We know quite a lot about the 1948 war that created a Jewish state in most of historic Palestine, and brought about the depopulation of the majority of the land’s Arab inhabitants. Historians have reconstructed the battles, narrated the state of mind of the political and military leaders, and even exposed the atrocities. However, few historians have told the stories of the subaltern classes of non-elites during the war, and how they perceived reality while events were unfolding. We know very little about the “ordinary,” enlisted soldier—Jewish or Arab—who fought in 1948 and how he perceived himself and the reasons for which he was fighting. This paper focuses on the Arab volunteers who came from all over the Arab world to fight in solidarity with Palestinians as part of the Arab Liberation Army (ALA). Using the personal letters they wrote or received from their families and friends, I am interested in learning who these volunteers were, and what made them feel attached to Palestine—a place some of them had never visited. I am also interested in how they perceived Zionism, the West, and the other Arab regimes that sprang up in the Middle East after the demise of the Ottoman Empire.