ISRAEL | Declaration of Independence, 1948

ISRAEL

Iton Rashmi. Hachrazah Al Hakamat Medinat Yisrael. Tel Aviv, 14 May 1948

Printed bifolium (330 x 210mm.)

THE FIRST ISSUE OF ITON RASHMI, the official gazette of the new state of Israel, CONTAINING THE FIRST PRINTING OF THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE FOR ISRAEL. The text is that read out by David Ben-Gurion on 14 May 1948 at the Tel Aviv Museum (now Independence Hall).

The address investigates the impetus towards the declaration, including the Balfour Declaration, the British Mandate and the harrowing events of the second world war, and looks forward to full co-operation with the United Nations.

The state of Israel, it says, “will uphold the full social and political equality of all its citizens, without distinction of race, creed or sex” (translation from The Palestine Year Book and Israeli Annual, 1948–1949).

The issue also contains a decree rescinding the White Paper of 1939 (see lot 130), which acted as the governing policy for the British Mandate.