In May 1948, in Tel Aviv, David Ben Gurion, who had become prime minister, proclaimed the official birth of the State of Israel. Thus one of the most ambitious and controversial projects of the 20th century, initiated with the Balfour Declaration (1917) and the Sykes-Picot Agreements (1916), was accomplished, under the protective wing of the British Empire and with the support of the International Zionist Organisation. After the massacres and suffering endured by the Jews during the Second World War, giving a homeland to the people of the diaspora seemed a humane and due act, but instead of leading to a new period of peace, the new state led to new suffering and wars, a conflict that has not abated to this day. By the end of the 19th century, anti-Semitism was already widespread in many European circles and for centuries Jewish communities had suffered discrimination and violence in every corner of Europe. Jewish intellectuals became convinced that the only solution was the creation of a Jewish state.

With the end of the Great War, the British Mandate for Palestine was established, giving London full control of the territories of the former Ottoman province. The occasion proved propitious for the Jewish community and with the Balfour Declaration, the British government came out in favour of the new state project. Although not yet formed, plans for the future Israel attracted many Jewish migrants between the 1920s and 1930s. Tensions began to run high and violent clashes between Arabs and Jews spread throughout Palestine. In 1947, the United Nations finally decreed the so-called ''two-state solution'', one Jewish and one Arab, in the old Plaestine Mandate. The Zionist movement agreed, but the Arab countries categorically refused and in May 1948 launched a massive offensive against Israel, the First Arab-Israeli War that saw the new state clash with Egypt, Syria, Lebanon and Jordan. Israel's victory led to the expansion of its territory and the occupation of Arab territory in a dramatic confrontation that continues to this day.