The Origins of the Conception of Israel’s State Borders and Its Impact on the Strategy of War in 1948–49

Journal of Strategic Studies

Volumn 18, Issue 2, 1995, Pages 149-171

  Katz, Yossi ^a   Sandler, Shmuel ^a  

^a NONE

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

EID: 21844521349     PISSN: 01402390     EISSN: 1743937X     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1080/01402399508437596     Document Type: Article

References (84)

1. One of the best books on those and subsequent negotiations is by Ittamar Rabinovich, The Road Not Taken: Early Arab-lsraeli Negotiations (NY Oxford: OUP, 1991).
2. Dan Schueftan, A Jordanian Option, the ‘Yishuv’ and the State of Israel vis-a-vis the Hashemites Regime and the Palestine National Movement (Tel Aviv: Yad Tabcnkin, 1986) (in Hebrew). The best representative of the ‘revisionist’ approach is Avi Shlaim, Collusion Across the Jordan: King Abdullah, the Zionist Movement, and the Partition of Palestine (Oxford: OUP, 1988).
3. Shmuel Dothan, Partition of Eretz-Israel in Mandatory Period, The Jewish Controversy (Jerusalem: Yad Ben Zvi, 1979) (in Hebrew).
4. See a collection of articles in Meir Avizohar and Isaiah Friedman (eds.). Studies in the Palestine Partition Plans 1937–1947 (See Boqer: Bcn-Gurion Res. Center, 1984) (Hebrew) and Yitzhak Galnoor, ‘Territorial Partition of Palestine: The 1937 Decision’, in Studies in Zionism, the Yishuv and the State of Israel, Vol. 1 (See Boqer: Bcn-Gurion Res. Center, 1991), pp. 211–40 (in Hebrew).
5. Shalom Reichman, ‘A Geo-Political Examination of the Arab-Israeli Conflict’, City and Region 2/1 (Nov. 1973), pp. 5–21 (in Hebrew).
6. See also Shalom Reichman and Shlomo Hasson, ‘A Cross-Cultural Diffusion of Colonization: From Posen to Palestine’, Annals of the Association of American Geographers 74/1 (March 1984), pp.57–70.
7. Baruch Kimmerling, Zionism and Territory, The Socio-Territorial Dimensions of Zionist Politics (Berkeley, CA: Univ. of California, Inst, of Int. Studies, 1983).
8. For the Zionist proposal see the Central Zionist Archives, Jerusalem (CZA) file S25/ 5156 Memo. Submitted to the Palestine Partition Commission by the Executive of the Jewish Agency for Palestine: (1) the Resolutions of the Government Body of the Zionist Organization and the Jewish Agency on the Conclusions of the Royal Commission. (2) The Partition Scheme of the Royal Commission (Jerusalem, 23 May 1938).
9. The statist characteristics of the Yishu thesis were advanced primarily by Dan Horowitz and Moshe Lissak, The Origins of the Israeli Polity (Chicago, IL: Univ. of Chicago Press, 1978).
10. See also Yonathan Shapiro, The Formative Years of the Israeli Labour Party: The Organization of Power, 1919–1930 (London: Sage Publications, 1976);
11. Joel S. Migdal, Strong Societies and Weak States (Princeton, NJ: Princeton UP, 1988), Ch.4.
12. For the evolution of Zionist foreign policy thinking from an ethnonational to a statist foreign policy, see Shmuel Sandler, The State of Israel, The Land of Israel: The Statist and Ethnonational Dimensions of Foreign Policy (Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1993), Chs. 2–3.
13. Shmuel Dothan, The Struggle for Eretz Israel (Tel Aviv: Ministry of Defense, 1983), pp. 138–145.
14. (Hebrew) For a comprehensive analysis of the Jewish Agency’s response to the Royal Commission’s partition proposal see Yossi Kats, ‘The articulation of the Jewish Agency’s Proposal, 1937–1938’, Zion 56/4 (1951), pp.401–39 (in Hebrew).
15. For the names and the activities of these committees see CZA files S25/5120 and S25/ 10109.
16. Moshe Sharett, Making of Policy – The Diaries of Moshe Sharett (Tel Aviv: Am Oved, 1971), Vol. 2, p. 230 (in Hebrew).
17. This was included in the ‘Border’s Committee‘ CZA, file 25/5143/
18. David Ben-Gurion, Memoirs, 1937 (Tel Aviv: Am Oved, 1982), Vol. 4, p. 322 (in Hebrew).
19. See the ‘Summary by Zalman Lifshitz’, CZA, File S25/6654.
20. See above n.6.
21. CZA, file S25/5154, ‘The Border–Line Report’. 26 July 1937. Sec also ibid. file S25/ 10054, 4 April 1938, the letter from Zclikovitz to Simon; Ibid., file S25/10109; ‘Abstract of the Borders Committee Actions’, ibid., file S25/10066, a letter from Ben-Gurion to Shertok, 3 July 1937.
