with the Greater Jerusalem Area coming under inter-

national control

1948

Uri Avnery volunteers for the HISH: the troops of the

Haganah

9 April: Massacre of Deir Yassin by units of the Irgun

14 May: End of British Mandate over Palestine.

Founding of the State of Israel

11 June: UN imposes a one-month ceasefire. Lasts

until 9 July

30 June: Israeli Army officially founded, under the

(still valid) name “Israel Defense Forces”

8 December: Uri Avnery severely wounded on the

Israeli-Egyptian front

1949

Ceasefire negotiations take place in spring on the

Greek island of Rhodes under UN auspices

15 June: Publication of In the Fields of the Philistines

in Israel - quickly becomes a bestseller; reprinted twelve

times in quick succession

1950

April: Uri Avnery takes over the weekly magazine

“Haolam Hazeh,” becoming publisher and editor-in-

chief

May: Publication of Uri Avnery’s second book

The Other Side of the Coin. Second printing in June

1954

1953

12 December: Uri Avnery made an honorary citizen of

the village of Abu-Ghosh near Jerusalem in recognition

of his part in preventing the expulsion of the Palestinian inhabitants of the village

1956

29 November: Suez Campaign. In co-ordination with

Britain and France, Israeli Army captures most of

Sinai Peninsula and Gaza Strip, to pressurize Egypt to

reverse nationalization of Suez Canal. Israeli Army

withdraws in January 1957 under US pressure

“Semitic Action” founded by Uri Avnery and a number of intellectuals. Its program “The Hebrew manifesto” supports the founding of a Palestinian state next to

Israel and proposes a Great Semitic Union of all the

states of the Middle East

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