A Year in Headlines: 1948

January 4: Palestine Needs Listed: $283,156,000 Required—In light of the United Nations decision establishing an independent Jewish state in Palestine…says Dr. Israel Goldstein, chairman of the United Palestine Appeal.

January 16: British Guarantee Iraq Under Treaty; Pact Said to Be First Step in Middle East Defense Against "Iron Curtain"—Britain signed a twenty-year treaty with Iraq today.

February 7: U.S. Becoming Net Importer of Oil—A fundamental change in the position of the United States with regard to oil is taking place, almost unnoticed in the flurry over shortages.

February 22: Britain Shifts Empire Ideas; Strategy in Palestine Is Part of Plan to "Cut Her Losses" Wherever Possible—A leading London newspaper, commenting recently on the "uneasiness and unhappiness" underlying the parliamentary debate on the withdrawal of British forces from Palestine, said that the Roman Senate must have felt much the same in deciding to recall its legions from Britain in 410 A.D.

April 24: U. N. Council Sets Up Commission To Effect a Truce in Palestine

April 27: 6 Nations Reported in Agreement; Arab King Warns Invasion Is Ready—Arab sources said six Arab nations had decided to invade Palestine…before the British end their Holy Land mandate on May 15.

April 30: Britain Is Accused Of Helping Arabs—A memorandum based on alleged secret documents purporting to show British condonement of the infiltration of Arab forces into Palestine and other anti-Jewish policies was presented to the United Nations General Assembly.

May 12: Farouk Gives Stand—The 28-year-old Egyptian monarch declared that he "cannot and will not tolerate a Zionist state in the Middle East, close to Egypt's borders."

May 15: The Jews Rejoice; Some Weep as Quest for Statehood Ends...New Regime Holds Out Hand to Arabs—The Jewish state, the world's newest sovereignty, to be known as the State of Israel, came into being in Palestine at midnight upon termination of the British mandate.

May 15: Truce Aim Stressed: Soviet Gesture to New Nation Anticipated

May 15: New Jewish State Recognized By U.S.

May 15: Tel Aviv Bombed; Egyptians March

May 16: Jews in Grave Danger In All Moslem Lands; Nine Hundred Thousand in Africa and Asia Face Wrath of Their Foes

May 22: Britain Fears U.S. Will Arm Israel; Shift on Palestine Embargo Spurs Misgivings as London Aid to Arabs Nears End

May 31: Arab Legion Is Held Off; Arab Forces Pressing Toward Tel Aviv—Jerusalem is under complete siege, with its Israeli defenders holding off the Arab Legion and units of the Egyptian and Iraqi armies.

August 13: Korea Is Recognized by U.S.—The United States seized the initiative in the Far East today by granting diplomatic recognition to the Russian-boycotted new government of Korea.

October 4: Campaign Swings in West Are Estimated to Net 14 States for Dewey and 6 for Truman

October 25: Truman Reaffirms His Israel Stand in Reply To Dewey—He would approve no change in the United Nations partition of Palestine...that in turn was not acceptable to the State of Israel.

November 3: President Surprises by Taking Early Popular Vote Lead, Holds It—At 6 a.m. today, after a night in which his political fortunes waxed and waned with every passing hour, President Harry S. Truman took an impressive lead…in both the popular and electoral vote.

November 5: T.S. Eliot Obtains 1948 Nobel Prize

November 7: State Department Intrigue Against Israel—Dr. Israel Goldstein, retiring chairman of the United Palestine Appeal, called on President Truman to put an immediate halt to [it].

December 15: Israel Alleges Britain Supplies Arms to Arabs—Great Britain was charged with thirteen violations of the embargo on munitions to Arab countries of the Middle East.

December 26: Sports Supremacy of U.S. Maintained in Surprising Year: Olympic Triumphs in Various Events; Indians Baseball Rulers; Michigan, Eagles and Browns Football Leaders

Source: The New York Times Archives

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