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Y321: The Middle East 1908–2011: Ottomans to Arab Spring

Depth study: Arab-Israeli Conflict 1948–1956 — Arab attitudes and the war of 1948–1949

  • 2 things to know
  • Unit group 3

Overview

Recall questions on Arab states’ attitudes to the Palestinians, the All-Palestine Government, Israel’s creation, the Arab attack, the balance of forces, Israel’s survival, the truces and armistices, the refugee debate, the New Historians and collusion with Jordan.

What you need to know

Answer each one before you reveal it.

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Evaluation

Why do historians disagree about the Palestinian refugee exodus?

Numbers

How did the state of Israel come into being?

Questions from this subtopic

Each one with the model answer underneath.

  1. 1

    What were the Arab states' real attitudes towards the Palestinians in 1948?

    Model answer

    Public solidarity concealed rival dynastic ambitions, since Abdullah of Jordan wanted the Arab areas for himself and Egypt and Syria intervened partly to check him, and none of them was willing to see an independent Palestinian state under the Mufti.

  2. 2

    What was the All-Palestine Government, and why did it fail?

    Model answer

    It was a Palestinian administration proclaimed at Gaza in 1948 by the Mufti's followers with Egyptian backing, but it had no territory or army of its own and was rejected by Jordan, so it quickly became a fiction.

  3. 3

    How did the state of Israel come into being?

    Model answer

    The Jewish Agency's institutions had already become a functioning government, and when Britain gave up the Mandate Ben-Gurion declared independence on 14 May 1948, winning rapid American and Soviet recognition.

  4. 4

    Why did the Arab states attack in 1948?

    Model answer

    They rejected partition as the theft of Arab land, faced overwhelming popular pressure after Palestinians began fleeing during the preceding civil war, and each feared that the others would gain at its expense by staying out.

  5. 5

    Why is the balance of forces in 1948 disputed?

    Model answer

    The traditional account presents a tiny Israel overwhelmed by five armies, but archival research shows that Israel mobilised more men than the Arab states actually committed and fought under a single command against divided and poorly supplied opponents.

  6. 6

    Give three reasons for Israel's survival in the war of 1948 to 1949.

    Model answer

    It mobilised its whole population under a unified command, it obtained arms from Czechoslovakia that transformed its firepower, and its opponents were disunited and pursued limited and competing war aims.

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