Disputes over how to resolve the crisis of who would control Palestine after the withdrawal of the British Mandatory Power led in 1948 to the first of five major wars between the State of Israel and the forces of Arab states in the region and the Palestinians.

Although armistice agreements were signed in 1949, legally the state of war persisted until the Arab-Israeli peace process produced treaties in 1979 and 1994. In the interim, four Arab-Israeli wars took place: the Suez War (1956), the June or Six-Day War (1967), the October, Ramadan, or Yom Kippur War (1973), and the War in Lebanon (1982).

To enable the reader to better follow the history of these conflicts, documents contained in this section are organized into five sections: (A) Palestine War or the War for Israeli Independence, containing related documents from 1948 to 1955; (B) Suez War, containing related documents from 1950 to 1964; (C)June War or Six-Day War, containing related documents from 1966 to 1972; (D)Yom Kippur War/Ramadan War/October War, containing related documents from 1973 to 1981; and (E) Lebanon War, containing related documents from 1978 to 2003.