David Ben-Gurion I was born in the Polish village of Ploshi in 1886. My real name was David Green. In 1906, influenced by my father’s Zionist activities, I moved to Palestine. At that time, the Turks ruled Palestine and they strongly disagreed with Jewish immigration and settlement. They banned Jews from buying land and building buildings. They saw the Jewish settlement as a source of political danger. I protested, and was expelled from Palestine because of my political activities. I moved to New York and married my beloved wife Paula. It was 1917. We had three children.

I returned to Palestine after WWI. In 1918, I volunteered in the Jewish Legion. In WWI, the Turks fought for the Germans. When the Germans lost, the Turks lost Palestine. The League of Nations gave the British a mandate to rule Israel. In 1939, the British gave in to the Arab protests and banned Jewish immigration. Arab terrorists started raiding Jewish settlements in an attempt to force the Zionists to leave the land. The terrorists attacked the Jews in their homes and many other places. I condemned the British policy and called for resistance. I helped organize a Jewish military group, known as the Haganah, to protect the Jews from the terrorist attacks. In 1947 the United Nations ended the British mandate.

On May 14, 1948 Jewish representatives from all over Palestine met in Tel Aviv while I proudly read the Declaration of Independence. In 1949, I became the first Prime Minister of Israel until 1953. On December 1949, I declared Jerusalem the capital of Israel. As a Premier, I established state institutions (The Histadrut) and national projects like the national water carrier, rural development projects, and the establishment of towns and cities. I also called for the settlement of remote areas, especially the Negev. I was there for Operation Magic Carpet, the airlift of Middle Eastern Jews. I retired in 1953, but returned to office and assumed the post of Defense Minister and later Prime Minister. I was involved in the planning the Sinai War of 1956. In my later political life, I created many political parties, which expanded my influence in the government. After 50 years of leadership, I retired to Kibbutz Sde-Boker in the Negev. When I died I was buried in the middle of the barren Negev.