Independence and War
The ink-drawn national flag of Israel flies at Um Rashrash (now Eilat), raised by IDF Captain Avraham Adan across the Gulf of Aqaba on the northern tip of the Red Sea.
On March 13, 1948, Eddie Jacobson strode into the Oval Office to meet with his lifelong friend, US President Harry Truman. The son of poor Lithuanian Jewish immigrants, Eddie met Truman in Kansas City, Missouri after his parents moved from New York City in 1905. The two friends served in World War I together, after which they opened a haberdashery business in Kansas City. Even when Truman’s political rise led to the White House in 1944, his friend from Missouri would visit him occasionally in his work as a travelling salesman. But Jacobson’s visit to Truman in March, 1948 had a very specific purpose. Eddy had received a call from Chaim Weizmann, chairman of the Zionist Organization, pleading with him to appeal to the President on behalf of the Zionist cause. The escalating civil war between Jews and Arabs in Mandate Palestine had swayed Truman away from the UN-sanctioned partition plan, while Secretary of State John C. Marshall was lobbying for a UN mission instead. Marshall represented the majority opinion at the US State Department, which believed that war was coming with the Soviet Union, and that the United States could not afford to alienate the Arab world in the face of such a conflict by supporting the establishment of an independent Jewish State. Although Weizmann had requested to meet with Truman, the president had shrugged him off, so he turned instead to the president’s childhood friend as a last resort.
After exchanging pleasantries, Eddie Jacobson broached the subject of Palestine. Truman reacted with annoyance, but Jacobson persisted, appealing to his friend’s presidential hero.
“Your hero is Andrew Jackson. I have a hero too. He’s the greatest Jew alive. I’m talking about Chaim Weizmann. He’s an old man and very sick, and he has traveled thousands of miles to see you. And now you’re putting him off. This isn’t like you, Harry.”
The president briefly drummed his fingers on the Resolute Desk before turning to look out the window in a long pause. Finally, Truman turned back to his old friend. “Alright Eddie, you win.” Shortly afterward, Chaim Weizmann met with Truman at the White House. The elder Zionist statesman exhorted the president to recognize the magnitude of the occasion. “You have the opportunity of the ages. If you’ll stay strong now, you’ll go down in history for all eternity.” Truman phoned the US ambassador to the United Nations, who happened to be giving an address at the time regarding US abandonment of the partition plan. After the president advised him of the sudden change in policy, the ambassador recanted. “President Truman has instructed me that the United States supports in full the partition plan as adopted by the United Nations and will work to see it implemented.” It was a dramatic reversal, which would prove to be crucial in the following weeks.
By May of 1948, the civil war in the Land was threatening to spiral into a regional conflagration. The forces of the Arab Liberation Army (ALA) from Syria and Jordan were digging into the West Bank, the forces of Egypt were mobilized in the Sinai, and the Jewish inhabitants of Jerusalem were besieged by the Fedayeen militias of Hajj Amin al-Husseini. On the afternoon of May 12, 1948, the executive cabinet of the Yishuv met in Tel Aviv. The ten members of the Minhelet HaAm, or People’s Administration, were gathered to consider whether to accept a UN truce, or whether to adopt a draft declaration of independence. The small body deliberated for ten hours, prompting senior member Chaim Weizmann to ask, “What are they waiting for, the idiots?!” Finally, after midnight on May 13, the vote was cast for independence by the narrow margin of 6-4, with both Weizmann and David Ben-Gurion voting in favor. One day later, on May 14, a revision of the draft declaration was presented to the Moetzet HaAm, the provisional parliament of the Yishuv. There was some debate over borders and references to the Almighty in the document, but it was nonetheless adopted by unanimous vote at 3:00 PM on Friday, May 14th. The British Mandate would expire in just nine hours, and Shabbat was approaching.
