The Waning Parties in Palestine at the End of May 1948

Abstract

At the outset of our study of the evolvement of the change in the military balance between the Arabs and Israelis in 1948, we face a methodical question: where to start? A civil war began in Palestine as early as 30 November 1947, following the UN Assembly vote for partition. That civil war then escalated apace. But at its turning point, which only occurred between mid-April and mid-May 1948, the warring parties were still different from those which fought the same war a short while later. On the Arab side, irregular forces, consisting of local Arabs and foreign volunteers were fighting, using mostly arms smuggled from the neighbouring Arab countries. On the Jewish side, irregular militias, which served as a skeleton for the future Israeli Defence Forces, did not yet amalgamate into one united army and were unable to ship in many weapons from abroad because of the British presence. Then the British mandate came to its end, the irregular Arab forces disintegrated (except for the Qawukji troops, which temporarily retreated to Syria), and the regular armies of the neighbouring Arab countries joined the war in their stead, though first with relatively small forces. Now, on the Jewish side a regular, united army was quickly