1948 ISRAEL BECOMES AN INDEPENDENT NATION

II. Timeline of Israeli History in Short

Source: The Highlights of Israeli History from the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs

17th-6th C. BCE BIBLICAL TIMES c. 17th century BCE The Patriarchs: Abraham, Isaac, Jacob - patriarchs of the Jewish people and bearers of a belief in one
God - settle in the Land of Israel. Famine forces Israelites to migrate to Egypt.

c. 13th century BCE Exodus from Egypt: Moses leads Israelites from Egypt, followed by 40 years of wandering in the desert. Torah, including the Ten Commandments, received at Mount Sinai. .

13th-12th centuries BCE Israelites settle the Land of Israel

c. 1020 BCE Jewish Monarchy established; Saul, first king.

c. 1000 BCE Jerusalem made capital of David's kingdom.

c. 960 BCE First Temple, the national and spiritual center of the Jewish people, built in Jerusalem by King Solomon.

c. 930 BCE Divided kingdom: Judah and Israel

722-720 BCE Israel crushed by Assyrians; 10 tribes exiled (Ten Lost Tribes).

586 BCE Judah conquered by Babylonia; Jerusalem and First Temple destroyed; most Jews exiled to Babylonia.

536-142 BCE PERSIAN AND HELLENISTIC PERIODS

538-515 BCE Many Jews return from Babylonia; Temple rebuilt.

332 BCE Land conquered by Alexander the Great; Hellenistic rule.

166-160 BCE Maccabean (Hasmonean) revolt against restrictions on practice of Judaism and desecration of the Temple

142-129 BCE Jewish autonomy under Hasmoneans.

129-63 BCE Jewish independence under Hasmonean monarchy.

63 BCE Jerusalem captured by Roman general, Pompey.

63 BCE-313 CE ROMAN RULE

37 BCE - 4 CE Herod, Roman vassal king, rules the Land of Israel; Temple in Jerusalem refurbished

c 20-33 Ministry of Jesus of Nazareth

66 Jewish revolt against the Romans

70 Destruction of Jerusalem and Second Temple.

73 Last stand of Jews at Masada.

132-135 Bar Kokhba uprising against Rome.

c. 210 Codification of Jewish oral law (Mishnah) completed.

313-636 BYZANTINE RULE

313 The Roman emperor Constantin adopts Christianity and founds the Bysantine Empire; by the end of the century the Land of Israel becomes a predominantly Christian country.

c. 390 Commentary on the Mishnah (Jerusalem Talmud) completed.

614 Persian invasion

636-1099 ARAB RULE

636 The Land of Israel conquered by Arabs

691 On site of First and Second Temples in Jerusalem, Dome of the Rock built by Caliph Abd el-Malik

1099-1291 CRUSADER DOMINATION

1099 The army of the First Crusade capture Jerusalem, non-Christian population massacred; the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem established

1291-1516 MAMLUK RULE

1291 Mamluks - Muslem warriors from Egypt - drive Crusaders out of the Land of Israel.

1517-1917 OTTOMAN RULE

1517 The Turkish Ottoman Empire conquests the Land of Israel

1564 Code of Jewish law (Shulhan Arukh) published.

1860 First neighborhood, Mishkenot Sha'ananim, built outside Jerusalem's walls.

1882-1903 First Aliya (large-scale immigration), mainly from Russia; four more waves of immigration will follow till 1948

1897 First Zionist Congress convened by Theodor Herzl in Basel, Switzerland; Zionist Organization founded.

1909 First kibbutz, Degania, and first modern all-Jewish city, Tel Aviv, founded.

1917 400 years of Ottoman rule ended by British conquest; British Foreign Minister Balfour pledges support for establishment of a "Jewish national home in Palestine".

1918-48 BRITISH RULE

1920 Histadrut (Jewish labor federation) and Haganah (Jewish defense organization) founded. Vaad Leumi (National Council) set up by Jewish community (yishuv)to conduct its affairs.

