The First Arab-Israeli War

Overview of the War

The First Arab-Israeli War, fought from 1947 to 1949, was the first full-scale war between Jewish and Arab forces in and around the former British Mandate of Palestine. It began as a civil war within the mandate after the UN Partition Plan and then transformed into an interstate war once neighboring Arab armies invaded following the declaration of the State of Israel. The war created the political and territorial map that would define the conflict for decades, and it produced deep demographic and human changes that are explored in later chapters.

Two Phases of the War

Historians usually divide the conflict into two broad phases. The first phase, from late November 1947 to mid May 1948, was primarily a civil war between Jewish and Palestinian Arab communities inside the mandate, with some participation of volunteers and irregulars from neighboring Arab countries. The second phase began after 14-15 May 1948 when the British departed, Israel declared independence, and regular armies from Egypt, Transjordan, Syria, Lebanon, and Iraq entered the territory.

This division reflects differences in organization, strategy, and aims. During the first phase, the main Jewish militia, the Haganah, along with smaller groups like the Irgun and Lehi, confronted local Palestinian Arab militias, urban bands, and the Arab Liberation Army, which was backed by the Arab League. After May 1948, the conflict increasingly resembled a conventional war between states, with front lines, tank battles, and organized air forces, even though irregular warfare and attacks on civilian traffic continued.

Military Actors and Their Capabilities

On the Jewish side, the main force was the Haganah, originally a clandestine defense organization from the British Mandate period. By 1947 it had evolved into a more centralized force with regional brigades and a command structure. In June 1948 it became the core of the newly formed Israel Defense Forces, the IDF, which absorbed most other Jewish armed groups. The Irgun (also known as Etzel) and Lehi (sometimes referred to as the Stern Group) were smaller right-wing underground organizations that conducted their own operations during the early months and only gradually integrated into the new state framework.

On the Arab side, military actors were more fragmented and differed significantly in capability and objectives. The Palestinian Arab community had no single unified army. Instead, local volunteer bands, clan-based militias, and urban-based forces operated in different areas. The Arab Liberation Army, formed under the Arab League and led by Fawzi al-Qawuqji, entered from Syria and Northern fronts but remained limited in numbers and equipment.

The regular armies of neighboring states had different strengths. The Egyptian army moved from the south into the coastal plain and the Negev. The Transjordanian Arab Legion, commanded by British officers such as John Glubb, was widely considered the most professional Arab force, and it focused on the central hills and Jerusalem. Syrian forces attacked from the northeast around the Sea of Galilee, while Lebanese troops moved briefly into northern areas. Iraqi forces operated mostly in the central front in cooperation with Transjordan. Coordination among these armies was often weak, and their political leaders did not share identical war aims.

Jewish forces benefited from growing organizational cohesion, a centralized leadership, and a gradually improving supply of arms, especially as the war progressed. Arab forces suffered from divided leadership, differing priorities, and limited coordination. These asymmetries did not mean that one side was always stronger in every battle, but they shaped the overall trajectory of the war.

From Civil War to Regional War

After the UN voted for partition in November 1947, violence escalated between Jewish and Arab communities. Roads became unsafe, convoys were ambushed, and cities such as Jerusalem, Jaffa, and Haifa experienced attacks and counterattacks. The British were still formally responsible for security, but they were withdrawing and often avoided major engagements, which created a security vacuum.

During this first phase, each side tried to secure territory that it expected to hold after the British departure, with a particular focus on roads, mixed cities, and isolated settlements. Control of transportation routes, especially to Jerusalem, was vital because Jewish neighborhoods in West Jerusalem were cut off and dependent on convoys that faced repeated attacks.

In the spring of 1948, Jewish forces launched a series of coordinated operations to break blockades, secure vital roads, and connect areas assigned to the Jewish state under the UN plan. This period also saw battles that led to large-scale displacement of Palestinian Arab civilians from particular cities and villages, especially in the coastal plain and around major roads. The details and interpretation of these expulsions and departures are addressed in the chapter on the Nakba.

With the end of the British Mandate in May 1948, the conflict shifted. The declaration of the State of Israel was followed within hours and days by the invasion of Arab state armies. The war was no longer a limited civil conflict. It became a regional contest over the fate of the former mandate and the survival of the new state.

