1948 Narratives We Grew Up With vs. What We Know
Reference the following bullet points we discussed as a group regarding military capability, and discuss this query with your small group: What narratives about 1948 did you grow up with or learn about in school? Why do you think that was the narrative?
Palestinians were out-done by Zionist forces:
- Out-organized: British mandate authorities promoted Jewish Agency (para-state), while banning Arab political organizations
- Out-gunned: British mandate authorities permitted the formation of Zionist paramilitaries & incorporated a Jewish unit into the British military during WWII
- Out-spent: Arab National Fund raises a mere $700k by 1947, compared with Jewish Nat’l Fund’s $3.5m per year by 1930s
- Out-led: Arab leadership deported during Arab Revolt; elites divided; elites-grassroots division
- Out-maneuvered: Jewish Agency & Jordanian King agree to carve up Palestine – Jordan to absorb West Bank/E. Jerus.
- Out-sponsored: by not only UK, but also both U.S. (Truman sees Zionism as a domestic political issue) & U.S.S.R. (who see leftist Israel as a counterweight to UK-allied Arab states)
After Israel declared statehood on 5/15/1948, the Arab-Israeli War began:
- Arab states belatedly send troops as Palestinian refugees flood their countries & public opinion rages
- Arab forces were uncoordinated, ineffective.
- Lebanon never even crossed the border.
- Jordan was colluding/coordinating with Israel.
- Iraq/Jordan were forbidden by their imperial British sponsors to cross what would ultimately become the partition boundary.
- Israel outnumbered & outgunned all the Arab armies combined