1948 war

Question 1

What was the ‘Nakba’?

Answer 1

The ethnic cleansing of Palestinian Arabs through their violent displacement and dispossession of land, property, and belongings,

Question 2

When was Israel made a state?

Answer 2

May 1948

Question 3

What were the consequences of the war?

Answer 3

• Israel was there to stay and now had a continuous and defensible
  border
• Arab states had increased their own territory
• The Palestinians had lost all hope of their own independent state
• The Palestinian Refugee problem
• The defeat of the Arab states had domestic repercussions-
  de-legitimising the existing regimes and leading to revolutions

Question 4

What was the ‘Law of Return’, 1950?

Answer 4

Said that any Jew in the world had the right to come to Israel and become an Israel citizen

Question 5

How many Jewish immigrants came to Israel due to the ‘Law of Return’? Where did they come from?

Answer 5

Population was almost doubled to 1.5 million
- Many came from Europe, either Holocaust survivors or east Europeans seeking asylum from Soviet control

Question 6

Impact of 1948 war on Israelis

Answer 6

• 6000 died
• had access to Jerusalem
• Jerusalem was named the capital of Israel
• Retained the land allocated to them in the partition plan and also gained 50 percent of the Arabs allocated land

Question 7

Key characteristics of the IDF

Answer 7

• Israeli defence force
• From 1949, every non- Arab 19 year old male had to serve in the IDF for 30 months and woman was 18, formed the bulk of the IDF
• Has a small core of professional soldiers
• Purchased their weapons from France or created them themselves

Question 8

What did David Ben Gurion agree with West Germany?

Answer 8

Reparations agreement - agreed to pay Israel 845 million over 14 years as compensation for the property the Nazis stole from Jews

Question 9

Apart from Germany, what did Israel rely on for support?

Answer 9

Private Zionist sympathisers abroad
- Exodus - Americans
- European Jews helped as well

Question 10

What was Israel’s relationship like with Egypt?

Answer 10

• Arab League boycotted all trade with Israel
• Egypt searched all ships in the Suez and confiscated anything that could be from/for Israel

Question 11

What was the Palestinian Arab population before November 1947?

Answer 11

900,000

Question 12

Number of Palestinian Arabs who fled during the war?

Answer 12

400,000

Question 13

Number of Palestinian Arabs who fled during the Civil War of November 1947- May 1948?

Answer 13

300,000

Question 14

How many Palestinian Arab refugees were there in Lebanon?

Answer 14

100,000

Question 15

How many Palestinian Arab refugees were there in Jordan?

Answer 15

70,000

Question 16

How many Palestinian Arab refugees were there in the the West bank?

Answer 16

280,000

Question 17

How many Palestinian Arab refugees were there in Gaza?

Answer 17

190,000

Question 18

What was the Arab League?

Answer 18

An organisation of Arab countries, set up in 1945, which promoted closer relations between Arabs

Question 19

Why did the Arab League deny citizenship to Palestinian refugees?

Answer 19

So that Palestinians would keep their identity and protect their ‘right to return’ to their homeland

Question 20

What was the Fedayeen?

Answer 20

They were freedom fighters/ terrorists depending on perspective, they were Arab