HOUSE_OVERSIGHT_027876

of State George C. Marshall — recommended abandoning or at least delaying the declaration of an Israeli state. Yet Ben-Gurion feared that any delay risked the end of any early hope of statehood. After he managed to secure a one-vote majority in his de facto cabinet, the state was declared on May 14, 1948. And hours later, the armies of five Arab states crossed into Palestine. 28 HOUSE_OVERSIGHT_027876