Abdullah Atfeh ( Arabic : عبدالله عطفة ; 1897–1976) was a Syrian career military officer who served as the first chief of staff of the Syrian Army after the country's independence.
96-399: [REDACTED] Yishuv After 26 May 1948 : The Arab Liberation Army ( ALA ; Arabic : جيش الإنقاذ العربي Jaysh al-Inqadh al-Arabi ), also translated as Arab Salvation Army or Arab Rescue Army (ARA), was an army of volunteers from Arab countries led by Fawzi al-Qawuqji . It fought on the Arab side in the 1948 Palestine war also known as the Israeli War of Independence and
192-583: A major Arab rebellion . The British were caught by surprise and were unable to prevent the deaths of thousands of Arabs and hundreds of Jews in the revolt. The Haganah protected the Yishuv's settlements while the Irgun , a radical splinter group, launched a campaign of attacks against Arabs. A coalition of recently formed Arab political parties formed the Arab Higher Committee (AHC). It declared
288-464: A military coup that overthrew the al-Quwatli's government, and appointed Atfeh as his defense minister. Al-Za'im's rule lasted around five months, and in August 1949 Atfeh switched his allegiances again and supported the politicians that replaced him. After the 1949 elections Atfeh was appointed minister of defense by Syria's new president, Hashim al-Atassi . However, his term did not last long and he
384-524: A few German , Turkish and British deserters. The Arab League Military Committee, with headquarters in Damascus, was responsible for the movements and servicing of the Army. The Committee consisted of General Ismail Safwat (Iraq, Commander-in-Chief), General Taha al-Hashimi (Iraq), Colonel Shuqayri (Lebanon), Colonel Muhammed al-Hindi (Syria) and Colonel Abd al-Qadir al-Jundi (Transjordan). All of
480-630: A fortified zone to be hastily constructed around the Carmel Mountains . This military operation was officially named Palestine Final Fortress . Fortunately for the Yishuv, the advance of German forces eastwards in Egypt was halted during the Second Battle of El Alamein , thus lifting the threat of invasion from the south. The anxious time leading to the Nazi loss at El Alamein became known as
576-618: A halt to the AHC riots. The Peel Commission reported, in July 1937, that the British obligations to the Arabs and Zionists were irreconcilable and the mandate unworkable. It suggested the partition of Palestine into Arab and Jewish states, with the British mandate governing over Nazareth, Bethlehem, and Jerusalem along with a corridor from Jerusalem to the coast. The Jews accepted the general principle of
672-531: A national strike in support of three basic demands: cessation of Jewish immigration, an end to all further land sales to the Jews, and the establishment of an Arab national government. The Arabs threatened that if the British didn't comply with their demands then they would join the adversaries of the British. This concerned the British for World War II was just beginning and they knew they would need Middle Eastern oil. The British worked with their Arab allies to bring
768-606: A partition while the Arabs refused any partition plan. The British government sent a technical team called the Woodhead Commission to detail the plan. The Woodhead Commission considered three different plans, one of which was based on the Peel plan. Reporting in 1938, the Commission rejected the Peel plan primarily on the grounds that it could not be implemented without a massive forced transfer of Arabs (an option that
864-855: A period of severe decline in Jewish communities of the Southern Levant during the early Middle Ages , and was composed of three clusters. The oldest group consisted of the Ladino -speaking Sephardic Jewish communities in Galilee and the Judeo-Arabic speaking Musta'arabi Jews who settled in Eretz Yisrael in the Ottoman and late Mamluk period . A second group was composed of Ashkenazi and Hasidic Jews who had emigrated from Europe in
960-664: A small clandestine militia to a large military force. The British security forces at this time cooperated with the Haganah to respond to the Arabs. In 1938 Captain Orde Wingate created the Special Night Squads (SNS) that were composed mostly of Haganah members. SNS used the element of surprise in night raids to protect the Jewish settlements and attack the Arabs. The British suppressed the Arab revolt and published
1056-456: A volunteer army was needed. Because [the Arab governments are undependable], I have decided... on the necessity of strengthening Palestine with arms and men and organizing their affairs and appointing a leader to take charge of their matters. The popular movement in Palestine is responsible for saving the situation, with the help of the Arab governments. This is because I doubt in the unity of
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#17327941099891152-520: Is of paramount importance and needs to be done with the greatest of haste. If the movement is destined to failure, God forbid, then it will be the people of Palestine who fail and not the Arab governments and their armies. So long as the position of the Kings and Amirs is one of caution and plots, this is the only sound policy.[fn] As Mardam makes clear, he knew the Syrian army could not withstand an attack by
