Event · Displacement14 May 1948

The Mandate ends; Israel is declared

انتهاء الانتداب وإعلان إسرائيل

Exact day14 May 1948

Gathered from its sources, not yet reviewed

No photograph recorded yet

A licensed photograph, with its credit, is added after review; never a generated likeness.
When
14 May 1948Exact day
Where
Palestine
Weight
96 · Turning pointDeclaration, resolution or agreement
Sources
23 cited passages

On 14 May 1948 Zionist leaders proclaimed the State of Israel; the British High Commissioner left the next day, ending the Mandate. On 15 May Arab armies entered Palestine, and the Arab–Israeli war broke out.

The end of the Mandate

The United Nations study records that Britain had announced it would end the Mandate on 15 May 1948, months before the date the UN partition plan envisaged, and that Israel declared its independence on 14 May 1948; the departure of the British High Commissioner the next day ceremonially signalled the end of the Mandate.12

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The war between states

The Interactive Encyclopedia of the Palestine Question dates the Nakba’s third stage from 15 May 1948, after Zionist leaders proclaimed the establishment of the state of Israel: Arab armies entered Palestine, and the Arab–Israeli war broke out.3

Link to this chapter

Connected

Connected people & places

  • PlacePalestine

    Linked context in the legacy record

    Legacy context · not a reviewed claim

Found by the archive, not a claim

Within a yearThe Nakba, The UN partition plan, Plan Dalet, UN resolution 194: the right of return, The Lydda massacre and death march

Evidence

Every trace has a source.

The passages cited, numbered as in the story

  1. The Origins and Evolution of the Palestine Problem, Part II: 1947–1977 ↗

    United Nations · section: The situation in Palestine

    Original-language quotation · en
    Great Britain announced that it would terminate the Mandate on 15 May 1948, several months before the time envisaged in the United Nations plan.
    Link to this citation
  2. The Origins and Evolution of the Palestine Problem, Part II: 1947–1977 ↗

    United Nations · section: The end of the mandate and the birth of Israel

    Original-language quotation · en
    Israel declared its independence on 14 May 1948. The departure of the British High Commissioner the next day ceremonially signalled the end of the Mandate.
    Link to this citation
  3. The Nakba ↗

    PalQuest · Institute for Palestine Studies · section: Highlight text (Maher Charif)

    Original-language quotation · en
    began on 15 May 1948, after Zionist leaders proclaimed the establishment of the state of Israel. Arab armies entered Palestine and the Arab-Israeli war broke out.
    Link to this citation

article · PalQuest · Institute for Palestine Studies

The Nakba

Maher Charif, “The Nakba”, Interactive Encyclopedia of the Palestine Question (Institute for Palestine Studies).

Published: date not recordedConsulted: 2026-10-17

Reference metadata and an original summary only. No permission to copy or host the source’s text, photographs, audio or video is asserted.

document · United Nations

The Origins and Evolution of the Palestine Problem, Part II: 1947–1977

The United Nations study prepared for the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People, part II, as held by the UN Information System on the Question of Palestine.

Published: date not recordedConsulted: 2026-10-17

Reference metadata and an original summary only. No permission to copy or host the source’s text, photographs, audio or video is asserted.

Dates & remembrance

05-14 · occurrence
Anniversary of the documented date.