Declaration of the Establishment of the State of Israel

Explanation and Analysis of the Document

It is important to note what the Declaration of the Establishment of the State of Israel did and what it did not do. It established an internationally recognized sovereign state. It promised a constitution and set a timetable for drawing it. It also provided general guidelines for running the state. It did not, however, portray the exact future mechanisms and organs of the state. It left those details to be defined by the anticipated constitution, which was never written.

The declaration makes a clear distinction between the terms Jewish and Hebrew, using Jewish in reference to the international community of Jews and Hebrew when addressing or mentioning the population of Palestine. This is an important point: Whereas the term Jewish was (and still is) used to denote a nonterritorial ethnic or religious social group, Hebrew was the name given to the young territorial nation in Palestine. The latter group is secular and does not have any ethnic or religious conditions for admission, thus enabling a relatively easy and quick integration of all citizens, regardless of any religious or ethnic affiliation. The use of the term Jewish in the twelfth and thirteenth paragraphs was probably a result of the wish to fully adhere to the words of UN General Assembly Resolution 181, which required the establishment of a “Jewish” state.

Paragraphs 1–10

The twenty paragraphs of the declaration can be divided into four parts. The first part (paragraphs 1 to 10) is meant to set the background and provide justification for the act of inaugurating the state in a way that would support a Zionist version of the story. Therefore, it not only refers to twentieth-century resolutions of the League of Nations and the United Nations but also depicts a long and specific historical narrative, namely, a Zionist one.

The declaration actually opens with a small misstatement, for Palestine was not the birthplace of the Jewish people: Their national identity was rather formed by Judeans going into exile, as correctly mentioned in paragraph 2. The assertion in paragraph 3 that “Jews strove throughout the centuries to go back to the land of their fathers” can also be disputed. For generations, Jews have lived and still live all around the world, embedded in many countries and societies. This assertion was probably made to establish historical precedent for the aspirations of modern Zionism. The text, however, maintains the Zionist ethos of pioneering success by claiming that only now has the “wilderness” been “reclaimed.”

Paragraphs 4 and 5 describe the recent history of Palestine as seen by Zionists. Referring to the First Zionist Congress summoned in Basel in 1897 and to the Balfour Declaration of 1917, the declaration draws a straight historical line from ancient independence through generations of exile to the modern return to Palestine. Paragraphs 6 and 7 continue the narrative by referencing the horrors of the Nazi genocide of European Jews during World War II, just a few years before the declaration. Ben-Gurion uses the Holocaust as a strong argument for the establishment of the Jewish state, which would serve as a safe haven for Jews in the future, where they could lead “a life of dignity, freedom and honest toil in their ancestral land.” Paragraph 7 uses the phrase “Eretz-Yisrael,” which is the anglicized translation of a Hebrew phrase meaning simply “Land of Israel.”

Paragraph 8 raises another argument for independence, claiming a reward for the Hebrew community in Palestine for taking part in Britain's war efforts. This claim was not unique to Palestine: It was raised by many other nations all around the declining British Empire. In England, Prime Minister Winston Churchill was a committed Zionist sympathizer and backed cooperation between British and Jewish Palestinian forces. Ironically, the training that Britain gave these forces in sabotage, demolitions, and guerrilla warfare would be used against Britain after the war as Israel fought for its independence. However, UN General Assembly Resolution 181, mentioned in paragraph 9, decreed the establishment not of a Hebrew but of a Jewish state in Palestine. The diplomats who phrased the resolution were unaware of the different meanings of “Hebrew” and “Jewish” in the Palestinian context. Accordingly, paragraph 10 states the “natural right of the Jewish people” to have a sovereign state.

Paragraphs 11–13

The second part of the declaration, consisting of paragraphs 11 through 13, makes the actual declaration of the founding of the new state. Here again, the term Hebrew is used to describe the people in Palestine, whereas Jewish is used only when referring to Resolution 181. Paragraph 11 names the organs establishing the state of Israel: the National Council together with the World Zionist Movement. Paragraph 12 declares the establishment of the state. Paragraph 13 is the legislative core of the declaration. It sets the timetable for independence (May 15, 1948, at midnight) and for drawing a constitution (October 1, 1948) by a constituent assembly. It also states that a provisional government and provisional council will rule the state until elections to the legislative authority are held.

Paragraph 13 mostly remained a dead letter. The all-out war that broke out the day after the declaration was read postponed the elections for a constituent assembly to January 25, 1949. In what actually can be regarded as a coup d'état, in its opening session a month later, the assembly declared itself (by a vote of 118 to 2) to be the Knesset, a regular parliament (the word Knesset means literally “gathering” or “assembly”). As a result, a constitution was never written for the state of Israel. The Defence Emergency Regulations, enacted by the British Mandate regime in September 1945, are still in force in the twenty-first century.

Paragraphs 14–19

The third part (paragraphs 14 to 19) specifies the basic guidelines according to which the new state should act and calls upon others to cooperate with it. The fourteenth paragraph has probably been the one most frequently quoted by Israeli courts throughout the years. It promises that the state would be “based on the principles of liberty, justice and peace,” that it would grant “full social and political equality,” and that it would guarantee “freedom of religion, conscience, education and culture.” For many years, until the passage of Basic Law: Human Dignity and Liberty by the Knesset in March 1992, this paragraph was the closest thing the Israeli citizens had to a bill of rights. Although its explicit negation of any “distinction of religion, race or sex” was breached many times, it still portrays an ideal to which many Israelis aspire.

Paragraph 14 ends with a commitment to uphold the principles of the UN Charter, continued by a clear appeal to join that organization, stated in paragraphs 15 and 16. Paragraph 17 promises “full and equal citizenship” to the Arab inhabitants of the country. Some observers argue that this promise was not fulfilled. They note that from October 21, 1948, until December 1, 1966, Arab Israelis were officially subjected to a military regime. A few months after that regime was abolished, in June 1967, Israel occupied Judea, Samaria, Gaza, Sinai, and the Golan Heights after launching a preemptive attack against a coalition of Arab states that had massed troops on the Israeli border (the Six-Day War). The Arab inhabitants of Judea, Samaria, and Gaza still live under Israeli rule.

Paragraph 18, offering “peace and neighbourliness” to neighboring states, represented an effort to comply with the bylaws of the United Nations and to avoid war with surrounding nations. However, the statement was also directed to dissident Hebrew armed factions, mainly the National Military Organization (“Etzel” in Hebrew) and the Fighters for the Freedom of Israel, or the “Lehi,” also known as the “Stern Gang,” who doubted Ben-Gurion's authority over their demands for further conquests and a continuation of the war until more territories were gained.

The authors of the declaration knew that the majority of the world's Jews were neither Palestinian nor active Zionists. Therefore, their call to “the Jewish people all over the world to rally to our side in the task of immigration and development” in paragraph 19 was an attempt to appeal along two lines. The first was spiritual, a call for the “redemption” of Israel. In a more practical vein, it expressed the Zionists' immediate need for external material support for establishing and fortifying the new state.

Paragraph 20

The fourth part (paragraph 20) officially approves the previous parts and prepares the declaration for signing by the members of the council. The term “Rock of Israel” used in referring to God was adopted as a compromise between religious Jews and “secular” Zionists. The reading and signing of the declaration on Friday afternoon was probably not a coincidence. Trying to grant the event a unique symbolic meaning, Ben-Gurion scheduled the ceremony so it would end just before Friday's sunset—a clear parallel to the creation of the world.