Basic assumption on the eve of the War of Independence

Immediately after assuming responsibility, at the Jewish Agency, for security matters, Ben Gurion examined in depth the Jewish community capabilities to withstand attacks by Arab regular armies. After concluding that in the present situation this will be impossible, he ordered the Haganah headquarters to spur munitions and other materials acquisition, aiming to establish, in the shortest timeframe possible a skeleton of a regular army.

Ben Gurion approached Ephraim Ben-Artzi, a former colonel in the British army, requesting him to prepare a plan for the establishment of a regular army, based on the premise that the Arab armies would attack the Jewish settlement. 

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