How were the states of Israel and Palestine established?
Executive summary
The modern State of Israel was declared on 14 May 1948 at the end of the British Mandate for Palestine, followed immediately by the 1948 Arab–Israeli War that left Israel in control of most mandate territory and produced a large Palestinian refugee population [1] [2]. Palestinian statehood developed more slowly and unevenly: international and local Palestinian institutions emerged over decades (notably the PLO in 1964 and the Palestinian Authority after the 1993 Oslo Accords), while many states and UN bodies have since recognised a “State of Palestine” even as it lacks full control over territory and sovereignty in practice [3] [4] [5].
1. How the British period set the stage
After World War I the League of Nations placed Ottoman Palestine under British administration as the Mandate for Palestine; during this era Britain endorsed a “national home for the Jewish people” in the Balfour Declaration and presided over rising Jewish immigration and growing Arab–Jewish tensions — dynamics that shaped the competing national claims that produced separate state projects [6] [2].
2. Israel’s declaration and the first war
David Ben‑Gurion proclaimed the establishment of the State of Israel on 14 May 1948, the day the British Mandate expired; armies from neighboring Arab states entered the former mandate the next day, producing the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, after which Israel controlled most of the former mandate and Jordan and Egypt controlled the West Bank and Gaza respectively [1] [7]. The conflict caused the displacement of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians, a demographic and political rupture central to later claims and grievances [1] [2].
3. The Palestinian national movement and partial institutions
Palestinian political organisation evolved across decades: the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) was founded in 1964 as a broad representative body, and the 1993 Oslo Accords created the Palestinian Authority (PA) as an interim governing body with limited self‑rule in parts of the West Bank and Gaza — a legal and administrative step toward but not equivalent to full sovereign statehood [3] [2].
4. Territory, occupation and changing borders
Wars after 1948 — most consequentially the 1967 Six‑Day War — altered control on the ground: Israel gained the West Bank, Gaza Strip (later Israeli withdrawal from Gaza in 2005 notwithstanding), East Jerusalem and other territories, producing an occupation that international bodies and critics regard as central to the unresolved question of Palestinian statehood [8] [1]. Debate continues about borders, settlements and what a viable Palestinian state would include [9] [10].
5. International law, recognition and the evolving diplomatic map
Recognition of Palestine has been incremental and political: the UN and many countries have taken steps to recognise Palestinian statehood or grant rights and privileges to Palestine in UN fora; by mid‑2025, many states recognised Palestinian statehood while others, including the United States, conditioned recognition on negotiated settlements — leaving Palestine with wide diplomatic backing but limited effective sovereignty over territory [4] [5] [11].
6. Agreements, proposals and unfinished solutions
Throughout the peace process actors have proposed partition, land swaps and two‑state frameworks — for example the 1947 UN partition proposal and later U.S. plans referenced in the millennium talks — but core issues (Jerusalem, refugees, borders, security, settlements) have repeatedly derailed final agreement, leaving interim arrangements like the Oslo framework in place even as violence and politics change the facts on the ground [9] [3] [6].
7. Contemporary context that shapes statehood prospects
Recent developments — expanded settlement construction, repeated cycles of war (including intense Gaza conflicts), and shifting international recognition — strongly affect the feasibility of a contiguous, sovereign Palestinian state and Israel’s security and political calculations [10] [12] [5]. Different sources emphasise competing priorities: human‑rights organisations focus on occupation and settlements [10], while some governments emphasise security conditions and the need for disarmament or negotiated arrangements before full recognition [12] [5].
Limitations and what sources do not say
Available sources describe the sequence of declarations, wars and agreements and note major institutions (Ben‑Gurion’s 1948 declaration, the PLO, Oslo accords) and current diplomatic trends (recognitions), but they do not provide a single, settled legal judgment on final sovereignty for Palestine or a detailed, agreed‑upon border for a Palestinian state; those remain outcomes of future negotiations and international decisions [1] [3] [4].
Key documents to consult next (from cited sources)
To deepen understanding consult the UN timelines on the Question of Palestine [4], detailed peace‑process chronologies and Oslo materials [3], and historical overviews of the 1948 and 1967 wars [1] [8] for the concrete events that created today’s governance map.