Fact Check: The Palestinians started the first Arab-Israeli war in 1947

Fact Check: "The Palestinians started the first Arab-Israeli war in 1947"

What We Know

The claim that "the Palestinians started the first Arab-Israeli war in 1947" is misleading. The conflict that escalated into the 1948 Arab-Israeli War was rooted in a complex history of tensions between Jewish and Arab populations in Palestine, exacerbated by the British Mandate and the Zionist movement. On November 29, 1947, the United Nations General Assembly adopted Resolution 181, which proposed partitioning Palestine into separate Jewish and Arab states. This resolution was met with significant opposition from Palestinian Arabs, who viewed it as favoring Jewish interests and unfairly allocating land to them (Office of the Historian).

Following the UN resolution, violence erupted between Jewish and Arab groups, marking the beginning of a civil conflict in Mandatory Palestine. This civil war was characterized by attacks from both sides, including Palestinian Arab irregulars targeting Jewish settlements and vice versa. The situation escalated further after Israel declared independence on May 14, 1948, leading to a full-scale war with neighboring Arab states invading the territory (Wikipedia).

Analysis

The assertion that Palestinians initiated the war oversimplifies the historical context and ignores the actions of various parties involved. The violence that began in late 1947 was not solely instigated by Palestinians; it was a reaction to the partition plan and involved multiple actors, including Jewish militias such as the Haganah, Irgun, and LEHI. The initial fighting was characterized by attacks from Palestinian Arab groups, but these were responses to the broader context of Jewish immigration and settlement, as well as the political decisions made by international bodies (Britannica).

Moreover, the civil war that started in 1947 was marked by a series of violent confrontations, including attacks on Jewish buses and settlements by Palestinian groups, which some historians cite as the beginning of the conflict (Wikipedia). However, it is critical to note that the subsequent invasion of Israel by Arab states after its declaration of independence was a significant turning point that transformed the conflict from a civil war into an international war (Britannica).

The sources reviewed indicate that while Palestinian groups were involved in the violence, they were not the sole instigators of the war. The conflict was a culmination of long-standing tensions, political decisions, and military actions from both Jewish and Arab communities, as well as external state actors.

Conclusion

The claim that "the Palestinians started the first Arab-Israeli war in 1947" is False. The conflict was not initiated by any single group but was the result of escalating tensions and violence between Jewish and Arab populations in the context of the UN partition plan and subsequent political developments. Both sides engaged in hostilities, and the situation was further complicated by the involvement of neighboring Arab states following Israel's declaration of independence.