Chapter 7: The Declaration of Independence

On May 14, 1948, the British left Palestine. David Ben Gurion announces the creation of the State of Israel, with Ezer Weizmann as its first president.

The next day, interrupting UN debates and negotiations, the armies of the countries making up the Arab League – Egypt, Syria, Transjordan, Lebanon, Iraq, the Arab Emirates and Libya – declared war on the young state of Israel, to which they had promised a short-lived existence, if not certain destruction. King Farouk declares: ” Egypt is not going to war, we’re just going to clean up Palestine! His declaration is understandable. The Arab League, with 240 armored vehicles, 115 tanks, 104 cannons and 170 aircraft, will make short work of the Jews armed with grenades, 27,000 rifles, 2,600 machine guns, 676 mortars and 2 fighter planes.

Muslim withdrawal

In order to wipe out all Jews, the Arabs invite their brothers to leave their territories, to separate from those they are going to exterminate. The pan-Arab armies will show no mercy, and all inhabitants living in Jewish territories will be eliminated. The Arabs will be able to return to their homes and benefit from Jewish land after the fighting.

Obediently, the Palestinian inhabitants left their homes in their hundreds of thousands, so that the armies of the Arab League could achieve their goal: to drive all the Jews into the sea. But faced with the resistance of the Jewish defenders, the Arab armies retreated, losing immense territories. Those who had fled their homes would never find them again. The tragedy of the Palestinian refugees had begun^.67

Palestinian refugees are the result of the pan-Arab forces’ determination to physically destroy Israel. The Arabs, with their Nazi advisors, wanted to complete the work begun by Adolf Hitler. The plan failed, but the hatred between the two societies increased, and one battle followed another, the war of independence.

The war of independence

The Muslim Brotherhood enjoyed dazzling success, and many of its militants took part in the 1948-1949 war, designed to destroy the fledgling State of Israel. Thousands of Arab adventurers hoping to take advantage of the situation accompanied the armies of the Arab League.

On both sides, no holds are barred. The Jews are aware that their survival is at stake. All Syrian units are led by Nazis. They want to finish off the Israelite people. The Jews are aware of this, but they also know that no nation on earth will intervene on their behalf, as demonstrated by the difficulties encountered by survivors of the death camps. Israel relies solely on itself, its men, its army and its God.

In Galilee, Arab armies advanced slowly. The planes swooped down, terrorizing the Hebrew defenders with their rifles alone. Yet the Jewish soldiers shot down two Syrian planes. The Arab advance was reduced when two shots from a mortar, placed horizontally for direct fire, hit two armored tanks. That same evening, the Arabs withdrew, beaten, to the other bank of the river, on the eastern edge of the Jordan.

The fighting is particularly heavy around Latroun. This fortress is an essential passageway on the road from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. It also houses the water pumping system that supplies the capital. If the water were cut off, both Jews and Arabs would suffer, so nobody stops the pumps.

New immigrants who were able to carry weapons were often sent straight to the front. Some lose their lives the very same day. The intensity of the fighting is extreme.

The Old City of Jerusalem is surrounded by Arab armies. The situation of the inhabitants was precarious, with food and medicine in short supply. To thwart the siege of Jerusalem, which had been going on for months, a new road was built in just a few nights: the Burma Road. This enabled the fighting units to conquer and secure an access corridor to the City of David. This enabled the starving population of Jerusalem to be rescued and supplied. As for the defenders, they receive arms and ammunition.

The Green Line, a treaty ending hostilities

Strikes and renewed fighting were the order of the day in 1948. Insecurity was terrible! Arab armies were overwhelmed by the flood of Palestinian refugees and lacked coordination. Food shortages were the same on both sides. The Israeli army was better organized to take care of the wounded, but cruelly lacked ammunition and heavy weapons to counter the Arab armored tanks. Faced with an army six to ten times superior in men, David resisted.

