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N0KFQ > TODAY 14.05.14 15:56l 101 Lines 5038 Bytes #999 (0) @ WW
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Subj: Today in History - May 14
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May 14, 1948:
State of Israel proclaimed
On May 14, 1948, in Tel Aviv, Jewish Agency Chairman David
Ben-Gurion proclaims the State of Israel, establishing the first
Jewish state in 2,000 years. In an afternoon ceremony at the Tel
Aviv Art Museum, Ben-Gurion pronounced the words "We hereby
proclaim the establishment of the Jewish state in Palestine, to
be called Israel," prompting applause and tears from the crowd
gathered at the museum. Ben-Gurion became Israel's first premier.
In the distance, the rumble of guns could be heard from fighting
that broke out between Jews and Arabs immediately following the
British army withdrawal earlier that day. Egypt launched an air
assault against Israel that evening. Despite a blackout in Tel
Aviv--and the expected Arab invasion--Jews joyously celebrated
the birth of their new nation, especially after word was received
that the United States had recognized the Jewish state. At
midnight, the State of Israel officially came into being upon
termination of the British mandate in Palestine.
Modern Israel has its origins in the Zionism movement,
established in the late 19th century by Jews in the Russian
Empire who called for the establishment of a territorial Jewish
state after enduring persecution. In 1896, Jewish-Austrian
journalist Theodor Herzl published an influential political
pamphlet called The Jewish State, which argued that the
establishment of a Jewish state was the only way of protecting
Jews from anti-Semitism. Herzl became the leader of Zionism,
convening the first Zionist Congress in Switzerland in 1897.
Ottoman-controlled Palestine, the original home of the Jews, was
chosen as the most desirable location for a Jewish state, and
Herzl unsuccessfully petitioned the Ottoman government for a
charter.
After the failed Russian Revolution of 1905, growing numbers of
Eastern European and Russian Jews began to immigrate to
Palestine, joining the few thousand Jews who had arrived earlier.
The Jewish settlers insisted on the use of Hebrew as their spoken
language. With the collapse of the Ottoman Empire during World
War I, Britain took over Palestine. In 1917, Britain issued the
"Balfour Declaration," which declared its intent to establish a
Jewish homeland in Palestine. Although protested by the Arab
states, the Balfour Declaration was included in the British
mandate over Palestine, which was authorized by the League of
Nations in 1922. Because of Arab opposition to the establishment
of any Jewish state in Palestine, British rule continued
throughout the 1920s and '30s.
Beginning in 1929, Arabs and Jews openly fought in Palestine, and
Britain attempted to limit Jewish immigration as a means of
appeasing the Arabs. As a result of the Holocaust in Europe, many
Jews illegally entered Palestine during World War II. Radical
Jewish groups employed terrorism against British forces in
Palestine, which they thought had betrayed the Zionist cause. At
the end of World War II, in 1945, the United States took up the
Zionist cause. Britain, unable to find a practical solution,
referred the problem to the United Nations, which in November
1947 voted to partition Palestine.
The Jews were to possess more than half of Palestine, although
they made up less than half of Palestine's population. The
Palestinian Arabs, aided by volunteers from other countries,
fought the Zionist forces, but by May 14, 1948, the Jews had
secured full control of their U.N.-allocated share of Palestine
and also some Arab territory. On May 14, Britain withdrew with
the expiration of its mandate, and the State of Israel was
proclaimed. The next day, forces from Egypt, Transjordan, Syria,
Lebanon, and Iraq invaded.
The Israelis, though less well equipped, managed to fight off the
Arabs and then seize key territory, such as Galilee, the
Palestinian coast, and a strip of territory connecting the
coastal region to the western section of Jerusalem. In 1949,
U.N.-brokered cease-fires left the State of Israel in permanent
control of this conquered territory. The departure of hundreds of
thousands of Palestinian Arabs from Israel during the war left
the country with a substantial Jewish majority.
During the third Arab-Israeli conflict--the Six-Day War of
1967--Israel again greatly increased its borders, capturing from
Jordan, Egypt, and Syria the Old City of Jerusalem, the Sinai
Peninsula, the Gaza Strip, the West Bank, and the Golan Heights.
In 1979, Israel and Egypt signed an historic peace agreement in
which Israel returned the Sinai in exchange for Egyptian
recognition and peace. Israel and the Palestine Liberation
Organization (PLO) signed a major peace accord in 1993, which
envisioned the gradual implementation of Palestinian
self-government in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. The
Israeli-Palestinian peace process moved slowly, however, and in
2000 major fighting between Israelis and Palestinians resumed in
Israel and the occupied territories.
73, K.O. n0kfq
N0KFQ @ N0KFQ.#SWMO.MO.USA.NA
E-mail: kohiggs@gmail.com
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