| Revision as of 13:30, 7 June 2007 view sourceIt's-is-not-a-genitive (talk | contribs)3,787 edits →Violent uprising← Previous edit | Revision as of 13:33, 7 June 2007 view source It's-is-not-a-genitive (talk | contribs)3,787 editsm →Violent uprisingNext edit → | ||
| Line 21: | Line 21: | ||
| In all the mixed zones where both communities lived, particularly ] and ], increasingly violent attacks, reprisals and counter-reprisals followed each other. Isolated shootings evolved into all-out ]s. Attacks against trafic, for instance, turned into ambushes as one bloody attack led to another. For example, on ], in Haifa, members of the clandestine militant Zionist group, Irgun, threw two bombs at a crowd of Arab workers who were queueing in front of a refinery, killing 6 of them and injuring 42. An angry crowd killed 39 Jewish people in revenge, until British soldiers reestablished calm<ref>], p.30 </ref><sup>,</sup><ref>] of 31 December 1947 : </ref>. In reprisals, some soldiers from the strike force, ] and the Carmel brigade, attacked the village of Balad-al-Sheikh and Hawassa. According to different historians, this attack led to between 21 and 70 deaths<ref>], p.101</ref>. | In all the mixed zones where both communities lived, particularly ] and ], increasingly violent attacks, reprisals and counter-reprisals followed each other. Isolated shootings evolved into all-out ]s. Attacks against trafic, for instance, turned into ambushes as one bloody attack led to another. For example, on ], in Haifa, members of the clandestine militant Zionist group, Irgun, threw two bombs at a crowd of Arab workers who were queueing in front of a refinery, killing 6 of them and injuring 42. An angry crowd killed 39 Jewish people in revenge, until British soldiers reestablished calm<ref>], p.30 </ref><sup>,</sup><ref>] of 31 December 1947 : </ref>. In reprisals, some soldiers from the strike force, ] and the Carmel brigade, attacked the village of Balad-al-Sheikh and Hawassa. According to different historians, this attack led to between 21 and 70 deaths<ref>], p.101</ref>. | ||
| On the ], ], supporters of ] organised, with the help of certain British deserters, three attacks against the Jewish community. Using ]s aimed at the headquarters of the pro-Zionist ], the Ben Yehuda St. market and the backyard of the Jewish Agency's offices, they killed 22, 53 and 13 Jewish people respectively, and injured hundreds<ref>], p.24 </ref><sup>,</sup><ref>], p.36</ref>. In a counter-attack, ] put a ] on the railroad track in ] on which a train from ] to ] was travelling, killing 28 British soldiers and injuring 35<ref>The Times, 1 |
On the ], ], supporters of ] organised, with the help of certain British deserters, three attacks against the Jewish community. Using ]s aimed at the headquarters of the pro-Zionist ], the Ben Yehuda St. market and the backyard of the Jewish Agency's offices, they killed 22, 53 and 13 Jewish people respectively, and injured hundreds<ref>], p.24 </ref><sup>,</sup><ref>], p.36</ref>. In a counter-attack, ] put a ] on the railroad track in ] on which a train from ] to ] was travelling, killing 28 British soldiers and injuring 35<ref>The Times, ], ]</ref>. | ||
| ==Footnotes== | ==Footnotes== | ||
Revision as of 13:33, 7 June 2007
The 1947-48 Palestinian Civil War lasted from 30 November, 1947 to 14 May, 1948. The end of the war marked the end of the British mandate over Palestine. This period constitutes the first phase of the Arab-Israeli war, during which the Jewish community and the Arab community of Palestine clashed, whilst the British, who supposedly had the obligation to guarantee safety there, organised their withdrawal and intervened there only on an occasional basis. The following phase of the Arab-Israeli war began on the 15 May, 1948, after the creation of Israel, when the conflict in Palestine evolved into a war between Israel and several Arab neighbours. This article provides an exhaustive report of the various episodes and key events of the civil war period, followed by a summary.
Historical context
Since 1920, Palestine found itself under the control of a British administration, but the country became the object of a battle between Jewish Zionist nationalists and Palestinian Arab nationalists, who opposed one another just as much as they both opposed the British 'occupation.'
The Palestinian backlash culminated in the 1936–1939 Arab revolt in Palestine. Directed by Palestinian nationalists, those who participated in the uprising opposed Zionism, the British presence in Palestine and the Palestinian politicians who called for pan-Arabic nationalism at the same time. Both the British and the Zionist organisations of the time acted unfavourably to this backlash; nonetheless, the Palestinian nationalists did obtain from the British a draconian reduction of Jewish immigration, legislated by the White Paper of 1939. However, the consequences of the uprising were heavy. Nearly 5000 Arabs and 500 Jewish people died; the various paramilitary Zionist organisations were reinforced, and the majority of the members of the Palestinian political élite exiled themselves, such as the noted anti-Semite Mohammad Amin al-Husayni, chief of the Arab High Committee, who took refuge in Nazi Germany, where he would help to recruit Muslims for the Waffen-SS.
After World War 2 and the horrors of The Holocaust, the Zionist movement attracted sympathy. In Palestine, right-wing Zionist groups fought against the British. occupation. The Palestinian nationalists reorganized themselves, but their organisation remained inferior to that of the Zionists. Nevertheless, the weakening of the colonial British Empire reinforced Arabic countries and the Arab League for the future war against newly-founded Israel.
