Short history of Israel
The Declaration of the Establishment of the State of Israel, May 14, 1948,
was the official announcement that a new Jewish state, newly-named as
the State of Israel.
Had been formally established in the British Mandate of Palestine, the land
where the Kingdom of Israel and the Kingdom of Judah had once been.
It has been called the start of the “Third Jewish Commonwealth” by some
observers. (The “First Jewish Commonwealth” ending with the destruction
of Solomon’s Temple, and the second ending with the destruction of the
Second Temple in Jerusalem two thousand years ago).
The declaration is written in a style reminiscent of UN resolutions, beginning
with preambulatory sentences explaining the causes for the declaration and
the right of Jews to an independent country, and then operative sentences
detailing the attributes of the forthcoming State of Israel.
The refusal of Arab countries to recognize the establishment of the State of
Israel in 1948 has been a source of repeated wars and other conflicts with
Arab nations such as Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Egypt, Iraq and Saudi Arabia.
The state of war between Egypt and Israel ended with the signing of the I
srael-Egypt Peace Treaty on March 26, 1979. The state of war with Jordan
officially ended with the signing of the Israel-Jordan Treaty of Peace on October
26, 1994.
Sporadic negotiations with Lebanon and Syria have not as yet
resulted in peace treaties. Israel is currently also embroiled in an ongoing
conflict with Palestinians in the territories controlled since the Six Day War in
1967, despite the signing of the Oslo Accords on September 13, 1993, and
the ongoing efforts of Israeli, Palestinian and global peacemakers.