On May 14, 1948, David Ben-Gurion, the head of the Jewish Agency, proclaimed the establishment of the State of Israel. This event followed the expiration of the British Mandate for Palestine and the 1947 UN Partition Plan, which proposed dividing the land into independent Arab and Jewish states. The declaration was immediately followed by the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, as neighboring Arab states invaded. For Jews, particularly survivors of the Holocaust, the event represented the realization of the Zionist dream of a homeland. For Palestinians, the event is known as the 'Nakba' (Catastrophe), as hundreds of thousands were displaced from their homes. This event remains one of the most significant and contentious turning points in modern Middle Eastern history, leading to decades of conflict and reshaping global oil politics and international diplomacy.