Why did the Israelis Win the First Arab-Israeli War of 1948/9

Why did the Israelis Win the First Arab-Israeli War of 1948/9

1. International involvement

   • Ineffective UN ceasefires
     • The war was in 3 phases
   • The US recognized Israel 14th May

2. Israeli Superiority

   • Israeli Planning
     • Since the UN Partition Plan was announced, Zionist Militants has already begun to seize ares marked out for the future Palestnine
     • Unified command structure
     • were good at collecting detailed information
     • Work of Ben Gurion
       • 1946: Ben Gurion began a massive covert arms acquisition campaign - eg. Operation Balak from Czechs.
     • Trained from WW2
   • Holocaust Syndrome
     • Sense of divine purpose
   • Did have: Irgun (2,000-4,000 active, 200 rifles & 500 machine-guns.) Stern Gang (500-800 activists).

3. Arab Disunity

   • Egypt
     • Egyptian soldiers were poorly equipped
       • Possibly due to Egyptian corruption in procurement
     • lacked motivation
       • Most forces didn't know why they were fighting
     • lacked incentive
     • Only sent token forces to turn the attention of nationalists towards external happenings
   • Troops mobilized by the Arab League arrived too late to make any effective difference
     • Arab League set up 1945
   • Self interest
     • Mostly tribal
       • Some countries made insignificant contributions (Lebanon,Saudi, Yemen) around 800 men each
     • Golda Meir deal with King of Transjordon
   • British suppression of Arab Revolt (1936-9) had seriously weakened Arab leadership.
   • Had some strengths
     • 7,500 British / WW2 combat-trained Palestinian Arabs. 10,500 Palestinian Arabs served in British Palestine Police Force & armed!