At the end of the year, a comprehensive truce was agreed by both sides, although sporadic fighting continued in the Negev. Once the Gulf of Aqaba had been reached and the desert region secured by Tsahal (Israel Defense Forces), fighting ceased definitively on January 8, 1949. The armistice line signifying the end of hostilities is known as the Green Line.

Astonishment!

The small Jewish troupe known as Tsahal, made up of fighters from the Haganah (80,000 men and women, including 30,000 educated or combatants from the Second World War), the Irgun with its 5,000 men and Stern with its 1,000 men, all poorly armed, succeeded in stopping the Iraqi, Syrian, Egyptian and Jordanian armies, bringing together 165,000 fighters and forcing 350,000 Palestinians to flee. If you obey the voice of the Lord your God, observing and doing all his commandments which I command you today, the Lord your God will give you superiority over all the nations of the earth… The Lord will give you victory over all the enemies who rise up against you^.68

Annexation of the West Bank

1949 Before the first session of peace talks, King Abdallah of Transjordan created a surprise, announcing at the end of January 1949, the annexation of the West Bank, with the cities of Hebron, Nablus and Jerusalem, to Transjordan. His new kingdom was called Jordan^.69 This annexation was a declaration of war for the Jews. The city of Jerusalem was divided in two, an Arab part and a Jewish part. The Old City, the Citadel of David and the Western Wall were in Arab hands. Unbearable for the Jews.

Too weak, the Israelites were unable to react. Priority had to be given to dealing with the tens of thousands of refugees, producing food, building housing, consolidating central power and finding heavy weapons to defend the territory. Finally, on February 24, 1949, an armistice was signed in Rhodes, putting an end to the fighting.

The Red Cross

The International Red Cross has done a tremendous job. Not only in caring for the wounded, but also in communication, helping Jews and Arabs to understand each other. Acting as intermediaries between the belligerents and the UN, looking after prisoners and ensuring respect for international rights, doctors Fasel de Romont and Jacques de Reynier, accompanied by a handful of nurses, Ms Thorin, Ms Giauque, Ms Rogivue and Ms Bolomey, achieved the impossible. They cared for the wounded, helped with deliveries, and rushed to wherever their skills were needed. Shots, mines and threats do not stop them. Jews, Arabs, Bedouins, Muslims, Christians, civilians and soldiers are all helped. They deserve our admiration.

Refusing the return of the Arabs

Palestinian refugees, or those who left the territory to avoid being shot by Arabs when they threw Jews into the sea, are not welcome in the new country. Israel refuses to welcome these 150,000 Palestinians. They are traitors who wanted Israel dead, exterminated. They should trust their friends in the Arab League. Suspicion and mistrust have won the day. In addition, a very valid argument: every nation has its own refugees, so let’s all take care of them too!

The Arab populations needed protection from the cold, food and sanitation. Tent camps were set up in various locations to accommodate these Palestinian refugees. The UN handed over responsibility for this population to a newly-created organization, UNRWA (United Nation Refuges War Agency). Sir Alexander Galloway was its first director.

Palestinian refugee camps 1948

Palestinian refugee camps 1949

At the end of the Red Cross mandate, 294,293 Palestinian Arabs were housed in various refugee camps in different countries^.70

The challenges of the new nation

Everything in the new nation has to be built, organized or invented:

– Organize and set up legal political authorities and local, regional, national and international administration.

– Our top priority is to bring clean water to every city in the country. Under no circumstances must war or sabotage of the system interrupt its distribution.

– Feeding all those hungry immigrants. Clearing farmland, cultivating, harvesting, storing and distributing food.

– Building infrastructure, hospitals, schools, administrative and cultural buildings, houses and all communications routes. Roads and airfields have priority.

– Security is a central issue. Every inhabitant of Israel is a defender of his homeland. Men and women take it in turns to stand guard. New, high-quality and inexpensive weapons are needed quickly. Diaspora Jews provide significant financial support.

