Eighty years ago today, April 30, 1945 (March 19, 1945 in the lunar calendar), the first Middle East War: the Arabs evacuated Haifa. The Arab-Israeli conflict began long before the founding of Israel. On April 30, 1948, following an offensive this month to seize key areas from Arabs, the Zionist military organization Hagana quickly seized Palestine's only deep-water port-Haifa. After a fierce battle, the Arabs agreed to surrender and evacuate the city. The Jews first bombarded the attack, firing mortar fire into Arab neighborhoods, as plumes of smoke rose over the city of 140,000 residents. Among the 140,000 residents are 80,000 Jews. Thousands of Arabs tried desperately to escape the city, but failed because a bridge on the evacuation road was occupied by Jews. In early April, the Zionist militia launched an offensive and killed Arab commanders on the Jerusalem front lines. At the same time,"Irgun" massacred 250 Arab civilians in the village of Deir Yassin. The terms of surrender included all Arabs laying down their arms, driving all Arab soldiers out of Haifa, and ordering all German and Nazi soldiers fighting in the Arab ranks to surrender. A Jewish representative told the United Nations that no matter what action the United Nations takes on partition (referring to the possible deployment of police forces), a Jewish state in Palestine will soon become a reality by May 16 after the British trusteeship of the area ends. U.S. President Truman said at a reception that the United States would be willing to join such a police force. Trans-Jordanian Arab leader Abdellah