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Events on Saturday 15 May 1948 1
1948Arab-Israeli War breaks outNeighboring Arab states invade the newly declared state of IsraelHours after Israel declared independence, armies from Egypt, Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, and Iraq invaded on May 15, 1948, beginning the first Arab-Israeli War. The fighting, interspersed with UN-brokered truces, continued into 1949 and resulted in Israeli territorial gains beyond the original UN partition lines. The war also triggered the mass displacement of hundreds of thousands of Palestinian Arabs.