Israeli Declaration of Independence
| Declaration of the Establishment of the State of Israel | |
|---|---|
Ben-Gurion proclaiming the declaration of independence | |
| Original title | מגילת העצמאות של מדינת ישראל |
| Created | 14 May 1948 (5 Iyar 5708) |
| Location | Tel Aviv |
| Author(s) | First Draft: Zvi Berenson Second Draft: Moshe Shertok David Remez Felix Rosenblueth Moshe Shapira Aharon Zisling Third Draft: David Ben-Gurion Yehuda Leib Fishman Aharon Zisling Moshe Shertok |
| Signatories | All 37 members of Moetzet HaAm |
| Purpose | Declare a Jewish state in Mandatory Palestine shortly before the expiration of the British Mandate. |
| Full text | |
| he:מגילת העצמאות של מדינת ישראל at Wikisource | |
| Wikisource | |
The Israeli Declaration of Independence, formally the Declaration of the Establishment of the State of Israel (Hebrew: הכרזה על הקמת מדינת ישראל), was proclaimed on 14 May 1948 (5 Iyar 5708), at the end of the civil war phase and beginning of the Arab–Israeli War of the 1948 Palestine war, by the Va'ad Leumi led by David Ben-Gurion, the executive head of the World Zionist Organization and chairman of the Jewish Agency for Palestine.
It declared the establishment of a Jewish state in Palestine (or the Land of Israel in the Jewish tradition), to be known as the State of Israel, which would come into effect on termination of the British Mandate at midnight that day. While celebrated in Israel as Independence Day, a national holiday on 5 Iyar of every year according to the Hebrew calendar, Palestinians view the day as the start of Nakba, or "catastrophe", marking the mass displacements of Palestinians and the loss of homes and lands, and commemorate it annually on 15 May as Nakba Day.