The 1948 war . The independence war - Al-Nakba (the catastrophe)
It was the First Arab-Israeli round , The Jews call it "The Independence war" , While the Arabs call it "Al-Nakba (the catastrophe)"
it was fought between 5 Arab armies and Israel , Forces from Egypt , Jordan , Iraq , Syria and Lebanon shared in this war
At the beginning of that war the Israelis were fighting with 64,000 soldiers , while the whole Arab armies didn't exceed 19,300 soldiers , Because all the Arab countries were still under the British occupation , and Britain never allowed any country of it's territories to have an army including more than 10,000 troops .
Moreover , Unlike the Jewish forces , The Arab armies were with no unified command , nor a Prior agreement for the Tasks of their armies .
Egypt shared with 9,300 soldier , Jordan with 4,500, Iraq with 2,500 Syria with 200 , and Lebanon with 1000
Although all these Factors , The Arab armies achieved great victories in Palestine (at the Beginings) and liberated many Lands , and The Israeli side suffered many losses .
The Egyptian Army crossed the Borders liberating Rafah , the Khanyounis, Gaza , Deir snied, Then occupied Ashdoud , 30 Kilometers south of Tel-Aviv, And the Egyptian Air force made Daily bombardments to Tel-Aviv causing Heavy losses ,
The right wing of the Egyptian army crossed the borders through Netsana , then Aslouj , Then Beersheba then to Hebron and continued advancing till Bethelehm , 5 Kilometers south of Jerusalem .
The Jordanian army successfully Defended the Jordan river and directed a part of it's army northwards to Besan , and some Jordanian forces successfully entered the eastern part of Jerusalem , The Iraqi army entered and stayed at the triangle of Janin-Tulkatm-Nablus .
The Jews suffered many losses , their army tried to occupy the cities on the shore to keep recieving supplies and emigrants , they succefully occupied the whole shore of Galilee .
Then the whole Arab armies attacked the western part of Jerusalem and seiged it , the situation of the Israeli forces inside it were pretty bad , the world expected the fallance of this city in the Arab hands after a moment and another , But Britain forced the Arabs to accept the first truce , it was enforced on the 11th of June 1948 at 08:00 and continued till the 8th of July . it had been agreed on keeping battlefields without changing and each of the parties (the Arabs and the Jews) should avoid increasing their forces or amount of weapons besides preventing the entrance of the Jewish emigrants to Palestine .
The Arab armies were in advanced positions when the first truce was declared , by the end of the first phase they reached positions that terrified the Israelis and the foreign forces supporting them .
The Arabs respected the truce while the Jews violated it , and increased their forces' numbers and received more and more emigrants .
The truce was ended and the fighting was resumed it was hard for the Arabs to liberate or enter new cities and lands because the Jewish forces were much more in numbers ,and were fighting with much more modern weapons than the Arabs'
in that phase the Jews successfully occupied the city of al-Ramla then the city of Al-Lud , By occupying Al-Lud The Jews got the Best airport on the Land of Palestine , and the right wing of the Egyptian army became a subject of attacks .
The situation of the Iraqi army was stable , and also the Jordanian till the second truce was announced on the 18th of July 1948 , By the End of the second phase , the military situation was equal , nor the Jews nor the Arabs were in advanced positions .
on the 19th of June , the Israelis forces deliberately attacked many Palestinian villages throwing out their inhabitants and pillaging their houses , the refugees problem began to appear, till this moment more than 700,000 Palestinian were kicked out their homes .
The Israeli forces made the Best use of the second truce , they violated it like the first one and received new supplies containing weapons, ammunition and fighters , on the contrary of the Arab armies that didn't receive any new supply .
Now the Jewish army became 144,000 , While the whole Arab armies didn't exceed 63,000 , it was easy to expect how the war will be ended .
The third phase of fighting began on the 5th of November 1948 till the 11th of January 1948 , The Arab armies began to withdraw toward their Borders (except the Egyptian army) the Jews began to occupy more and more lands , then a chain of Arab defeats and the war ended .
The Jews captured 78% of the Land of Palestine , and just 2 small parts of 22% percents remained in Arab Hands , The West Bank and Gaza
Here are some pictures from this war :-