1) Why a Jewish State: Herzl explained quite well that the European concept of a nation-state was dependent on the idea that all of the people in any particular nation were of the same ethnic stock and heritage. Jews were branded by this system to be "the Other" and were regarded at best as possible equals and at worse as traitors, spies, thieves, and fifth columns. When the Dreyfus Affair turned out marches in Paris that said "Death to the Jews" on account of a kangaroo court against a particular guiltless Jew, it became clear that the Jew could not be integrated into Europe. After the Holocaust, the strongest proof that the Jew and the European Nation-State were irreconcilable, this view persists. In Europe, it is now directed at the Muslims since the Jews are not large enough of a threat to the European System. Unlike Muslims, though, which can return to their countries of origin if the discrimination becomes intolerable, the Jews did not have such a place. This is why the Jewish State is necessary. Since it came into existence it has accepted Jewish political refugees from over 50 nations and flown missions at its own expense to rescue Jews from at least 10 nations.
2) Why in the Land of Israel: Ahad Ha'am explains that the Jewish Soul is intrinsically connected to his history and in the same way that a German-American can never be as properly German as a German in Germany, the People of Israel can never be as properly Jewish if they are not in the Land of Israel. The relics in that land speak to a Jewish sensibility and character. There are also religious reasons as expounded by Rav Avraham Kook which posit that the development of a Jewish State in Israel hastens the arrival of the Messiah. There are additional political reasons why Palestine and not Europe. As explained above, the European Culture is strongly anti-Other and making a Jewish State there would have fostered much more contempt and alienation (ironically).
1948
They declared war on the fledgling Jewish State.
The state of Israel
After the Jews in Palestine declared independence as the State of Israel, war immediately broke out between the newborn state and its Arab neighbors, including Egypt and Jordan.
Israel was declared an independent Jewish State on May 14, 1948. However, the phrasing of the question makes implicit assumptions that must be dealt with. It would seem from the way that the question is written that Palestine was a country and then one day, and was renamed Israel the next day. This is not the case. Palestine was a territorial name in the same way that the Riviera in southwestern Europe is a territorial name. It just happens that some of the Riviera is in France and some in Italy. Israel was a state that declared independence in that territory, which was a British Mandate at the time. There were still areas of Palestine that did not become part of Israel. Most of the Arab Palestinians did not consider Israel to be their state and would later identify with the Palestinian State declared in absentia in 1988 and recognized in the Oslo Accords of 1993.
After WWII, the British mandate in Palestine ended and the State of Israel became a reality in 1948. The Arab countries surrounding the new state immediately declared war, vowing to push Israel into the sea. Israel had to fight for its existence.
Israel (State of Israel) declared its independence in 1948.
They declared war on the fledgling Jewish State.
Israel declared independence and the Arab Nations declared war on it.
The Modern State of Israel was declared on May 14, 1948.
David Ben Gurion
Yes. Otherwise, it would not have declared independence.
The state of Israel
the Jews are from israel. israel has been a Jewish country from the times of the bible.
The citizens and administration of Israel did, in 1948. United Nations Resolution 181 only provided permission for Israel to declare a state. As said above, it was the Israelis who actually did the Declaring.
After the Jews in Palestine declared independence as the State of Israel, war immediately broke out between the newborn state and its Arab neighbors, including Egypt and Jordan.
Israel was declared an independent Jewish State on May 14, 1948. However, the phrasing of the question makes implicit assumptions that must be dealt with. It would seem from the way that the question is written that Palestine was a country and then one day, and was renamed Israel the next day. This is not the case. Palestine was a territorial name in the same way that the Riviera in southwestern Europe is a territorial name. It just happens that some of the Riviera is in France and some in Italy. Israel was a state that declared independence in that territory, which was a British Mandate at the time. There were still areas of Palestine that did not become part of Israel. Most of the Arab Palestinians did not consider Israel to be their state and would later identify with the Palestinian State declared in absentia in 1988 and recognized in the Oslo Accords of 1993.
After WWII, the British mandate in Palestine ended and the State of Israel became a reality in 1948. The Arab countries surrounding the new state immediately declared war, vowing to push Israel into the sea. Israel had to fight for its existence.