1248-569: Is recorded in the diaries of Taha al-Hashimi. Hashimi was an Iraqi pan-Arab nationalist and long-time intimate of Quwatli, whom the Syrian president wanted to head the Liberation Army rather than General Safwat, Egypt's candidate. Hashimi was ultimately appointed Inspector General of the ALA and placed in charge of recruitment and training of the troops at the Qatana headquarters. His office was in
1344-519: Is with reforming the Syrian army and solving the problem of its leadership."[59] Because of these concerns, he said, "it is imperative that we restrict our efforts to the popular movement in Palestine. We must strengthen it and organize its affairs as quickly as possible. The trouble is that the Mufti [Hajj Amin al-Husayni] will not permit Fawzi al-Qawuqji to take the leadership in Palestine."[fn] The next several weeks of intense negotiations between Quwatli,
1440-427: The 1948 Arab–Israeli War broke out. Syrian troops suffered heavy losses during the first days of the war. Atfeh, along with Minister of Defense Ahmad al-Sharabati , were considered the principal parties responsible for the poor preparation and management of the war. Consequently, Atfeh was relieved from his duties soon after and replaced with then-Director of Public Security, Husni al-Za'im . In 1949, al-Za'im led
1536-928: The 200 days of dread . Despite the reports of Nazi atrocities and the desperation of Jews needing a safe haven the British kept the gates of Palestine almost closed to Jewish immigration. The Zionist leaders met at the Biltmore Hotel in New York in May 1942 and called for unrestricted Jewish immigration and the establishment of a Jewish commonwealth. Hundreds of thousands of Holocaust survivors were being held in Displaced Persons Camp (DP Camps) aching to go to Mandatory Palestine. The British received much international pressure, specifically from U.S. president Harry Truman, to change their policy on immigration. Despite Britain's dependence on American economic aid,
1632-534: The Ashkenazi Jews , whose immigration from Europe was primarily since the 18th century. The Old Yishuv term was coined by members of the 'New Yishuv' in the late 19th century to distinguish themselves from the economically dependent and generally earlier Jewish communities, who mainly resided in the four holy cities, and unlike the New Yishuv, had not embraced land ownership and agriculture. Apart from
1728-480: The Balfour Declaration . The Arabs tried to show the British the instability of Palestine and that a Jewish homeland was ungovernable. Riots increased in 1929 after the fourth Aliyah – 133 Jews were killed by Arab mobs during the 1929 riots. The Arabs claimed that Jewish immigration and land purchases were displacing them and taking their jobs away. These riots were also instigated by false rumours that
1824-853: The British Mandate of Palestine were the Haganah , the Irgun and Lehi . In October, 1945, during the Jewish insurgency in Mandatory Palestine , those organizations joined to form the Jewish Resistance Movement . It was established by the Jewish Agency and activated for some ten months, until August, 1946. The alliance coordinated acts of sabotage and attacks against British authorities. Abdullah Atfeh Abdullah Atfeh began his military career at
1920-597: The Haavara Agreement . This allowed Jews to escape from Germany to Palestine in return for paying a ransom to the Reich. By then, the Yishuv had a population of about 400,000. The increasing numbers of Jewish immigrants and land purchases, unchallenged by the British Mandate, angered and radicalized many Arabs. In April 1936, Arabs attacked a Jewish bus, leading to a series of incidents that escalated into
2016-743: The Nakba . It was set up by the Arab League as a counter to the Arab High Committee 's Holy War Army , but in fact, the League and Arab governments prevented thousands from joining either force. At the meeting in Damascus on 5 February 1948 to organize Palestinian Field Commands, Northern Palestine was allocated to Qawuqji's forces although the West Bank was de facto already under
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#17327941099892112-661: The Old City walls of Jerusalem in the 1860s, followed soon after by the founders of the moshava of Petah Tikva , with growth in full swing during the First Aliyah of 1882, followed by the founding of neighbourhoods and villages until the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948. The Old Yishuv were the Jewish communities of southern Ottoman Syria in the Ottoman Empire , up to the onset of Zionist aliyah and
2208-858: The Ottoman Military Academy in Istanbul . After his graduation in 1915, he served as an officer in the Ottoman Army . He defected in 1916 to join the Arab Revolt led by Sharif Hussein against the Ottomans . After the end of World War I and the defeat of the Ottoman Empire, Atfeh joined the newly created Syrian Army under King Faisal I . Following the defeat at Maysalun and the French occupation of Syria in 1920,
2304-535: The Technion , the first institution for higher learning. Hashomer , a Zionist self-defence group, was created to protect the Jewish settlements. Labor organizations were created along with health and cultural services, all later coordinated by the Jewish National Council . By 1914, the old Yishuv was a minority, and the New Yishuv began to express itself and its Zionist goals. The First Aliyah
