🏆 Jewish leaders
They accepted the plan. It offered an internationally recognised state, which they had wanted for decades.
Setting Up the United Nations Organisation and Its Work to 1964 » The UN in Palestine, 1947-49
What you'll learn this session
Study time: 30 minutes
Edexcel spec: Paper 2 Section B, Breadth study B5, Key topic 3
- Why Britain handed the problem of Palestine to the UN and what the 1947 partition plan said
- How the mediators Bernadotte and Bunche tried to bring peace, and what the 1949 armistices achieved
- What the first UN observers and the help for Palestinian refugees did
- How far the UN succeeded, and what changed and stayed the same from the League
The UN's first big test in the Middle East came in Palestine. Both Jews and Arabs lived there and each wanted a state of their own. This lesson explains what the UN did, and presents the views of both sides fairly.
Key terms:
- Partition: dividing a country into separate parts.
- Mediator: an outsider who tries to help two sides reach agreement.
- Armistice: an agreement to stop fighting. It is not the same as a full peace treaty.
- Observers: unarmed officers who watch a ceasefire and report on it.
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Unlock This CourseWhy the UN got involved
After the First World War the League of Nations gave Britain a mandate over Palestine. Over the next 30 years, more Jews arrived, many escaping persecution in Europe, and the Holocaust made Jewish leaders more determined to have a state. Palestinian Arabs, who were the majority of the population, feared losing their land and their say in the country. There was violence between the two groups, and also against the British. In February 1947 Britain, tired and short of money, said it could not solve the problem and passed it to the UN.
The partition plan, 1947
The UN sent a committee to study the problem. It recommended dividing Palestine. On 29 November 1947 the General Assembly voted for Resolution 181: 33 states in favour, 13 against and 10 abstentions. The plan was to create:
- a Jewish state, with a little over half the land;
- an Arab state, with most of the rest;
- Jerusalem and the area around it, run by the UN because it was holy to Jews, Muslims and Christians.
⚔️ Arab leaders
They rejected it. Jews were about a third of the people but would get over half the land, and Arabs argued that the future of Palestine should be decided by the people already living there.
The UN had no army to put the plan into effect. Fighting broke out almost at once between Jewish and Arab communities.
War and the first UN observers, 1948
Britain's mandate ended on 14 May 1948. That day Jewish leaders declared the state of Israel, and the next day the armies of Egypt, Transjordan, Syria, Iraq and Lebanon entered Palestine. The Security Council called for a ceasefire. In May 1948 it sent the first UN observers to the region, the UN Truce Supervision Organisation (UNTSO). They were unarmed officers who watched the truce and reported breaches. It was the first UN observer mission and, unlike many later ones, it is still working today.
The mediators: Bernadotte and Bunche
The UN also appointed a mediator, Count Folke Bernadotte, a Swede who had been head of the Swedish Red Cross. He arranged a truce in June 1948, but it broke down in July and fighting began again. In September he put forward new proposals, including the right of refugees to return. On 17 September 1948 he was assassinated in Jerusalem by members of a Jewish extremist group, Lehi, who opposed his ideas.
His American deputy, Ralph Bunche, took over. In talks on the island of Rhodes in 1949, he brought Israel and its neighbours to sign separate armistice agreements: Egypt (February), Lebanon (March), Jordan (April) and Syria (July). Bunche won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1950 for this work.
Refugees
About 700,000 Palestinian Arabs fled or were forced from their homes during the war. In December 1948 the Assembly passed Resolution 194, saying refugees who wished to return and live in peace should be allowed to do so. Israel did not accept this, and the refugees were not allowed to return. The UN began relief work for them and in December 1949 set up the UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), which provided food, schools and health care. It began work in 1950 and is still going.
How far did the UN succeed?
✅ Successes
The fighting stopped in 1949 and the armistices held for several years. The UN's observers and relief work were practical help. Israel joined the UN in May 1949.
❌ Failures
The partition plan was never carried out. No Arab state was created, Israel held more land than the plan gave it, and Jordan and Egypt took the rest. There was no peace treaty, and the refugee problem was unsolved.
The UN had no power to enforce its plan, and neither side would compromise. Its best results came from mediators and observers, not from resolutions.
Change and continuity: the League and the UN
Changed: the League had handed Palestine to Britain, while the UN tried to settle it with a plan, mediators and observers, which is closer to modern peacekeeping. Stayed the same: like the League, the UN could not make powerful states or determined parties obey it unless they agreed.
Common mistakes
- Saying the UN "created Israel". The UN voted for partition, but Israel was declared by its own leaders in May 1948.
- Mixing up the plan and the armistices. The plan (1947) failed. The armistices (1949) ended the fighting but were not a peace treaty.
- Giving only one side's view. Both had reasons for their actions.
Exam-style question
Explain TWO causes of the failure of the UN's partition plan for Palestine in 1947-48. [8 marks]
You must give two causes. One cause alone can score no more than half marks.
Model answer
One cause was that Arab leaders rejected the plan. Resolution 181, passed on 29 November 1947, gave the Jewish state a little over half of Palestine, although Jews were only about a third of the population. Arab leaders argued this was unfair and refused to take part. Because the plan only worked if both sides accepted it, their rejection meant the Arab state was never set up, and fighting broke out within days.
A second cause was that the UN had no force to put the plan into effect. Britain left on 14 May 1948, the same day Israel was declared, and the UN had no army to keep order or to protect the new borders. The next day five Arab armies entered Palestine, so the borders were decided by the war and not by the UN. The UN could send only unarmed observers, so it could not stop the fighting.
What lifts it to the top level: each cause is supported with precise facts (dates, numbers, names) and is clearly linked to the failure of the plan.
Exam tip
For a "two causes" question, write one paragraph for each cause and finish each with a sentence beginning "This led to the failure of the plan because...".