Milestone·Modern
State of Israel Established
- Date
- 14 May 1948 CE1367 AH78 years ago
- Place
- Tel Aviv
- People
- David Ben-Gurion
On 14 May 1948 CE, David Ben-Gurion proclaimed the State of Israel in Tel Aviv as the British mandate ended. Egypt, Jordan, Syria, Iraq and Lebanon sent forces into the territory the following day. The war ended in 1949 with armistice agreements. Around 700,000 Palestinian Arabs fled or were expelled from their homes, an event Palestinians call the Nakba.
Why it matters
The war that followed and the displacement of Palestinians set the basis of the Arab-Israeli conflict that continues today.