The State of Israel was born on May 14, 1948, in the city of Tel Aviv, in what was then officially known as Palestine. The new Jewish state was founded 2,000 years after Palestine's Roman conquerors exiled the Jews from the land they had once ruled as the Kingdom of Israel and less than 50 years after Jewish immigrants began returning to their ancient homeland as part of the Zionist movement. Within hours of Israel's establishment, armies of the five neighboring Arab countries had already begun assembling along the new nation's borders. The next morning, Egyptian, Jordanian, Syrian, Iraqi, and Lebanese troops invaded, launching the first in a series of conflicts between Israel and its Arab neighbors.

Illustrated with full-color and black-and-white photographs, and accompanied by a chronology, bibliography, and further resources, The Establishment of the State of Israel, Updated Edition explains how this conflict has affected the history of the region and the Middle East peace process. Historical spotlights and excerpts from primary source documents are also included.