Israel's History:
1948

1948:
by Elizabeth Alexander, 2002-2003 CHUSY Israel Affairs VP

• Abridged Version
  Israel declared its independence on May 14th, 1948, and the following day the Arabs from Egypt, Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, and Iraq invaded the new land of Israel with hopes of restoring the land to the Palestinian Arabs.
• Expanded Version
  It was May 14th, 1948, and a small Art Museum in Tel Aviv was about to become a historic landmark. There, the national anthem of Israel was sung, and then David Ben Gurion read the Declaration of Independence - all only a short 54 years ago.

  Claiming only the land that the UN allowed, Israel was giving up many of the traditional and holy sites, and more than half of the usable land west of the Jordan River. The Zionist dream was being fulfilled, and the founders were willing to take anything and everything they could get.

  Unfortunately, restricting the mass of the land of Israel was not enough for the surrounding Arab nations. On May 15th, 1948, under 24 hours after Irael declared her independence, Egypt, Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, and Iraq invaded Israel from 3 sides. The 650,000 Jews who occupied the land took their modest assortment of weaponry and stood up to the Arab nations.

  The Israeli army took Jaffa, the Galilee, and established a corridor from the Mediterranean to Jerusalem and forced the Egyptians out of the Negev. In the end, the Israelis were in control now of half the land that the UN designated for the Arabs and the western half of Jerusalem.

  1948 marks a huge triumph of the Jewish people and the Zionist dream, and also marks the beginning of many conflicts from the Arab nations surrounding Israel.