After the
end of the British Mandate for Palestine, Israel
declared independence on 14 May 1948. Neighbouring Arab states invaded the area the next day, beginning the
First Arab–Israeli War. An
armistice in 1949 left Israel in control of more territory than the UN partition plan had called for; and no new independent Arab state was created as the rest of the former Mandate territory was held by
Egypt and
Jordan, respectively the
Gaza Strip and the
West Bank. The majority of
Palestinian Arabs were either
expelled or fled in what is known as the
Nakba, with
those remaining becoming the new state's main minority. Over the following decades, Israel's population increased greatly as the country received an influx of
Jews who emigrated, fled or were expelled from the Arab world.
