Then by a series of armistices. arranged and signed under the mediation of the United Nations. the ArabIsraeli war came to an end in July That was a costly war for the new State of Israel. it was her real baptism in warfare. but her natural gains in terms of territory were rewarding. That war also taught the Israeli citizens a most valuable lessonunless they united all their efforts. banded closely together. and guarded their new state and their newly won independence at all times and at all costs against all comers their very existence would be in jeopardy. Having quickly mastered this lesson the hard way. the new and old citizens of Israel. under able leadership. braced themselves for the terribly difficult task of rebuilding their newly won country. of making it a secure haven for refugee Jews fleeing from other lands. and by guaranteeing the security of the country against all foes. It is difficult to say which of these three arduous tasksthe building of the country. the ingathering and settling of refugees in Israel. or the defense of the new Statehad priority over the other two. but the people of Israel did not have to make the choice because they had no choice to make. To them their tasks were cut out by the vicissitudes of historyall three were equally important. and they went to work with the confidence that they were capable of coping with all three of them simultaneously. Today we know that in the course of a single decade the people of Israel performed all three of their exacting tasks with great success.
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refugee refugees