Why did the arab-Israel war in 1948 start? Why were they fighting?

Question

They say it was the war of independence. Who's independence were they fighting for? What was the conflict between them?

Answer 1

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The 1948 Arab-Israeli War, also known by Israelis as the War of Independence and by Palestinians as al Nakba (Arabic: النكبة, "the Catastrophe") was the first in a series of wars fought between Israel and its Arab neighbors in the long-running Arab-Israeli conflict. The war marked the establishment of the State of Israel, and the exodus of hundreds of thousands of Palestinian Arabs from the territories that would become part of the new state.

The War was fought mostly on the territory of the British Mandate of Palestine, and for a short time also on the Sinai Peninsula, commencing immediately on the termination of the Mandate on 15 May 1948 and ended with the conclusion of the 1949 Armistice Agreements.

The conflict then, as now, was for survival: who had (has) the right to this land.

Answer 2

the israelis fought for an independent state which they won ,but it also resulted in the mass exodus of thousands of palestinians from the territories now known as israel.

Answer 3

Isreal declared it independance and was immediately attacked by a number of Arab nations though the Egyptian army was the dominate force.

Source(s):

http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/isr…
http://www.nmhschool.org/tthornton/mehis…

Answer 4

The Jews and Palestinians were fighting over land. For centuries, the entire area was ruled by the Ottoman Empire (today Turkey). After World War I, the area that is now Israel was taken over by Britain. The British favored the idea of establishing a Jewish state in the middle east, since historically that was their homeland, and since there was so much anti-Semitism in Europe. Between WWI and WWII thousands of Jews moved to Israel (then called Palestine) and established communities, farms, businesses, etc. They were still a fairly small percentage of the population, so the local Muslim population was not too upset, but as the number of Jews increased, tensions started to arise. After WWII, the United Nations began discussing the creation of an independent Jewish state. Thousands more Jews, mainly Holocaust survivors, moved to Israel. The United Nations proposed to divide the territory into 2 separate countries in 1948, Israel and Palestine. The Palestinians and surrounding Arab countries rejected the UN plan as unfair because it gave too much land to the Jews. The Jews declared independence anyway, and the surrounding Arab countries declared war on Israel. It is important to note that the main source of the Arabs' anger was not religion, but rather the legacy of European imperialism. European nations such as Britain and France had been controlling the Middle East for years, and these countries saw the creation of Israel as another imperialistic act. From the Jewish point of view, they were tired of 2,000 years of anti-Semitism, persecutions, pogroms, and being kicked out of other countries, so they really wanted their own nation. Of course, control of the "Holy Land" of Jerusalem was also part of it.

Answer 5

The war started because of Anti-Jewish sentiment in Europe. After the Holocaust it became evident that Europeans could not tolerate Jews. And, instead of giving them a chunk of Germany (a large European nation by land mass that was going to be cut up), several of the European nation and the United States decided to make two nations in the middle of Palestine.

The vote went to the UN. Christian and Arab Palestinians fought to kill the proposal. The Jews, USA and most of the council nations voting approved the measure. It should be noted, the Palestinians instead wanted 1 secular nation instead of Jewish state: Israel, and second secular state for Arab Christians and Muslims to share.

Then the fight broke out.