After the Second World War, Britain still ruled Palestine under a mandate granted by the League of Nations in 1922. By 1945 that mandate was collapsing. Britain was exhausted and bankrupt after the war, and it faced two groups who both wanted the same land: Jewish nationalists (Zionists) who wanted a Jewish state, and Palestinian Arabs who wanted independence for a majority-Arab Palestine.
Jewish immigration had been rising since the 1930s, driven by persecution in Europe and then by the horror of the Holocaust, which made the case for a Jewish homeland far more urgent in world opinion. Arab Palestinians saw this immigration as a threat to their land and majority status, and violence between the two communities, and against British forces, increased sharply after 1945.
- Jewish underground groups — Irgun and the Stern Gang carried out attacks on British targets, most famously the 1946 bombing of the King David Hotel in Jerusalem, to force Britain out
- Arab resistance — Palestinian Arab leaders rejected any plan that gave away Arab-majority land, and violence against Jewish settlements grew
- British exhaustion — Britain could no longer afford the troops or the political cost of holding Palestine, and handed the problem to the new United Nations in 1947
The UN Partition Plan (1947): In November 1947 the UN voted to partition Palestine into a Jewish state and an Arab state, with Jerusalem under international control. Jewish leaders accepted the plan. Arab states and Palestinian leaders rejected it, arguing it unfairly gave over half the land to a Jewish population that was still a minority. Fighting between Jews and Arabs inside Palestine broke out immediately.
On 14 May 1948, as the last British forces left, Jewish leader David Ben-Gurion declared the independence of the State of Israel. Within hours, neighbouring Arab states invaded.
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The moment Israel declared independence, armies from Egypt, Jordan, Syria, Lebanon and Iraq invaded to support the Palestinian Arabs and prevent the new state from surviving. This became the 1948–49 Arab–Israeli War, sometimes called Israel's War of Independence.
Why did the war break out?
- Rejection of partition — Arab states saw the UN plan as illegitimate and believed force could reverse it before Israel consolidated power
- Pan-Arab solidarity — Arab governments felt pressure from their own populations to defend fellow Arabs in Palestine and boost their own prestige
- Power vacuum — the sudden British withdrawal left no authority controlling the territory, making armed conflict almost inevitable
- Competing nationalisms — both Zionist and Palestinian Arab nationalism claimed the same land as a historic homeland, leaving no room for compromise
Despite being outnumbered, Israel had better organisation, unified command under the new Israel Defense Forces (IDF), and access to arms (including from Czechoslovakia), while the Arab armies were disunited and poorly coordinated. By the 1949 armistice agreements, Israel had not just survived but expanded beyond the UN's original partition borders.
Effects of the 1948–49 War: Israel gained roughly 78% of Mandate Palestine (well beyond the UN's plan). Jordan occupied the West Bank, and Egypt occupied the Gaza Strip. No independent Palestinian state was created. Around 700,000 Palestinian Arabs fled or were expelled, becoming refugees — a catastrophe Palestinians call the Nakba. This refugee crisis became the unresolved core of the conflict for decades.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| Arab rejection of partition + invasion | Arab armies defeated; Israel survives and expands territory |
| Disunity among Arab states | Uncoordinated Arab war effort; no Palestinian state emerges |
| Mass Palestinian displacement (Nakba) | 700,000+ refugees; a permanent grievance driving future conflict |
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The 1948 war did not settle anything — it created a bitter, unresolved rivalry that erupted twice more within twenty years.
The Suez Crisis (1956)
In July 1956, Egypt's president Gamal Abdel Nasser nationalised the Suez Canal, which had been owned and run by British and French shareholders. Nasser needed the canal's revenue to fund the Aswan Dam after the US and Britain withdrew their funding offer, partly because Nasser had recognised Communist China and bought arms from the Soviet bloc.
Secret plan
Britain, France and Israel secretly agreed that Israel would invade Sinai, giving Britain and France an excuse to 'intervene' and seize the canal zone
Invasion
Israel attacked Egypt in Sinai in October 1956; British and French forces then landed near the canal
Superpower pressure
The USA (fearing Soviet influence and angry at not being consulted) and the USSR both demanded a withdrawal; the US threatened financial pressure on Britain
Humiliating withdrawal
Britain, France and Israel were forced to withdraw; Nasser kept the canal and emerged as a hero of Arab nationalism
Secret plan → invasion → superpower pressure → humiliation: Suez showed Britain and France were no longer the great powers of the Middle East.
Effect on the region: Suez massively boosted Nasser's prestige and the appeal of Pan-Arabism, while exposing Britain and France as declining powers. It also deepened Israeli–Egyptian hostility, setting the stage for 1967.
The Six Day War (1967)
By 1967, tension had built again: Egypt (allied with Syria and Jordan) expelled UN peacekeepers from Sinai, moved troops to the border, and blockaded the Straits of Tiran, cutting off Israeli shipping — an act Israel considered an act of war. Fearing a coordinated Arab attack, Israel launched a pre-emptive strike on 5 June 1967.
- Air strikes first — Israel destroyed most of the Egyptian air force on the ground within hours, giving it control of the skies
- Rapid ground victory — in just six days, Israel defeated Egypt, Jordan and Syria
- Huge territorial gains — Israel captured the Sinai Peninsula and Gaza Strip (from Egypt), the West Bank and East Jerusalem (from Jordan), and the Golan Heights (from Syria)
Why the Six Day War mattered so much: Israel tripled the territory it controlled in less than a week. These newly occupied territories became the central, unresolved issue in all later peace efforts — and the huge Palestinian population now living under Israeli occupation reshaped Palestinian politics.