Israel

Abstract

The area once designated as Palestine, of which Israel forms part, was formerly part of Turkey’s Ottoman Empire. During the First World War the Arabs under Ottoman rule rebelled and Palestine was occupied by British forces. In 1917 the British Government issued the Balfour Declaration, stating that it viewed ‘with favour the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people’. In 1922 the League of Nations recognized ‘the historical connection of the Jewish people with Palestine’ and ‘the grounds for reconstituting their national home in that country’, and Britain assumed a mandate over Palestine, pending the establishment there of such a national home. In Nov. 1947 the UN General Assembly passed a resolution calling for the establishment of a Jewish and an Arab state in Palestine. On 14 May 1948 the British Government terminated its mandate and the Jewish leaders proclaimed the State of Israel. No independent Arab state was established in Palestine. Instead the neighbouring Arab states invaded Israel on 15 May 1948. The Jewish state defended itself successfully, and the ceasefire in Jan. 1949 left Israel with one-third more land than had been originally assigned by the UN.