Illustrated London News
The First Arab-Israeli War 1948 - 1949 Part 1
(Part 2 - Part 3)
As Britain withdrew from Palestine, the Illustrated London News reported with a unique mixture
of imperial detachment, visual power, and documentary depth. It covered:
The departure of British forces
The declaration of Israeli independence
The early battles for Jerusalem and the Negev
The human cost for refugees and civilians
The eventual armistice lines drawn across the map of the Middle East
The photographs in this series represent how a prominent British publication of the time viewed and portrayed this complex conflict to its readers.
This is a non-commercial project. All material is shared for educational and historical interest, and to honour the work of the journalists, artists,
and photographers who captured world events in an era before television news and digital media.
I present the images here as part of a curated historical record. (NB Dates are generally the publication date)
There is also an excellent Wikipedia version of this war
Photographs from January 3rd 1948 - July 3rd 1948
Unabating strife in the holy land: Military precautions and police protection January 3rd 1948
January 10th Riot Arson and Murder in Palestine
January 17th The holy city under the horror of daily bloodshed
January 24th Palestine a threat to world peace
January 31st Palestine Arab snipers
February 7th Called by their chairman "The five lonely pilgrims" members of the U. N. Palestine Commission
February 14th Daily murder and havoc in Palestine
February 28th The Ben Yehuda street bomb against the Jewish population
February 28th The Jewish disaster in the Palestine "War" of nationalist terrorism
March 6th The remains of the Ben Yehuda bomb trucks
March 13th The Stern gang bombing of a British troop train
March 20th Daily bombings were an ill omen for partition
April 10th Equally intransigent - and highly trained: Typical protagonists in the Palestine dispute.
A Jewish Haganah trained recruit (above) and an Arab soldier of fine physique (below)
April 10th Ended by the arrival of British troops: The easter battle of Bethlehem
Stopped by the British G.O.C.: A Jewish -Arab Jerusalem clash
President Truman and a truce in Palestine
A massacre and grim Jewish-Arab fighting in the Jerusalem area:
The eventful closing days of the British mandate in Palestine
The squalid tragedy of Palestine : Aspects of the dark scene in the Holy Land, with the British Mandate due to end next week
The strife torn Holy Land and her circle of Arab neighbours
May 15th Militant Jews in their "Promised Land" where the mandate is due to end today
Fiercely opposed to the Jews : Watchful armed Arabs in Palestine and on her borders
May 15th 1948 The last days of the mandate in Palestine
The only highly trained Arab force: The Arab Legion of Transjordan May 22nd 1948
The end of a Thirty-Year Mandate which earned bitter criticism for Britain abroad - yet whose conclusion
saw the immediate outbreak of open Jewish-Arab hostilities: General Cunningham saluting the colours of the H.L.I.
as he left goverment house, Jerusalem, for the last time.May 29th 1948
Palestine and the Holy City: Scenes and factors of the coming struggle for supremacy between Jews and Arabs May 29th
Jerusalem...
A Panoramic map of the holy city of Jerusalem which has been battered by Arab guns and Jewish mortars and whose future concerns every christian community May 29th
Palestine: Where the end of the mandate has brought open warfare May 29th
The New Jewish "State of Israel": Mr David Ben Gurion (left)
assisted by Moshe Shertok (right) signing the "Proclamation" May 29th 1948
The Arab-Jewish war and it's varying fortunes. Scenes of the battlefields of Palestine and aspects of the struggle for the Holy Land - The President of "Israel" at the White House June 5th
Capture of the Old City of Jerusalem - "A great moral success" Scenes of an 11 day battle resulting in Jewish surrender of the Old City June 12th
Palestine and world affairs June 12th 1948
Palestine June 19th 1948 Arab-Jew truce
An open letter to an American citizen - incitting a Boycott of British goods
A full page advert in the May 24th issue of the New York Post and the Home News July 3rd 1948
How moderate Jews foiled an extremist attempt to break the truce:
A contraband ammunition ship set on fire by Hagnah batteries to maintain order July 3rd 1948
Rescue workers amomg the ruins in the Jewish quarter of Cairo,
following two heavy explosions July 3rd 1948
The First Arab Israel War Part 2
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