In 1948, after the United Nations voted to partition the territory of Palestine under British occupation, the British terminated the mandate and withdrew from the land.

From there the Zionists started conquering, expelling, invading and massacring hundreds of thousands of Palestinians from villages and territories.

The same year, the new state of Israel was established. The event is called Nakba, or the Catastrophe, it is commemorated on the 15th of May. 

This is a non-exhaustive list of the crimes committed by Zionists during this period:

• Operation Plan Dalet Source: the master plan for the conquest of Palestine: this involved laying siege of villages, forced expulsions, setting fire to houses and fields, biological warfare, poisoning water supplies, several massacres. Over 200 villages were destroyed.

• Operation Cast Thy Bread Source : from April to December 1948, the Haganah and IDF forces poisoned with typhoid bacteria the drinking water wells in Acre, Eilabun, Galilee, Bayt Mahsir and Palestinian neighbours of Jerusalem. This caused an typhoid epidemic and "a state of extreme distress" among the inhabitants. Zionists forces (including prime minister David Ben-Gurion) oversaw and approved the top-secret operation and planned to expand it to neighbouring arab countries like Lebanon, Egypt and Syria.

• Deir Yassin massacre Source: the paramilitary organisations Irgun and Lehi killed at least 107 Palestinians including women and children. Using firearms and granades zionists forces emptied every house of the village. Villagers were taken hostage, paraded in Jerusalem and later executed. Lootings, mutilations and rapes occurred. This the first hand story from Aziza from Deir Yassin:

While holding villagers in the bakery hostage, Zionist soldiers ordered the baker, Hussein al-Shareef from the town of Lydd, to throw his son Abdul Rauf into the burning oven. After refusing, the soldiers knocked Hussein to the ground and proceeded to throw Abdul Rauf into the oven while his father watched. “Follow your son. He needs you there,” said one of the soldiers before throwing Hussein in next. Source

• Saliha massacre Source : IDF, under the General Moshe Carmel, blew up a mosque killing around 90 people taking refuge there after raising white flag and surrendering. The remaining villagers were expelled. 

• The Lydda and Ramle massacre or Lydda death march Source: in these two town outside the jewish partition of the UN, after the villagers surrendered, Lt. Col. Moshe without coordination with his commander decided to raid Lydda and “blasting at everything that moved”. In 47 minutes between 100-150 Palestinians were killed. Israeli soldiers threw granades into houses, when the residents ran out of their homes they were shot. Around 175-250 Palestinians were killed in the Dahmash mosque. After being bombed from the sky, attacked from the ground and lived under curfew, the israeli expelled all villagers and forced them to walk 16-19 km under intense heat while being robbed and looted along the way and at checkpoints. An estimated 350 to 500 people died. 

• Tantura Massacre Source: after surrendering, zionists forces expelled, executed and killed Palestinians and destroyed most of the village. The event was met with skepticism and death estimates range from “dozens” to more then 200. Yaacov Epstein, a member of the local council of a nearby jewish village “managed to call a halt to the orgy of killing in Tantura, but ‘he came too late’”

• Abu Shusha massacre Source: with “Operation Maccabi” zionists mortared the village of Abu Shusha, more then 70 people were killed, the remaining were expelled. 

• Al-Dawayima massacreSource: three groups of israeli troops approached the villages and without a call to surrender entered the village and started firing at anything they saw. After a census from the headman of the village, a total of 455 people were missing. 

• In December 1947, the Irgun militia placed a car bomb at the Damascus Gate in Jerusalem, killing 20 people. 

• In January 1948, the Lehi militia placed a truck bomb in Jaffa, killing 15 people. 

• In February 1948, the Irgun placed a bomb in the Ramla market, killing 7 residents. 

• In February 1948, the Palmach militia bombed a garage in Haifa, killing 30 people. 

• In March 1948, the Lehi mined the railway between Cairo and Haifa, killing 40 people and wounding 60. 

• Many more massacred and attacks on the Palestinian population occurred during this period. Sources

• In total the Nakba led to the expulsion of around 750.000 Palestinians from their homes

Source Source

As stated above, the list might be incomplete and missing key moments of the Nakba. If you want, you can contribute in the comments and I will add it to the list.

Why should the Arabs make peace? If I was an Arab leader I would never make terms with Israel. That is natural: we have taken their country. Sure, God promised it to us, but what does that matter to them? Our God is not theirs. We come from Israel, it's true, but two thousand years ago, and what is that to them? There has been anti-Semitism, the Nazis, Hitler, Auschwitz, but was that their fault? They only see one thing: we have come here and stolen their country. Why should they accept that?

David Ben-Gurion (First Israeli Prime Minister) - 1956