After the Arab-Israeli war ended, it was time
for Israel to focus on building the nation which the
people had struggled so hard to regain.
Two people who had played major roles during the
British Mandate and continued to lead Israel to
statehood became the country's first leaders.
Davie Ben-Gurion previously served as head of the
Jewish Agency was chosen as the first prime minister.
Chaim Weizman, the leader of the World Zionist
Organization was elected by the Knesset as the first
president. The Knesset is the parliamentary body
in the government of Israel On 11 May
1949, Israel took its seat as the 59th member of the
United Nations. At this point in time many Arab
countries still refuse to recognize the State of
Israel. The United States and the Soviet Union
were among the first to do so on the day of
independence.During WW2 Britain had slowed the flow
of Jewish immigrants from pouring into the homeland of
Palestine. The war with the Arabs ended and now
Israel brought back an idea known as the 'ingathering of
the exiles' which lies at the heart of Israel's raison
d'être, the gates of the country were thrown open,
affirming the right of every Jew to come to the
country and, upon entry, to acquire citizenship. In
the first four months of independence, some 50,000
newcomers, mainly Holocaust survivors, reached
Israel's shores. By the end of 1951, a total of
687,000 men, women, and children had arrived, over
300,000 of them refugees from Arab lands, thus
doubling the Jewish population.
