1948 Arab-Israeli War
The 1948 Arab-Israeli War, referred to as the War of Independence (מלחמת השחרור) by Israelis, and The Catastrophe ("al Nakba", النكبة) by Arabs, was the first armed conflict fought by the modern state of Israel, with a total population of approximately 600,000, against the armies of the Arab nations of Egypt, Syria, Jordan, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, and other Arab militias. About 6,000 Israelis died in the war, or fully one percent of the population, but the war ended in 1949 with a UN-brokered armistice. As a result of the war, Israel grew by some 50% over the original Partition of British Palestine. Some 800,000 Jews were expelled from neighboring Arab states and allowed to settle in Israel. Meanwhile, about 700,000 Arab "Palestinians" were expelled from the newly acquired lands, sparking a refugee problem that persists to this day.