Israel Declares Independence

Setting the scene

Israel declared independence on May 14, 1948, at 4:00 p.m. in Tel Aviv, hours before the British Mandate for Palestine expired at midnight. David Ben-Gurion, head of the Jewish Agency, read the Declaration of Independence, establishing the State of Israel. The declaration came six months after the UN Partition Plan (Resolution 181) of November 29, 1947, which proposed dividing Palestine into Jewish and Arab states. Jews accepted the plan; Arabs rejected it.

What happened

The declaration was made as British forces withdrew and amid civil war between Jews and Arabs that had begun after the UN vote. Ben-Gurion declared independence despite U.S. pressure to delay and despite knowing Arab armies would invade. President Truman recognized Israel 11 minutes after the declaration, making the U.S. the first nation to do so. The Soviet Union recognized Israel three days later. At midnight, armies from Egypt, Jordan, Syria, Iraq, and Lebanon invaded, beginning the 1948 Arab-Israeli War.

Why it still matters

Israel's independence fulfilled the Zionist movement's 50-year goal of a Jewish state and provided refuge for Holocaust survivors and Jews expelled from Arab countries. The 1948 war resulted in Israeli victory, expanding its territory beyond the UN plan, and creating 700,000 Palestinian refugees—the Nakba ('catastrophe'). The declaration's promise of equality for all inhabitants remains unfulfilled for Palestinians. May 14 is celebrated as Yom Ha'atzmaut (Independence Day) in Israel and mourned as Nakba Day by Palestinians. The 1948 declaration created the central conflict of the Middle East.

Background

War with neighboring Arab states followed.