The Israeli Declaration of Independence was made on May 14th, 1948, and was the official creation of the the first Jewish state, the State of Israel. Known by some as the "Third Jewish Commonwealth", the "First Jewish Commonwealth" ended with the destruction of Solomon’s Temple in 586 BCE, while the second with the destruction of the Second Temple by the Romans in 70 CE. Israel’s Indepence is marked annually by the Jewish holiday "Yom Ha’atzmaut," meaning "Independence Day" in Hebrew. 

Resolution 181 

While possibility of a Jewish homeland was the goal of Zionist since the late 19th century, it was not until after the Jewish devastation of WWII that the need for such a nation was evident. Jewish people around the world were displaced with no home, no land to call their own. Great Britain occupied the Palestinian territory and release a statement supporting the create of a Jewish state. From there, the British turned the matter over to the United Nations, where the U.N. passed the new Jewish state boundries, called Resolution 181, on a 33-13 vote in favor.

Every Arab nation voted against the resolutation, claiming that the U.N. had no right to divide a land where the majority of its people didn’t want to be divided. The Arab countries took the matter to the International Court of Justice, where they were defeated once again. The division was to take place on May 15th, 1948, after Great Britian withdrew from the area.

The Declaration Document 

With high-profile Jewish professionals such as Ben-Gurion, Sharett, Shapira, Zisling, and Maimon working on drafting the Declaration document, it was a controversial process. First issue was what the borders were going to be, as the U.N. outlined these in the resolution. Ben-Gurion said, "We accepted the UN Resolution, but the Arabs did not. They are preparing to make war on us. If we defeat them and capture western Galilee or territory on both sides of the road to Jerusalem, these areas will become part of the state. Why should we obligate ourselves to accept boundaries that in any case the Arabs dont accept?" With a 5-4 vote, the U.N. borders were included without revisions into the document.

The second major issue was the inclusion of "God" into the declaration. The original draft used the phrase "and placing our trust in the Almighty", and Shapira and Maimon, both rabbis, said the inclusion of "God" was a must, and Shapira supported the phrasing "God of Israel". Zisling, on the other hand, was an atheist and strongly oppose any reference to any god in the document. In the end, it was negotiated to include "Rock of Israel", which can be interpreted as either the God of Israel or the Land of Israel and is left open-ended to mean different things to everyone.

The Proclaimation 

 The Proclaimation ceremony was held at The Tel Aviv Museum, now known as Independence Hall, on May 14th, 1948. It was not a highly publicized event in fear that the Arabs might attack earlier than planned. Ben-Gurion open began the ceremony at 5:00 p.m., and he read the Declaration of Independence, lasting 16 minutes. David Ben-Gurion was the very first person to sign the Declaration, followed by 37 other signatories. Ben-Gurion concluded the event with the words "The State of Israel is established. This meeting is adjourned."

Eleven minutes after the ceremony end, the United State of America was the first to recognize the establishment of the State of Israel, followed Russian three days later.

The War of Independence

After signing the Declaration of Independence, Eygpt, Syria Iraq and Lebanon invaded the new Israel in June of 1948 and fought on-and-off for almost a year, with Israel stably maintaining its independence. The War of Independence resulted in the signing of the Armistice Agreement and Israel gained 50% more land than originally outlined in the U.N. resolution.