- If you had to pick a single moment in time
when the Zionist dream became a reality,
there's a good chance you'd choose November 29th, 1947.
That's the day the UN passed Resolution 181
a vote to partition the sliver of land
between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea
into a Jewish state and an Arab state.
But, is this what ultimately happened?
If Resolution 181 voted to establish an Arab state as well,
then where is it?
(uplifting music)
Let's jump back to the end of World War I in 1918
when the Allied powers defeated the crumbling Ottoman Empire,
the British and French conquered lands
that included much of the Middle East.
They determined that these territories
were not yet ready for self-governance,
so they divided the land up amongst themselves
in what was called the mandate system
ratified by the League of Nations.
The mandate for Palestine went to the British.
Palestine consisted of both Arabs and Jews,
so even though it may sound funny now, at the time,
there actually were both Arab Palestinians
and Jewish Palestinians in the region
and both were essentially occupied by the British.
Now, back in 1917,
on the eve of their conquest of the Middle East,
the British had issued the Balfour Declaration,
a statement that expressed their support
for a Jewish national homeland in Palestine,
but the population of Palestine was mostly Arab,
the Jewish population was growing quickly,
boosting the region's economy
and in many places, managing to turn
the largely arid terrain, into fertile land,
for the first time in millennia.
In the 1930s, the British created the Peel Commission
to propose a solution to the land conflict
between the Jews and the Arabs.
This was really the first time
anyone tried to divide the land up officially
and they heard testimonies from both Jewish
and Arab representatives,
in order to help determine the borders.
In 1937, the Peel Commission proposed
that the British allocate 75% of the land to the Arabs
and roughly 25% to the Jews.
But the British government would still control Jerusalem,
which was kind of a bummer for everyone.
Jewish leadership was pretty divided in opinion
but ultimately, they accepted the proposal.
But the Arab leadership,
run largely by Haj Amin al-Husseini,
rejected it immediately.
So, a solution was put off.
So, what happened next?
Well, World War II.
Nations on both sides, were left forever changed,
with governments in shambles
and millions of displaced people around the world.
One-third of the world's Jewish population
was killed in the Holocaust
and British immigration policies
had barred them from fleeing to Palestine,
during the genocide.
When the war ended,
it was time for some big, world-wide, changes.
Imperialism was going downhill
and many nations, such as Indonesia, India, Pakistan
and others, were formed
as European empires gave up their colonies.
The United Nations was formed
in order to maintain peace and order
among the countries of the world,
including all these new ones.
As these new nations were emerging,
the Jewish people hoped to, once again,
have the chance to reclaim their homeland.
They had longed to return to their land
ever since the beginning of the Roman exile in 70 CE.
There had always been a small Jewish community
remaining in the land of Israel,
later renamed Palestine by the Romans,
in the good ol' 130s.
And over the course of the millennia,
the Arab population grew to vastly outnumber the Jews
until the beginning of the Zionist movement
in the late 1800s.
Because of the conflict between the Arabs, Jews,
and occupying British,
by 1947, ruling Palestine, had become a royal pain
for the United Kingdom.
So in 1947, they told the UN, you guys deal with it.
And the UN Special Committee on Palestine,
or UNSCOP, was formed.
But the Balfour Declaration of 1917
had created an important precedent.
A promise that the Jews would receive land
and that both sides would have rights.
This was taken into account
when deciding how to divide the land.
The main option proposed
by the Special Committee on Palestine,
was similar to the Peel Commission's proposal:
To create two states, a Jewish one and an Arab one,
while the UN would retain control over Jerusalem.
The Jewish representatives from Palestine,
okayed this option, while the Arab leaders rejected it.
But, there still had to be a vote.
This was a huge deal for Jews around the world.
This vote would decide if they, as a people,
could return to their homeland.
It would indicate if the international community respected
the rights of Jews.
Zionist leadership lobbied for it to succeed.
This was their big make it or break it moment.
In the eyes of the Jews, this lobbying arose
from their desire to reclaim their home
and their hopes to rebuild, after the Holocaust.
But to Arabs, the lobbying was seen
as a US-backed, strong-arm move.
On November 29th, 1947, it was time to vote.
Jews around the world, rushed to their radios
so they wouldn't miss hearing the broadcast.
They sat, transfixed, listening
as their fates were once again, chosen for them.
