ABSTRACT

The history of Palestine has been marked by many dramatic events that have left a lasting impact not only on the region, but also on the world at large. In 29 November 1947, the General Assembly of the United Nations passed a resolution partitioning Palestine into a Jewish state and an Arab state. The Jews accepted the partition plan, but the Palestinians, the neighbouring Arab states, and the Arab League rejected it. At midnight on 14 May 1948, the British High Commissioner left Palestine with all his staff, and twenty-eight years of British Mandate for Palestine came to an end. On that same day, the Jewish settlers in Palestine acted unilaterally, in proclaiming Israel as an independent country, and moved quickly to expand their borders beyond those delineated by the resolution of the United Nations. This paper will examine the partition process of Palestine by the United Nations and the final phase of the British Mandate.