Battles & Wars › Cold War › Arab–Israeli wars
1948 Arab–Israeli War
May 1948 – March 1949· War· Middle East & Africa
Well documentedSolid records, physical evidence or scientific consensus.
The war around Israel's founding, which Israelis call the War of Independence and Palestinians the Nakba ('catastrophe').
See it on the Battles & Wars map →What happened
In November 1947 the UN voted to partition British Palestine into Jewish and Arab states. Jewish leaders accepted; Arab leaders rejected the plan, and civil war broke out. When Israel declared independence on May 14, 1948, Egypt, Transjordan, Syria, Iraq and Lebanon invaded. Israel held and expanded its territory. The 1949 armistices left Jordan holding the West Bank and Egypt holding Gaza. About 700,000 Palestinian Arabs fled or were expelled. Israel lost about 6,000 dead; Arab losses are less certain.
Why it matters
It created the State of Israel, the Palestinian refugee problem and the armistice lines (the 'Green Line') still referred to in peace talks today.
How we know
Declassified Israeli, British and UN archives, the 1949 armistice agreements, UN refugee agency (UNRWA) registrations, and memoirs and oral histories from both sides.
Still debated
How far Palestinian flight was driven by deliberate expulsion rather than fear and fighting is debated, especially since historian Benny Morris's archival work in the 1980s.
Connections (2)
▸The Holocaust boosted support for the Jewish state that fought 1948 Arab–Israeli WarMostly agreed
The connection
The murder of about six million Jews convinced many Jews and much of the world that Jews needed a state of their own. Hundreds of thousands of survivors were stranded in displaced-persons camps; many reached Palestine, some fighting in 1948. Sympathy helped win the 1947 UN partition vote and quick US and Soviet recognition of Israel.
When and how
Europe and Palestine, 1945–1948: displaced-persons camps in Germany and Austria, the UN partition vote on November 29, 1947, and Israel's declaration on May 14, 1948.
How sure are we?
Diplomatic records, the 1947 UN committee's visits to displaced-persons camps, and immigration figures document the link; Zionism itself predated the Holocaust by decades.
Debates and open questions
How decisive the Holocaust was, versus decades of Zionist state-building and Britain's withdrawal, is debated; Palestinians stress they paid for crimes committed in Europe.
▸1948 Arab–Israeli War began Arab–Israeli warsWell documented
The connection
The 1948 war left key issues unresolved: no Arab state recognized Israel, borders were only armistice lines, and about 700,000 Palestinian refugees were not allowed to return. Border raids and reprisals followed, setting the stage for the 1956, 1967 and 1973 wars.
When and how
Israel and its neighbors, 1949–1956; armistices signed in 1949, starting on the island of Rhodes, with Egypt, Lebanon, Jordan and Syria.
How we know
The 1949 armistice agreements, UN resolutions such as Resolution 194 on refugees, and records of the border clashes that followed.
Debates and open questions
Whether peace was possible after 1949, for example through secret talks with Jordan's King Abdullah, is debated.