No, sadly. Not from the British mandate, but literally from the international law.
See this synopsis of Ilan Pappe's book: "The myth of Israeli War of Independence refuses to die, despite numerous books by a wide range of historians that have long debunked it.
For those who don't read books, here's the gist:
1. The Zionist settlements (i.e., the colonial immigrants to Palestine under British auspices) had state institutions, an army and well-trained and equipped companies. The Palestinians, the mostly rural indigenous population, had nothing. They were then as they are today: a civilian population defenseless and even without leadership after the revolt against the colonization program that was brutally suppressed by the British army.
2. The ethnic cleansing began immediately after the partition resolution in November 1947 and spread beyond the borders of the said partition. The ethnic cleansing of Haifa, Jaffa, West Jerusalem and the massacre of Deir Yassin all happened before May 15, 1948. A quarter of a million Palestinian refugees were created before the Declaration of Independence.
3. The Zionist narrative is that the Arab states attacked the Zionist state, but what actually happened was that they came to the aid of the Palestinians, who had been subjected to attack and ethnic cleansing for six months, under the noses of the British. In the end, they saved only 22% of the territory of Mandatory Palestine. The Zionist occupation was completed in 1967.
4. The Zionist leadership officially accepted the partition decision but in practice violated it. Most of the fighting after May 15 took place outside the borders of the partition, indicating that from the point of view of the settlement, it was a war of aggression to capture and ethnically cleanse as much of the territory of Palestine as possible.
5. In recent years, there has been a debate among Israelis about whether Palestinian refugees have fled or been deported. This is of course an idle debate because the answer is: it doesn't matter. A civilian population flees during wartime, but preventing their return at the end of the battles and erasing hundreds of their villages indicates the intention, which is undeniable, since this has always been the goal of Zionism: the creation of a Jewish demographic state in an area that was populated by 95% non-Jews before the twentieth century (and about two-thirds non-Jews in 1947).
6. To understand the Arab opposition to the partition decision, we need to imagine what the Germans would say if tomorrow the UN decided to divide Germany between the Germans and the Syrian refugees (assuming that these refugees were forced upon Germany and not legally accepted by them). It is obvious that the Germans would have opposed such a decision and it is easy to understand that bringing this proposal to a vote is illegitimate. But the United Nations, as we know, is not an institution of justice or law but a reflection of the world's relations of power and a tool of the superpowers, and the powers that controlled it (and still govern it) could bring such a ridiculous proposal to a vote and of course influence its outcome.
7. The total number of Arab forces was less than half that of the Zionist forces, and certainly less trained, less logistical and less motivated. For those who still believe that a miracle has happened, the following quote can be given to them::
When, in 1946, General John D'Arcy, commander of British forces in Palestine and Trans-Jordan, was asked what he thought would happen if the British withdrew their forces from Palestine, he replied without hesitation: "The armed forces will take over all of Palestine *tomorrow*." And when asked if he thought in such a situation they would be able to hold on to their control, he replied with the characteristic poise and determination of a veteran: "Of course. They will be able to maintain their control over the entire Arab world." And this is straight from the mouth of the person who had the best knowledge of the relations of forces in Palestine and the immediate vicinity."
By Aaron Amit Turgeman
