Middle East : Israel & Palestine

Pick a Region:. . Middle East:. . Israel & Palestine

The United Nations Special Committee on Palestine (UNSCOP) of 1947 recommended a partition of the land into two separate states (one Jewish, the other Arab Palestinian). Jerusalem was to be a free city. Under the plan the proposed Jewish state would acquire 54 percent of the territory despite comprising only 30 percent of the population and only owning 6 percent of the land. The Arab state would incorporate 45 percent of the area despite their being 70 percent of the population. The Zionists accepted the plan though they saw it as too limited territorially. The Arabs rejected the partition idea and advocated a single binational state based on democracy and equal rights, though certain restrictions made this plan unacceptable to the Jews.

In the UN, after heavy lobbying by Zionist supporters, the General Assembly on 11/29/47 passed UN Resolution 181 which called for a Jewish state and an Arab state in partitioned Palestine to be established on July 1, 1948. Britain meanwhile had declared that as of May 15, 1948 she was withdrawing her troops from Palestine. The fear that anarchy would result if the British left without some agreed solution in place led the United States to push for a reconsideration of the partition plan. The Zionists feared that any such reconsideration would mean a reduction in their allotment. They therefore unilaterally declared on May 14, 1948 the creation of Israel in the lands allotted them under the proposed partition plan. Truman, as president, made a decision and within hours extended diplomatic recognition to Israel. The Soviets quickly followed suit.