2400-631: The UN Security Council or accrue criticism from other Arab countries against the United Kingdom. According to Levenberg, this disposition of forces, away from the main warfare areas and close to the Syrian border, where it could create a buffer between Syria and Transjordanian forces, indicates their real objectives and missions. Qawuqji returned to Syria to organize further forces and in March 1948 re-entered Palestine from Syria with
2496-568: The White Paper of 1939 . It allowed for a total of only 75,000 Jews to enter Palestine over a five-year period. During this time the Yishuv entered a period of relative peace with the Arabs. The Yishuv wanted to help their fellow Jews, who were being murdered by the Nazis in Europe. Many Jews from Europe were prevented from fleeing to Mandatory Palestine by strict immigration quotas established by
2592-614: The battle of Nabi Samuel and Tel Arish. Regardless, on May 27, 1948, Qawuqji led his northern forces back to Syria to regroup. In June 1948 the ALA returned to the Galilee and took part in retaking Malkiya , on June 5. During the "ten days battles" ALA forces based in Tarshiha attacked Jewish forces in Sejera but had to retreat when Nazareth was occupied by the IDF. During the second truce
2688-424: The haredim , who preferred not to face the possibility of a plebiscite , left the Yishuv's Assembly of Representatives. That year, an official declaration was made (ratified by the mandate government in 1927) confirming "equal rights to women in all aspects of life in the yishuv – civil, political, and economic." In 1935, the establishment of the national organization of religious pioneer women emerged. Its main goal
2784-473: The "Al Hussein," and "Al Qadsia" battalions, numbering 360 soldiers each. A final " Jabal al-Arab " battalion manned by 500 Druze soldiers and commanded by Shakib Wahab settled in Shfar'am. The Druze forces took part in the battle of Ramat Yohanan . Following the fierce battle that inflicted many casualties on both sides, the battalion commanders reached an agreement with the Haganah to withdraw. Some members of
2880-534: The 18th and early 19th centuries. A third wave was constituted by Yishuv members who arrived in the late 19th century. The Old Yishuv was thus generally divided into two independent communities – the Sephardi Jews (including Musta'arabim), mainly constituting the remains of Jewish communities of Galilee and the Four Holy Cities of Judaism, which had flourished in the 16th and 17th centuries; and
2976-495: The ALA remained active taking, for example, several outposts near Moshav Manof . In October 1948 the ALA succeeded in taking the post of Sheikh Abed near Manara and a counterattack by the Carmeli Brigade failed. In response, the IDF initiated Operation Hiram to rout the ALA from its strongholds in the Galilee. The operation began as the ALA's headquarters at Tarshiha's was attacked and captured by IDF forces, including
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3072-706: The Arab Liberation Army to the Israel Defense Forces . These formed the core of the IDF's only Arabic-speaking unit, the Unit of the Minorities . Yishuv The Yishuv ( Hebrew : ישוב , lit. 'settlement'), HaYishuv HaIvri ( Hebrew : הישוב העברי , lit. 'the Hebrew settlement'), or HaYishuv HaYehudi Be'Eretz Yisra'el ( lit. '
3168-568: The Arab armies and their ability to fight together.... If the Arab armies, not least of all the Syrian army, are hit with an overwhelming surprise attack by the Jewish Haganah, it would lead to such a loss of reputation that the Arab governments would never be able to recover. The best thing is to leave the work to the Palestinians and to supply them with the help of the Arab governments. Ensuring an effective leadership in Palestine
3264-567: The Arab part of Palestine. Because of this I have ordered the Syrian army to move to the Syrian–Palestinian border. The force which has taken up position there is 2,500 men. Also Lebanon will send 1000 men to its border. As soon as the forces of Iraq and Jordan enter Palestine, we will enter and take al-Nasira and the North.[fn] Quwatli's strategy in Palestine was designed from the outset to prevent Abdullah's possible advance north to Damascus. In
3360-552: The Arab population's placement and employment. It therefore attempted to curtail immigration to Palestine. Upon Jewish criticism of this policy, it was clarified that immigration would not be stopped entirely but would be restricted by quotas. There were many Jewish immigrants that arrived throughout the 1930s in the fifth Aliyah, despite the immigration quotas. Many who came were fleeing persecution in Eastern Europe. Those that came from Nazi Germany were able to come because of
3456-533: The Arabs of Haifa . The campaign lasted for ten days and ended in defeat for the ALA. In Parallel, the battalion led be Sishakli was defeated in the battle for Safed during Operation Yiftach . In addition to these battles, ALA units fought in other areas, such as the battle of Jerusalem and the road leading to it, the Sharon , and urban fighting in mixed-population cities such as Jaffa . In some places these forces showed firm opposition to Jewish militias, such as at
3552-646: The British capture of Ottoman Syria (including Palestine), leading to the Turkish surrender. The members of the Zion Mule Corps later made up the Yishuv's defence groups that would fight against the British. World War I ended, along with the Ottoman Empire. Britain gained control of Palestine through the Sykes–Picot Agreement , which partitioned Ottoman Syria into French-ruled Syria and Lebanon and British-controlled Palestine and Transjordan . There
