The moment Britain left Israel, war started.
Now, we must remember that there were clashes in the area BEFORE the state was established, and that is why Britain wanted to abandon the 'deal'.
Here are some excerpts of the Macdonald White Paper (1939):
" His Majesty's Government believe that the framers of the Mandate in which the Balfour Declaration was embodied could not have intended that Palestine should be converted into a Jewish State against the will of the Arab population of the country."
"Unauthorized statements have been made to the effect that the purpose in view is to create a wholly Jewish Palestine. Phrases have been used such as that `Palestine is to become as Jewish as England is English.' His Majesty's Government regard any such expectation as impracticable and have no such aim in view. Nor have they at any time contemplated .... the disappearance or the subordination of the Arabic population, language or culture in Palestine. They would draw attention to the fact that the terms of the (Balfour) Declaration referred to do not contemplate that Palestine as a whole should be converted into a Jewish National Home, but that such a Home should be founded IN PALESTINE."
Palestinians had 'allies' then...Jordon, Egypt, Iraq, Transjordon and Syria all came to the 'aid' of Palestinians in rejecting a Jewish nation state, though they did take Palestinian land so....In any case...Israel prevailed against all of the invading armies and kept the land they conquered for themselves, increasing their land 25% from the original British partition. There were over 700,000 Arab refugees from this process and reports of massacres of Arabs. The Israeli's called it a war of independence and the Arabs called it A Catastrophe.
The expulsion of Arabs from their homeland in Palestine led to refugee camps in Jordon, Lebanon and Syria. According to MERIP, those refugees in Lebanon and Syria are not afforded equality or citizenship.
Did I mention they most still live in those camps? How ironic that in creating a state for a 'home' for the Jewish people, they made a new people who have no home to go to. The creation of Israel created a copy of the injustices that had afflicted the Jewish people.
Gaining territory through war is against international norms now, and was in 1948 as well. Egypt had captured Gaza in the war and Jordon captured the West Bank and Syria controlled the Golan Heights. The taking of land was seen as mostly illegal by the international community.
Since Palestine did not have a state in place when Britain left, Israel negotiated with the Jordon, Egypt and Syria for peace, while Palestinians suffered in camps and were denied human and civil rights across the ME and in Israel.
It must be said, that Israels negotiations with Jordon included access to the holy sites in Jerusalem, which Jordon did not honor. Israelis were kept out of East Jerusalem.
Israel and Egypt negotiated a parcel of land 100 meters wide at the border of the Gaza strip and Egypt, built a barbed wire fence and patrolled the border.
Most of these occupations/annexations lasted until the 1967 war, when Israel took over occupation and started building settlements in designated Palestinian areas.
According to PBS, in 1954, Israeli spies conspired spoil US/Egypt relations by bombing British and US institutions in Egypt. This was the beginning of tensions that led to the 1967 Six Days War, where Israel captured the occupied lands from Egypt, Syria and Jordon, including East Jerusalem. They also collected even more land from the Palestinians, who still had no solid representation.
Please watch this movie to see first hand the deplorable, inhuman and uncivil atmosphere Palestinians live in now (well this was before the this last war and the last intifada).
More to come. My heart aches and I have cried many tears researching and watching the above film.
May we learn how to heal the wounds we have carved into the ME 0:-(
I pray for peace.
I pray for help and restoration of the hearts of the Palestinian people who have been abandoned and mistreated by the world.