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==== The Plan ==== | ==== The Plan ==== | ||
Unable to resolve the conflict between Palestinians and settlers, Britain withdrew from Palestine in February 1947 and transferred the matter to the UN, which in turn | Unable to resolve the conflict between Palestinians and settlers, Britain withdrew from Palestine in February 1947 and transferred the matter to the UN, which in turn entrusted it to [[UNSCOP]]. | ||
While UNSCOP did deliberate about the possibility of a democratic one-state solution, whose future would be determined through democratic organs, they ended up adopting a partition plan which divided Palestine into two states: "Israel", occupying 56% of all Palestinian land and containing the Eastern Galilee, a coastal area (including Haifa, Tel Aviv, and most fertile lowland plains) and most of the Negev, and Palestine, consisting of the remaining territories, except for Jerusalem, which was to be considered ''corpus separatum''.<ref>{{Web citation|author=Alex Winder|newspaper=Palquest|title=UN Partition Plan, 1947|url=https://palquest.palestine-studies.org/sites/default/files/Revisiting_the_UNGA_Partition_Resolution-Walid_Khalidi.pdf|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240129081137/https://palquest.palestine-studies.org/sites/default/files/Revisiting_the_UNGA_Partition_Resolution-Walid_Khalidi.pdf|archive-date=2024-1-9|retrieved=2024-6-20|quote=The proposed Jewish state covered some 56 percent of Mandate Palestine divided into three barely contiguous parts/areas: the eastern Galilee (including Safad, Tiberias, Baysan, and the Sea of Galilee), a coastal area (about two-thirds of Palestine's coast, including Haifa, Tel Aviv, and the fertile lowland plains), and most of the Negev (excluding Bir al-Sabi' and a strip/area running about half-way down the border with Egypt, but giving access to the Red Sea). Of Mandate Palestine's sixteen districts, nine were allotted to the Jewish state, only one of which had a Jewish majority; the UN-proposed Jewish state as a whole had an Arab “minority” approaching 47 percent.}}</ref> Additionally, it is also worth mentioning that even within the UN-proposed state, settlers owned only 11% of the land and were the minority in every single district, further adding to the absurdity that was this plan.<ref>{{Citation|author=Ilan Pappe|year=2006|title=The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine|chapter=Chapter 3|section=The Arab and Palestinian Positions|page=34|quote=The injustice was as striking then as it appears now, and yet it was hardly commented on at the time by any of the leading Western newspapers then covering Palestine: the Jews, who owned less than six per cent of the total land area of Palestine and constituted no more than one third of the population, were handed more than half of its overall territory. Within the borders of their UN -proposed state, they owned only eleven per cent of the land, and were the minority in every district|pdf=https://cloudflare-ipfs.com/ipfs/bafykbzacedod4irl7doqf2n5iym5sa2eyrmk6ql2zs7yq7yznvezr26fielzc?filename=Ilan%20Pappe%20-%20The%20Ethnic%20Cleansing%20of%20Palestine-Oneworld%20%282006%29.pdf|publisher=Oneworld|isbn=9781851684670|lg=http://libgen.rs/book/index.php?md5=44F7CEAB3B4EA784451D636BC648D02F}}</ref> | While UNSCOP did deliberate about the possibility of a democratic one-state solution, whose future would be determined through democratic organs, they ended up adopting a partition plan which divided Palestine into two states: "Israel", occupying 56% of all Palestinian land and containing the Eastern Galilee, a coastal area (including Haifa, Tel Aviv, and most fertile lowland plains) and most of the Negev, and Palestine, consisting of the remaining territories, except for Jerusalem, which was to be considered ''corpus separatum''.<ref>{{Web citation|author=Alex Winder|newspaper=Palquest|title=UN Partition Plan, 1947|url=https://palquest.palestine-studies.org/sites/default/files/Revisiting_the_UNGA_Partition_Resolution-Walid_Khalidi.pdf|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240129081137/https://palquest.palestine-studies.org/sites/default/files/Revisiting_the_UNGA_Partition_Resolution-Walid_Khalidi.pdf|archive-date=2024-1-9|retrieved=2024-6-20|quote=The proposed Jewish state covered some 56 percent of Mandate Palestine divided into three barely contiguous parts/areas: the eastern Galilee (including Safad, Tiberias, Baysan, and the Sea of Galilee), a coastal area (about two-thirds of Palestine's coast, including Haifa, Tel Aviv, and the fertile lowland plains), and most of the Negev (excluding Bir al-Sabi' and a strip/area running about half-way down the border with Egypt, but giving access to the Red Sea). Of Mandate Palestine's sixteen districts, nine were allotted to the Jewish state, only one of which had a Jewish majority; the UN-proposed Jewish state as a whole had an Arab “minority” approaching 47 percent.}}</ref> Additionally, it is also worth mentioning that even within the UN-proposed state, settlers owned only 11% of the land and were the minority in every single district, further adding to the absurdity that was this plan.