ARAB COUNTRIES REACT

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How did neighboring Arab countries react?

Immediately after the adoption of United Nations Resolution 181 (II) on November 29, 1947, to partition the country into Jewish and Arab states with Jerusalem as a corpus separatum, Arab delegates declared their opposition to partition and their determination to fight it by force if necessary. Palestinian Arabs (including veterans of the 1936-9 Arab Revolt, members of Arab youth organizations, and police) quickly initiated hostilities against the Jewish population. They were soon joined by volunteers from neighboring Arab states. Jewish forces were organized mostly in the Haganah (underground militia) with a fulltime component of about 4,000, most of those members of the Palmach.

The early Arab attacks resembled the Arab Revolt of 1936-9, with attacks on villages and terrorism in the cities. A volunteer "Arab Liberation Army" led by the Syrian Fawzi el Kawukji attacked in the Jezreel Valley, while volunteers from Jebel Druze staged an attack near Haifa. Both were unsuccessful.

But on May 15, 1948 with the termination of the Mandate, the declaration of the State of Israel, and the British departure, the states of the Arab League (armies from Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, Egypt, and a token force from Saudi Arabia) invaded the new country with the declared intent of destroying it.

The invasion was hardly surprising. Mufti el-Husseini, one of the worst Nazi collaborators, called for Jihad against Jews in a 1943 broadcast from Radio Berlin during the height of the Holocaust:

• Kill the Jews wherever you find them, this is pleasing to Allah.

Prior to the 1948 war against Israel, the Iraqi Prime Minister said all the Arabs would need would be "a few brooms" to drive the Jews into the sea. All they were waiting for was the British and said, "once we get the green light from the British we can easily throw out the Jews." [Quote from Sir Geoffrey Furlonge, "Palestine Is My Country: The Story of Musa Alami (Praeger Press, 1969)]

On the day that Israel declared its independence (May 15, 1948), Azzam Pasha, Secretary General of the Arab League, at Cairo press conference, (reported in the New York Times, May 16, 1948) declared "jihad", a holy war. He said that the Arab states rejected partition and intended to set up a "United State of Palestine." He then stated:

• This will be a war of extermination and a momentous massacre which will be spoken of like the Mongolian massacres and the Crusades".

In a letter to the United Nations, the Transjordanian Prime Minister was quoted:

• Our position is clear, and has been proclaimed on every occasion. It is never to allow the creation of a Jewish State in Palestine and to exclude partition. And our object is to cooperate with the other Arab States in her deliverance. Once this aim is attained, the determination of her future status is the right and concern of her own people. Theirs alone is the last word. We have no other object or aim in view.

The Muslim view is that Israel is a Naqbah (catastrophe), an affront to their religious faith. As such, Israel must be resisted by all available means and eradicated as soon as possible. This view is the basis for not only the events of 1947-1948, but continues to drive Middle East events to this day.

One result of the Arab attacks on the State of Israel and its Jewish population was the flight of Arabs from thier homes in Israel. Even though they were encouraged to stay by the new Israeli government, and those who did remain became citizens, many fled at the urging of their Arab leaders who expected a quick victory over the Jews. [The issue of the "refugees" is discussed in complete detail on this page of palestinefacts.org.]

Sources and additional reading on this topic:

• Role Reversal Over Partition: 1948 and 1998
• The Arab Invasion 1948
• Partition
• Changes in the EU's Positions on Jerusalem and the Palestinian State
• The Future of Arab Palestine and the Question of Partition
• The Arab Invasion 1948
• Palestinian
• A Few Brooms
• From Mandate to Independence: The Arab reaction