How the Idea of Return Has Shaped the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict
May 14, 2018, 11:14 AM
On the afternoon of May 14, 1948, hours before Britain’s Royal Navy flotilla would sail from Haifa harbor, marking the end of Britain’s mandatory rule over Palestine, leaders of the local Jewish community hastily assembled at the Tel Aviv Museum to hear the head of the Zionist leadership, David Ben-Gurion, declare, “The Land of Israel was the birthplace of the Jewish people. ...We hereby proclaim the establishment of the Jewish State ... the State of Israel.