With the British government’s passage of the Palestine bill on April 29, 1948, the British Mandate was terminated effective May 15, 1948. One day prior to the end of the mandate, on May 14, 1948, Jewish Agency Chairman David Ben-Gurion proclaimed the birth of the State of Israel. The Palestine Post (later renamed The Jerusalem Post) printed its famous headline two days later, on May 16, 1948.
A militant Russian Zionist, Begin survived torture in Vilnius’ Lukiškės Prison and enforced labor in a Russian gulag, eventually settling in the British Mandate of Palestine, where he became a prominent leader in the Jewish uprising to force a British withdrawal from the region. After Israel’s founding, Begin became an outspoken and indefatigable member of the Likud opposition party in the Knesset until his election as prime minister in 1977. He was awarded the 1978 Nobel Peace Prize with Egyptian President Anwar Sadat for the Camp David Accords, and remained prime minister until 1983 when he was succeeded by Yitzhak Rabin..