978-1-4222-3442-6

48

I RAQ

many survivors of the Holocaust left Europe for Palestine, where they hoped to build a Jewish state. Violence between Jews and Arabs began to escalate. In 1947 the United Nations, an international organization that replaced the failed League of Nations, proposed dividing Palestine into Arab and Jewish states, with Jerusalem, a city regarded as holy by Jews, Muslims, and Christians, to be open to everyone under the auspices of the U.N. Great Britain, which still ruled the area under its League of Nations mandate, did not agree with this decision and announced its intention to withdraw from Palestine in May 1948. The Palestinian Arabs also voiced their opposition to the U.N. partition plan, and with other Arab countries they made plans to destroy the Jewish settlers once the British pulled out. Israel declared its independence on May 15, 1948, the day after the British left Palestine. The United States and the U.S.S.R. quick- ly recognized Israel as an independent state. But Arab armies from Egypt, Jordan, Syria, and Iraq immediately attacked Israel. Iraq provided the largest force—some 15,000 well-trained soldiers. The Arabs expected a quick victory. However, to their surprise—and to the surprise of the world—the determined Israelis outfought the Arabs and expanded their territory before a cease-fire ended the conflict in early 1949. The new Jewish state soon had a large influx of immigrants. Jewish communities had existed in Arab lands for hundreds of years, but many Jews—aware now of a growing hostility toward them in the Arab world—chose to move to Israel. In 1947 an estimated 117,000 Jews had lived in Iraq; many of their ancestors had been brought to Babylon as captives after the conquest of Jerusalem around 597 BCE . By 1952 Jews living in Iraq numbered fewer than 5,000. The 1950s also saw oil become an even more important part of Iraq’s economy. By 1952 most of the money brought into Iraq came from the production of oil. As a result, huge amounts of money were