United Nations Report on the Violence in Palestine

FOR PUBLIC DISTRIBUTION

Foreword

On February 1st, 1949, the United Nations General Assembly approved the creation of the unitary State of Palestine from the Mandate of Palestine, based on the plan created by the United Nations Special Committee on Palestine. The UNGA plan was unanimously rejected by the Arab Higher Committee due to the lack of limits on Jewish immigration to Palestine. Just days later, the British Army began their staged withdrawal from Palestine, handing authority over to local authorities, in most cases representatives of the Jewish Agency, due to the refusal of Arab leaders to cooperate in the creation of the new state.

Within a week, hope for a united, multiethnic Palestine based on the principles of the UN charter and the UNGA Palestine plan was beginning to diminish. Widespread communal violence had broken out throughout the Mandate, which the British forces proved helpless to stop…

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Acts of Communal Violence Submitted to the United Nations Observer Mission in Palestine and other notable events between February 1st, 1949 and February 1st, 1950

February 5th, 1949: Two Jewish agricultural workers near Acre are killed while working in an orange grove. No organization claims responsibility. In retaliation, a large mob of Jewish youths in Haifa attacks the city’s Arab quarter, killing three and destroying a number of homes and shops.

February 12th, 1949: Kibbutz Mishmar HaEmek comes under mortar fire from an unknown assailant. Four shell explosions are registered, one Jew in the Kibbutz is injured.

February 17th, 1949: A sniper kills a Jewish woman in East Jerusalem. Jewish fighters begin armed patrols throughout East Jerusalem in response.

February 25th, 1949: Two armed Arab youths are killed in East Jerusalem by Jewish fighters, who claim they were shot at first.

March 6th, 1949: A bus carrying twenty-six Jews between Tel Aviv and Jerusalem is hit by a roadside bomb near Latrun. Nine Jews are killed and seven are injured.

March 8th, 1949: Irgun besieges the Arab town of Aqir. After thirty-two hours of fighting, the remaining Arabs, nearly one hundred and fifty in total, surrender, and are expelled from the village, which is subsequently razed. Nine Arabs and four Jews are killed.

March 21st, 1949: An anti-Jewish riot in Haifa claims the lives of two British soldiers, thirty-two Jews, and eleven Arabs.

March 22nd, 1949: Palmach attacks the Arab village of Far’un. Fifty-nine Arabs are killed, including all of the village’s young men.

April 11th, 1949: Arab workers at the Haifa Oil Refinery are attacked with a car bomb. Fifty are killed, including a British soldier and two BP employees of British origin. Lehi claims responsibility for the attack.

April 13th, 1949: The Arab Higher Committee announces the formation of the Arab Liberation Army, with the stated goal of overthrowing the “illegitimate Zionist entity” and creating a Palestinian state “based on the principles of majority rule.”

April 25th, 1949: Arab volunteers attack Kibbutz Ramat David, killing five Jews at the loss of one of their own. On the same day, Arab snipers kill two Jews in Haifa, and one in East Jerusalem.

April 26th, 1949: Haganah launches a retaliatory attack on the Arab village of Nuris. Jewish fighters circle the village in armored cars and machine-gun a number of inhabitants — nine Arabs die from all causes.

April 29th, 1949: Jewish forces attack Arab homes in Haifa, dynamiting over a dozen Arab homes on the edge of the Jewish zone of habitation to create a dead zone between the two communities. Over five hundred Arab residents are expelled.

May 1st, 1949: Mortar fire strikes an outdoor gathering of Jews in East Jerusalem. Fifteen are killed and forty-one are injured. The Palestinian Government announces a temporary ban on outdoor activities in East Jerusalem and begins distributing arms among the city’s Jewish population.

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To the surprise of exactly no one, the independence of Palestine has not exactly gone to plan. The immediate formation of a provisional Palestinian (read: Jewish) government in the aftermath of the UN decision inflamed tensions between the Jewish and Arab communities to the extent that minor fighting and bouts of terrorism broke out almost immediately afterwards. The continued presence of the British troops in the country did little to deter violence, as both sides quickly realized the British had essentially zero interest in actually stopping the violence

After about a month of steadily escalating fighting, the Arab leadership formed the Arab Liberation Army, formally beginning a “revolt” against the “Palestinian State.” So far, the Arabs, lacking a mass military movement like Haganah, have fallen behind in military organization, only managing to assemble about 5,000 poorly armed volunteers, in comparison to some 12,000 reasonably well-armed Jewish fighters hailing from various organizations. However, the Jewish leadership, hoping to avoid escalation to first secure international recognition of their state, has adopted a cautious policy with regards to their Arab opposition, allowing the Arabs to trade blows on a relatively even playing field.

Particular flashpoints are the cities of Haifa and Jerusalem, where Arab and Jewish populations continue to coexist. However, the Arab community of Haifa has begun to desert the city in large numbers due to increasing violence against their neighborhoods which the British have failed to stop, while the Jewish community of East Jerusalem is increasingly coming under attack from Arab sniper and mortar fire. As of May 1st, some 101 Jews, 163 Arabs, and 7 Britons have been killed.