who was the first signatory of the israeli declaration of independence
David Ben-Gurion
title: Israeli Declaration of Independence text: living, serving in the Knesset until 1990 and dying in June 2003. Eliyahu Berligne, the oldest signatory at 82, died in 1959. Eleven minutes after midnight, the United States "de facto" recognized the State of Israel. This was followed by Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi's Iran (which had voted against the UN partition plan), Guatemala, Iceland, Nicaragua]l, Romania, and Uruguay. The Soviet Union was the first nation to fully recognize Israel de jure on 17 May 1948, followed by Poland, Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia, Ireland, and South Africa. The United States extended official recognition after the first Israeli election, as Truman had promised title: Israeli Declaration of Independence text: but in any case not later than 1 October 1948". The Arab countries (all of which had opposed the plan) proposed to query the International Court of Justice on the competence of the General Assembly to partition a country, but the resolution was rejected. The first draft of the declaration was made by Zvi Berenson, the Histadrut trade union's legal advisor and later a Justice of the Supreme Court, at the request of Pinchas Rosen. A revised second draft was made by three lawyers, A. Beham, A. Hintzheimer and Z.E. Baker, and was framed by a committee including David Remez, title: Israeli Declaration of Independence text: Pinchas Rosen, Haim-Moshe Shapira, Moshe Sharett and Aharon Zisling. A second committee meeting, which included David Ben-Gurion, Yehuda Leib Maimon, Sharett and Zisling produced the final text. On 12 May 1948, the Minhelet HaAm (, lit. "People's Administration") was convened to vote on declaring independence. Three of the thirteen members were missing, with Yehuda Leib Maimon and Yitzhak Gruenbaum being blocked in besieged Jerusalem, while Yitzhak-Meir Levin was in the United States. The meeting started at 1:45 in the afternoon and ended after midnight. The decision was between accepting the American proposal for a truce, or declaring independence. The latter title: Israeli Declaration of Independence text: of his name would have fitted alphabetically, but he insisted on signing under his actual name so as to honour his father's memory and so moved down two spaces. He and Vilner would be the last surviving signatories, and remained close for the rest of their lives. Of the signatories, two were women (Golda Meir (Meyerson/Myerson) and Rachel Cohen-Kagan). When Herzl Rosenblum, a journalist, was called up to sign, Ben-Gurion instructed him to sign under the name Herzl Vardi, his pen name, as he wanted more Hebrew names on the document. Although Rosenblum acquiesced to Ben-Gurion's request and legally changed title: Israeli Declaration of Independence text: option was put to a vote, with six of the ten members present supporting it: Chaim Weizmann, the Chairman of the World Zionist Organization, and soon to be first President of Israel, endorsed the decision, after reportedly asking "What are they waiting for, the idiots?" The draft text was submitted for approval to a meeting of Moetzet HaAm (, lit. "People's Council") at the JNF building in Tel Aviv on 14 May. The meeting started at 13:50 and ended at 15:00, an hour before the declaration was due to be made, and despite ongoing disagreements, with a unanimous vote in