Ben Gurion's definition of “the Jewish State” to the United Nations Special Committee on Palestine, at Lake Success New York on the 7 July 1947:

“What is the meaning of a Jewish State?

As I told you before, a Jewish State does not mean one has to be a Jew. It means merely a State-where the Jews are in the majority, otherwise all the citizens have the same status.

If the State were called by the name “Palestine,” – I said if – then all would be Palestinian citizens If the State would be given, another name – I think it would be given another name – because Palestine is neither a Jewish nor an Arab name.

As far as the Arabs are concerned, and we have the evidence of the Arab historian, Hitti, that there was no such a thing as “Palestine” at all: Palestine is not an Arab name.

Palestine is also not a Jewish name. When the Greeks were our enemies, in order not to annoy the Jews, they gave different names to the streets.

So, maybe the name of Palestine will be changed. But whatever the name of the country, every citizen of the country will be a citizen.

This is what we mean.

This is what we have to mean.

We cannot conceive that in a State where we are not in a minority, where we have the main responsibilities as the majority of the country, there should be the slightest discrimination between a Jew and a non-Jew.”