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