– Education and training play a very important role. Lessons with children from 103 nations, speaking many languages, are not without difficulty. All are required to speak the basic language, Hebrew. Children are taught during the day, adults at the end of the day and part of the night.

– Israel needs money to achieve its goals. There was only one solution: diversify the economy and create exportable products. To avoid having to buy weapons, it was decided to produce them locally. From time immemorial, the cutting and marketing of diamonds had been a Jewish activity, handed down from father to son. In just a few years, the new state became the world’s leading diamond center.

Arab persecution

The Arab coalition countries, unable to destroy the young nation of Israel, are turning against their own Jewish citizens. Libya was the first to worsen their living conditions. 30,000 of them left the country in 1949, leaving behind their possessions but saving their lives. By boat and plane, they emigrated to Israel, which welcomed them.

1950 | Reports of exactions against Jews in Arab countries irritate the authorities of the new state. On July 5, the Jerusalem Parliament passed the Law of Return: every Jew, wherever he may be in the world, has the right to immigrate to the historic homeland of the people of Israel.

Operation Flying Carpets

After the exodus of Jews from Egypt, Iraqi Jews were caught in a pincer movement. The State authorized them to emigrate on condition that they give up all their possessions. 123,000 Jewish Iraqis took advantage of these conditions to immigrate to Israel. This repatriation operation became known as the Flying Carpets, because these Jews were brought back thanks to a major air operation. Another biblical prophecy come true! 800 years before our era, that is 2800 years ago, Isaiah the prophet cried out: Who are they that fly like clouds, like doves to their dovecote? … to bring back your children from afar, … it is the Holy One of Israel! For them, the prophecy of Isaiah chapter 60, verse 8 had been fulfilled.

In the desert of the Arabian Peninsula lives a large Jewish community. Their leaders are convinced that the time has come to return home. They sell everything and set off. Arriving near the airport of the British protectorate of Aden, they pitch their tents. Intrigued by this population, the authorities ask what they’re doing there! The answer from the patriarch of the Yemeni community is simple: We are Jews and God has told us to go home. We have God’s order to set off, and he has led us here.⁷¹ Surprised, the governor passes on this information to Israel, which sends planes to fetch its sons and daughters from the desert. And so, for the first time in their lives, 20,000 Jews see and enter an airplane on their way home.

The Israeli authorities consider that they have no business dealing with the problem of Palestinian refugees. It’s up to the Arab nations, with territories a hundred times larger, to look after the Palestinians and integrate them into their society. All Israelis are united on this point, that this is not a Jewish problem. It’s clearly the responsibility of the nations in the Arab coalition.

The resurrection of ruins

To house all these people, we had to find places to set up the villages. We’ll be looking for sites where towns already existed. Why would we do this? It’s quite logical: the location of a city of the past is the promise that water will be found nearby. Another prophecy is fulfilled: Cities will be inhabited and the ruins will be rebuilt … and these ruined, deserted and downtrodden cities are fortified and inhabited^.72

Remember these things, O Jacob… I say of Jerusalem, it shall be inhabited. And of the cities of Judah: they shall be built! I will raise up their ruins! ⁷³

The truth of Bible prophecy.

God alone announced, through his servants the prophets, what was to come. Who announced this in the past, who revealed it long ago? Is it not I, the Eternal? There is no other God besides me. I am the only just and saving God. Turn to me and be saved, all you ends of the earth! For I am God, and there is no other. I swear by myself, and from my mouth goes forth that which is right, a word that shall not be revoked: “Everyone shall bow the knee before me, and every tongue shall swear by me.” It shall be said of me, “In the Lord alone is righteousness and strength”. ^.74

What is happening in Israel should be a cause for joy for the whole world. Prophecies proclaimed over 2700 years ago are being fulfilled with incredible precision. They are being fulfilled word for word, proving the Lordship of a living and powerful God, present in the history of mankind. Indeed, I am God, and there is no other. I am God and there is no one else like me. I reveal from the beginning what is to come, and long in advance what is not yet implemented^.75a

What extraordinary reasons to rejoice and hope in the Eternal. For the LORD comforts Zion, he has pity on all her ruins; he will make her desert like the garden of Eden, her barren plain like the garden of the LORD. In her midst will be joy and gladness, thanksgiving and the singing of^hymns75b.

