Declaration
of Israel's Independence
Issued
at Tel Aviv on May 14, 1948 (5th of Iyar, 5708)
The
land of Israel was the birthplace of the Jewish people. Here their spiritual,
religious and national identity was formed. Here they achieved independence and
created a culture of national and universal significance. Here they wrote and
gave the Bible to the world.
Exiled
from Palestine, the Jewish people remained faithful to it in all the countries
of their dispersion, never ceasing to pray and hope for their return and the
restoration of their national freedom.
Impelled
by this historic association, Jews strove throughout the centuries to go back
to the land of their fathers and regain their statehood. In recent decades they
returned in masses. They reclaimed the wilderness, revived their language,
built cities and villages and established a vigorous and ever-growing community
with its own economic and cultural life. They sought peace yet were ever
prepared to defend themselves. They brought the blessing of progress to all
inhabitants of the country.
In
the year 1897 the First Zionist Congress, inspired by Theodor Herzl's vision of
the Jewish State, proclaimed the right of the Jewish people to national revival
in their own country.
This
right was acknowledged by the Balfour Declaration of November 2, 1917, and re-affirmed by the Mandate of the League
of Nations, which gave explicit international recognition to the historic
connection of the Jewish people with Palestine and their right to reconstitute
their National Home.
The
Nazi holocaust, which engulfed millions of Jews in Europe, proved anew the
urgency of the re-establishment of the Jewish state, which would solve the
problem of Jewish homelessness by opening the gates to all Jews and lifting the
Jewish people to equality in in the family of nations.
The
survivors of the European catastrophe, as well as Jews from other lands,
proclaiming their right to a life of dignity, freedom and labor, and undeterred
by hazards, hardships and obstacles, have tried unceasingly to enter Palestine.
In
the Second World War the Jewish people in Palestine made a full contribution in
the struggle of the freedom-loving nations against the Nazi evil. The
sacrifices of their soldiers and the efforts of their workers gained them title
to rank with the peoples who founded the United Nations.
On
November 29, 1947, the General Assembly of the United Nations adopted a Resolution for the
establishment of an independent Jewish State in Palestine, and called upon the
inhabitants of the country to take such steps as may be necessary on their part
to put the plan into effect.
This
recognition by the United Nations of the right of the Jewish people to
establish their independent State may not be revoked. It is, moreover, the
self-evident right of the Jewish people to be a nation, as all other nations,
in its own sovereign State.
ACCORDINGLY,
WE, the members of the National Council, representing the Jewish people in
Palestine and the Zionist movement of the world, met together in solemn
assembly today, the day of the termination of the British mandate for
Palestine, by virtue of the natural and historic right of the Jewish and of the
Resolution of the General Assembly of the United Nations,
HEREBY
PROCLAIM the establishment of the Jewish State in Palestine, to be called
ISRAEL.
WE
HEREBY DECLARE that as from the termination of the Mandate at midnight, this
night of the 14th and 15th May, 1948, and until the setting up of the duly
elected bodies of the State in accordance with a Constitution, to be drawn up
by a Constituent Assembly not later than the first day of October, 1948, the
present National Council shall act as the provisional administration, shall
constitute the Provisional Government of the State of Israel.
THE
STATE OF ISRAEL will be open to the immigration of Jews from all countries of
their dispersion; will promote the development of the country for the benefit
of all its inhabitants; will be based on the precepts of liberty, justice and
peace taught by the Hebrew Prophets; will uphold the full social and political
equality of all its citizens, without distinction of race, creed or sex; will
guarantee full freedom of conscience, worship, education and culture; will
safeguard the sanctity and inviolability of the shrines and Holy Places of all
religions; and will dedicate itself to the principles of the Charter of the United Nations.
THE
STATE OF ISRAEL will be ready to cooperate with the organs and representatives
of the United Nations in the implementation of the Resolution of the Assembly of
November 29, 1947,
and will take steps to bring about the Economic Union over the whole of
Palestine.
We
appeal to the United Nations to assist the Jewish people in the building of its
State and to admit Israel into the family of nations.
In
the midst of wanton aggression, we yet call upon the Arab inhabitants of the
State of Israel to return to the ways of peace and play their part in the
development of the State, with full and equal citizenship and due
representation in its bodies and institutions - provisional or permanent.
We
offer peace and unity to all the neighboring states and their peoples, and
invite them to cooperate with the independent Jewish nation for the common good
of all.
Our
call goes out the the Jewish people all over the world to rally to our side in
the task of immigration and development and to stand by us in the great
struggle for the fulfillment of the dream of generations - the redemption of
Israel.
With
trust in Almighty God, we set our hand to this Declaration, at this Session of the
Provisional State Council, in the city of Tel Aviv, on this Sabbath eve, the
fifth of Iyar, 5708, the fourteenth day of May, 1948.