In 2018 Israel celebrated its seventieth anniversary, marking a history beset by both controversy and triumph. Researchers grapple with the truth of 1948. The historian Avi Shlaim diagnoses the argument to be between traditional narratives of the miraculous Jewish victory against impossible odds and the re-written history based on archival evidence driven by the so-called new historians. He writes, “There can be no agreement on what actually happened in 1948; each side subscribes to a different version of events.”[1] These competing sides search for truth on subjects such as the flight or expulsion of Palestinians, the sheer mass or disunity of Arab armies, and the British support or indifference towards the Jordanian invasion.[2] Entire libraries dedicate their existence to these questions and the enormous amount of ongoing research precludes a full review here.
What is beyond doubt, however, is that the nascent Israeli state won an authoritative military victory which laid the groundwork for its success in future wars of survival. Israel’s national strategy in 1948 revolved around mitigating three strategic deficits. First, the Yishuv—or Jewish community in Palestine—lacked a professional military capable of defending its sovereignty against the Arab armies. Second, despite rapid immigration after World War II (WWII), Israel’s population was a fraction of the size of its combined Arab opponents. Finally, the dispersion of the Jewish community, its extended borders based on the United Nations’ (U.N.) partition, and Israel’s lack of geographic space in which to maneuver its forces minimized its military options. Israel’s ability to build and employ an army, divide its enemies to exploit their weaknesses, and create artificial space in which to operate demonstrates how to overcome strategic deficits and attain victory with strong military institutions and a cohesive national strategy.
