The Declaration of Independence of the State of Israel

The Jewish people arose in the Land of Israel, where their spiritual, religious and political image was shaped, where they lived the life of a state commune, where they created national and all-human cultural assets and bequeathed to the entire world the eternal book of books. After the people were exiled from their country by force of arms, they kept their loyalty to it in all the lands of their dispersion, and did not stop praying and hoping to return to their country and renew their political freedom within it. From this historical and traditional connection, the Jews strove in every generation to return and hold on to their ancient homeland; And in the last generations he returned to his country in droves, and pioneers, emigrants and defenders blossomed souls, revived their Hebrew language, built villages and cities, and established a settlement that grew and grew. In 1897, the Zionist Congress convened to the call of the visionary of the Jewish state, Theodore Herzl, and declared the Jewish people's right to a national revival in their country. This right was recognized in the Balfour Declaration of November 2, 1917 and confirmed in a mandate from the League of Nations, which gave special international validity to the historical connection between the Jewish people and the Land of Israel and the right of the Jewish people to re-establish their national home. The recent holocaust, in which millions of Jews in Europe were decided to be massacred, clearly demonstrated once again the necessity of solving the problem of the Jewish people's lack of a homeland and independence by renewing the Jewish state in the Land of Israel, which will open wide the gates of the homeland to all Jews and grant the Jewish people the status of A nation of equal rights within the family of nations. The rest of the refugees who survived the terrible Nazi massacre in Europe and the Jews of other countries did not stop qualifying for the Land of Israel, despite every difficulty, obstacle and danger, and did not stop claiming their right to a life of dignity, freedom and honest labor in the homeland of their people. In World War II, the Jewish community in Israel contributed its full share to the struggle of the nations seeking freedom and peace against the forces of evil Nazism, and with the blood of its soldiers and its war effort, it earned the right to be named among the nations as the founders of the United Nations. On November 29, 1947, the United Nations Assembly passed a resolution requiring the establishment of a Jewish state in Israel; The rally demanded from the residents of Eretz Israel to take all the necessary steps on their part to carry out the decision. This recognition by the United Nations of the right of the Jewish people to establish their own state cannot be expropriated. This is the natural right of the Jewish people to be as a nation and a nation standing on its own authority in its sovereign state. Therefore, we, the members of the People's Council, the representatives of the Jewish settlement and the Zionist movement, have gathered, on the day of the end of the British mandate on the Land of Israel, and by virtue of our natural and historical right and on the basis of the resolution of the United Nations Assembly, we hereby declare the establishment of a Jewish state in the Land of Israel, namely the State of Israel. We decree that from the moment the mandate ends, tonight, until the day of Shabbat Friday, May 15, 1948, and until the establishment of the elected and regular authorities of the state in accordance with the constitution to be determined by the elected constituent assembly no later than October 1, 1948 - the People's Council will operate As a temporary state council, and its executive institution, the People's Administration, will constitute the temporary government of the Jewish state, which will be called Israel. The State of Israel will be open to Jewish immigration and kibbutzim; Focus on the development of the country for the benefit of all its inhabitants; It will be founded on the foundations of freedom, justice and peace in the light of the vision of the prophets of Israel; Maintain complete equality of social and political rights for all its citizens without distinction of religion, race and gender; guarantee freedom of religion, conscience, language, education and culture; Protect the holy places of all religions; And be faithful to the principles of the United Nations Charter. The State of Israel will be ready to cooperate with the institutions and representatives of the United Nations in fulfilling the resolution of the Assembly of November 29, 1947 and will work to establish the economic unity of the Land of Israel in its entirety. We call on the United Nations to lend a hand to the Jewish people in building their state and accept the State of Israel into the family of nations. We call - even amid the recent bloody attack on us - to the members of the Arab people who are residents of the State of Israel to maintain peace and take their part in building the state on the basis of full and equal citizenship and on the basis of appropriate representation in all its institutions, temporary and permanent. We extend a hand of peace and good neighborliness to all the neighboring countries and their peoples, and call on them for cooperation and mutual aid with the independent Hebrew people in their country. The State of Israel is ready to contribute its share in a joint effort to the advancement of the entire Middle East. We call upon the Jewish people in all the diasporas to unite around the settlement of Baaliya and Benin and to stand to our right in the great campaign for the fulfillment of the generations' aspiration for the redemption of Israel. Out of confidence in Tzur Yisrael, we sign with our hands in witness to this declaration, at the session of the Provisional State Council, on the soil of the homeland, in the city of Tel Aviv, this day, Shabbat evening, Thursday, Iyer 558, May 14, 1948.