War Aims and Strategies

The Jewish leadership, particularly the Jewish Agency and then the provisional government of Israel, prioritized securing a viable and defensible state within or beyond the borders outlined by the UN plan. In practical terms, this meant gaining control over key urban centers, transportation routes, and areas with significant Jewish populations, as well as trying to push back or neutralize hostile forces. Strategic thinking within the leadership also included debates about borders, the status of Jerusalem, and the demographic balance within the territory.

Arab leadership was not unified, and war aims varied. Some Arab states publicly framed the war as an effort to defend Palestinian Arabs and to prevent or reverse the establishment of a Jewish state. Others, particularly Transjordan, had more specific territorial interests, such as incorporating parts of the central hill country. Palestinian Arab leaders, including the Mufti of Jerusalem, Haj Amin al Husseini, who had influence but limited direct military control, sought to prevent the partition of the territory and the consolidation of Zionist gains.

On the battlefield, Jewish strategy emphasized interior lines of communication, rapid mobilization, and gradual offensives once the balance of forces became more favorable. Initially, Jewish forces were on the defensive in many areas and suffered from shortages of heavy weapons. As arms shipments arrived and military organization solidified, they shifted to offensive operations and sought to secure expanded territory.

Arab strategies were shaped by logistical constraints, political rivalries, and the expectation that Israel might collapse under multi-front pressure. Some Arab units focused on sieges, such as in Jerusalem, while others attempted to sever connections between different Jewish-held areas. However, the lack of unified command and competing political agendas undermined the effectiveness of these efforts over time.

Key Campaigns and Fronts

The war unfolded in several main geographic fronts: the coastal plain and central corridor, Jerusalem, the Galilee, the Negev, and the eastern front along the Jordan Valley and central highlands. Each had its own dynamics and turning points.

In the coastal plain and central corridor, heavy fighting took place around the road linking Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. The siege of Jewish-held West Jerusalem, combined with fighting over nearby villages and hilltops, made this area a primary concern. Jewish operations in the spring and early summer of 1948 aimed to open and secure a corridor to the city, including the creation of an alternative route known as the Burma Road. Control of this corridor broke the effective isolation of Jewish neighborhoods in Jerusalem, although fighting around the city continued.

Jerusalem itself was a major symbolic and strategic prize. The city was divided into Jewish and Arab sectors, with the Old City, including key holy sites, eventually coming under the control of the Arab Legion. In contrast, West Jerusalem came under Israeli control. Battles in and around the city involved street-by-street fighting, sieges of neighborhoods, and intense pressure on civilians, with shortages of food, water, and medical supplies.

In the north, the Galilee saw early Arab Liberation Army operations followed by Israeli offensives that gradually secured the region. Control of the Galilee was essential for Israel in terms of both security and access to water resources. For Arab forces, it represented a potential base for continued pressure on the new state. As the war progressed, Israeli forces gained dominance in this front and pushed many Arab units and communities toward Lebanon and Syria.

In the south, the Egyptian army advanced along the coastal road aiming to cut off southern Jewish settlements and link up with other Arab forces. Battles around places such as Ashdod, Negba, and in the northern Negev determined whether Israel would maintain a connection with its southern settlements. Later in the war, Israeli offensives pushed Egyptian forces back into the Gaza Strip and the Sinai, though the details of the final positions and armistice lines belong to the chapter on refugees and armistice lines.

The central front along the Jordan Valley and the hill country was shaped heavily by the Arab Legion. Fighting here was somewhat different, often more conventional and with relatively disciplined forces on both sides. The Legion secured control of the Old City of Jerusalem and much of the West Bank area that had been designated for an Arab state under the UN plan.

Cease-fires and International Involvement

During the war there were several UN mediated truces that interrupted active combat. These cease-fires were not only pauses in fighting, but also moments when each side tried to regroup, rearm, and improve its diplomatic position. In practice, both sides violated aspects of the truces, including attempts to move troops and acquire weapons.

UN mediators, including Count Folke Bernadotte of Sweden, tried to negotiate a political settlement while the war was still ongoing. Bernadotte proposed revisions to the partition lines that would have altered the territorial distribution between Jews and Arabs and internationalized Jerusalem. Both sides had reservations about his proposals, and he was later assassinated in Jerusalem by members of the Lehi group. His death illustrated how contentious international mediation had become in the middle of a fluid and violent conflict.

International diplomacy also influenced access to arms. An arms embargo formally applied to the region, but in practice it affected the parties differently. Israel managed to secure significant arms shipments from sources in Eastern Europe, especially Czechoslovakia, while some Arab states faced constraints on quickly acquiring modern equipment. These developments contributed to shifts in the balance of power as the war went on.