3648-560: The British forces, in fear of their security. During the Arab revolt of 1936–1939, the Jewish residents of Akko were ousted from the city by local Arab residents. The same fate was forced on the ancient Jewish community of Peki'in . The Assembly of Representatives was the elected parliamentary assembly of the Jewish community in Mandatory Palestine . It was established on 19 April 1920, and functioned until 13 February 1949,
3744-537: The British government had already ruled out). With dissent from some of its members, the Commission instead recommended a plan that would leave the Galilee under British mandate, but emphasised serious problems with it that included a lack of financial self-sufficiency of the proposed Arab State. The British Government accompanied the publication of the Woodhead Report by a statement of policy rejecting partition as impracticable due to "political, administrative and financial difficulties". The Arab Revolt broke out again in
3840-458: The British officially withdrew from their mandate on 15 May 1948. None of the Arab states were willing to declare war openly on the British. Thus, Syria would not officially be opening hostilities against the British troops, who still bore responsibility for security in Palestine. Furthermore, if the Arab countries failed to commit their armies to fight in Palestine – a possibility which seemed likely as Egypt agreed to participate only four days before
3936-411: The British refused, claiming that they were experiencing too much resistance from the Arabs and Jews already in Palestine and feared what would happen if more were allowed to enter. The refusal to remove the white paper policy angered and radicalized the Yishuv. The Yishuv's militia groups set out to sabotage the British infrastructure in Palestine and continue in their illegal immigration efforts. In 1946,
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4032-442: The British responded to the Yishuv's efforts and began a two-week search for Jews suspected of anti-British activities, arresting many of the Haganah's leaders. While the British were busy looking for the Haganah, the Irgun and Lehi carried out attacks on British forces. The most famous of their attacks was on the King David Hotel , the site of the British military command and the British Criminal Investigation Division. This location
4128-405: The British withdrew from Palestine. The 1920 Nabi Musa riots left four Arabs and five Jews killed, with 216 Jews and 23 Arabs wounded. The majority of the victims were members of the old Yishuv . About 300 Jews from the Old City were evacuated following the riots. During the Jaffa riots in 1921, thousands of Jewish residents of Jaffa fled for Tel Aviv and were temporarily housed in tent camps on
4224-417: The French. The last French troops left Syria in 1946 and the country regained its independence. Syrian president Shukri al-Quwatli appointed Atfeh as chief of staff of the newly formed Syrian Army. The army was formed around the nucleus of the French-led Army of the Levant, and Atfeh was tasked with ensuring the allegiance of the army to the Syrian Republic. Atfeh continued his role as chief of staff when
4320-494: The Haganah; he knew his Arab allies were undependable; and he did not want to risk the "loss of reputation" that would inevitably ensue. That is why he and Quwatli were determined to limit their own involvement in Palestine to the ALA. When Hashimi spoke to the President a few days later about Mardam's plan, President Quwatli reiterated Mardam's concern that the government could not withstand the Syrian army's defeat in Palestine. As he had explained to Hashimi before, "the real problem
4416-405: The Jewish (for HaYehudi) / Hebrew (for HaIvri) Community in the Land of Israel ' ) were the Jewish residents in Palestine prior to the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948. The term came into use in the 1880s, when there were about 25,000 Jews living in that region, and continued to be used until 1948, by which time there were some 630,000 Jews there. The term is still in use to denote
4512-481: The Jewish communities. The British accepted the proposal but on a much smaller scale than the Jewish agency had hoped. They only took Jewish parachutists who were recent immigrants from certain targeted countries that they wanted to infiltrate. The British Special Forces and military intelligence both consented to the volunteers' dual role as British agents and Jewish emissaries. 110 Yishuv members were trained; however only 32 were deployed. Many of them succeeded in helping
4608-538: The Jews or the British. The optimism that existed in the beginning of the British mandate soon diminished due to continued hardships in the Yishuv. Most of the European funds that supported the Jewish settlements before World War I ended. The Arabs, opposed to the Balfour Declaration and the Mandate, instigated riots against the Jews. The British limited immigration through yearly quotas; only those who received "certificates" could make Aliyah. Many women who immigrated to Israel came out of national Zionist motives; they wanted
4704-415: The Jews were planning on building a synagogue near the Western Wall . These riots led to the evacuation of Hebron's indigenous – largely non-Zionist – Jewish population. The British responded to the Arab riots with the White Paper of 1939 . It was based on the Hope Simpson Report , which stated that Palestine after economic development could support only 20,000 more immigrant families without infringing on
