UN Proposes Partition: Palestine Divided into Two States
The United Nations General Assembly passed Resolution 181 on November 29, 1947, recommending the partition of the British Mandate of Palestine into separate Arab and Jewish states, with Jerusalem under international administration. The vote was 33 to 13 with 10 abstentions. Jewish leaders, including David Ben-Gurion, accepted the plan. Arab leaders unanimously rejected it, arguing it violated the principle of self-determination by imposing a state on a population that opposed it. Palestinians constituted roughly two-thirds of the mandate's population and owned the majority of the land. The resolution had no enforcement mechanism. Violence erupted immediately. By the time Israel declared independence on May 14, 1948, a civil war was already underway. Five Arab armies invaded the next day. The partition plan was never implemented as written.
November 29, 1947
79 years ago
Key Figures & Places
What Else Happened on November 29
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