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Twenty-five members of the Moetzet, along with over 200 guests, rushed to the Museum of Tel Aviv (today known as Independence Hall) to convene a formal ceremony at 4:00 PM on May 14th. David Ben-Gurion stood at the podium with the Zionist Flag and a portrait of Theodore Hertzl behind him, leading the congregation in a rendition of Hatikvah, the Zionist anthem. Afterward, Ben-Gurion read the text of the declaration of independence, ending with the exhortation, “Let us accept the Foundation Scroll of the Jewish State by rising.” The entire gathering rose and was led in the Shehecheyanu blessing, recited by Jews for centuries to celebrate occasions of new beginnings. The document was signed first by Ben-Gurion and then all other members of the Metzet present, including Golda Meir. Just minutes later, the Shabbat evening ceremony was observed by the Yishuv in an independent Jewish state for the first time in almost 2,000 years.
Just after midnight on May 15, the United States became the first nation to informally recognize the newly established State of Israel, followed by Iran and fourteen other nations throughout the world. The Soviet Union was the first nation to formally recognize the nascent Jewish State on May 17th, while the United States and most other western nations waited to establish diplomatic relations with Israel until after the first Israeli parliamentary elections in January, 1949. As the Jewish Diaspora celebrated the realization of the Zionist dream on May 15, the Arab world was preparing to kill the newborn state before it could stand on its own.
On the evening of May 14, 1948, the combined forces of Egypt, Syria, Jordan, Lebanon, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, and the Arab Liberation Army (ALA) invaded Eretz Yisrael, over 23,000 strong. The British-trained and equipped Egyptian army contributed the largest contingent of 10,000 personnel, including three infantry brigades, a mechanized brigade of fifty tanks, three artillery battalions, and almost 100 aircraft. The British-led Arab Legion of Jordan advanced with over 4,500 infantry, while Iraq contributed three infantry divisions of 3,000 men and twenty tanks. The Syrian and Lebanese armies mobilized 3,000 infantry each. In contrast, the State of Israel mobilized its entire able-bodied population for the war effort, including a standing army of almost 30,000 men and women. At the beginning of the war, its mechanized forces included just three US-made Sherman tanks and no air force, as the Israelis were hamstrung by a UN-imposed arms embargo.
Before dawn on May 15, the Egyptians invaded the Negev Desert in a three-pronged offensive, hoping to secure several Jewish kibbutzim in the first days of the war. The first target was a community named Kfar Darom, just south of Gaza City. The Egyptians barraged the settlement with artillery before charging with infantry, but the city’s defenses held against repeated attacks. At nearby Nirim settlement, just 40 Jewish defenders held out against 1,000 Egyptian infantry, including artillery and mortar units. Egyptian commanders eventually bypassed both communities. The Egyptians advanced northward until they met stiff resistance from Hagenah battalions at Yad-Mordechai. After five days of brutal fighting with heavy casualties, the Egyptians managed to break through the lines, but they were forced to entrench at Isdud, about 30 kilometers south of Tel Aviv. British-build Egyptian Spitfire jets began bombing Israeli airfields east of Tel Aviv. The situation appeared dire for the Jewish State, but a decisive counter-attack would soon turn the tables.
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By the end of May, 1948, the Hagenah militia had reorganized into a national army and was renamed the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF). On May 29, the IDF launched Operation Pleschet. Four recently-acquired Czech fighters strafed the Egyptian lines at Isdud. Although the mission was tactically ineffective, it proved to be a critical morale boost to beleaguered Israeli forces who finally had air support. When IDF warplanes ran out of munitions, they began dropping unopened seltzer bottles on Egyptian lines instead. Sounding like bombs as they whistled through the air, the glass bottles were the kind of unconventional tactic that would become a staple of IDF warfare. Two IDF battalions of 2,000 men subsequently advanced on the Egyptian lines. Although they only gained minimal ground after suffering heavy casualties, they managed to halt the Arab offensive on the Southern Front. Egyptian commanders reported that they could advance no further without risking total defeat.