1921 First moshav, Nahalal, founded.

1922 Britain granted Mandate for Palestine (Land of Israel) by League of Nations; Transjordan set up on three-fourths of the area, leaving one-fourth for the Jewish national home Jewish Agency representing Jewish community vis-a-vis Mandate authorities set up.

1924 Technion, first institute of technology, founded in Haifa.

1925 Hebrew University of Jerusalem opened on Mt. Scopus.

1929 Hebron Jews massacred by Arab militants.

1936-39 Anti-Jewish riots instigated by Arab militants.

1939 Jewish immigration severely limited by British White Paper.

1939-45 World War II; Holocaust in Europe.

1947 UN proposes the establishment of Arab and Jewish states in the Land.

1948 - STATE OF ISRAEL

1948 End of British Mandate (May 14) State of Israel proclaimed (May 14). Israel invaded by five Arab states (May 15) War of Independence (May 1948-July 1949) Israel Defense Forces (IDF) established

1949 Armistice agreements signed with Egypt, Jordan, Syria, Lebanon. Jerusalem divided under Israeli and Jordanian rule.
First Knesset (parliament) elected.

1948-52 Mass immigration from Europe and Arab countries.
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THE DECLARATION OF THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE STATE OF ISRAEL May 14, 1948

On May 14, 1948, on the day in which the British Mandate over a Palestine expired, the Jewish People's Council gathered at the Tel Aviv Museum, and approved the following proclamation, declaring the establishment of the State of Israel. The new state was recognized that night by the United States and three days later by the USSR.

ERETZ-ISRAEL [(Hebrew) - the Land of Israel, Palestine] was the birthplace of the Jewish people. Here their spiritual, religious and political identity was shaped. Here they first attained to statehood, created cultural values of national and universal significance and gave to the world the eternal Book of Books. After being forcibly exiled from their land, the people kept faith with it throughout their Dispersion and never ceased to pray and hope for their return to it and for the restoration in it of their political freedom.

Impelled by this historic and traditional attachment, Jews strove in every successive generation to re-establish themselves in their ancient homeland. In recent decades they returned in their masses. Pioneers, ma'pilim [(Hebrew) - immigrants coming to Eretz-Israel in defiance of restrictive legislation] and defenders, they made deserts bloom, revived the Hebrew language, built villages and towns, and created a thriving community controlling its own economy and culture, loving peace but knowing how to defend itself, bringing the blessings of progress to all the country's inhabitants, and aspiring towards independent nationhood.

In the year 5657 (1897), at the summons of the spiritual father of the Jewish State, Theodore Herzl, the First Zionist Congress convened and proclaimed the right of the Jewish people to national rebirth in its own country. This right was recognized in the Balfour Declaration of the 2nd November, 1917, and re-affirmed in the Mandate of the League of Nations which, in particular, gave international sanction to the historic connection between the Jewish people and
Eretz-Israel and to the right of the Jewish people to rebuild its National Home.

The catastrophe which recently befell the Jewish people - the massacre of millions of Jews in Europe - was another clear demonstration of the urgency of solving the problem of its homelessness by re-establishing in Eretz-Israel the Jewish State, which would open the gates of the homeland wide to every Jew and confer upon the Jewish people the status of a fully
privileged member of the comity of nations.

Survivors of the Nazi holocaust in Europe, as well as Jews from other parts of the world, continued to migrate to Eretz-Israel, undaunted by difficulties, restrictions and dangers, and never ceased to assert their right to a life of dignity, freedom and honest toil in their national homeland. In the Second World War, the Jewish community of this country contributed its full share to the struggle of the freedom- and peace-loving nations against the forces of Nazi wickedness and, by the blood of its soldiers and its war effort, gained the right to be reckoned among the peoples who founded the United Nations.

On the 29th November, 1947, the United Nations General Assembly passed a resolution calling for the establishment of a Jewish State in Eretz-Israel; the General Assembly required the inhabitants of Eretz-Israel to take such steps as were necessary on their part for the implementation of that resolution. This recognition by the United Nations of the right of the
Jewish people to establish their State is irrevocable. This right is the natural right of the Jewish people to be masters of their own fate, like all other nations, in their own sovereign State.

