75^th Anniversary of Israel’s Independence

             Blood, Tears and Survival

The Day that Israel’s independence was declared, May 15,1948…. forces from seven Arab countries entered the country to drive the Jews into the sea!

When we examine the present in 2022, appreciating Israel’s prominence now, its contribution in so many fields being out of all proportion to its economic and population size, it is a shock to examine its early beginnings, and its fragility, when it issued its Declaration of Independence.

In the year 2023, Israel will mark its 75^th anniversary with its population approaching ten million.

In 1948, armies of seven Arab countries invaded to join internal Arab resistance to Israel’s existence. Many countries placed an embargo on the sales of arms to Israel. The war continued for ten months, through three ceasefires called by the UN, as the Arab side saw their hopes for a quick victory reversed. Proposed changes offered by the U.N representative to resolve the conflict were refused by both sides. The Arabs refused to accept the presence of any Jewish entity. The Israelis found the proposals left them with indefensible positions.  Hostilities continued.

The government of Israel changed its stance during this time. Initially concerned only with preserving the UN Partition award, (which involved discontinuous pieces of territory,) as its forces gained the initiative, it sought to establish borders having a greater chance of being more defensible in a hostile neighborhood.

By the end of the struggle, with the loss of over 6700 lives, Israel inherited a de-facto Egyptian presence in the Gaza Strip, and a Jordanian annexation of the Old City of Jerusalem, and what was (ancient Judea and Samaria,) called the West Bank. These were a portion of the areas that had been allocated to the Arab side by the UN Partition Plan.

The government of Israel had made a conscious decision, during the struggle, to not prioritize, (controversial because of the strong beliefs of those in the most religious sector of the population craving control of Jewish holy places,) seeking territory in the places of highest Arab population concentration. It was at great cost that control of West Jerusalem was retained.

During the early period Israel managed to establish the beginnings of a standing army, navy and air force, as well as a commando unit, assembling, by bits and pieces from around the world, the wherewithal to equip them. Included were two airplanes taken from British Mandate forces by two British airmen who decided to join the Jewish cause.

With unleashed immigration, available soldiery increased every day during the war period. (Fully one-third of the fallen were individuals who were survivors of the Holocaust.) As the war proceeded, every male, and every unmarried woman, in Israel over the age of twenty-five, was eventually subject to mobilization.  It has been said that the Jews’ secret weapon in the face of the existential threat they confronted, by an enemy aiming at their total annihilation, was that there was no other place for them to go.

Many of the indigenous Arabs fled the country during the hostilities, sometimes at the urging of their invading brothers. Where Israeli forces faced hostility from villagers, the population was expelled. Where this was not the case, Arab residents were left unmolested in most cases. Jews in the country had faced concerted violence from their Arab neighbors beginning with the UN declaration of the partition in 1947. During the war, in areas occupied by Arab forces, of note particularly in the Old City, but also in the West Bank, Jewish residents were often summarily executed.

Many of the battles were fierce and bloody with substantial losses of men and material on both sides. Attacks on isolated settlements by Arab units were often aimed at overcoming the resistance of poorly-armed residents fighting to protect homes in places which were situated in strategic locations. The strength of their commitment to defending their homes often carried the day. Where irregular forces were a part of the opposition, surrender was not an option. For Jews it was a fight to the death.

In the end, Israel retained its allocated portion under the partition and won 60% of the territory that had been ascribed to the Arab side. Israel withdrew from external territories it still occupied in the Egyptian Sinai and in southern Lebanon when hostilities were ended by a permanent cease-fire.

Israel was attacked without warning again in 1967 and in 1973.  Israel successfully defended itself and extended Jewish occupation in further areas that were a part of their historic past, including the Old City and the West Bank.  Israel retained and annexed Syrian territory, the Golan, high ground from which it was constantly being bombarded.

Under the later Oslo agreements, The Palestinian Authority (P.A) was established to allow Palestinian self-government in the heavily populated areas of the West Bank. Israel withdrew from the Gaza Strip in 2005 in a unilateral disengagement. In a 2006 Palestinian election the Hamas terrorist group became the elected government. The Palestinian Authority refused to relinquish power. Hamas then seized control of the Gaza Strip by force of arms, and remains a continuous source of violence. Hezbollah remains a factor in Lebanon. Israel has managed to contain Iranian efforts to establish themselves in Syria. Israel thrives despite continuing Palestinian rejectionism.

In recent years, in contrast with the past, there have been alliances with neighboring Arab countries, rather than hostilities. Some recognize their common cause to counter efforts by jihadist Iran for hegemony. Many countries are seeking benefits from the technological advances made in Israel in sectors like agriculture, medicine, cyber-security and defense. Research and development has been a priority investment by the succession of Israeli governments since its adoption of the private enterprise model for its economy.

Foreign investment has poured into Israel, helping to fund rapid economic growth, and placing Israel among the world’s highest in GDP per person. It is not well known that Israel, with a population of only nine million people, is fourth in the world in the number of its companies on the Nasdaq, coming in just after Canada.

The Jewish population in Israel has risen almost ten-fold. The Arab citizen’s standard of living has also risen with increasing integration and far exceeds those of their confreres in neighboring countries, or under P.A. administration. Israel is the only country in the Middle-East where the Christian population has increased rather than decreased. Further, in a stunning breakthrough, normalization of relations is being pursued with a number of Arab countries under the Abraham Accords.

For the first time in a number of years, in time for this anniversary, a government coalition has been elected to tackle some nagging problems that have been left on the shelf recently, including security everywhere and increased Jewish settlement in some disputed areas. The population’s impatience with the persistence of these problems has led to the election to power of a coalition many consider contains extremists.

Power has been allocated to coalition elements pushing policies that some judge to be undemocratic.  The Prime Minister insists that the status quo will reign. Nevertheless some policy proposals presented are raising alarm among centrist and left-leaning elements. These have led to mass protest demonstrations in Israel and abroad.

A recent poll reported that 72% of the 22% of citizens who are Palestinian, expressed support for terrorist attacks on fellow Israelis who are Jewish. There has been a wave of those recently. There is concern that this may lead to revanchist policies targeting Palestinian citizens. There has already been action targeting the Palestinian Authority for their failure to honor the tenets of the Oslo Agreements. There is concern that the independence of the Judiciary is being impaired. Demands from the ultra-religious sector who have gained political power, if realized, could impair the lifestyles of some in the general population.

On its 75^th anniversary, Israel continues to be a happening place.