Meanwhile, on the Jordanian Front, the Arab Legion was making significant advances. After securing Nablus, Jericho and Ramallah in the West Bank, Jordanian and ALA forces took the fortification of Latrun along the road to Jerusalem, effectively cutting off Jewish defenses inside the ancient capital city. A joint force of Jordanian and Egyptian brigades then advanced on Jerusalem from the north and south. Jewish defenders managed to hold out against the invasion force through the month of May, although the Jewish Quarter in the Old City was forced to surrender after the IDF presence there was reduced to just 36 able-bodied defenders. The entire Jewish population of the Old City was then evacuated to West Jerusalem, and would not return for two decades. The evacuees fared little better in West Jerusalem, where Jewish residents were rationed only two gallons of water (for all uses) and three pieces of bread per day. The IDF contingent in West Jerusalem was commanded by Micky Marcus, a Jewish colonel in the US Army and a WWII veteran who had advised wartime presidents Franklin Roosevelt and Harry Truman. At David Ben-Gurion’s request, the US War Department permitted Col. Marcus to advise the Hagenah while using the alias Michael Stone. After arriving in the Land in 1947, Marcus played a pivotal role in reorganizing the Hagenah into a national army, designed around the structure of the US military, and became the first commanding general in the Israeli Defense Forces. He took command of the Israeli effort on the Jerusalem front in the Spring of 1948, hoping to break the months-long siege that was threatening the Jewish foothold in the Judean hills. He made two failed attempts to break through the Arab lines along the road to West Jerusalem before deciding that an alternate strategy was needed. Jewish construction crews began work on a new, secret supply route between Tel Aviv and Jerusalem. Nicknamed the “Burma Road” after a vital British supply route through China during the war against Japan, both enlisted men and volunteer laborers worked at night among the formidable Judean hills to transform a rocky shepherd’s footpath into a wide utility road while remaining beyond the line-of-sight to Arab artillery and sniper positions. Using bulldozers, hand tools, and even donkeys, the crews worked tirelessly to complete the road in just two weeks, allowing trucks to deliver over 100 tons of supplies to the besieged city every night. The blockade of West Jerusalem was effectively ended by mid-June, 1948, but in a turn of irony, General Marcus was killed shortly thereafter in an incident of friendly fire. Although he was not one of the Yishuv, Micky Marcus was nonetheless memorialized by David Ben-Gurion and other Israeli leaders as one of their own — the American father of the IDF.
Meanwhile on the northern front, Iraqi divisions pushed westward from Nablus and Jenin towards the Plain of Sharon. In their path was the coastal city of Netanya, positioned between the Jewish centers of Haifa and Tel Aviv, inside a narrow strip of Israeli territory that connected the Galilee to the center of the state. The loss of Netanya would cut the fledgling nation in two, and so IDF brigades engaged the Iraqi forces in a fierce battle through May, 1948, finally repelling the invaders on the 25th. IDF command then went on the offensive, engaging the Iraqis from the north in Jenin and occupying the Arab city for three days before being forced out again. Although the operation was not practically effective, it nonetheless unnerved Iraqi commanders, who subsequently broke off their campaign to the sea and took a defensive posture. Likewise, Syrian brigades met stiff resistance just south of the Sea of Galilee in Degania, while Lebanese forces were bogged down in the far north, managing only to take Malkia in the finger of the Galilee. By early June, the northern, eastern and southern fronts had grinded to a stalemate, and both sides were willing to accept a UN-brokered ceasefire. The lines fell mostly quiet for the next four weeks, but the war was far from over.