4800-445: The Jews. The British sided with the Arabs in an attempt to prevent the Yishuv from arming themselves. Jerusalem was held under a siege with no access to weapons, food or water. The Provisional Government seemed helpless until it received a large shipment of arms from Czechoslovakia. The Haganah started fighting offensively from April through May. The Haganah mounted a full-scale military plan, Operation Nachshon . After much fighting and
4896-404: The Mufti, Abdullah, and Qawuqji."[fn] The question of who would take command of the Arab and Palestinian military campaign and what their objectives would be was never resolved. On January 8, 1948, the borders of British-held Palestine were breached by a battalion of the ALA – "the Second Yarmuk Battalion" which was 330-soldiers strong and was commanded by Adib Shishakli . Entering from Syria ,
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#17327941099894992-417: The Mufti, Qawuqji and other Arab leaders over the question of who would direct the popular resistance in Palestine were a complete failure; agreement was impossible. The Mufti refused to hand control over to Qawuqji. He claimed that Qawuqji would "sell" himself to the English, and added that, "if Qawuqji accepted partition, [I] will kill him with [my] own hands."[fn] The Mufti insisted that Palestine did not need
5088-423: The Nili were discovered. All involved were executed by the Ottomans except its founder, Aaron Aaronsohn , who escaped to Egypt. During World War I, the Jewish population in Palestine diminished by a third due to deportations, immigration, economic trouble and disease. During World War I, there were two British battalions of Jews, called the Zion Mule Corps , who were to fight on the front of Palestine. They helped in
5184-427: The Old Yishuv centres in the four holy cities of Judaism, namely Jerusalem , Hebron , Tiberias and Safed , smaller communities also existed in Jaffa , Haifa , Peki'in , Acre , Nablus and Shfaram . Petah Tikva , although established in 1878 by the Old Yishuv, nevertheless was also supported by the arriving Zionists. Rishon LeZion , the first settlement founded by the Hovevei Zion in 1882, could be considered
5280-407: The Ottoman army. Many of those exiled fled to Egypt and the United States . Those who remained in the Ottoman ruled Palestine faced hard economic times. There was disagreement whether to support the British or the Turks. A clandestine group, Nili , was established to pass information to the British in the hope of defeating the Ottomans and ending their rule over Palestine. The purpose and members of
5376-473: The POWs and uprisings in the Jewish communities, while others were caught. There were two periods during the war when the Yishuv faced a direct threat from Nazi forces. The first occurred following Germany's conquest of France in 1940, since the pro-Nazi Vichy regime controlled the northern Levant , from which an invasion of Palestine could take place. However, in 1941 British forces successfully fought Vichy forces for control of Syria and Lebanon, thus removing
5472-450: The Syrian Army was dissolved and Atfeh fled to Jordan to avoid arrest. He returned in 1921 following a general amnesty. Atfeh joined the Army of the Levant , which was created by France , and received advanced military training at the École Supérieure de Guerre in 1938. Atfeh rose in the ranks and by World War II he became commander of Syria's coastal region. During the 1945 uprising in Damascus, Atfeh led his troops to mutiny against
5568-455: The Syrian Ministry of Defense and he met daily with Syria's political and military leaders. After the United Nations General Assembly voted in support of partitioning mandate Palestine between Arab and Jewish populations - UN 181 - Hashimi records that in October 1947, and after Syria had failed to win either Saudi Arabia or Egypt over to the idea of an anti-Hashemite military alliance, Quwatli explained: The Greater Syria plan will start from
5664-429: The Syrian officer Mohammed Safa, entered Palestine. It crossed the Damia Bridge over the Jordan River in a long convoy. An attempt by the British police to prevent their entry failed because of the intervention of the Arab Legion , and so the invasion was not stopped by the British in spite of protests from the Jewish Agency . Fawzi al-Qawuqji joined this regiment, which was parked near Tubas . On February 15, 1948,
5760-440: The Yishuv and prompting plans to be drawn for its defense. Knowing that Nazi control of Palestine meant certain annihilation of the Yishuv, a debate raged among Yishuv leadership whether, in the event Nazi occupation was to take place, the inhabitants of the Yishuv should evacuate together with British forces eastwards towards British possessions in Iraq and India or undertake a Masada -like last stand in Palestine, likely doing so in
5856-433: The Yishuv period, the average wage for women were 50 to 70 percent of male's wage. Not only were non-religious women fighting for equality, but so were religious women. Female religious Zionists were faced with double the amount of barriers of non-religious female Zionists because they were rejected from religious society because of their gender and they were rejected from secular society because of their religiosity In 1926,
