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Founding of Israel and the 1948 Arab–Israeli war
May 14, 1948; war 1948–49 (for Palestinians, the Nakba, 'catastrophe')· Event· Middle East & Africa
DebatedHistorians or scientists disagree about what happened, when, or why.
Israel declared independence in May 1948; the war that followed secured the new state and displaced most of Palestine's Arabs.
See it on the History map →What happened
As Britain prepared to leave its Palestine Mandate, the UN voted in November 1947 to split it into Jewish and Arab states. Jewish leaders accepted; Arab leaders rejected the plan, and fighting began. David Ben-Gurion declared Israel on May 14, 1948, and Egypt, Jordan, Syria, Iraq and Lebanon invaded. By the 1949 armistices Israel held about 78% of the former Mandate. About 700,000 Palestinians fled or were expelled, which Palestinians call the Nakba ('catastrophe').
Why it matters
It created the first Jewish state in nearly 2,000 years and a Palestinian refugee problem still unresolved, a core issue in the Arab–Israeli conflict.
How we know
UN records, the declaration itself, refugee testimony, and Israeli military archives opened in the 1980s, which 'New Historians' such as Benny Morris used to revise older accounts.
Still debated
How far Palestinians fled the fighting versus were driven out, and whether expulsion was planned policy, is the core dispute; Israeli and Palestinian narratives differ sharply.
Connections (3)
▸The Holocaust spurred support for the Founding of Israel and the 1948 Arab–Israeli warMostly agreed
The connection
Zionism, the movement for a Jewish homeland, began in the 1890s, but the murder of six million Jews convinced many that Jews needed a state of their own. About 250,000 Jewish survivors were stranded in displaced-persons camps after the war, and Western sympathy grew. This helped win the 1947 UN partition vote.
When and how
Europe and Palestine, 1945–1948; Britain turned back refugee ships such as the Exodus (1947), drawing world attention.
How sure are we?
UN debates, US and British records and survivors' immigration show the link; historians agree it mattered, while noting Zionist institutions already existed in Palestine.
Debates and open questions
How decisive the Holocaust was, versus decades of Zionist building and Britain's exit, is debated. Palestinians argue they paid the price for Europe's crime.
▸United Nations voted to partition Palestine before the Founding of Israel and the 1948 Arab–Israeli warWell documented
The connection
Britain handed the Palestine problem to the new UN. On November 29, 1947, the General Assembly voted 33 to 13 to partition the territory into Jewish and Arab states, with Jerusalem under international rule. Jewish leaders accepted; Arab states and Palestinian leaders rejected it. Fighting broke out at once, and Israel declared independence as Britain left.
When and how
Flushing Meadows, New York, November 29, 1947: Resolution 181, backed by both the US and the Soviet Union.
How we know
The vote and debates are recorded, and Israel's declaration of independence cites the UN resolution.
Debates and open questions
Whether partition was fair to the Arab majority, then about two-thirds of the population, and whether it could ever have worked peacefully, are debated.
▸Founding of Israel and the 1948 Arab–Israeli war invoked ancient ties to the Kingdoms of Israel and JudahMostly agreed
The connection
Zionism, the movement for a Jewish state, based its claim partly on the ancient kingdoms of Israel and Judah and the continuing Jewish bond with the land. Israel's 1948 Declaration of Independence opens with that history. Palestinian Arabs, the majority in 1948, rejected ancient history as grounds for a state, citing their own centuries of continuous residence.
When and how
Tel Aviv, May 14, 1948, in the declaration read by David Ben-Gurion; the argument built on Zionist thinking from the 1890s onward.
How sure are we?
The Declaration begins 'The Land of Israel was the birthplace of the Jewish people'; revived Hebrew, place names and state symbols draw on that ancient past.
Debates and open questions
How ancient history should bear on modern claims is politically disputed, and archaeology in Jerusalem and the West Bank is itself contested.