1951 | The dunes around the old Magdal site are purchased for a kibbutz. Tensions with the Arabs of a seaside village are high. Various attacks are thwarted. Life there is difficult. Development of villages south of Tel Aviv is difficult. The Egyptian army supports the Palestinians in their military actions.

Agricultural development

Feeding all mouths is one of the great challenges facing the young nation. Agricultural development, cultivation and soil profitability are vital objectives. No problem if there’s enough water. In the desert and arid regions, new technologies are being developed to promote plant growth. Engineers are developing highly sophisticated irrigation systems. From all over the world, agronomists come to learn about the research and practical solutions developed in Israel.

Fruit exports under the Jaffa label, which means beautiful, are literally exploding. Every country imports dates and citrus fruits from Israel. Even flowers grown in greenhouses are invading European markets.

Thus another of Ezekiel’s words finds its fulfillment: This devastated land has become like a Garden of Eden^.72

Nazi actions

Over the years, unable to digest their defeat, many Arab nations have been won over by intransigent nationalism. The first signs of change are always the same. The Jewish community or its members are attacked. The tactics resemble exactly what had happened in Europe twenty years earlier. The reason is that over sixty SS officers are serving in the various countries of the Arab League.

Palestinian refugees

The figures for the arrival of Palestinian refugees between 1948 and 1949 are hardly disputed. However, the origins of the 201,241 refugees who arrived between 1950 and 1952 leave many questions unanswered. Where had they been since the end of the war? Are they soldiers in the Arab League army who did not return home? You have to have lived in Palestine for two years to qualify as a Palestinian refugee. These thousands of Arabs could have come from any country in the Middle East at the end of the 1949 conflict and registered as refugees between 1951 and 1952.

The lack of confirmation that 57,000 Palestinians were welcomed into the Gaza Strip shows that managing all these refugees was a highly complex task.

Palestinian refugee camps 1950

Palestinian refugee camps 1951 and 1952

Relations with Arab nations are often complicated. Reuniting families scattered in different countries is not easy. In a report to the UN, the first director of UNRWA declared: ” It is perfectly clear that the Arab countries do not want to solve the problem of Arab refugees. They want to preserve them as an open wound, as an affront to the United Nations and as a weapon against Israel. Arab leaders couldn’t care less about the plight of the refugees. Sir Alexander Galloway, 1952.

1953 | As the question of refugees is an important one, here are the figures for those welcomed by Israel, both Holocaust survivors and immigrants.

Simon Wiesenthal

The impunity of thousands of Nazi SS officers who committed the unimaginable is on Simon Wiesenthal’s mind. From his office, he set himself the task of tracking down the perpetrators of atrocities and crimes against humanity, in order to bring them to trial. Little by little, he received information from numerous countries in which Jews recognized one or other SS officer. Some sixty officers were reported to him in the Middle East, including Generalleutnant Artur Schmitt, wanted for the massacre of thousands of Belgians and Jews. There’s also SS paratrooper Sonderkommando Gerhard Mertins, accused of brutality, torture and murder. By day, these Nazis were German car dealers in the major cities of the East. By night, they deal in weapons and anything else that is forbidden.

Simon Wiesenthal, the Nazi hunter, founded Jewish documentation centers in Linz and Vienna, Austria.

Muslim Brotherhood violence

1954 | After acts of violence, various assassinations and an attempt on the life of presidential candidate Gamal Abdel Nasser, the Muslim Brotherhood is banned in Egypt. The congregation is dissolved. Some fled and regrouped in Gaza. After driving out Christians and Jews, the Muslim Brotherhood makes the Gaza Strip its operational base. They called themselves the fédayins, groups of Palestinian commandos who opposed Israel with arms.