💰 Cost
Britain had been badly weakened by the Second World War. Keeping tens of thousands of soldiers in Palestine was very expensive.
The Creation of Israel, the War of 1948-49 and the Suez Crisis of 1956 » Britain Hands Over to the UN: The Partition Plan
What you'll learn this session
Study time: 30 minutes
Edexcel spec: Paper 2 Section B, Breadth study B7, Key topic 2
- Why Britain handed the Palestine problem to the United Nations in 1947
- What the UN partition plan said, and how Jews and Arabs reacted
- How fighting in Palestine led to the end of the Mandate and the State of Israel in 1948
- How Palestine in 1948 was different from Palestine in 1946
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Unlock This CourseBritain gives up
By 1947 Britain had ruled Palestine under a Mandate for nearly thirty years. It had tried partition ideas, talks and immigration limits, and nothing had worked. 'International involvement' is one of the themes that run through this breadth study, and in 1947 a new outside body stepped in.
Key terms:
- Mandate: the right to govern Palestine, given to Britain by the League of Nations after the First World War.
- United Nations (UN): the international organisation set up in 1945 to keep peace between countries.
- General Assembly: the UN body in which every member country has one vote.
In February 1947 the British government announced that it would hand the problem to the UN. The main reasons were:
💥 Violence
British soldiers and police were being attacked, most shockingly in the King David Hotel bombing of 1946, and opinion at home wanted them out.
- No agreement: Arab and Jewish leaders would not accept any British plan, and Britain did not want to force a solution on either side.
- Pressure over immigration: many Jewish survivors of Nazi persecution wanted to reach Palestine, and Britain was criticised for limiting their entry.
The UN set up a committee that visited Palestine in 1947. Most of its members recommended partition.
The partition plan, November 1947
On 29 November 1947 the General Assembly voted on the plan: 33 countries for, 13 against and 10 abstaining. Britain was one of those that abstained. Both the United States and the Soviet Union voted in favour. The plan said:
- Palestine would be divided into a Jewish state and an Arab state.
- The Jewish state would get a little over half of the land, even though Jews were about a third of the people. Much of it was the Negev desert.
- Jerusalem and nearby Bethlehem would be under international control, because the city is holy to Jews, Muslims and Christians.
Reactions to the plan
🎉 Jewish leaders
The Jewish Agency, the main Jewish political body, accepted the plan. It was smaller than many hoped and left out Jerusalem, but it offered a state with world backing. There were street celebrations.
❌ Arab leaders
The Arab Higher Committee (the main Palestinian Arab leadership) and the Arab League (an alliance of Arab states) rejected it. Arabs were the majority in Palestine, and they thought it unfair to give over half the land to a minority and to divide the country at all.
Fighting and the end of the Mandate
Violence began almost at once after the vote. Through the winter of 1947-48 Arab and Jewish fighters attacked each other's villages, buses and convoys, and thousands of Arabs and Jews fled their homes. Britain had announced that it would end the Mandate and withdraw, and set the date as 15 May 1948. It did not try to enforce partition, and its troops were already leaving.
In the spring of 1948 the Haganah, the main Jewish defence force, won control of more territory. Haganah forces captured mixed towns such as Haifa and Jaffa, and many Arabs left.
14 May 1948
On 14 May 1948 the last British High Commissioner left, and that afternoon, in Tel Aviv, David Ben-Gurion read out the declaration of the State of Israel. The British Mandate came to an end at midnight, as Britain had announced. The United States recognised the new state within minutes, and the Soviet Union soon afterwards. The next day, 15 May, armies from neighbouring Arab states entered Palestine. That war is the subject of the next lesson.
No Arab state was set up in Palestine, as the UN plan had proposed. The future of the Palestinians was therefore very different, and later lessons cover it.
Change and continuity: Palestine in 1946 and 1948
In 1946 Britain still governed under the Mandate, with about 600,000 Jews living in Palestine, around a third of the population. The Irgun and Lehi were attacking the British. By 1948 the Mandate had ended and a Jewish state had been declared. What stayed the same was the dispute over who should control the land, and that it was still being settled by violence.
Common mistakes
- Saying the UN created Israel directly. The UN voted for partition, but Israel was declared by Jewish leaders on 14 May 1948.
- Writing that the Arab side agreed to partition. The Arab Higher Committee and the Arab League rejected it.
- Mixing up dates: the vote was 29 November 1947, the declaration of Israel was 14 May 1948, and the Arab armies entered on 15 May.
Exam-style question
Explain TWO ways in which Palestine in May 1948 was different from Palestine in 1946. [6 marks]
Remember: one way on its own cannot score more than half marks, and each way must say something about both years.
Model answer
One difference was who governed. In 1946 Britain still ruled Palestine under the Mandate, whereas on 14 May 1948 the last British High Commissioner left, the Mandate ended that night, and Jewish leaders declared the State of Israel.
A second difference was the role of the United Nations. In 1946 Britain was still trying to solve the problem itself, but by 1948 it had handed the issue to the UN, which had voted on 29 November 1947 to divide Palestine into a Jewish and an Arab state. Arabs rejected this plan and fighting between Arabs and Jews grew, whereas in 1946 the main armed attacks had been aimed at the British.
What lifts this to the top level: each way compares both years directly, with a precise fact about each.
Exam tip
Name the date or event for BOTH sides of each comparison, for example 'in 1946 ... whereas by 14 May 1948 ...'.