Israel invades the gaza strip.

Seems like both of us are underestimating the side we're arguing against.

The Jews definitely had tanks and planes. They were definitely not guerillas. If you were told they didn't, I'm sorry, you've been misinformed.

I conveniently (curse you memory!) "forgot" the Arabs launched the initiave. You're right. I'll admit I was wrong in that aspect. After the initial offense though, the Jewish military did not just defend their homes though. They went, way, way, past the U.N. paritition line of 1947. Which is what my memory has been arguing for.

The Jewish armed organizations were illegal terrorists to the British, right up until the day they left. The Brits would raid their weapon hidey-holes and imprison their members regularly. Tanks and planes are not the sort of thing one can hide.
After the British left, the different movements were unified into the IDF, but not without difficulty. (google "Altalena")

As for "way, way past" - first of all, the whole country is tiny. There is no "way, way". But yes, the Jews did try for wider, more defensible borders (the UN partition would have been well for friendly neighbors, but utterly untenable if they insisted on being enemies).