David Ben Gurion
David Ben Gurion (1886-1973), First prime minister of Israel. Born in Poland, he emigrated to Palestine in 1906. Expelled by the Turks in 1915, he later fought against them with the Jewish Legion, which he organized in the US. In the 1920s and 1930s he led the Jewish Trade Union Movement and the Mapai (Labour) party, and from 1935 he was chairman of the Zionist , movement in Palestine. Having proclaimed the State of Israel in 1948, he remained its prime minister until 1963, except for a brief interval (1953-55).
