The Struggle for the Birth
of Israel: To Whom Does Victory Belong?
By Bluma Zuckerbrot-Finkelstein
In recent years, Israel's War of Independence has
been hijacked by historians and political scientists who have tried to steal
from the Jewish State its victory in the 1948 war. Israel's triumph, it has
been argued, was less an Israeli win than an Arab defeat. Decades later, the
question remains: To whom does victory belong?
Undeniably, the Arabs suffered dearly for their lack of unity, common goals, military
preparedness and coordination. Arab political leaders deluded their armies and
societies into believing that the march to Tel Aviv would be swift and
painless. And, if the Arabs had not accepted a UN call for a four-week
ceasefire in June 1948, thus giving Israel time to resupply and rearm its
troops, it is likely that all of Jerusalem, and perhaps other parts of Israel,
would have fallen to the Arabs.
Nevertheless, as journalists Larry Collins and Dominique Lapierre reveal in
their timeless and riveting account of the 1948 war, <I>O Jerusalem!</I>, the victory
in 1948 does belong to Israel, won by real-life men and women, their courageous
political and military leaders, and Israeli ingenuity and determination.
Among the numerous heroes and heroines of the 1948 war were the teenagers and
young adults of the Gadna, the pre-army military training youth organization
and the Haganah, Israel's pre-state army. As passionate, unswerving and
disciplined Zionists, they understood that they were risking their lives for
the sake of a Jewish state they might never live to see.
When the Arabs of Palestine began ambushing Jewish vehicles on the road to
Jerusalem, these young adults escorted military convoys up the Arab-controlled
road, often dying brutal deaths in numerous desperate attempts to provide the
city’s 100,000 besieged and hungry Jews with food, medicine and arms.
At the start of the 1948 war, the new state's manpower levels were so
dangerously low that young men and women were literally pulled off the docking
Holocaust refugee boats and sent to the front lines with little training.
One such 17-year-old young man, dispatched to the bloody battle of Latrun, died
in a ditch with his last words to his commander, "Oh, we must have
disappointed you."
In fierce street-to-street fighting in Jerusalem's Jewish Quarter, Gadna
members bought some much-needed time for the Haganah in May 1948 when they
repelled the armored cars of the Jordanian Arab Legion with nothing more than
hand grenades and youthful physical prowess. Esther Cailingold, a 22-year-old
Haganah volunteer from England, died defending the Jewish Quarter. She left
behind a note for her parents saying: "…I have tasted hell but it has been
worthwhile because I am convinced the end will see a Jewish state and all our
longings…"
The 1948 war was also won by Israel's early political and military leaders.
First Israeli Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion was operating under
extraordinarily dire conditions. On the international front, the
world--including the United States--was retreating from the UN partition plan
and sought a UN trusteeship for Palestine. At home, the Arabs were winning the
war for the roads and Jerusalem was completely cut off from the rest of the
state; its residents were facing relentless Arab shelling and impending
starvation.
Where would Israel be today if David Ben-Gurion had not overcome opposition
among his 13-member governing council regarding proclaiming a Jewish state upon
British withdrawal on May 14, 1948? Would Jerusalem be the capital of the
Jewish state today if Ben-Gurion had not stood firm in his conviction that no
Jewish area be abandoned no matter how critical the circumstances?
Additionally, the emerging Jewish state had no money for purchasing weapons.
Ben-Gurion dispatched senior Jewish Agency official Golda Meir to persuade
American Jewry that they must immediately empty their pockets. Golda's eloquent
and impassioned speeches before American Jewry in January 1948 raised 50
million dollars for the Israeli war effort.
Facing a shortage of soldiers, arms, and general military supplies, battlefield
commanders of the Haganah nevertheless maintained unity, morale and sense of
purpose. They set a precedent of going out first in battle and using all
available means to retrieve the dead and wounded from the
battlefield.
Jewish ingenuity also contributed to Israel's 1948 triumph. Within Palestine,
intelligence networks were established to track British and Arab movements. The
Jews discovered when the British were planning to evacuate key installations so
that the Haganah could immediately move into them. This intelligence was
crucial to the Jews' securing control of western Jerusalem. Abroad, Zionist
operatives secured weapons and the means to transport them through elaborate
ruses including dummy companies and airlines and clever smuggling techniques.
Fifty-four years later, Israelis are again under siege, fighting for their
lives and their right to live a normal life in a Jewish state. It is being said
that today the roles are reversed; whereas in 1948, the Jews lacked the
military advantage but had the unity, determination and sense of purpose some
say that in 2002, it is the Palestinians who lack the military advantage but
possess the traits with which Israel won the 1948 war.
The victory of 1948 does belong to Israel and its lessons are still relevant
today. Israelis must find ways to retrieve and refashion those 1948 assets.
Impressed with the panic-free faces of Tel Avivians on May 15, 1948 following
the beginning of Arab shelling, Ben-Gurion wrote in his diary,
"<I>Eleh Ya’amduh</I>" - "These shall stand."
And so will they today.