Each country's vote, announced on the UN floor,
felt like it was either a cause for celebration
or a blow to the entire Jewish people.
Jews waited with bated breath
to see if the resolution would pass.
At last, the final count was in.
The United Nations had voted at 33 in favor, 13 opposed,
and 10 abstentions.
There would be two new sovereign states,
one Jewish and one Arab.
But, as we mentioned,
that's not how it played out in reality.
From the Arab perspective,
the Partition Plan was an awful deal.
In fact, they believed that the decision
to give the Jews any land was bad,
as they had wanted to incorporate
all of it into their state.
Not to mention the fact
that they thought the approved land division
was nothing more than a convoluted patchwork
of Jewish and Arab regions,
and that's something we can probably all agree on.
I mean, it looks like it was drawn on an Etch a Sketch.
Arab leadership also felt
this division was gerrymandered to favor the Jews.
And besides that, they didn't think the new UN
had the authority to divide up land
that wasn't remotely theirs to begin with.
What gave them the right to dole out countries?
The Arab leadership ultimately boycotted meetings
and discussions.
Palestinian professor, Sari Nusseibeh,
sums up the discontent by saying,
"The Jews, who were a third of the population,
"were going to get more than half the territory.
"Parts of the Galilee and all of the Negev,
"while the ancient Jewish Biblical heartland,
"the Stony Hill country, would go to the Arabs."
Now, to be fair, the Negev is a desert,
so it's not exactly prime real estate,
but the complaint is valid.
Jewish leadership was conflicted,
although, overall, pretty psyched.
The downside, they were giving up a lot of land
they felt was there's by right.
And sure, they get plenty of sand,
but what about Jerusalem, the Holy City,
the epicenter of their entire religion?
Nope.
On the other hand, Jews had been exiled
from their homeland for 2,000 years,
living instead in Middle-Eastern European countries
that often oppressed and persecuted them.
They wanted to have their own state,
to write their own laws, and to control their own destinies
in their own historic homeland.
When faced with the best offer they'd gotten in millennia,
they were not going to pass it up.
After the final tally, thousands of Israelis
rushed onto the streets, weeping
and dancing until the sun came up the next morning.
Writer Amos Oz, tells a story
of how his father, who'd been persecuted in Poland,
told him, "Bullies may bother you at school,
"but from now on, from the moment we have our own state,
"you will never be bullied because you are a Jew."
This was a massive change.
Opinions from the international community
were interestingly, mixed.
Though both the U.S.
and USSR voted in favor of the UN Resolution,
they actually had different feelings about it.
George Marshall, the State Department,
and the CIA, all advised U.S. President Truman
against backing a Jewish state,
feeling that such a state would have no hope of lasting.
The USSR, on the other hand, hoped
that Israel might lean towards Socialism
and fly in the face of the Western world.
In both cases, their opinions on the state
would swing back and forth, as time went on.
Though the Resolution meant a chance at autonomy,
and safety for the Jewish people at last,
it came at a politically-charged region
of a war-torn world.
Zionist leaders knew it wouldn't be perfect,
that there would be violence and tragedy,
as there often is when borders are defined.
Israeli founding father
and Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion said,
"I could not dance.
"I knew we faced war
"and that in it, we would lose the best of our youth."
A civil war between Jews and Arabs broke out
immediately following the UN vote,
months before the British would actually leave the region.
Casualties mounted on both sides.
Then, six months later, on May 14th, 1948,
the British forces left
and Israel declared its independence.
And on May 15th, not wasting any time,
the Arab nation surrounding Israel,
sent armies to destroy the new state.
For that story, you can check out our video
on the 1948 War of Independence.
UN Resolution 181 played a critical role
in the founding of Israel,
but what effect did it really have?
Well, to Arabs, it marked a great injustice
when the international community
unfairly partitioned their land
and turned a blind eye to their wants and needs.
For many, it symbolized a tragic loss of their homes.
But to Jews, it marked their ability to return home at last
and to rebuild the country
they had dreamed of for millennia.
In the wake of the Holocaust, it was a cause for hope
and even optimism about the future.
These vastly different perspectives
are at the heart of the conflict.
And the legacy of it, is still felt today.
But what might have happened
if both sides had agreed on a partition?
Would each side still have harbored the belief
that they had a claim to the other side's portion?
And would this have eventually led to violence, in any case?
What do you think?