Transformation of Forces into a State Army

One of the distinctive features of the war was the rapid transformation of Jewish underground militias into a formal state army. When Israel declared independence, it simultaneously announced the creation of the Israel Defense Forces. This meant integrating the Haganah, and eventually taming or incorporating the Irgun and Lehi, under a single command. That process was not smooth. There were clashes about authority, strategy, and political influence.

A famous episode in this transformation was the confrontation over the Altalena, a ship carrying arms and fighters for the Irgun that arrived on the coast in June 1948. Disputes over control and distribution of the weapons escalated into an armed confrontation between the new government and the Irgun, culminating in the shelling of the ship by Israeli forces. This event signaled that the state leadership was determined to maintain a monopoly on armed force, even in the midst of existential war.

Organizationally, the IDF introduced conscription, standardized training, and a unified command system. Although improvised and often under severe strain, this institutionalization of military power affected Israel’s ability to conduct larger, coordinated operations in the later stages of the war.

Shifts in the Balance of Power

The balance of power in the First Arab–Israeli War was not static. At different stages, each side had local advantages. Early in the civil war phase, the Jewish community was vulnerable on the roads and in isolated settlements, and Jewish leadership feared that the siege of Jerusalem and attrition might break their position. Palestinian Arab militias and the Arab Liberation Army achieved some notable successes in attacking convoys and imposing blockades.

As time went on, several factors contributed to a shift in favor of Jewish forces. These included the gradual arrival of more arms and trained personnel, effective mobilization of manpower within the Jewish community, and the fragmentation of Palestinian Arab society as fighting intensified and as many local leaders and inhabitants left or were removed. The collapse of coherent Palestinian Arab military resistance in certain areas before the formal invasion by Arab state armies was a critical turning point.

After the entry of Arab armies, there was another period of relative Arab advantage on some fronts because of their heavy weapons and experience. However, their efforts were hampered by limited coordination and political cautiousness, particularly regarding direct clashes with the better trained Arab Legion in sensitive areas like Jerusalem. Over the course of 1948 and early 1949, Israeli forces gained the initiative on several fronts and conducted large-scale operations that expanded their territorial control beyond the UN partition lines.

Human Impact During the War

Although the demographic and legal consequences of the war are treated in later chapters, it is important here to recognize that fighting took place in and around populated areas, and civilians bore a heavy share of the suffering. Many battles were fought in or near towns and villages, and both sides carried out attacks that affected noncombatants. Urban centers like Haifa, Jaffa, Lydda (Lod), Ramla, and parts of Jerusalem saw intense violence, sieges, and population movements.

As front lines shifted and military operations unfolded, hundreds of thousands of people fled their homes or were expelled. For Jewish communities, there were evacuations or expulsions from areas that fell under Arab control, such as the Old City’s Jewish Quarter, the Etzion Bloc south of Jerusalem, and some Jewish neighborhoods in mixed cities. For Palestinian Arabs, the scale of displacement was far larger, involving numerous villages and urban neighborhoods in areas that came under Israeli control. How and why this happened, and how it is remembered, is explored more fully in the chapter on the Palestinian Nakba.

Civilian life was severely disrupted. Economic activity declined, fields were left untended, and basic services collapsed in certain areas. Both Jewish and Arab civilians endured shortages, fear, and uncertainty about the future. Stories of atrocities, some verified and some exaggerated, circulated widely and influenced decisions to flee or to stay. Such events deepened mutual fear and hostility between communities.

End of Active Fighting

By early 1949, the main phases of large-scale fighting had ended, although local clashes continued. Rather than a single peace agreement, the war wound down through a series of bilateral armistice agreements between Israel and neighboring states, each with its own lines of demarcation and conditions. These armistice lines, sometimes called the Green Line because of the color used to draw them on maps, are dealt with in detail in the chapter on refugees and armistice lines.

From a military perspective, the end of active fighting left Israel in control of more territory than had been allocated to the Jewish state under the UN partition plan, while the West Bank and East Jerusalem came under Jordanian rule, and the Gaza Strip remained under Egyptian control. There was no independent Palestinian state in the aftermath of the war, and no comprehensive peace settlement addressed the status and rights of displaced populations.

Although open warfare ceased, the conflict itself did not end. Instead, the First Arab-Israeli War set the stage for new political realities, unresolved grievances, and a pattern of armistice without peace that is explored in the subsequent chapters of this course.