Why was the State of Israel successfully established in 1948?
Why was the State of Israel successfully established in 1948?The State of Israel was formally established in May 1948. The creation of a Jewish homeland fulfilled an ancient desire within the Jewish community for their own independent state, however its creation was largely due to a culmination of a series of factors during the first half of the 20th century that lead to the establishment of the Israeli state in 1948, identifying these factors will form the first part of this essay. The second part of this essay will focus on Israel's continued successful establishment as an autonomous state through 1948 following the Declaration of Independence as Israel faced attack from its Arab neighbours. It is necessary to examine Israel’s actions during this time as its survival during this period is the best example of Israel having been successfully established.The Zionist movement was integral to the establishment of Israel, scholar Michael Wolffsohn arguing that its creation was primarily due to the political, economic, social and military achievements of its founders. (1) They were responsible for bringing the issue of a Jewish homeland to the forefront of global politics in the 20th century. The Zionists believed that the Jews were so different from other races that they could not live with other people and therefore needed their own independent Jewishstate to live in, preferably Palestine. (2) The World Zionist Organisation encouraged Jews to emigrate to Palestine to increase the density of the Jewish population in Palestine and also to strengthen Jewish national sentiment and consciousness (3). The increase in the Jewish population would give theJews a greater say over the territory and would enable them to deal with Palestinian opposition moreeffectively.The Zionist movement desperately sought international recognition of Jewish rights to Palestine.Throughout the early part of the 20th century, Zionist leaders such as Chaim Weizmann used politicallobbying to try and convince the British government that it was in their best interest to support the Zionist cause. In return for Jewish support during the war, the British made the Balfour Declaration which formally acknowledged the ancient link between the Jewish people and the land of Palestine (4).Following World War One, The League of Nations Council and the American Congress gave similar public signs of support; backing the eventual "establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people" (5) These public declarations dramatically changed the status of the Zionist cause, giving their ambitions for Palestine a strong, legal, grounding. These post-war developments were a major step toward a secure, internationally recognised homeland for the Jewish people.The 1920s saw the creation of a Jewish agency, the purpose of which was to represent the Jews in theirdealings with the British. The Jewish agency which was dominated by leading Zionists made the dream of an Israeli state a reality as it effectively created a Jewish "state" within a state. As the Jewish Agency became more powerful it gave the Jews of Palestine their own political institutions, tax system, economic policy, labour unions, school system and health system. These organisations were at the centre of an increasingly autonomous Jewish state within the British Mandate and by creating the Jewish agency in the form of an almost provisional government, it lay down the structuralfoundation for a Jewish state which was essential to Israel's survival after it had achieved independence. (6) Throughout the 1930s Britain adopted a far harsher policy to the Jews in Palestine, limiting immigration and strengthening links with the Arab nations. The Zionist movement was fully aware that British retreat from Palestine was essential to the creation of an independent Israeli state, as was a decreased Arab presence. The Zionist movement turned to violence to intimidate those that stood in its way. The most famous of these displays of violence was the bombing of the King David Hotel in Jerusalem in July 1946. The
brutal attack killed about ninety British, Arabs and Jews and more than two hundred others were injured. (7) Economically, politically and militarily weakened by the Second World War, Britain was scared byattacks such as at the King David Hotel and was concerned that any British policy viewed by the Arabs to be favourable to the Jews was damaging to Britain's relations with Arab states most notably Egypt, thereby placing Britain's essential future use of the Suez canal in jeopardy. Britain handed over theproblem of Palestine to the United Nations in 1947. The UN created a special committee of elevenmember states ...
