I was referring specifically to the hostilities during the period of 1948/49 in my 31 May 08 - 08:23 PM post. We are told that Israel declared its independence, and then the Arabs attacked. This is not true. Jewish paramilitaries had been committing massacres and ethnic cleansing in Arab villages both in the part of Palestine that was given to the Jews in the partition plan, as well as the part that had been given to the Palestinians in the partition plan, for months before Israel declared its independence...

Before the end of the mandate and, therefore before any possible intervention by Arab states, the Jews, taking advantage of their superior military preparation and organization, had occupied...most of the Arab cities in Palestine before May 15, 1948. Tiberias was occupied on April 19, 1948, Haifa on April 22, Jaffa on April 28, the Arab quarters in the New City of Jerusalem on April 30, Beisan on May 8, Safad on May 10 and Acre on May 14, 1948...In contrast, the Palestine Arabs did not seize any of the territories reserved for the Jewish state under the partition resolution.

--Henry Cattan, (Palestine, The Arabs and Israel)

After Israel declared its independence, the Arabs decided to step in and try to stop Israel from taking any more of the land that had been given to the Palestinians in the partition plan. But almost all of the fighting took place in the areas that had been given to the Palestinians in the partition plan. This is because the Arabs were not "attacking" Israel. They were defending the areas that had been given to the Palestinians in the partition plan. This is historical fact.