Why didn't the Palestinians accept the 1947 partition plan?

Question

I am trying to understand the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. In 1947, the United Nations proposed a partition plan giving 55% of the disputed territory for a Jewish state and the rest to the Arabs (excluding international areas such as Jerusalem.) Then, according to the history I know, an independent Jewish state was declared in 1948 and Arab armies attacked (ultimately being defeated and having to give up 77% of Palestine in armistice agreements). Ancient land claims aside (because, like it or not, the Jewish state was an internationally recognized fact that would be defended), it seems it would have been better for the Arabs to accept the partition plan and live peacefully with the Jews at that point. Or is there something that mainstream history isn't telling me? If there are Palestinians who lived this history or have family members that did, I would like to hear your point of view.

Answer 1

The history you are citing is not "mainstream", but rather what you have been told and chosen to believe. Here are two facts that you should be aware of:

1. International organizations like the UN are founded on the applicability of international law. International law does not tolerate "facts on the ground" like the existence of a Jewish state "that would be defended". It is the law that the UN should be defending, not one side's claims under it.

2. There was no justification for giving 55% of Palestine to create a Jewish state. Before 1947, Jews made up a majority in exactly ONE of Palestine's sixteen provinces. Jews owned a majority of the land in exactly ZERO of those sixteen provinces.

Therefore, the Arabs were right to militarily resist the imposition of a plan that denies their history, rights, and property, and they still are.

Answer 2

Much of the land that was given for the formation of Israel was at the time in the hands of Palestinian Arabs. But remember, the land that we currently think of as Palestinian was not given to Palestine. What we call the West bank was part of Jordan. What we call the Gaza Strip was part of Egypt. But the governments of Jordan and Egypt didn't really care about those areas, so they used them as a staging area for invasions into Israel. Israel won those engagements and, by the Geneva Conventions, were allowed to keep the land. Jordan and Egypt tried to re-take it a couple of times, failing both times. Today, they don't think it's worth going to war over, so the only people who want that land are (A) the Palestinians who have lived there since Ishmael settled down, and (B) the Israelis who want room to invite every Jew on Earth to settle in Israel.

Israel is an open country: any Jew can settle there. And the Palestinians are smart enough to know that if all the Jews on Earth DID settle there, there would be no room for Palestinians. So they do what they can to make settling there unattractive while trying to get the U.N. to create a Palestinian homeland in the same way they created a Jewish homeland. Only one thing keeps the U.N. from doing this: the United States of America and its permanent veto.

Answer 3

Perhaps this analogy will serve to answer your question. An international body, of which you know nothing and do not recognize as governing your life, rules that 55 percent of your property is now the property of some guy named smith that lives in Canada and there is nothing you can do about it execpt try to "dissuade" Smith and all of his family(it is a large family) from taking possession, or returning possession of their 55 percent of YOUR property. How would you respond?
Also, after WW2, due to the Germans zeal to rid the world of Jews and not succeeding there were a tremoundous amount of DP's (Displaced Persons). The most displaced of all were the Jews, all their property had been seized by the government and sold, there was no paper trail allowing these people to reclaim anything. It promised to be a monumental task to even develop a plan to assimilate these people back into any society. Thus giving the jews a reservation of their own was rather attractive. No one expected them to actually hold it for 70 years.

Answer 4

Maybe they believed they could win the war? Think about it this way - they both have a legitimate claim to that land. The US and Mexico could have a similar dispute over California or Texas. Pretend you lived in one of those states. Would you just hand your home over to Mexico, because they said they were there first?

Also, we don't have all the facts. Perhaps the partition plan excluded the Palestinians from natural resources they'd need to survive - that's what Israel is doing now with their wall.

Answer 5

What would you do if the place you and your ancestors had lived in for a couple thousand years were suddenly taken away from you and given to somebody else?You would fight to get it back,wouldn't you?


But,I'm not saying that the Palestinians are completely blameless here.They never have made any real attempt to make a workable settlement with the Israelis.And they have been dependent on terror as a means to getting what they want.

Israel,though,is not the not the innocent many like to portray them to be.They have committed their fair share of atrocities along the way.

Israel enjoys a distinct advantage though.Unlike the Palestinians,they still have a superpower patron.It really won't surprise me to see China and Russia to start intruding into this conflict.China,because she is on the verge of becoming a superpower and Russia because Putin has rebuilt Russia militarily and economically and he's wanting Russia's place in the world(as he sees it)back.

Answer 6

If you look at the Paletinian side, it makes lots of sense. Palestine was already theirs. Why should they partition their own land?
As a history grad student and book reviewer, I will tell you that it is hard for many authors to set aside Biblical history when considering this argument. There are a lot of great books out there that shed lots of light on the conflict.

Answer 7

1) The term "Palestinian" Didn't exist then & wouldn't for another 3 decades.
The partition gave the Jews 55% of 23% or less than 13% of mandatory Palestine. 77% went to form the Kingdom of TransJordan (Now Jordan).
2) The Arabs believed their leaders who told them to leave so that they could drive the Jews into the sea. They did not then & still have not accepted the right of Jews to a state.

Answer 8

Because their goal is not the land. Their goal is to destroy Israel and to kill all the jews.

When the British government established Palestine in what later became Isreal (this happened before WW2,) the Palestinians focused on killing and expelling jews rather than on building a nation.

You do know the Palestinians were expelled from Egypt, for Jordan, from Syria, through armed conflict, right? They've had opportunity after opportunity to have their own nation, but that's not their goal.

Answer 9

Read Jimmy Carter's new book on Palestine...It will explain so much...

As an Arab who had family leave palestine in the late 40's because of this...my view is biased.

Ultimately both sides have not held up to their agreements and living in peace with so many differences is difficult.

I applaud you for your interest...most people wouldnt even care

Answer 10

of direction they have been being egocentric. they do no longer desire a determination. in spite of if ninety 9% of the Palestinians agreed with some style of compromise, the different a million% might proceed to gripe and reason issues. the different ninety 9% might substitute into 2% that fairly enjoyed the compromise and ninety seven% that have been nevertheless no longer happy and blamed it on Israel. Then each and all of the discontents might breed and connect with the youngsters of the was once contents and say to themselves "wow, if we've been as complicated and uncompromising as our grandparents, in line with hazard Israel might provide us extra land." there is not any suitable people who've been actively coaching their to be malcontent for generations.