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brutal attack killed about ninety British, Arabs and Jews and more than two hundred others were injured. (7) Economically, politically and militarily weakened by the Second World War, Britain was scared byattacks such as at the King David Hotel and was concerned that any British policy viewed by the Arabs to be favourable to the Jews was damaging to Britain's relations with Arab states most notably Egypt, thereby placing Britain's essential future use of the Suez canal in jeopardy. Britain handed over theproblem of Palestine to the United Nations in 1947. The UN created a special committee of elevenmember states to study the issues and report its recommendations called The UN Special Committee onPalestine (UNSCOP). (8). Violence also heightened the fear of Arabs living in Palestine. Zionist supported organisations, such asthe Haganah (Hebrew for Defence), headed by David Ben Gurion concocted a plan called Plan Daletwhich was a strategic operation to drive Arabs out of the territory granted to the Jews under the partition plan. (9) The most well known of these atrocities was in April 1948, when the Arab village of Deir Yassin was captured and following a brief battle with its defenders, all its inhabitants were killed. This contributed to a massive increase in the Arab exodus from Palestine which was vitally important to the creation and continued stability of a Jewish state; by the end of 1948 the number of Arab refugees from Israel was in excess of 720,000. (10).British hand over of the future of Palestine to the United Nations was hugely important to the creation of a Jewish state as it placed the hopes of the Zionist movement for an independent Jewish state in the hands of a global organisation at a time when most of the world was deeply sympathetic to the Jewish cause. Zionist political lobbying to the United Nations began in earnest. American Zionist Rabbi Hillel Silver was careful to emphasise the suffering that the Jews had endured over the centuries and most recently during the Holocaust (11). The Holocaust had created world-wide sympathy towards the Jews and many governments felt a Jewish state might prevent further outbreaks of anti-Semitism in Europe. However Britain's post war policy of preventing Jewish immigration to Palestine was also influential in creating sympathy for the Jews especially in America. This was best shown in July 1947, when Britain refused to allow 4,500 Jewish survivors of the Holocaust to land in Palestine. Across the world a vast wave of public sympathy for the Jews spread and in Palestine the Zionists were eager to capitalise upon it, David Ben Gurion telling those immigrants allowed entry "You are not only needy persons, you are a political force." (12).On November 29, 1947, the General Assembly of the United Nations passed a resolution calling for thepartitioning of Palestine into an Arab and a Jewish State. The partition plan received backing from many countries, most notably the United States and the USSR, one of the few instances where they publicly agreed during this time period. (13) However the resolution was greeted with anger by the Palestinians who wanted the entire territory. The Zionists knew that the British Mandate over Palestine was due to end on May 15, 1948 and that a coalition of Arab nations was planning to invade Palestine immediately after the British evacuation. If they succeeded then the likelihood of a Jewishstate in the Middle East would be dramatically reduced.Fearful of such an attack and what effect it might have on American-Arab relations and more importantly Arab oil supplies, in March 1948, the United States retracted its support for the partition plan and called for a special session of the UN General Assembly to place Palestine under a United Nations trusteeship until a compromise between the Arabs and Jews could be reached. (14) Thishowever was unrealistic and the Zionists knew this. Britain wanted to remove its military presence assoon as possible and no country was prepared to send troops to replace them to either maintain the status quo or to create a trusteeship. The Arabs had already made their disdain for the partition plan obvious. The creation of a bi-national state was vehemently opposed by both the Arabs and the Jews, being the exact opposite of the original aim of the Zionist movement and would have almost certainly collapsed as soon as it was established. Arab hopes of establishing a single state in Palestine also would not have worked, they didn't even have the resources to establish a state in the half granted to the Palestinians under the partition plan. The future of Palestine lay in the hands of the Jews.Despite America's misgivings, the Zionists were aware that the Jewish movement had become so strong that only a considerably stronger and more ruthless force could stop it and therefore decided the time had come to seize the occasion of Britain's planned withdrawal in May 1948 to formally declare Israel's independence and risk an Arab invasion, Chaim Weizmann away in Europe at the time telegraphed David Ben Gurion "Proclaim the state matter what ensues." (15) However the Jewish ruling body was still eager to get America's official recognition of the State of Israel.The role played by America in the establishment of Israel in 1948 has often been misunderstood andexaggerated. By 1948, the Zionists had secured the support of Jews from around the world, from theAmerican public and Congress to establish a Jewish homeland. Most significantly they had got