Why was Palestine partitioned and what are the results?
1 Answer
To create two states on for the Palestinian Arabs and one for the Jews.
Explanation:
After World War 1 the area known as Palestine was given to the British as a League of Nations Mandate, due to the collapse of the Ottoman Empire. Britain had 50 years to prepare the people for independence.
However during the inter-war period the situation deteriorated. Both the Palestinians and Jews were not only fighting each other but also the British. The coming to power of Hitler and subsequent persecution of the Jews added to the pressure as many tried to flee Germany and get into Palestine.
In 1948 the UN, which had taken over, partitioned it as decsribed above. Immediately the new Jewish state of Israel was attacked by her Arab neighbours. In the subsequent 1st Arab-Israeli war, the Israelis achieved total victory. As a result, the Palestinians lost virtually all their land and so the issue of the Palestinian refugees, their displacement and the need for a Palestinian homeland became central issues in Middle East politics.
