The Toronto Star’s Oakland Ross filed a report today about Israeli elder statesman Shimon Peres who was chosen as the country’s new president.
In that report, Mr. Ross makes a serious error in his description of the War of Independence. According to Ross:
?He (Peres) has been its prime minister ? on than three separate occasions ? as well as its defence minister, and its foreign minister. He participated in the 1948 war that led to the establishment of the Jewish state, and he has been a fixture of the turbulent Middle Eastern scene during each twist, each turn, and each unnerving tumble the region has taken during the ensuing six decades.
Oakland appears to have the chronology of events backwards when he says that the 1948 War led to the establishment of Israel. In reality, on May 15, 1948 Britain gave up its mandate on the land and Israel declared statehood. After this announcement five Arab armies (Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, Egypt and then-Transjordan) immediately attacked the nascent state of Israel. Battles continued until an armistice was reached in January 1949.
For more information please see Jewish Virtual Library’s report on the 1948 War.
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