Have you seen the old movie "Wings of Eagles" depicting the war of 1948? Pretty much supports everything in this post. I remember the part where refugees from East Europe went into battle. One of the lines from this movie was that these men didn't know how to take the safeties off their rifles, their officers couldn't instuct them due to their languages, these men couldn't even fire their weapons, yet they went forward. Many of them died, but still they advanced.
Another good movie about this event starred Paul Neuman. It was called, "Exodus". I think you can still find it in the movie rental places. This story, however, is mostly about the events leading up to Israel being declared a state. The war which ensued, was only briefly covered.
This movie, however, did show how the Palestinians who befriended the Israelis were cruely killed; but not by Israel.