On May 14, 1948 the State of Israel was proclaimed. Despite attack from six Arab armies dedicated to its extermination, waves of mass immigration brought hundreds of thousands of Jews to Israel's shores, Holocaust survivors form Europe and nearly the entire Jewish communities of Libya, Yemen and Iraq.

The fledgling state, following a protracted war of independence, was in hard economic straits, and struggled to provide housing and jobs for the new immigrants. Ma'abarot camps of tin shacks and tents gave temporary shelter; employment was created and the Hebrew language taught; the educational system was expanded to meet the needs of tens of thousands of children from varied backgrounds. Additional mass immigration took place in the late 1950s and early 1960s, from the newly independent countries of North Africa, Morocco and Tunisia.

The human capital - the expertise, talent and fortitude - of the Jews from Arab lands, has contributed immeasurably to Israel's success, despite decades of conflict in a violent region.



Young girl carrying her brother through the mud of Beit Lid Camp, winter 1950
From the collection of the Israel National Photo Archive



Immigrant from Morocco with her children in a refugee tent camp in Israel, 1949
From the collection of the Israel National Photo Archive