Conflicting Narratives of the 1948 War Undergraduate
Abstract
The 1948 War was a triumphant victory for the Jews of Israel and a
tragic disaster for the Arabs of Palestine. The traditional Zionist
rendition of the war, or “old” history, depicts Israel as a fledgling
Jewish state heroically thrust into a survivalist fight for independence.
Revisionist works of “new” history challenge these accounts, and reject
Israel’s role as an innocent protagonist in the conflict. While there is
extensive literature analyzing these conflicting narratives in depth,
there exists a lack of academic writing that objectively compares the
two accounts through the lens of specific historical events. This paper
discusses the differences in new and old history in the context of the
1948 War, specifically focusing on the issues of the Arab-Israeli
military balance, the motivation behind Arab war objectives, and the
origins of the Palestinian refugee crisis. It concludes that no narrative
has a complete monopoly of historical accuracy, and that it is necessary
to consider information from both sides in order to obtain a
comprehensive understanding of the 1948 War.
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