Mandatory Palestine Warning: You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you log in or create an account, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.Anti-spam check. Do not fill this in! ====Partition proposals==== [[File:Jewish protest demonstrations against Palestine White Paper, May 18, 1939. King George Ave, Jerusalem.jpg|thumb|Jewish demonstration against White Paper in Jerusalem in 1939]] In 1937, the [[Peel Commission]] proposed a partition between a small Jewish state, whose Arab population would have to be transferred, and an Arab state to be attached to the [[Emirate of Transjordan]], this emirate also being part of the wider [[Mandate for Palestine]]. The proposal was rejected outright by the Arabs. The two main Jewish leaders, [[Chaim Weizmann]] and [[David Ben-Gurion]], had convinced the [[World Zionist Congress|Zionist Congress]] to equivocally approve the Peel recommendations as a basis for more negotiation.<ref name=Louis>Louis, William Roger (2006). [https://books.google.com/books?id=NQnpQNKeKKAC ''Ends of British Imperialism: The Scramble for Empire, Suez, and Decolonization''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221128022458/https://books.google.com/books/about/Ends_of_British_Imperialism.html?id=NQnpQNKeKKAC&redir_esc=y |date=28 November 2022 }}, p. 391.</ref><ref name=Morris66>Morris, Benny (2009). ''One State, Two States: Resolving the Israel/Palestine Conflict'', p. 66</ref><ref name=Morris48>{{cite book |last= Morris |first= Benny |author-link= Benny Morris |title= The Birth of the Palestinian Refugee Problem Revisited |pages= 11, 48, 49 |publisher= Cambridge University Press |year= 2004 |orig-year= 1988 |isbn= 978-0-521-00967-6 |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=uM_kFX6edX8C |access-date= 12 February 2022}} p. 11 "while the Zionist movement, after much agonising, accepted the principle of partition and the proposals as a basis for negotiation"; p. 49 "In the end, after bitter debate, the Congress equivocally approved—by a vote of 299 to 160—the Peel recommendations as a basis for further negotiation."</ref><ref>'Zionists Ready To Negotiate British Plan As Basis', ''The Times'' Thursday, 12 August 1937; p. 10; Issue 47761; col B.</ref><ref>Eran, Oded (2002). "Arab-Israel Peacemaking." ''The Continuum Political Encyclopedia of the Middle East''. Ed. [[Avraham Sela]]. New York: Continuum, p. 122.</ref> In [[1937 Ben-Gurion letter|a letter to his son in October 1937]], Ben-Gurion explained that partition would be a first step to "possession of the land as a whole".<ref>[http://www.palestineremembered.com/download/B-G%20LetterTranslation.pdf Letter from David Ben-Gurion to his son Amos, written 5 October 1937] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190512101840/http://www.palestineremembered.com/download/B-G%20LetterTranslation.pdf |date=12 May 2019 }}, Obtained from the Ben-Gurion Archives in Hebrew, and translated into English by the [[Institute of Palestine Studies]], Beirut</ref><ref>{{citation|last=Morris|first=Benny|author-link=Benny Morris|title= Righteous Victims: A History of the Zionist-Arab Conflict, 1881–1998|publisher=Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group|year=2011|isbn=978-0-307-78805-4|page=138}} Quote: "No Zionist can forgo the smallest portion of the Land Of Israel. [A] Jewish state in part [of Palestine] is not an end, but a beginning ….. Our possession is important not only for itself … through this we increase our power, and every increase in power facilitates getting hold of the country in its entirety. Establishing a [small] state …. will serve as a very potent lever in our historical effort to redeem the whole country"</ref><ref name=Finkelstein208>{{citation|title=Beyond Chutzpah: On the Misuse of Anti-semitism and the Abuse of History|first=Norman|last=Finkelstein|publisher=University of California Press|year=2005|isbn=978-0-520-24598-3|page=280|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Xmi2Yw0QzN8C&pg=PA280}}</ref> The same sentiment was recorded by Ben-Gurion on other occasions, such as at a meeting of the Jewish Agency executive in June 1938,<ref>Quote from a meeting of the Jewish Agency executive in June 1938: "[I am] satisfied with part of the country, but on the basis of the assumption that after we build up a strong force following the establishment of the state, we will abolish the partition of the country and we will expand to the whole Land of Israel." in<br />{{citation|title=Expulsion of the Palestinians: The Concept of "Transfer" in Zionist Political Thought, 1882–1948|first=Nur|last=Masalha|publisher=Inst for Palestine Studies|year=1992|isbn=978-0-88728-235-5|page=[https://archive.org/details/expulsionofpales00masa/page/107 107]|url=https://archive.org/details/expulsionofpales00masa/page/107}}; and {{harvnb|Segev|2000|p=[https://archive.org/details/onepalestinecomp00sege/page/403 403]}}</ref> as well as by Chaim Weizmann.<ref name=Finkelstein208/><ref>From a letter from Chaim Weizmann to [[General (United Kingdom)|General]] [[Arthur Grenfell Wauchope|Sir Arthur G. Wauchope]], [[High Commissioners for Palestine and Transjordan|High Commissioner for Palestine]], while the Peel Commission was convening in 1937: "We shall spread in the whole country in the course of time ….. this is only an arrangement for the next 25 to 30 years." {{citation|title=Expulsion of the Palestinians: The Concept of "Transfer" in Zionist Political Thought, 1882–1948|first=Nur|last=Masalha|publisher=Inst for Palestine Studies|year=1992|isbn=978-0-88728-235-5|page=[https://archive.org/details/expulsionofpales00masa/page/62 62]|url=https://archive.org/details/expulsionofpales00masa/page/62}}</ref> Following the [[London Conference of 1939|London Conference]] in February and March 1939, the British Government published a [[1939 White Paper|White Paper]] which proposed a limit to Jewish immigration from Europe, restrictions on Jewish land purchases, and a programme for creating an independent state to replace the Mandate within ten years. This was seen by the ''[[Yishuv]]'' as betrayal of the mandatory terms, especially in light of the increasing persecution of Jews in Europe. In response, Zionists organised ''[[Aliyah Bet]]'', a programme of illegal immigration into Palestine. [[Lehi (group)|Lehi]], a small group of extremist Zionists, staged armed attacks on British authorities in Palestine. However, the [[Jewish Agency]], which represented the mainstream Zionist leadership and most of the Jewish population, still hoped to persuade Britain to allow resumed Jewish immigration and cooperated with Britain during the [[Second World War]]. Summary: Please note that all contributions to Christianpedia may be edited, altered, or removed by other contributors. If you do not want your writing to be edited mercilessly, then do not submit it here. You are also promising us that you wrote this yourself, or copied it from a public domain or similar free resource (see Christianpedia:Copyrights for details). Do not submit copyrighted work without permission! Cancel Editing help (opens in new window) Discuss this page