On November 29, 1947 the UN General Assembly voted on the partition plan, and UNGA Resolution 181 was adopted by a vote of 33 to 13.
Session of the UN General Assembly in New York, November 29, 1947 (GPO archive photo)
History of the Resolution
In February 1947, Great Britain, which had controlled the mandatory territory since 1917, decided to turn the issue of the Palestinian Mandate over to the United Nations. The UN established a Special Commission on Palestine (UNSCOP), which recommended the establishment of two states - Arab and Jewish - in the area and Jerusalem as an international enclave.The Jewish population - while dissatisfied with the small size of the territory allotted to their state in contradiction to the promises made by the League of Nations in 1922, as well as the plan to sever Jerusalem from the state by internationalizing it - accepted the compromise. In sharp contrast, the Arab states and the Arab residents of the Mandatory territory rejected UNSCOP’s recommendations out of hand.
The UN General Assembly held a vote on the partition plan and on 29 November 1947 UNGA Resolution 181 was adopted by 33 to 13, with 10 abstentions.
The Post-Resolution 181 Era
The Arab rejection of the partition plan was not confined to a political act. The Arabs of the Mandate territory launched a large-scale terrorist campaign against their Jewish neighbors.
This was followed by the invasion of Israel by five Arab armies who wanted to destroy Israel when it proclaimed its independence on 14 May 1948. The Jewish population defended itself against the Arabs' declared plans to "throw the Jews into the sea" but at a heavy cost of 1% of their total population and great damage to the new state.