Diplomacy failed to reconcile the different points of view concerning the future of Palestine. On 18 February, 1947, the British announced their withdrawal from the region. Later that year, on the 29 November, the General Assembly of the United Nations voted for a partition plan with the support of the big global powers, but not that of Britain nor the Arabic nations.
Beginning of the Civil war (30 November, 1947 - 1 April, 1948)
In the aftermath of the adoption of the United Nations' partition plan, the manifestations of joy of the Jewish community were counterbalanced by protests by Arabs throughout the country and after the 1 December, the Arab Higher Committee enacted a general strike that lasted three days.
A 'wind of violence' rapidly took hold of the country, foreboding civil war between the two communities.
Violent uprising
In all the mixed zones where both communities lived, particularly Jerusalem and Haifa, increasingly violent attacks, reprisals and counter-reprisals followed each other. Isolated shootings evolved into all-out battles. Attacks against trafic, for instance, turned into ambushes as one bloody attack led to another. For example, on December 30, in Haifa, members of the clandestine militant Zionist group, Irgun, threw two bombs at a crowd of Arab workers who were queueing in front of a refinery, killing 6 of them and injuring 42. An angry crowd killed 39 Jewish people in revenge, until British soldiers reestablished calm. In reprisals, some soldiers from the strike force, Palmach and the Carmel brigade, attacked the village of Balad-al-Sheikh and Hawassa. According to different historians, this attack led to between 21 and 70 deaths.
On the 22 February, 1948, supporters of Mohammad Amin al-Husayni organised, with the help of certain British deserters, three attacks against the Jewish community. Using car bombs aimed at the headquarters of the pro-Zionist Jerusalem Post, the Ben Yehuda St. market and the backyard of the Jewish Agency's offices, they killed 22, 53 and 13 Jewish people respectively, and injured hundreds. In a counter-attack, Lehi put a landmine on the railroad track in Rehovot on which a train from Cairo to Haifa was travelling, killing 28 British soldiers and injuring 35.
Footnotes
- Extracts from Time Magazine of that time
- Yoav Gelber (2006), p.17
- This expression is taken from Ilan Pappé (2000), p.111
- Benny Morris (2003), p.65
- Efraïm Karsh (2002), p.30
- The Palestine Post of 31 December 1947 : Archives of the newspaper
- Benny Morris (2003), p.101
- Yoav Gelber (2006), p.24
- Efraïm Karsh (2002), p.36
- The Times, 1 March, 1948
Sources
Principal sources
- Yoav Gelber, Palestine 1948, Sussex Academic Press, Brighton, 2006, ISBN 1845190750
- Ilan Pappé, La guerre de 1948 en Palestine, La fabrique éditions, 2000, ISBN 226404036X
- Efraïm Karsh, The Arab-Israeli Conflit - The Palestine War 1948, Osprey Publishing, 2002, ISBN 1841763721
- Alain Gresh et Dominique Vidal, Palestine 47, un partage avorté, Editions Complexe, 1994, ISBN 2870275218.
- Dominique Lapierre et Larry Collins, O Jérusalem, Robert Laffont, 1971, ISBN 2266106988
- Benny Morris, The Birth Of The Palestinian Refugee Problem Revisited, Cambridge University Press, 2003, ISBN 0521009677
- Benny Morris, Histoire revisitée du conflit arabo-sioniste, Editions complexe, 2003, ISBN 2870279388
- Bickerton, Ian and Hill, Maria (2003). Contested Spaces: The Arab-Israeli Conflict. McGraw-Hill. ISBN 0074712179
- Eugène Rogan, Avi Shlaim et al., La guerre de Palestine 1948 : derrière le mythe, Autrement, 2002, ISBN 2746702401
- Henry Laurens, Paix et guerre au Moyen-Orient, Armand Colin, Paris, 2005, ISBN 2200269773
- Pierre Razoux, Tsahal, nouvelle histoire de l'armée israélienne, Perrin, 2006, ISBN 226202328X
Secondary sources
- Jon et David Kimché, A clash of destinies, The Arab-Jewish War and the founding of the state of Israel, Praeger, New-York, 1960,
- Elie Barnavi, Une histoire moderne d'Israël, Champs / Flammarion, 1988, ISBN 2080812467
- Yitzhak Rabin, Mémoires, Buchet/Chastel, 1980,
- Ahron Bregman, Israel's Wars: A History Since 1947, 2002, London: Routledge. ISBN 0415287162
Other sources
- Uri Milstein, History of Israel's War of Independence: A Nation Girds for War, vol.1, University Press of America, 1996, ISBN 0761803726
- Uri Milstein, History of Israel's War of Independence: The First Month, vol.2, University Press of America, 1997, ISBN 0761807217
- Uri Milstein, History of Israel's War of Independence: The First Invasion, vol.3, University Press of America, 1999, ISBN 0761807691
- Uri Milstein, History of Israel's War of Independence: Out of Crisis Came Decision, vol.4, University Press of America, 1999, ISBN 0761814892
- Salim Tamari, Jérusalem 1948 : Les faubourgs arabes et leur destin durant la guerre, Institut des études palestiniennes, 2002, ISBN 9953900191
Online sources
- Daleth's Plan from mideastweb.org
Online documents
- United Nations Special Commission, First special Report to the Security Council : The Problem of Security in Palestine, 16 avril 1948, from the United Nations website.
- Palestine remembered Palestinian view.
- Jewish Virtual Library Jewish view.
Filmography
- Elie Chouraqui, Ô Jérusalem, 2006.