Arab Armies Invade
(May 15, 1948)
On May 15, 1948, the day the British
Mandate over Palestine ended, the armies of five neighboring Arab
states invaded the new
State of Israel, which had declared its independence the previous
day. The invasion, heralded by an Egyptian air attack on Tel
Aviv, was vigorously resisted. From the north, east and south
came the armies of Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, Transjordan,
and Egypt.
The invading forces were fully equipped with the
standard weapons of a regular army of the time - artillery, tanks,
armored cars and personnel carriers, in addition to machine guns,
mortars and the usual small arms in great quantities, and full
supplies of ammunition, oil, and gasoline. Further, Egypt, Iraq, and
Syria had air forces. As sovereign states, they had no difficulty (as
had the pre-state Jewish defense force) in securing whatever
armaments they needed through normal channels from Britain and other
friendly powers.
In contrast, the Jews had no matching artillery,
no tanks, and no warplanes in the first days of the war. Some
supplies of these weapons arrived in the days that followed, however,
and turned the tide. Little more than small arms - in paucity- had
been available to the Haganah which on May 28, 1948, was to merge with other Jewish defense groups
to form the Israel Defense Forces. Two Jewish defense forces, the Irgun
Zeva'i Le'ummi and the Lohamei
Herut Israel agreed to cease their independent activities,
(except in Jerusalem) and
to absorb their members into the newly founded IDF.
Invaded from all directions, Israel had to cope
with the outbreak of a thousand fires, and to do so with limited
means. Numerous settlement outposts in the Galilee and the Negev were
isolated, open on all sides to Arab attack, and had to rely on their
own perseverance and meager armories to stave off defeat. The hastily
mobilized army had to engage in offensive action to remove the enemy
from key positions, block the advance of their columns, and rush to
seal gaps in Israel's defenses.
Sources: IDF.
Map The
Pedagogic Center, The Department for Jewish Zionist Education, The
Jewish Agency for Israel, (c) 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, Director:
Dr. Motti Friedman, Webmaster: Esther Carciente. |