SEVENTEEN
Israel's Rebirth and the
Rise of Arab Nationalism
The 1948-1949 war between the new State of Israel and its Arab neighbors
was a revolutionary event, setting in motion many drastic changes in the
Middle East. To the Israelis and their admirers, the war was a struggle for
Jewish independence, fought first against the resistance of the indigenous
Palestinians, later against British imperialism, and finally against the
armies of the Arab states. They termed Israel's victory revolutionary be¬
cause for the first time in modern history the citizens of a Middle Eastern
country managed to oust a colonial regime and set up a democratic gov¬
ernment. From the Arabs' point of view, their defeat in Palestine was revo¬
lutionary because it humiliated their armies and discredited their regimes.
In the ensuing years many Arab governments were ousted by military
coups and many kings and prime ministers assassinated. It also established
a colonial settler state in their midst. The Palestine disaster uprooted more
than 700,000 Arabs, who sought refuge in the Gaza Strip (a small part of
Palestine occupied by Egypt in 1948), Jordan, Syria, or Lebanon. These
Palestinian refugees emerged as a potent force. Some became ardent Arab
nationalists. Others espoused any ideology or backed any leader who
would give them back their dignity and their homes. The Palestinians' bit¬
ter opposition to Israel (and its Western backers) was matched only by
their hostility to Arab governments that might seek peace with the Jewish
state. They became the revolutionaries of the Arab world. For all sides, the
period from 1948 to 1967 was one of readjustment to the new conditions
created by the war.