ACCORDINGLY WE, MEMBERS OF THE PEOPLE'S COUNCIL, REPRESENTATIVES OF THE JEWISH COMMUNITY OF ERETZ-ISRAEL AND OF THE ZIONIST MOVEMENT, ARE HERE ASSEMBLED ON THE DAY OF THE TERMINATION OF THE BRITISH MANDATE OVER ERETZ-ISRAEL AND, BY VIRTUE OF OUR NATURAL AND HISTORIC RIGHT AND ON THE STRENGTH OF THE RESOLUTION OF THE UNITED NATIONS GENERAL ASSEMBLY, HEREBY DECLARE THE ESTABLISHMENT OF A JEWISH STATE IN ERETZ-ISRAEL, TO BE KNOWN AS THE STATE OF ISRAEL. WE DECLARE that, with effect from the moment of the termination of the Mandate being tonight, the eve of Sabbath, the 6th Iyar, 5708 (15th May, 1948), until the establishment of the elected, regular authorities of the State in accordance with the Constitution which shall be adopted by the Elected Constituent Assembly not later than the 1st October 1948, the People's Council shall act as a Provisional Council of State, and its executive organ, the People's Administration, shall be the Provisional Government of the Jewish State, to be called "Israel".

THE STATE OF ISRAEL will be open for Jewish immigration and for the Ingathering of the Exiles; it will foster the development of the country for the benefit of all its inhabitants; it will be based on freedom, justice and peace as envisaged by the prophets of Israel; it will ensure complete equality of social and political rights to all its inhabitants irrespective of religion, race or sex; it will guarantee freedom of religion, conscience, language, education and culture; it will safeguard the Holy Places of all religions; and it will be faithful to the principles of the Charter of the United Nations.

THE STATE OF ISRAEL is prepared to cooperate with the agencies and representatives of the United Nations in implementing the resolution of the General Assembly of the 29th November, 1947, and will take steps to bring about the economic union of the whole of Eretz-Israel. WE APPEAL to the United Nations to assist the Jewish people in the building-up of its State and to receive the State of Israel into the comity of nations.

WE APPEAL - in the very midst of the onslaught launched against us now for months - to the Arab inhabitants of the State of Israel to preserve peace and participate in the upbuilding of the State on the basis of full and equal citizenship and due representation in all its provisional and permanent institutions.

WE EXTEND our hand to all neighbouring states and their peoples in an offer of peace and good neighbourliness, and appeal to them to establish bonds of cooperation and mutual help with the sovereign Jewish people settled in its own land. The State of Israel is prepared to do its share in a common effort for the advancement of the entire Middle East.

WE APPEAL to the Jewish people throughout the Diaspora to rally round the Jews of Eretz-Israel in the tasks of immigration and upbuilding and to stand by them in the great struggle for the realization of the age-old dream - the redemption of Israel.

PLACING OUR TRUST IN THE "ROCK OF ISRAEL", WE AFFIX OUR SIGNATURES TO THIS PROCLAMATION AT THIS SESSION OF THE PROVISIONAL COUNCIL OF STATE, ON THE SOIL OF THE HOMELAND, IN THE CITY OF TEL-AVIV, ON THIS SABBATH EVE, THE 5TH DAY OF IYAR, 5708 (14TH MAY,1948).

David Ben-Gurion

Daniel Auster
Mordekhai Bentov
Yitzchak Ben Zvi
Eliyahu Berligne
Fritz Bernstein
Rabbi Wolf Gold
Meir Grabovsky
Yitzchak Gruenbaum
Dr. Abraham Granovsky
Eliyahu Dobkin
Meir Wilner-Kovner
Zerach Wahrhaftig
Herzl Vardi
Rachel Cohen
Rabbi Kalman Kahana
Saadia Kobashi
Rabbi Yitzchak Meir Levin
Meir David Loewenstein
Zvi Luria
Golda Myerson
Nachum Nir
Zvi Segal
Rabbi Yehuda Leib
Hacohen Fishman
David Zvi Pinkas
Aharon Zisling
Moshe Kolodny
Eliezer Kaplan
Abraham Katznelson
Felix Rosenblueth
David Remez
Berl Repetur
Mordekhai Shattner
Ben Zion Sternberg
Bekhor Shitreet
Moshe Shapira
Moshe Shertok

Published in the Official Gazette, No. 1 of the 5th, Iyar, 5708 (14th May, 1948).

