David Ben-Gurion

David Ben-Gurion was a Zionist leader who helped establish the State of Israel and served as its first prime minister, from 1948 to 1953 and 1955 to 1963.

Chaim Weizmann: A Zionist leader and chemist who became the first president of Israel in 1949. Weizmann's diplomacy complemented Ben-Gurion's political organizing, though they differed over leadership and strategy.
Płońsk: A town in present-day Poland where David Ben-Gurion was born in 1886. Ben-Gurion's early life in Płońsk began amid Jewish political organizing in the Russian Empire.
Jewish Agency: An organization established to represent and organize the Jewish community in Mandatory Palestine. Ben-Gurion led the Agency's executive and used it as a governing framework before independence.
Law of Return: An Israeli law granting Jews the right to immigrate to Israel and obtain citizenship. Ben-Gurion's government enacted the law in 1950, making Jewish immigration a defining state policy.
Golda Meir: An Israeli political leader who served as prime minister from 1969 to 1974. Meir worked with Ben-Gurion in the Labor Zionist movement and Israel's early government.
Second Aliyah: A wave of Jewish immigration to Ottoman Palestine, principally from 1904 to 1914. Ben-Gurion immigrated during this wave and joined its labor and settlement movements.
Haganah: The principal Jewish defense organization in Mandatory Palestine before Israel's independence. As its political leader, Ben-Gurion pressed to bring armed forces under unified authority.
Reparations Agreement between Israel and West Germany: A 1952 agreement under which West Germany paid reparations to Israel for Nazi persecution. Ben-Gurion negotiated the agreement despite intense public opposition in Israel.
Yitzhak Ben-Zvi: A Zionist leader and historian who served as Israel's second president. Ben-Zvi was a longtime Labor Zionist colleague and fellow founder of Mapai.
Poale Zion: A Marxist Zionist political movement founded in the late nineteenth century. Ben-Gurion's early political work developed within Poale Zion and its Palestinian branch.

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