1948 Arab-Israeli War

Second and final stage of the 1948 Palestine war

War & ConflictPolitics & Government
1948 Arab-Israeli War
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Overview

What happened

On May 14, 1948, the Jewish People's Council, led by David Ben-Gurion, declared the establishment of the State of Israel, as stated in the Israeli Decla...

Date

May 14, 1948

Location

Tel Aviv, Israel

Key people

David Ben-Gurion

Why it matters

This article provides a detailed and nuanced account of the declaration of independence of Israel, including the historical context, the key figures involved, and the consequences of...

What was 1948 Arab-Israeli War?

The 1948 Arab–Israeli War (15 May 1948 – 10 March 1949), also known as the First Arab–Israeli War, followed the civil war in Mandatory Palestine (29 November 1947 – 14 May 1948) as the second and final stage of the 1948 Palestine war. The civil war became a war of separate states with the Israeli Declaration of Independence on 14 May 1948, the end of the British Mandate for Palestine at midnight, and the invasion by a military coalition of Arab states into the territory of Mandatory Palestine the following morning. The war formally ended with the 1949 Armistice Agreements which established the Green Line.

1948 Arab-Israeli War
Related books
The Arab-Israeli Wars cover The Arab-Israeli Wars Chaim Herzog · 1982 1948 Arab-Israeli War U. S. Army US Army Command and Staff College · 2021 The Arab-Israeli War since 1948 cover The Arab-Israeli War since 1948 Alex Woolf · 2011 The Arab-Israeli War, 1948 O'Ballance, Edgar. · 1956 Genesis 1948; the first Arab-Israeli war cover Genesis 1948; the first Arab-Israeli war Dan Kurzman · 1970
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Background and consequences

Since the 1917 Balfour Declaration and the 1920 creation of the British Mandate of Palestine, and in the context of Zionism and the mass migration of European Jews to Palestine, there had been tension and conflict between Arabs, Jews, and the British in Palestine. The conflict escalated into a civil war on 30 November 1947, the day after the United Nations adopted the Partition Plan for Palestine proposing to divide the territory into an Arab state, a Jewish state, and an internationally administered corpus separatum for the cities of Jerusalem and Bethlehem.

1948 Arab-Israeli War
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Related on thisDay

Israeli Independence — May 14, 1948

David Ben-Gurion declares Israel's independence in 1948 Tel Aviv, founding a nation in a single day, changing history forever

Use the dated article for the day-specific account; use these references to check the event record and explore its wider historical context.

Date article: Israeli Independence — May 14, 1948Wikipedia source
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MLA

“1948 Arab-Israeli War.” thisDay, thisday.info/history/1948-arab-israeli-war/. Accessed 19 Oct. 2026.

APA

1948 Arab-Israeli War. (n.d.). thisDay. Retrieved October 19, 2026, from https://thisday.info/history/1948-arab-israeli-war/

Chicago

“1948 Arab-Israeli War.” thisDay. Accessed October 19, 2026. https://thisday.info/history/1948-arab-israeli-war/.

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