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Israel Becomes a State

November, 1947 to May,1948

Following the United Nations' vote, the British and Arabs wasted no time preparing to make it impossible for the Jews to declare an independent state. From November 30, 1947 to May 14, 1948, the Arabs waged an unofficial war against the Yishuv. Soldiers from Iraq, Syria, Jordan, and Egypt stole into the country to organize Arab attack forces. The Arab Legion, Jordan's army, was under British protection, and it joined attacks prior to British evacuation.

The only fighting forces that the Yishuv had were the Haganah and the two terrorist groups, the Irgun and the Stern Gang. They were all forced ot work underground because Britain declared it illegal for Jews to own or carry weapons. There were constant inspections, check points, and patrols all trying to disarm the Jews. It is estimated that the entire Yishuv possessed 1,300 guns.

The Yishuv became a military camp. Almost every member of the population was in some way involved in the Haganah and other defense units. The Haganah policy form November through March was: "Defend every outpost, every settlement. Don't give anything up. the fighting stops here." The Palmach sent units and, occasionly, individual men and women to help protect
attacked points.

The first major battle took place at kibbutz Tirat Tzvi, which was attacked by thousands of Syrian and Iraqi irregulars. The kibbutz repulsed the attack. The winding road up to Jerusalem became the site of bloody massacres as food convoys were attacked at Sha'ar HaGai. To this day, the rusted ruins of the destroyed trucks remind Israelis of the sacrifices made to keep
Jerusalem from starving.

The Old City of Jerusalem was cut off from the New City, and the Arabs systematically starved the Jewish inhabitants. The British sat and watched, waiting for the Yishuv to admit defeat.
In March 1949, the Haganah policy changed. Although they had no artillery, the Yishuv had smuggled enough small arms into the country to begin an offensive against the Arabs. Their first goal was to open the road to Jerusalem.

In a surprise raid, 1,500 men (more than half of all available fighters in the entire Yishuv) cleared the hills above the road to Jerusalem. The dominating fort, Kastel, was taken, lost, and retaken. In the battle, the Arab's favorite commander was killed. A large convoy rushed supplies to Jerusalem. During that operation, the Irgun attacked an Arab village, Deir Yassin. More than 200 villagers were killed, including women and children.

On April 13, the Arabs slaughtered and mutilated a convoy of 100 doctors and nurses heading for Hadassah Medical Center. The British did nothing. It was a brutal time. Fighting continued in the north. Haifa and Tiberius fell to the Yishuv. Using a home-made mortar, the Davidka (named after its inventor, David Leibovitch), the Haganah attacked and took Tzfat. Although inaccurate, the Davidka created a great deal of noise which frightened the Arab population into fleeing. All of this fighting took place while the British were still officially in charge of the country.
The Yishuv was in trouble politically as well. The U.S. State Department was planning to remove its vote from the UN resolution on Palestine, arguing that the declaration of a Jewish state would result in a massacre of the Jews. Chaim Weizmann hurried to Washington to speak with President Truman about keeping faith with the Yishuv. With the help of Truman's friend Eddie Jacobson, Weizmann succeeded in meeting with the president. Truman promised that the United States would continue to support the UN resolution.

As May 15 approached, the Yishuv had to decide whether they should proclaim an independent Jewish state. One side rightly pointed out that when the Yishuv declared itself a state, five well-equipped, very angry Arab armies would attack with planes, tanks, and artillery. The Jews had no large weapons and no air force. There could be a massacre. As if to emphasize this point, news reached the meetings in May that the Arab Legion had succeeded in destroying Gush Etzion, a group of settlements just south of Jerusalem.

