Refugees from Friedland transit camp, 1945

1946

– From January, the ships carrying Haganah illegal immigrants – Holocaust survivors – were captured by the British and imprisoned in Atlit near Haifa. The Jews began a series of actions, carrying out assassinations on traffic routes, in police stations, and on radar stations. In July, the Irgun and the Lehi blew the headquarters of the British High Command, the King David Hotel. The Jewish mainstream separated itself from the assassination. Meanwhile, the Haganah had designated eleven populated areas in Negev to accommodate immigrants. In August, the British Government announced that the illegal immigrants would be deported into internment camps in Cyprus. In December, at the Zionist Congress, the activist party won; Chaim Weizmann was replaced by Ben Gurion.

1947

– An extraordinary session began in the UN in April to discuss the Palestine-issue. On May 15, a fact-finding committee was formed. From France, the Exodus 1947 set sail on July 11 with 4,500 Jewish survivors. The ship was captured by the British offshore, and in a battle with several victims, the refugees were forced to return to Germany. The case caused a huge storm among Western governments. On November 29, the UN General Assembly adopted a two-state proposal on the division of Palestine. According to the Resolution 181, the land was divided into an Arab and a Jewish state, while Jerusalem was proposed for international administration. The draft was accepted by the Jews but rejected by the Arabs and incited a rebellion against the UN resolution. On November 30, Arabs attacked a bus on the way to Jerusalem; in December, many assassinations were performed in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv.

The blown up King David hotel

1948

– In January, the Jews beat off many Arab attacks against kibbutzim. In February, further clashes occurred, the Arabs performed an assassination in Jerusalem. In response to the Arab atrocities, in April the Irgun and the Lehi occupied the Arab village, Deir Yassin and many other settlements in the North. The British evacuated Jerusalem in response to the riots. The Arab population began a mass flee from the fighting. Ben Gurion proclaimed, with political foresight, at the end of the British mandate on May 14 in Tel Aviv, the independence of the State of Israel, which was immediately supported by the United States and the Soviet Union. With the departure of the British chief commander, the United Arab troops were immediately ready to attack, and on the border Egyptian, Transjordanian, Iraqi, Syrian and Lebanese troops appeared, occupying many locations and thus starting the first Arab-Israeli war (independence war). Meanwhile, Israel was reorganizing its military powers: the IDF (TZAHAL = Israel Defense Forces) was formed. The Jewish quarter of the Old Town in Jerusalem was captured by the Arabs, but then recaptured by the Israeli forces. In August, Israel declared Jerusalem an “occupied area” and appointed a military governor to head the city. The Security Council called for a ceasefire. The first census of the State of Israel took place in November: when 712,000 Jewish – out of which 100,000 in Jerusalem – and 69,000 Arabs lived in the country.

Declaration of independence of the State of Israel

Birth of the State of Israel

Ben Gurion

The War of Independence

1949

– In January, the Egyptian government started a ceasefire negotiation and on the 7th the independence war came to an end. Israel won the impossible war, but East-Jerusalem with the Old Town and the Temple Mount was under the control of Jordan; though West-Jerusalem belonged to Israel. The first Parliament election of the State of Israel took place in 1949. Chaim Weizmann was elected as State President, and he asked Ben Gurion to set up a government. On May 11, Israel became a member of the UN. In December, the UN attempted to declare Jerusalem to have an international status, but Israel rejected it, saying neither Israel nor Jerusalem was protected from Arab aggression despite the split decision of the UN. On January 1, 1950, Jerusalem was declared as the capital city of the State of Israel.

President Chaim Weizmann

Refugee issue

After the event of 1947–48, around 550-660,000 Arabs fled from the land of Israel to Transjordan, Lebanon, Iraq, Syria, Egypt and the Gaza Strip where people speaking the same language, living in the same religion and culture were not welcomed by the Arab states but were deported into refugee camps. Refugees later grew to millions upon a natural increase. In parallel, the Arab states forced their Jewish inhabitants to leave their homes. From these states, Israel received 567,654 Jews, giving them homes and work. So about as many Arabs left Israel as many Jews left the Arab states. In other words, there was simply a change of people and the refugee question was artificially aroused by the Arabs, without accepting either Israeli compensation of the UN Resettlement of 1950. On July 19, 1957, a radio in Cairo announced: “Refugees are the cornerstone of the Arab struggle against Israel. Refugees carry many weapons in the hands of Arabs and Arab nationalism.”