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Revision as of 12:52, 7 June 2007 by It's-is-not-a-genitive (talk | contribs) (→Historical context)(diff) ← Previous revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff)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.
Footnotes
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.