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#17327941099895952-448: The area to his kingdom. Attempts by the Arab Higher Committee to sow discord between the units of the ALA were unsuccessful. Paradoxically, Samaria remained one of the quieter areas in Palestine during this period thanks to the ALA. The move was made in coordination with Ernest Bevin who approved of Abdullah's plan to deploy the ALA through Samaria without the knowledge of the High Commissioner, provided it does not provoke intervention by
6048-448: The army could be strengthened, he hoped to keep it out of the fighting. In its stead he built the Arab Liberation Army. "It is imperative that we restrict our efforts to the popular movement in Palestine," Quwatli concluded. "We must strengthen it and organize its affairs as quickly as possible."[fn] Prime Minister Jamil Mardam Bey gave a lengthier explanation for why the Syrian army could not be sent into Palestine in November 1947, and why
6144-422: The autumn of 1937. The British ended the revolt using harsh measures, deporting many Palestinian Arab leaders and shutting down the AHC. In the Yishuv, the Arab Revolt reinforced the already firm belief in the need for a strong Jewish defence network. Finally, the Arab agricultural boycott that began in 1936 forced the Jewish economy into even greater self-sufficiency. The Haganah during this period changed from being
6240-431: The battalion attacked Kibbutz Tirat Zvi but failed to overtake it. The Hittin Battalion, led by the Iraqi Madlul Abbas, crossed the Jordan River on the Damia bridge on 29 January 1948 and dispersed in the mountains of Samaria . The two battalions that had come from Transjordan split into smaller units and deployed throughout Samaria. Their task was to maintain order in the area and allow Abdullah I of Jordan to annex
6336-442: The battalion set its headquarters near Tarshiha in the Galilee . On January 20, 1948, this battalion attacked Kibbutz Yehiam and failed. The British High Commissioner Alan Cunningham asked his government to pressure Syria to stop the invasion of the mandate territory by the ALA by threatening that the British Army would take action. On January 20, 1948, a second ALA Battalion, a 630-soldier-strong First Yarmuk battalion, led by
6432-446: The battalion, led by Ismail Qabalan, later fled from Syria and volunteered to the IDF to form the basis of its Druze forces. On 5 March 1948 Qawuqji returned to Palestine and set his headquarters in the Jaba village between Nablus and Jenin . He also set up a radio station broadcasting propaganda in Hebrew, Arabic and English. On April 4, 1948, the ALA forces attacked Kibbutz Mishmar Haemek in order to take it and join forces with
6528-430: The beach. Tel Aviv, which had previously been lobbying for independent status, became a separate city due in part to the riots. However Tel Aviv was still dependent on Jaffa, which supplied it with food and services, and was the place of employment for most residents of the new city. Following the 1929 Palestine riots , which left 133 Jews dead, the Jewish community members of Gaza and Hebron were ordered to evacuate by
6624-406: The best case, Quwatli hoped to acquire some of northern Palestine for Syria. A second reason for Quwatli's hesitation to commit Syrian military troops was that he had failed in his early efforts to reform the army and questioned the loyalty and effectiveness of its leadership. Although the head of the military, General Abdullah Atfeh , swore to the Minister of Defense in May 1947, that the Syrian army
6720-467: The consolidation of the New Yishuv by the end of World War I in 1918 and the establishment of the British Mandate for Palestine . The Old Yishuv had continuously resided in Palestine and was largely made up of ultra-Orthodox Jews dependent on external donations ( Halukka ) for living, as opposed to the later Zionist aliyah and the New Yishuv, who were more socialist-leaning and secular, emphasizing labor and self-sufficiency. The Old Yishuv developed after
6816-500: The control of Transjordan . The target figure for recruitment was 10,000, but by mid-March 1948, the number of volunteers having joined the Army had reached around 6,000 and did not increase much beyond that figure. The actual number deployed might have been as low as 3,500, according to General Safwat. Its ranks included mainly Syrians , Lebanese , Palestinians and a few hundreds of Iraqis , Jordanians , Muslim Brotherhood from Egypt , Circassians , and Bosniaks . There were also
6912-557: The countries represented related to King Abdullah 's long-held plans to re-form the region of Syria . This Greater Syria Plan ( Mashru Suriya al-Kubra ) had been supported by the British Empire throughout the thirties and forties. Syria's reasons for building the Army of Liberation were several. Syria's President Shukri al-Quwatli knew that the Syrian Army was undependable and useless as an instrument of war; therefore, it
7008-425: The crucial construction of a new road from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, the siege of Jerusalem was broken, allowing supplies to be brought into the city. This operation's success helped Harry S. Truman recognize that the Jews would be able to protect themselves. The United States decided therefore, it would support the establishment of a Jewish state. On May 14, 1948, the Jews proclaimed the independent state of Israel and