thesupport from the United Nations. Yet they still pushed for official recognition from the AmericanPresident. Harry S. Truman famously compared himself to Cyrus, the ancient Persian ruler who saved the Jews from their exile in Babylon (16). His claim was partly accurate in that American recognition of Israel was important to Israel's long term survival. American recognition instantly gave Israel standing and credibility in the eyes of the world.In contrast to President Truman's own assessment of his role in the establishment of Israel, many Jewshave instead opted to refer to Truman as the 'midwife' of Israel (17). This description recognises theimportance Truman and America played in securing Israel's position on the global stage but alsoacknowledges that by the time Truman became involved in the situation, Israel's establishment or birthwas already imminent. However Truman's support for Israel was far from unconditional. The US provided neither troops nor arms to help the new nation, leaving Israel to fight alone against the attack that was almost guaranteed following the proclamation of Israeli independence but "The act of recognition sustained the morale of the new state. But of course it did not determine whether it could survive".Israel's survival after the Declaration of Independence was essentially a test of whether it could bedescribed as having been successfully or unsuccessfully established. Israel's independence was quickly put to the test, with the newly established Israeli state being attacked by the Arab League (armies fromTransjordan, Syria, Lebanon, Iraq and Egypt) and suffering some humiliating losses. Despite the efforts of the UN Security Council a long term cease-fire failed. The conflict continued throughout 1948. As the war progressed, Israel's military gained strength; they not only ejected the invaders but managed tocapture territory which had not even been accorded to it under the UN partition plan (18). To understand Israel's astonishing success in the face of mass adversity during 1948, it is necessary to debunk some of the myths surrounding Israel's military capabilities in 1948 and instead focus on thepre-independence efforts made by the Zionist movement which greatly prepared Israel for the expectedArab League attack and therefore can be seen as an vital factor in Israel's successful establishment.The traditional argument is that following the British pullout, the Israeli army had to be created almostfrom scratch to deal with attack from the Arab nations. Furthermore they were prevented from armingthemselves militarily. Both of these arguments are in part true but ignore that the Zionists had anticipated both and had done as much as was possible before May 1948 to prepare forthe situation. Leaders for Israel's Defence Forces emerged primarily from the underground terroristgroups that had already existed and had been so successful in attacking the British and the Arabs. Furthermore the new army was not lacking for recruits. By April 1 1948, over 90,000 men and women had signed up for military service, a figure which continued to increase as members of dissident organisations and new immigrants joined. The sense of national crisis played an important part in drawing so many people to register for service, although the huge numbers that turned out can also be attributed to the fact that the Zionist movement had for more than a decade been deliberately taking advantage of the rules placed on them pre-World War Two by the British limiting the number of Jewish immigrants to Palestine by opting to encourage young immigrants and children to come to Israel, thereby increasing the number of potential soldiers it would have at its disposal. By December 1948 Israel's army would swell to over 104,000 conscripts, Israel's rate of direct military mobilisation exceeding any other in military history. (19). Admittedly the army was initially troubled by a lack of arms and the embargo placed by America andBritain on the sale of weapons to Middle East states. Certainly around the time of independence, theIsraeli army did not have sufficient weapons as while the British remained in charge, weapons could not be bought in bulk, which explains why in the first weeks of the conflict with the Arab League, Israel struggled. However before independence the Zionist movement had already began to create links with European weapons providers and in April 1948 was able to buy more than 5000 rifles fromCzechoslovakia. Following independence Israel's government was able to take advantage of the links already established by the Zionists to purchase large amounts of weapons, in one month alone theybought over 20,000 rifles and 27 million rounds of ammunition from the Czechs. Similar deals were made with the French. Although obscenely priced these military supplies were essential to Israel's survival and therefore it is evidence of Israel’s successful establishment that these links existed. (20).Despite initially being at some risk, Israel was fortunate that due to the disunity within the Arab League, they were slow to take advantage of their early victories at a time when Israel was militarily weak. Furthermore scholar Avi Shlaim has introduced a dramatic new thesis detailing the complex but often good relationship that existed between the Zionist movement and King Abdullah of Transjordan.Shlaim argued that in 1947 as the end to the British Mandate appeared imminent, King Abdullah and the Zionist movement secretly agreed terms which would involve military restraint from both sides following