00 Arabs

8. Arab Position Increase in sizes Transjordan gained the West Bank Egypt gained the Gaza Strip Palestinian Arab refugee problem Division of Palestinian Arab population

9. Charles Smith: Palestine and the Arab Israel Conflict The conclusion of the armistice agreements between Israel and the Arab states introduced an era of no war no peace: technically a state of belligerency, A major stumbling block was the Palestinian Arab refugees . Israel ignored calls to permit some to return to their homes or tied its acceptance to the conclusion of peace agreements with Arab governments, who called for a return to 1947 arrangements.. Israel chose to object to this. IN general Israel found itself in a hostile environment

11. Line of demarcation Gave a sense of impermanence to Israel’s borders with her Arab neighbours But came to be accepted as borders by the Arab states

12. Post war Israel 1st general elections held in Israel Confirmation of Israeli statehood. IN 1949 USS officially recognized Israel. Granted loans from the Ex-Im Bank Israel admitted as a member of the UN

13. Summing up changes In 4 years things had changed for Israel. 4 years earlier statehood looked like an unlikely possibility For the Palestinians it was al Nakba: the disaster It marked the pattern of the Arab Israeli conflict. One key issue: ‘the right of return’

14. Israel after the 1948 War Israel self –confident, the armistice had expanded her borders considerably. This was a testament to its superior armed forces Gained Galilee and Western parts of Jerusalem with a land corridor to the coast. In 1949 Israel was a more coherent state than what was envisaged in the UN Partition

15. Israel post 1949 Israel still fearful for her security since her new borders were only provisional. Israel technically at war with her enemies. This meant that Israel had to be in a permanent state of military preparedness Also the other problem it faced was the influx of refugees

16. Law of Return In 1950, the Israeli parliament the Knesset passed this law It confirmed the right of every Jew to permanent settlement in the country. This followed two years later by the Citizenship Law, which gave immigrants the immediate right of citizenship

17. Impact of Law of Return A huge demographic shift From Europe there were about 304,044 immigrants arrived, and from the USSR only 4698 refugees arrived. However by 1945 there had been a change on the ground Mass migration of African and Middle Eastern Jews Between 1948-1951 there were close to 232,583 immigrants who came from the Middle East, 92,510 came from Northern Africa

18. Shift in Demographics Prior to the Holocaust , Middle Eastern Jews formed about 8% of the total number of Jews worldwide but following the War, they came to make up an approximate majority

19. Forging a nation For Israel the biggest challenge it faced in this period was forging a nation The Middle Eastern Jews who came here had very different needs from the physically weakened and emotionally scarred inmates of Hitler's death camps Not all of them were able to contribute to Israel's productive capacity

20. Israel’s economy Contained very little by way of economic resources, other than the Dead Sea minerals. No resources that could boost economic development Emphasis in the post war was the housing development boom, while it did create jobs, it did not contribute to the growth of the economic sector.

21. Israel’s economic strain Need for funding led it request for a loan from the American Export Import Bank In 1949 after the end of the war, the US granted Israel 35 million to assist agriculture and basic infrastructure These loans made Israel vulnerable to American pressure Israels other problem was that funding from Jewish agencies was f=gnin

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