7104-591: The day before the first Knesset , elected on 25 January, was sworn in. The Assembly met once a year to elect the executive body, the Jewish National Council , which was responsible for education, local government, welfare, security and defense. It also voted on the budgets proposed by the Jewish National Council and the Rabbinical Council. See Bar-Giora , Hamagen , Hanoter, and Hashomer . The most notable Jewish paramilitaries in
7200-598: The final centuries before modern Zionism, a large part of the Old Yishuv spent their time studying the Torah and lived off charity ( halukka ), donated by Jews in the Diaspora . The term New Yishuv refers to those who adopted a new approach, based on economic independence and various national ideologies, rather than strictly religious reasons for settling in the "Holy Land". The precursors began building homes outside
7296-592: The first Aliyah. Ben-Yehuda took it upon himself to revive the Hebrew language, and along with Nissim Bechar started a school for teaching Hebrew, later on founding the first Hebrew newspaper. During the Second Aliyah, between 1903 and 1914, there were 35,000 new immigrants, primarily from Russia. During World War I , the conditions for the Jews in the Ottoman Empire worsened. All those Jews who were of an enemy nationality were exiled and others were drafted into
7392-449: The newly established Israeli Air Force . Kaukji, though, managed to escape with most of his army. Although the ALA suffered hundreds of casualties it left Palestine to Lebanon largely intact. The ALA never returned to Palestine and was dismantled in the following months. In the early summer of 1948 some Druze fighters, mainly from Syria, along with Druze from the villages of Daliyat al-Karmil and Isfiya on Mount Carmel , defected from
7488-462: The number of attempts, few ships actually arrived successfully to Mandatory Palestine, but tens of thousands of Jews were saved by the illegal immigration. The Yishuv also wanted to help on the front lines in Europe to try to save Jews from the Nazi atrocities. In 1942 the Jewish agency turned to the British to offer their assistance by sending Jewish volunteers to Europe as emissaries of the Yishuv to organize local resistance and rescue operations among
7584-432: The only other option would be to work in construction, which only pioneer women committed to as part of their feminist-nationalist outlook because those roles were considered inappropriate for women. Women were consistently more unemployed when compared to their male counterparts, regardless of cyclical fluctuations . The wages for working women were consistently lower than the wages of their male counterparts, and throughout
7680-928: The pre-1948 Jewish residents in Palestine, corresponding to the southern part of Ottoman Syria until 1918, OETA South in 1917–1920, and Mandatory Palestine in 1920–1948. A distinction is sometimes drawn between the Old Yishuv and the New Yishuv . The Old Yishuv refers to all the Jews living in Palestine before the first Zionist immigration wave ( aliyah ) of 1882, and to their descendants until 1948. The Old Yishuv residents were religious Jews, living mainly in Jerusalem , Safed , Tiberias , and Hebron . There were smaller communities in Jaffa , Haifa , Peki'in , Acre , Nablus , Shfaram , and until 1779 in Gaza . In
7776-517: The same rights as men and wanted to rebuild their land. In 1919 the first nationwide women's party in the New Yishuv (the Union of Hebrew Women for Equal Rights in Eretz Israel) was created, and Rosa Welt-Straus , who had immigrated there that year, was appointed its leader, as which she continued until her death. The constituent assembly was voted upon in 1920, and 14 women were elected out of
7872-650: The threat of invasion from the north, at least as long as German armies in Eastern Europe could be held back by the Red Army and thus unable to easily advance towards the Near East from the north. In 1942 however, as Erwin Rommel's Afrika Korps swept across North Africa with the intent of capturing the Suez Canal , the likelihood of a German invasion from the south became a real possibility, causing great anxiety in
7968-413: The three hundred and fourteen delegates. As well as the increase in the number of women filling public positions, the rate of women participating in the labor force increased steadily during the British mandate period in the Yishuv. With that being said, the employment opportunities at the beginning of the mandate period were very limited and women were mainly restricted to typical female occupations because
8064-772: The true beginning of the New Yishuv . The Ottoman government was not supportive of the new settlers from the First and Second Aliyah, as the Ottoman government officially restricted Jewish immigration. The Yishuv relied on money from abroad to support their settlements. In 1908, the Zionist Organization founded the Palestine Office , under Arthur Ruppin , for land acquisition, agricultural settlement and training, and later for urban expansion. The first Hebrew high schools were opened in Palestine as well as
8160-485: The volunteer army and that all money should be given directly to him.[fn] King Abdullah, in an effort to dismiss the Mufti, claimed he could save Palestine on his own. "Why don't the Arab countries send their armies directly to [me]?" he inquired. Meanwhile, Abdullah was arming his own supporters in Palestine who rejected both the Mufti and Qawuqji.[fn] As for King Faruq of Egypt, he wanted nothing to do with any of them. He said, "The Arabs ought to get rid of all three of them:
8256-508: The volunteer army into battle, Quwatli hope to spare Syria from exposing its own troops to defeat, which could leave the country exposed to attack from Abdullah and possibly Jewish forces. If the volunteer army were defeated, the loss and embarrassment would be borne by the Arab League in general and the Palestinians in particular, not by Syria alone. Another advantage to an irregular army was that it could be sent into Palestine well before
8352-481: The war began on 15 May 1948 – the Syrian government would still be active. It would retain leverage in Palestine and be able to tell the Syrian public that it had done more than the other Arab countries to help the Palestinians. Most importantly, however, the ALA was to be used as an instrument to nip Abdullah's Greater Syria plan in the bud and to keep him from expanding his state over half of Palestine. The evolution of President Quwatli's military objectives in Palestine
8448-564: The white papers. The Jewish Agency organized illegal immigration from 1939 through 1942 with the help of the Haganah. Those who arrived illegally to Israel during this time were part of the Aliyah Bet . This was a dangerous operation, for these illegal immigrants arrived by boat and had to be careful not to be caught by the British or Nazis . Many of these ships sank or were caught, such as the Patria , Struma and Bulgaria . Compared with
8544-597: Was "the best of all the Arab armies, the best army in the Middle East," the brigade commanders scoffed at this ridiculous assessment and cabled the President to warn, that "the army is not worth a red cent."[fn] Quwatli was fully aware of the problems in his military. "The real problem is to reform the Syrian army and to solve the problem of its leadership," he confided to Taha al-Hashimi in September 1947.[fn] Until
8640-519: Was a hope that British control would allow the creation of a Jewish national homeland as promised in the Balfour Declaration . The British Mandate was formalized in 1922 based on the Balfour Declaration. The British were supposed to help the Jews build a national home and promote the creation of self-governing institutions. The mandate provided for an agency in which the Jews could represent Jewish interests and promote Jewish immigration. It
8736-579: Was a major expense to the Exchequer, forcing them to present the Palestine problem to the United Nations on May 15, 1947. The United Nations proposed a partition of the British Mandate for Palestine into 2 states—Arab and Jewish (UN Resolution 181). The Jews accepted it, while the Arabs stated that they would do everything in their power to prevent it. The AHC, determined to prevent Resolution 181 from coming into effect, began to attack and besiege
8832-402: Was called the Jewish Agency for Palestine , and was only created ten years later, serving as the de facto government of the Yishuv. Along with a Jewish agency there was to be a general self-governing institution created in Palestine including Jews and Arabs. The Yishuv feared such an institution due to the Arab majority, but none was created in the end due to the Arabs' refusal to cooperate with
8928-484: Was chosen because a few weeks before a large quantity of documents was confiscated from the Haganah and brought there. Despite being warned by the Yishuv and told to evacuate the building the British officials decided not to cave in to the pressure. The Yishuv attacked anyway, resulting in 91 deaths, 28 of who were British and 17 who were Palestinian Jews . By 1947 the British had 100,000 troops in Palestine trying to maintain order and protect themselves. The British mandate
9024-399: Was much safer for Syria to influence the situation in Palestine by building up a force that was to be paid for and armed by all the Arab League countries. Egypt was to pay for 42% of the costs, Syria and Lebanon 23%, Saudi Arabia 20%, and Iraq the remaining 15%. Just as important as the financial reasons for building an Arab League force was the need to protect the Syrian army itself. By sending
9120-741: Was the very beginning of the creation of the New Yishuv. More than 25,000 Jews immigrated to Palestine. The immigrants were inspired by the notion of creating a national home for Jews. Most of the Jewish immigrants came from Russia, escaping the pogroms , while some arrived from Yemen. Many of the immigrants were affiliated with Hovevei Zion . Hovevei Zion purchased land from Arabs and other Ottoman subjects and created various settlements such as Yesud HaMa'ala , Rosh Pinna , Gedera , Rishon LeZion , Nes Tziona and Rechovot . These agricultural settlements were supported by philanthropists from abroad, chiefly Edmond James de Rothschild . and Alphonse James de Rothschild . Eliezer Ben-Yehuda also immigrated during
9216-640: Was to improve the material status and spiritual welfare of the religious women workers and gain admittance to the Ha-Po'el ha-Mizrachi . This organization grew from eight-hundred members in 1935 to six-thousand members in 1948. Women gained rights with the establishment of the religious kibbutz movement by participating in Torah studies with men and by taking part in the co-ed activities that the Kibbutz offered. There were Arab riots throughout 1920–21 in opposition to
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