22. Ben-Gurion’s proposal of 3 Dec. 1937 in CZA file S25/20054. Regarding the internal Arab problem, see also Berl Katznelson letter to Wcizmann of 27 April 1937 in CZA, file S25/5145.
23. See the Liftshitz report in CZA file S25/6654, 14 April 1938. See also the ‘Borders Committee’ report of 26 July 1937; ibid., file S25/5154, and the Lifshitz report in ibid., file S25/10054, 15 July 1937.
24. See the letter from Dr Avnimelech to the political department of 11 July 1937 in CZA file 25/8121; ibid., minutes of the Borders Committee meeting, 10 Nov. 1937; ibid., file S25/5143; ibid., file S25/6654, the Liftshitz Report; the Picard letter of July 1938 ibid., file S25/8122; and Ben-Gurion, ibid., pp.61, 67, 131, 207, 243, 266, 455.
25. On the British obligation to provide the Jewish state with agricultural land see Palestine Partition Commission Report (London; His Majesty’s Stationery Office, Oct. 1938), Cmd. 5854, p.7.
26. CZA, S25/6654, the Lifshitz report; minutes of the Borders Committee, ibid., file S25/5143; minutes of the Water Committee, 19 May 1938, and 27 May 1938, CZA file 5138; ‘The Partition Problem from the Hydrological Point of View’ (nd), CZA, file S25/5138; The Palestine Royal Commission Report (London: HMSO, July 1937) cmd. 5479, pp.252–5.
27. See the Lifshitz Reports in CZA, file S25/10054, and CZA, file S25/6654. See also the Borders Committee Summary, file S25/10109.
28. CZA, file S25/5156, Memorandum submitted to the Palestine Partition Commission, 23 May 1938; and ibid., file S25/8122. See also Ben-Gurion, ibid., pp. 207, 221, 295,
29. Sharett, ibid., pp. 222, 243.
30. Palestine Partition Commission Report, p.7.
31. See ‘Notes to the Partition Proposal’, 19 July 1937 in CZA, file 25/10054. ‘Minutes of Borders Committee’, November 10 1937, file S25/5143; Simon’s letter to Shertok, file S25/5120; the Lifshitz summary report, S25/6654; Ben-Gurion’s Remarks on Ormsby-Gore’s letter, file S25/3786; Sharett (note 10), p.316.
32. For analysis see Yossi Katz, ‘The Transfer of Population as a Solution to International Disputes, Population Exchanages between Greece and Turkey, as a Model for Plans to Solve the Jewish-Arab Dispute in Palestine during the 1930s’, Political Geography 11/1 (Jan. 1991), pp.55–72.
33. Lifshitz Report, CZA file S25/10054.
34. See the Shertok Letter to Fritz Neumann, 2 Dec. 1937, CZA file S25/5172; Ben-Gurion, ibid., 359; Sharctt, ibid., p.258.
35. See Ben-Gurion, ibid., pp. 237, 254, 277, 284, 358–360.
36. See the memo, entitled ‘Jerusalem under Partition’ that was submitted to the Partition Commission, 16 Aug. 1938, CZA, file S25/9239.
37. Palestine Partition Commission Report, ibid., pp.72–73,
38. and a letter from Bernard Joseph to Lifshitz, 29 April 1938, CZA, file S25/5100.
39. For the Bernadotte plan, see Documents on the Foreign Policy of Israel, Vol. 1 (Jerusalem: State of Israel, 1981), Doc. No. 239, pp.230–4 (main vol. in Hebrew, companion vol. in English).
40. Gershon Rivlin and Elhanan Oren (ed.). The War of Independence, Ben-Gurion’s War Diary (Tel Aviv: Defense Dept. Publishing, 1982), Vol. 2, p. 565.
41. Ernest Bevin was British Foreign Secretary 1945–51 and was considered an anti-Zionist. Even though one could feel Ben-Gurion’s hostility in the way the suggestions are presented in his diary, the full negative response can be found in Ben-Gurion, The Restored State of Israel (Tel Aviv: Am Oved, 1969), pp. 213–21 (in Hebrew).
42. Documents on the Foreign Policy of Israel (note 29), p. 246.
43. For Sharett’s full reaction and analysis of the document, see Moshe Sharett, At the Threshold of Statehood (Tel Aviv: Am Oved, 1958), pp. 249–56 (in Hebrew).
44. Documents of the State of Israel (note 29), p. 163.
45. On the importance of the Negev to Israel see Sharett’s address at the UN on 15 Nov. 1948, following the assassination of Count Bernadotte, in Sharett, ibid., pp. 319–23.
46. In this speech he points out both the need for space and the natural resources of the Negev. The dilemma of the Negev versus western Galilee can also be detected in this speech.
47. According to Shalom Reichman, who bases his argument on Israel State Archives, Sharett was not informed about the exodus until May 1948;
