The conflict between the Israelis and Palestinians is technically over 70 years old and counting but has its roots in over 2,000 years of history. With so much time and history, the Middle East peace process has become laden with unique, politically sensitive concepts like the right of return, contiguous borders, secure borders, demilitarized zones, and security requirements, with players like the Quartet, Palestinian Authority, Fatah, Hamas, the Arab League and Israel. Over time, it has become exceedingly difficult for even sophisticated political pundits and followers to keep track of it all.

In 1947, the British delegated the issue of partitioning the British Mandate to the United Nations, and the UN General Assembly set up the Special Committee on Palestine (UNSCOP). UNSCOP eventually came up with what is now known as the UN Partition Plan of 1947. The Partition Plan carved up two strange looking states, but their motive was to create an Israel in which the Jewish population was a 55 percent majority, while Palestine had an over 90 percent Palestinian Arab majority. Meanwhile, the city of Jerusalem would be administered internationally, due to the sensitive religious concerns of Muslims, Christians, and Jews. In addition to several Christian holy spots, Jerusalem’s Al-Aqsa Mosque is the third holiest site in Islam, and it is situated right next to the Western Wall, the Jews’ holiest remaining site.

The proposed plan was accepted by the Jewish Agency, which represented the leaders of the Jewish community in Palestine. However, it was rejected by Palestinian leaders in the Mandate, and it was also rejected by the newly formed Arab League, a confederation of Middle Eastern Arab states led by Egypt, Lebanon, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Syria, and Yemen. Although the partitioned state of Israel would have had a Jewish majority, the remainder of the British Mandate after the partition of Jordan had a population that was about 67 percent Palestinian, so they viewed the plan as being unfairly advantageous to the Jews.

On May 14, 1948, the British Mandate officially expired. That same day, the Jewish National Council issued the Declaration of the Establishment of the State of Israel. About 10 minutes later, President Truman officially recognized the State of Israel, and the Soviet Union also quickly recognized Israel. However, the Palestinians and the Arab League did not recognize the new state, and the very next day, armies from Egypt, Syria, Lebanon and Iraq invaded the former British Mandate to squelch Israel, while Saudi Arabia assisted the Arab armies. Jordan would also get involved in the war, fighting the Israelis around Jerusalem.

Less than two weeks after the creation of Israel, the state’s leader, David Ben-Gurion, announced the creation of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF). This represented the combined military forces that would protect the new state, and while it might have sounded impressive on paper, the reality was very different. The new army was comprised mainly of ex-members of several paramilitary organizations that had fought for the establishment of the new state, but they lacked heavy weapons, armor and air defenses. The Israeli navy and air force did not exist other than as largely notional organizations, and at the beginning of 1948, the Israeli Air Force did not possess a single combat aircraft of any type.

To many outsiders, the defeat of the nascent Jewish state seemed a certainty, yet in an unbelievably short space of time, and despite international embargoes on the export of arms to the region, Israel was able to procure sufficient arms to equip its armed forces and to successfully defend its territory in what became known as the War of Independence (also known as First Arab–Israeli War).