The majority view, however, was to take the opportunity for a state because there might never be another. After a long debate, the committee agreed to name the country The Republic of Israel (it was soon changed to "The State of Israel). It was agreed that the word "God" would not appear in the Declaration of Independence; the term "Rock of Israel" appeared instead.
One of the few humorous difficulties was an organizational one. The day scheduled for the end of the Mandate turned out to be a Saturday, the Shabbat.

A Jewish state couldn't declare itself on a Shabbat. On the 5th of Iyar--May 14, 1948-- the British left Palestine, officially ending the Mandate. Just before sundown, David Ben Gurion read the new Declaration of the State of Israel. HaTikvah, the national anthem, was played. Eleven minutes later, President Truman officially recognized the state of Israel and was followed almost immediately by the USSR. For the first time since Bar Kochba, Jews had their own country.
On the day after Israel declared statehood, the armies of Egypt, Syria, Jordan, Iraq, Yemen, Lebanon, and Saudi Arabia attacked the new Jewish state.

Military strategists were in agreement: there was no way for Israel to win. The British had
succeeded in limiting the number of Israel's weapons. Israel had four anti-tank guns when war broke out. The British had left almost all of the high defense fortresses and police stations in the hands of the Arabs, so they held most of the high ground. The most serious problem, however, was numbers. There were only 600,000 Jews in Israel. They had already lost more than
900 people in the "pre-war war."

They faced a potential force of 30 million Arabs. The Irgun agreed to join the no-longer
underground Haganah, which provided Israel with a fighting army of 51,000 men and women.
Atlthough the War of Independence lasted officially until February of the next year, the war was decided by June 11, 1948. Egypt attacked the Negev with a large tank force and bombed Tel Aviv daily. The scattered settlements between Egypt and Tel Aviv put up desperate resistance.

Kibbutz Yad Mordechai held out for six days. Kibbutz Negba was never taken. Egypt's
drive was halted fourteen miles south of Tel Aviv. The Syrian army was stopped at kibbutz Degania by settlers who used Molotov cocktails, a flame thrower, and one anti-tank gun.
The Jordanian army was stopped in its attempt to cut the coastal plain in two. The Lebanese army was pushed back in the Western Galilee.

After tremendous fighting, the Arab Legion was pushed back from the New City of Jerusalem. However, the Old City was isolated, and Israel couldn't get supplies or reinforcements through. The Jordanians slowly squeezed the fighters into a tiny clump of houses, systematically destroying every building they took. On May 28, 1,300 civilians and 40 Haganah defenders
surrendered, the only major victory that the Arab armies were able to claim. Jerusalem remained divided from May 28, 1948 until June 1967.

The situation in the New City of Jerusalem was very serious. The Arabs blocked the road from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem by holding the police station at Latrun. After two desperate attacks failed (in which more than 700 ill-equipped and ill-trained new immigrants were slaughtered), Israel began considering the horror of losing Jerusalem. Led by an American colonel, David "Mickey" Marcus, the Israelis found a way to save their spiritual heart. Following a shepherd's path lost for centuries, the Israelis flattened out a road which went around Latrun and enabled them to send food convoys to Jerusalem.

The first convoy arrived on June 11, the date of the first truce. In July, the Israeli army went on the offensive. They took the high defense fortresses in the north. They surrounded the
Egyptian army and took the Negev. Their only failure followed repeated attempts to take the Old City of Jerusalem. By February 1949, Israel held the entire coastal plain, the Negev, the Galilee, and a portion of the Sinai Peninsula. Jordan held the Old City, East Jerusalem, and the West Bank of the Jordan River and incorporated them into Jordan. No Palestinian state
came into being.

It was a miraculous military victory which stunned world strategists. Israel had survived and became the fifty-ninth member of the United Nations. By the summer of 1949, under the direction of the United Nations Acting Mediator Ralph Bunche, Israel signed armistice agreements with her Arab neighbors and returned the Sinai to Egypt. For his efforts in the negotiations, Ralph Bunche received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1950.

Since May 14, 1948, Israel has celebrated becoming the Jewish State on the 5th of Iyar which corresponds to May 14, 1948.