Although the Arab coalition used the June ceasefire to reorganize and resupply in anticipation of the next round of fighting, their Israeli counterparts were far more effective during the lull. The IDF embarked on a massive enlistment campaign, almost doubling its ranks to 65,000 men and women. The new recruits were armed by massive supply shipments that brought over 25,000 rifles, 5,000 machine guns and 50 million rounds of ammunition to Israeli ports. The arrival of dozens of tanks, warplanes, heavy artillery, and armored vehicles completed the IDF’s transformation from a pre-war underground militia to a full-fledged national army. When hostilities resumed in early July, 1948, Arab armies encountered a vastly improved Zionist force compared to the one it had fought just one month ago, and the tide of the war began to turn. The IDF took the initiative, anticipating an Egyptian campaign to take Jewish settlements in the Negev. After counterattacking, the IDF pushed the Egyptians back toward the Mediterranean, securing a vital corridor between the central coastal cities and the Negev region. In the north, several Israeli brigades swept Syrian forces out of the Lower Galilee between Haifa Bay and the Sea of Galilee, while IDF forces under the command of Yigal Allon pushed back the formidable Arab Legion along the vital artery between Tel Aviv and Jerusalem. By the time a second ceasefire went into effect on July 18, the Israelis had captured over 1,000 square kilometers of additional territory for the Jewish State in a mere 9 days.
Despite extensive efforts to end the war during the summer of 1948, it became clear that the two sides would not reach an accord at the UN. As the deadline for the ceasefire approached in mid-October, David Ben-Gurion prepared his commanders for the most ambitious and decisive phase of the war. On the evening of October 15, newly acquired Israeli Spitfire fighters and US-made B-17 bombers initiated Operation Yoav, striking Egyptian airfields in the Sinai and around Gaza. The mission achieved complete tactical surprise, sending Egyptian commanders into a panic, and giving the IDF complete air superiority for the first time during the war. Soon after, three IDF brigades led by General Yigal Allon pushed Egyptian forces southward along the coast to Gaza, eastward from the Judean Hills around Hebron, and finally captured the strategic town of Beersheba in the southern Negev. The Egyptians were completely neutralized, with an entire brigade surrounded in what became known as the Falluja Pocket. Emboldened by their victories in the south, four IDF infantry brigades stormed the northern front in late October in Operation Hiram. Under the command of General Moshe Carmel, the Israelis managed to capture over 800 Arab prisoners and push all Syrian, Lebanese and ALA forces completely from the Upper Galilee in less than three days, even continuing north into Lebanon before stopping at the Litani River. The two IDF operations during the fall of 1948 had dramatically expanded Israeli territory even further and ended the war in the north before yet another UN-brokered ceasefire went into effect. However, Israeli leadership in Tel Aviv was still dissatisfied with their positions in the Negev, wanting to secure the entire region along the border of the Sinai in order to create a buffer against future Egyptian aggression.
On December 22, IDF forces initiated Operation Horev by launching an assault against Egyptian positions around Gaza. Although the offensive gained little ground, it was only a diversion from the Horev’s true objective. With Egyptian forces massing along the coast, the mobile Eighth and Negev brigades pushed the remaining Egypian forces south of Beersheba into the Sinai Peninsula, capturing a swath of the northern Sinai before British pressure forced a withdraw. However, the IDF managed to capture the high ground around Gaza and Rafah, pinning the Egyptians against the sea in the narrow enclave. Finally, after nine months of war, the Egyptians sued for peace on January 6, 1949. An agreement was concluded in late February which granted the Gaza Strip to Egypt, but which secured the entire Negev region for Israel. The other Arab states followed Egypt in the spring of 1949, concluding bilateral peace agreements with Israel which granted the West Bank and East Jerusalem to Jordan, Lebanese territory back to Lebanon, and which secured a tenuous peace with Syria at the Golani border.
After two years of civil war and open war, the Jewish State had not only declared independence, but it had also sealed its sovereignty with the blood of over 6,000 Israelis. At least 10,000 Arabs perished in what is still regarded by most Palestinian Arabs as the Nabka, or catastrophe, otherwise known as the First Israeli-Arab War. Subsequent elections in early 1949 would transition the provisional Zionist government into permanent institutions, including the Knesset, or Israeli parliament, as well as the offices of prime minister and president, held first by David Ben-Gurion and Chaim Weizmann, respectively. Diplomatic recognition by both Western and Eastern powers followed, and for a time, the borders of Eretz Yisrael were peaceful. But the stunning victory over its Arab neighbors would have far-reaching ramifications for Israel beyond its independence, and the Arab world was not yet willing to accept total defeat.