48. see Shalom Reichman, ‘Partition and Transfer: Crystallization of the Settlement Map of Israel Following the War of Independence, 1948–1950’, in Ruth Kark (ed.). The Land that Became Israel (New Haven, CT: Yale UP, 1989), pp. 327.
49. Benny Morris also admits that this Arab exodus took the Yishuv leadership by surprise; see Benny Morris, The Birth of the Palestinian Refugee Problem, 1947–49 (Cambridge: CUP, 1987), p.128.
50. Reichman (note 33), p. 327,
51. Morris (note 33), Chs.4–5; both sources are based on primary sources.
52. Morris (note 33), Ch. 6.
53. Rabinovitch (note 1), pp.43–4.
54. The details of the negotiations can be found in Ezra Danin’s report, 20 Nov. 1947, CZA, file S25/4004. See also Israel State Archives and Central Zionist Archives, Political and Diplomatic Documents, December 1947–May 1948 (Jerusalem: State of Israel, 1979), Main volume. Doc. No. 31, pp. 44–6, and companion vol.45.
55. For details on the meeting between Golda Mcir and Abdullah see does. 505 and 506 in Political and Diplomatic Documents, main vol. pp.789–91 (main vol. in Hebrew, companion vol. in English).
56. For secondary sources though based on original documents, see Schueftan, pp.47–58.
57. See also Yosef Nevo, Abdullah and the Palestinian Arabs (Tel Aviv Univ. Student Assoc. Press, 1975), Chs. 1–2;
58. Shlaim, Collusion across the Jordan (note 1);
59. M. Wilson, King Abdullah, Britain and the Making of Jordan (Cambridge, CUP, 1987);
60. Rabinovitch, (note 1), Chs.1 and 4.
61. Morris (note 33), pp. 198, 203–11. Of a population of 50,000–70,000 in these two towns, some of them refugees from Jaffa, only 1,000 stayed.
62. On the way the decision was reached, see David Ben-Gurion, The Restored State of Israel, Vol. 1 (Tel Aviv: Am-Oved, 1975);
63. The War of Independence, Ben-Gurion’s Diary, Vol. 3, pp. 722, 736.
64. For analysis of Ben-Gurion’s real intentions see Michael Bar-Zohar, Ben-Gurion: A Biography (Jerusalem: Keter, 1980), p. 319 (in Hebrew).
65. The Kedem operation is hardly mentioned by Ben-Gurion in his war diary, and when mentioned it is primarily regarding fear of looting or with reference to orders given to Shaltiel, the local commander to prefer Sheikh Jarach to the Old City, where attention is given to Latrun rather than to the Old City; see War of Independence, Ben-Gurion’s Diary Vol. 2, pp.589–96.
66. On the contacts through the Belgian consul, see Documents on the Foreign Policy of Israel, Vol. 1, pp. 533, 563, 576, 611. (main vol. in Hebrew; companion vol. in English). On the contacts with the Egyptians, see Ibid., pp.632–6. The preferable treatment given to Transjordanians can be detected in doc. 462, Ibid., p.533. On the debate in the Israeli government on the Egyptian proposal, see Ben-Gurion, Restored State of Israel (note 39), pp.312–16. The problem with the last report was that Ben-Gurion was absent from the meeting; for analysis see Rabinovitch (note 1), pp.150–3.
67. The rivalry between the Transjordanians and the Egyptians and how it was used by Israel is described extensively in Schueftan, ibid., pp. 93–132. The analysis is based on primary sources.
68. Morris (note 33), pp.220–1.
69. Ibid., p.235.
70. See for instance, in a conversation between Bcn-Gurion, Ralph Bunche, the UN mediator, and Gen. William Riley, Commander of the American UN Observers, he used this line of argument; see Ben-Gurion (note 39), p.334.
71. Rabinovitch (note 1), pp.177–8.
72. War of Independence, Ben-Gurion’s Diary (note 39), Vol. 3, pp.865–6, 871, 895.
73. Bar-Zohar (note 39), p.330.
74. Ben-Gurion (note 39), p.722.
75. Documents on the Foreign Policy of Israel (note 29), p.650.
76. Ben-Gurion, Restored State of Israel (note 39), p.166.
77. For a very convincing and elaborate analysis of the way that Ben-Gurion avoided the conquest of the Old City see Schueftan (note 2), pp.141–7.
78. Ibid., p.148.
79. War of Independence, Ben-Gurion’s Diary, Vol. 2, p. 672, n.4;
80. Jehuda Wallach and Moshe Lissak (ed.). Carta’s Atlas of Israel, The First Years, 1948–1961 (Jerusalem: Carta 1978), p. 54 (in Hebrew).
81. Schueftan (note 2), pp.178–9.
82. Ibid., pp.185–8.
83. The War of Independence, Ben-Gurion’s Diary, Vol. 3, p.985.
84. This decision was elaborately analyzed in Michael Brecher, Decisions in Israel’s Foreign Policy (London: OUP, 1974), Ch. 2.