The State of Israel was created in 1948 when, following World War II, the United Nations voted in favor of the Partition Plan for Palestine. This divided the existing nation of Palestine, whose people had lived on this land since 12 BC, into Israel and the State of Palestine. This was possible in part because Palestine came under British rule in 1920, and Britain had signed the 1917 Balfour Declaration committing to creating a Jewish homeland in Palestine. During this period of British rule, the Zionist movement calling for a Jewish return to Israel grew, and many Jewish people immigrated to Palestine. Many Jewish people lived peacefully among the Muslim majority, but this era also saw a rise in Zionist terrorism performed by paramilitary groups like Irgun, as well as counterattacks by the British military and Arab revolts. By 1947, Britain found the region ungovernable and decided to evacuate, coinciding with the UN’s decision to divide the land into two nations.

However, the Partition Plan was never implemented due to Palestinian resistance to losing so much of their land. As a result, Israel declared independence on May 14, 1948, and the ongoing conflicts escalated into the 1948 Israeli-Palestinian war. Ten months of fighting resulted in an Israeli victory, and the new Israeli state occupied most of Palestine.