After the UN’s Partition Plan was approved on November 29, 1947, everyone knew hostilities had only just begun. Both the British and the French realized that trying to manage a blood feud between two peoples was a losing proposition, so both made exit plans.

When the British Mandate in Palestine ended on May 15, 1948—the day after the Jews declared statehood—five Arab armies invaded.

In the lore and myth that have arisen since then, facts have become obscured by each side’s narrative.

What can’t be denied, however, is that the new Israel Defense Forces was lightly equipped to fight an epic, existential war. The Israelis made do with second-hand equipment (right down to the canteens) as they prepared to win against a vastly superior force.

Yet somehow they did win. Some feel the victorious Israelis were led by the God of the Bible. Probably just as many people feel the battlefield victories were largely an accident of history.

What do you think?