David Ben-Gurion’s anxiety grew as the 15th of May 1948 came closer. Actually speaking,in the on-going Arab-Jew Civil War, the Jews appeared to win across the land of Palestine while the Palestinian Arabs, fearing for their life, continued to flee with their families and whatever belongings they could carry. However, the upper hand, the Jews, […]
The battle of Deir Yassin fought on the 8th of April, 1948 changed the equations between the Palestinian Arabs and the Jews. The Arabs went from being offensive to defensive; alternately it changed the Jews from being defensive to offensive. As the date of the British exit from Palestine (the 14th of May, 1948) neared, […]
The United Nations had approved the concept of the ‘Jewish homeland in Palestine’, but in spite of it, David Ben-Gurion was well-aware that it was to face numerous hurdles. Hence, for the last few months, he tried whatever he could to augment the manpower and the firepower of the Haganah. Importantly, Ben-Gurion put his efforts […]
The attention of the whole world had by now focused on the decision that the United Nations would give on the plan of Palestine’s partition submitted by the special committee appointed by it (United Nations Special Committee on Palestine’ or the UNSCOP) for handling the Palestine issue. However, the Israeli leaders, especially David Ben-Gurion, were […]
It was right in the beginning of 1947, in fact after the meeting spoken about earlier, that Britain’s position with regard to the Palestine issue, i.e. its leanings towards the Arabs, became clear. It obviously did not spell hope for the Jews. For the British to safeguard their interests in the Middle East, the cooperation […]
Enraged, David Ben-Gurion stormed out of the 22nd World Zionist Congress halfway, went directly to his hotel and started to pack his luggage. He had lost his patience. Thoughts were racing in his mind– Why should the Jews have to beg before the world even today to acquire their rightful ‘Promised Land’? Why do we […]
After the King David Hotel bombing, the British administration in Palestine significantly stepped up their oppression of the Jews.At the same time, the ideological differences between the Irgun and the Haganah, which did not approve of such an act, became irreconcilable, and they decided to part ways. In the meantime, many events related to the […]
The Jews having realized the inevitability of war, began active preparations to increase the troop numbers, the war equipment and also establish more Jewish settlements even at desolate locations. Rejecting the immigration restrictions by the British government, a growing number of Jewish immigrants, but ‘without a permit’, were being increasingly but silently taken into the […]
World War II ended in 1945. The Jews then backed Britain in the war, and they also fought by their side against Germany. However, despite all of this, after the world war, the British continued with their policy of Arab appeasement with respect to Palestine. This policy was adopted because the British had vested interests […]
The Jews immigrating in large numbers to Palestine were poorly off. Hence, it was infeasible for them to take to farming independently. Also, the local Arabs were against them. It was thus essential from them to work for their livelihood by staying together. Thus, the utopian concept of ‘Kibbutz’ came forward so that the Jews […]