Israelis made the best use of the interval, essentially doubling the size of their forces and
importing large quantities of weapons from Czechoslovakia and France.
The second stage started on July 8, when the reenergized Israeli military broke out
of its defensive positions and attacked the Arabs on all fronts. The Israelis captured
several towns in central Palestine that the United Nations had designated for the Arab
state, but they failed to dislodge the Arab Legion from East Jerusalem and the Egyp-
tian army from the Negev desert, in the south. Another UN-imposed cease-fire took
effect on July 19 and held for nearly three months.
It was during this period on September 17 that assassins killed Count Folke
Bernadotte, the UN’s peace mediator, near Jerusalem. The Israeli government blamed
extremist Jewish guerrillas, but never brought anyone to trial for the crime. Bernadotte
had submitted a report suggesting that the Negev be turned over to the Arabs, that
Jerusalem be put under international control, and that Arab refugees be allowed to
return to their homes. The Israelis and the Arabs both rejected the plan.
Charging that Egypt had violated the truce, Israel on October 15 resumed its
offensive in the Negev, quickly isolating the Egyptian army and ultimately driving
across the international border to cut off the Egyptians’ escape route. In the north,
known as the Galilee, the Israelis managed to beat back the combined Arab armies in
three days at the end of October. At the conclusion of the bulk of the fighting, Israel
controlled all of the portions of Palestine that the United Nations had designated for
partition between the Arabs and Jews, except for the Gaza Strip (a sliver of land along
the Mediterranean held by Egypt) and the West Bank of the Jordan River (the potato-
shaped territory in central Palestine held by Transjordan). Israelis held West Jerusalem,
including the recently built section of the city called the New City, and Transjordan
controlled the historic Old City, site of the most revered religious shrines, and the sur-
rounding neighborhoods of East Jerusalem.
Many of the towns and villages in Israel formerly inhabited by Palestinian Arabs
were now empty, most of their residents having fled in advance of approaching Israeli
forces or having been forced out by the Jews. The United Nations estimated that about
720,000 Arabs—two-thirds of Palestine’s prewar Arab population—had fled the areas
of Palestine that fell under Israeli control. The largest number of refugees, about
240,000, headed for Transjordan-controlled East Jerusalem and the West Bank, while
more than 50,000 crossed over the Jordan River into Transjordan. According to UN
figures, another 180,000 Arab refugees crowded into the Egyptian-controlled Gaza
Strip, about 100,000 went to Lebanon, 70,000 to Syria, and the remainder to Egypt
and Iraq. (The Israeli government disputed most of these figures, contending that
slightly more than 500,000 Arabs fled Palestine before and during the war and that
most left voluntarily or were encouraged to leave by Arab governments.)
The new Israeli government quickly made clear its position that the Arabs who had
fled would not be allowed to return. In a speech on August 1, Israeli leader David Ben-
Gurion, said the question of refugees could be discussed only within the context of for-
mal peace treaties between Israel and its neighbors, and even then under conditions that
would make their return practically impossible. The UN General Assembly intervened
on December 11, adopting Resolution 194, which created a Conciliation Commission
to continue the mediation effort performed by Count Bernadotte before his assassina-
tion. The resolution also repeated past UN proposals that the Jerusalem area be placed
under UN trusteeship. A key provision of the resolution stated that “refugees wishing
72 ARABS AND ISRAELIS