How can they have defeated four Arab armies or was that another miracle?
len, what is your reasoning, Israel won, so therefore it must always have been a Goliath? Smaller forces have never defeated greater ones? Guess we won hands-down in Vietnam, then.
There are several reasons Israel won in 1948:
a) Several of the Arab states were less than totally enthused for the war (certainly if it turned out to involve real fighting), having basically forced their own hands with all their bellicose rhetoric, which stirred up a war fever among their own populations
b) The Arab armies had no unity of purpose -- they never agreed how they were going to divvy up Palestine once they got it. For instance, Transjordan was satisfied with seizing the West Bank and never tried to help Egypt seize the Negev.
c) The Arab armies lacked a unified command structure
d) Most of the Arab political leaders totally underestimated the Jews as an opposition. They truly thought they were going to roll right into Tel Aviv, and said so, over and over again. (btw this helped persuade the Arabs of Jaffa and Haifa that they ought to evacuate rather than be caught sitting next to the Jews when the Arab armies arrived)
e) Believing it would be a cakewalk, the Arab armies failed to seriously prepare for a long campaign.
f) Most important, the Arabs were not fighting for their own country or their own lives. They could survive a loss. The Jews were and couldn't. Totally different levels of motivation.
The fact remains, that the Arab armies far outgunned the Hagannah and were generally expected to defeat them handily. They might have if they had realistically estimated the opposition and gotten their act together. They didn't so they lost.
The history you refer to amounts to Zionist history and leaves many holes in the story.
What's non-Zionist history? The glorious Arab victory or the unavoidable Arab loss to vastly superior Zionist foes? both are equally fictional. The only holes are in your head -g- |