the war that everyone accepted would breakout between the Jews and the Arab nations following the declaration of independence. In return the Jews would not stand in the way of Abdullah annexing the portion of Palestine to his control. Abdullah's troops did not trespass on Jewish territory and later Abdullah agreed to remain neutral when Israel attacked Egyptian forces towards the end of 1948. The Zionist movement had worked for over a decade before independence to establish good relations with its neighbour in preparation of independence, thereby limiting the risk that it felt it was it from Transjordan at least. (21). By the end of 1948, Israel had successfully recovered from their initial problems at the start of the War for Independence. In contrast the Arab League was in disarray, for Egypt in particular the time was adisaster with successive military defeats and was further upset at what it perceived as increasingfriendship between Israel and Transjordan. Israeli military success forced the Arab nations to seek talks of peace with Israel in January 1949. (22) The fact that the Arab states had little choice but to agree to peace with Israel is perhaps the best evidence that Israel could truly be described as having been successfully established by the end of 1948, less than a year earlier the Arabs had promised that the war would be one "of extermination and a momentous massacre" (23) of the Jews, instead they had little choice but to make peace with Israel.The defeat of the Arab League significantly weakened pan-Arabism and increased distrust amongst theArab states of one another. In sharp contrast, by the end of 1948, Israel while struggling financially hadsuccessfully established itself within the Middle East as a force to be reckoned with, this was largelydue to the preparations made pre-1948 by the Zionist movement which enabled Israel to quickly adaptfollowing the declaration of Independence to deal with the situation which challenged its very survival.The birth of Israel in May 1948 came after centuries of Jewish longing for a state of their own. However most of the credit for establishing Israel must go to the Zionist movement who carefully manipulated situations thrown at it, even those where the Jews were victims such as in the Holocaust, to further their aim of creating an independent Jewish state and once it had been declared put into place plans for Israel's defence that had been developed some time in advance.Footnotes1]Michael Wolffsohn, Eternal Guilt? Forty Years of German-Jewish-Israeli Relations, New York, p62]Alan R. Taylor, Prelude to Israel : An analysis of Zionist diplomacy, 1897-1947, London, 1961, p4,3]Alan R. Taylor, Prelude to Israel : An analysis of Zionist diplomacy, 1897-1947, London, 1961, p4,4]Howard M. Sachar, A History of Israel, From the Rise of Zionism to Our Time, Alfred A. Knopf, 1979, p96-995]Ritchie Ovendale, The Longman Companion to The Middle East since 1914, Second Edition, Longman, 1998, 366]Howard M. Sachar, A History of Israel, From the Rise of Zionism to Our Time, Alfred A. Knopf, 1979, P161-1627]Howard M. Sachar, A History of Israel, From the Rise of Zionism to Our Time, Alfred A. Knopf, 1979, p2678]Herbert Feis, The Birth of Israel, W.W. Norton & Company Inc, 1969, p359]Howard M. Sachar, A History of Israel, From the Rise of Zionism to Our Time, Alfred A. Knopf, 1979, p 33310]Howard M. Sachar, A History of Israel, From the Rise of Zionism to Our Time, Alfred A. Knopf,1979, p335 11]Howard M. Sachar, A History of Israel, From the Rise of Zionism to Our Time, Alfred A. Knopf,1979, p28912]Howard M. Sachar, A History of Israel, From the Rise of Zionism to Our Time, Alfred A. Knopf,1979, p26813]Howard M. Sachar, A History of Israel, From the Rise of Zionism to Our Time, Alfred A. Knopf, 1979, p283 - 29514]Howard M. Sachar, A History of Israel, From the Rise of Zionism to Our Time, Alfred A. Knopf,1979, p30415]Howard M. Sachar, A History of Israel, From the Rise of Zionism to Our Time, Alfred A. Knopf, 1979, p31116]http://www.jta.org/page_view_story.asp?strwebhead=Op-Ed%3A+To+err+is+Truman&intcategoryid=517]http://www.jta.org/page_view_story.asp?strwebhead=Op-d%3A+To+err+is+Truman&intcategoryid=518]Avi Shlaim, Collusion Across the Jordan, King Abdullah, The Zionist Movement and the Partition fPalestine, Clarendon Press, 1988, p260-26319]Amitzur Ilan, The Origins of the Arab-Israeli Arms Race, Macmillan, 1996, p20]Amitzur Ilan, The Origins of the Arab-Israeli Arms Race, Macmillan, 1996, p21]Avi Shlaim, Collusion Across the Jordan, King Abdullah, The ZionistMovement and the Partition of Palestine, Clarendon Press, 1988, p613-61922]Howard M. Sachar, A History of Israel, From the Rise of Zionism to OurTime, Alfred A. Knopf, 1979, p35323]http://www.palestinefacts.org/pf_independence_arab_countries.phpBibliographyRitchie Ovendale, The Longman Companion to The Middle East since 1914, Second Edition, Longman, 1998Amitzur Ilan, The Origins of the Arab-Israeli Arms Race, Macmillan, 1996Howard M. Sachar, A History of Israel, From the Rise of Zionism to Our Time, Alfred A. Knopf, 1979Ritchie Ovendale, Britain, The United States & The End of the Palestine Mandate, The Boydell Press,1989Herbert Feis, The Birth of Israel, W.W. Norton & Company Inc, 1969Avi Shlaim, Collusion Across the Jordan, King Abdullah, The Zionist Movement and the Partition ofPalestine, Clarendon Press, 1988Alan R. Taylor, Prelude to Israel : An analysis of Zionist diplomacy, 1897-1947, London, 1961http://www.jta.org/page_view_story.asp?strwebhead=Op-Ed%3A+To+err+is+Truman&intcategoryid=5