Aliyah

David Ben-Gurion (1886 – 1973) was the son of Zionist parents and moved from Poland to Palestine in 1906 to work in Jewish agricultural settlements. In 1917, he enlisted in the British Army’s Jewish Legion, and in 1920 he founded a confederation of Jewish workers in Palestine that would become the foundation for establishing a new Jewish state. In 1935, he was elected chairman of the World Zionist Organization and the Jewish Agency of Israel, which became an external arm for the Zionist movement to return to the Jewish homeland in Palestine. Following the end of World War II in 1945, many Jewish displaced persons wanted to establish an independent Jewish state in Palestine. However, the Arab population of Palestine objected and the British, who were administering Palestine, limited Jewish immigration. Many Jewish refugees immigrated to Palestine illegally, leading the British to detain them in camps and creating a public outcry. On November 29, 1947, the United Nations General Assembly adopted Resolution 181 to partition Palestine into Jewish and Arab states, and on May 14, 1948, Ben-Gurion declared Israel’s independence. This resolution sparked conflict between Jewish and Arab groups in Palestine, leading to the outbreak of Israel’s War of Independence. Ben-Gurion became the first Prime Minister and Defense Minister for the State of Israel, overseeing the new country’s development. Following the War of Independence, the Israeli economy was devastated and Ben-Gurion turned to American Jewish leaders to help him raise funds by issuing bonds. He traveled to New York City in 1951 to launch the sale of these bonds and proceeded to tour other cities in the U.S. Ben-Gurion retired from political life to Sde Boker in southern Israel’s Negev Desert in June 1970.