<ref>{{Citation|author=Ilan Pappe|year=2006|title=The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine|chapter=Chapter 3|section=The Arab and Palestinian Positions|page=34|quote=The injustice was as striking then as it appears now, and yet it was hardly commented on at the time by any of the leading Western newspapers then covering Palestine: the Jews, who owned less than six per cent of the total land area of Palestine and constituted no more than one third of the population, were handed more than half of its overall territory. Within the borders of their UN -proposed state, they owned only eleven per cent of the land, and were the minority in every district|pdf=https://cloudflare-ipfs.com/ipfs/bafykbzacedod4irl7doqf2n5iym5sa2eyrmk6ql2zs7yq7yznvezr26fielzc?filename=Ilan%20Pappe%20-%20The%20Ethnic%20Cleansing%20of%20Palestine-Oneworld%20%282006%29.pdf|publisher=Oneworld|isbn=9781851684670|lg=http://libgen.rs/book/index.php?md5=44F7CEAB3B4EA784451D636BC648D02F}}</ref> | ||
Following this plan, which became known as UN Resolution 181, the [[Arab League]] and the [[Arab Higher Committee]] refused to negotiate any further with the [[United Nations General Assembly]] (UNGA), creating a power vacuum later weaponized by the colonizers. | |||
==== The Palestinian Response ==== | ==== The Palestinian Response ==== | ||
As stated earlier, the Arab League further refused to negotiate with | As stated earlier, the Arab League further refused to negotiate with the UNGA. This fact is often used to support the argument that Palestinians would have a better state had they accepted the Partition Plan. However, this couldn't be further from the truth, as in order to say this one has to ignore the entire history of the Zionist movement, its settler-colonial ambitions, very much aligned with European Imperialist nations<ref>{{Citation|author=Stephen Halbrook|year=1972|title=The Class Origins of Zionist Ideology|title-url=https://annas-archive.org/md5/879dffa8a9c9ef6fbfe91cdab7f68448|section=Herzl|page=98|quote=Throughout these and other talks, Herzl reiterates the identity of interests between imperialism and Zionism, arguing that British support of his plans would ensure pro-British fifth columnists as well as markets. "In some short years the Empire would be richer by a rich colony," and, he adds, in reference to the Jews: "at one stroke England will get ten million secret subjects," "ten million agents for her greatness and her influence," who would also cater to the English market|pdf=https://momot.rs/d3/y/1718971011/10000/u/zlib3_files/20231230/annas_archive_data__aacid__zlib3_files__20231230T013219Z--20231230T013220Z/aacid__zlib3_files__20231230T013219Z__26743366__kNxsYfF3cX3amMvvjmitV6~/2H3F3jCCKsEUBAZrWLVeZw/The%20Class%20Origins%20of%20Zionist%20Ideology%20--%20Stephen%20Halbrook%20--%201972%20--%20University%20of%20Californa%20--%20879dffa8a9c9ef6fbfe91cdab7f68448%20--%20Anna%E2%80%99s%20Archive.pdf|city=California|publisher=University of California Press|trans-lang=English}}</ref>, and how it always advocated for the systematic expulsion of the Palestinians from their own land <ref>{{Web citation|newspaper=Decolonize Palestine|title=Myth: Israel was created as penance for the Holocaust|url=https://decolonizepalestine.com/myth/israel-penance-for-holocaust/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240521001122/https://decolonizepalestine.com/myth/israel-penance-for-holocaust/|archive-date=May 21 2024|retrieved=June 21 2024|quote=“We should go east, into Transjordan. That would be a test for our movement.” | ||
“Nonsense… isn’t there enough land in Judea and Galilee?” | “Nonsense… isn’t there enough land in Judea and Galilee?” | ||
“The land in Judea and Galilee is occupied by the Arabs.” | “The land in Judea and Galilee is occupied by the Arabs.” | ||
| Line 57: | Line 57: | ||
“It is very simple, we’ll harass them until they get out… Let them go to Transjordan.” | “It is very simple, we’ll harass them until they get out… Let them go to Transjordan.” | ||
“And are we going to abandon all of Transjordan?” asks an anxious voice. | “And are we going to abandon all of Transjordan?” asks an anxious voice. | ||
“As soon as we have a big settlement here we’ll seize the land, we’ll become strong, and then we’ll take care of the Left Bank [of the Jordan River], we’ll expel them from there, too. Let them go back to the Arab countries.”}}</ref> By allowing this plan to come into fruition, the UN had fundamentally violated its own human rights charter. | “As soon as we have a big settlement here we’ll seize the land, we’ll become strong, and then we’ll take care of the Left Bank [of the Jordan River], we’ll expel them from there, too. Let them go back to the Arab countries.”}}</ref>. By allowing this plan to come into fruition, the UN had fundamentally violated its own human rights charter. | ||
Furthermore, it is natural that Palestinians rejected this plan, as it went directly against their interests (and violated their right of self-determination) and would further intensify the ethnic cleansing operations. Therefore, it is obvious that such a plan could only be enacted by overwhelming force, since it is obviously impossible to forcibly expand the colonizer's reach from 6%<ref>{{Citation|author=Ilan Pappe|year=2006|title=The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine|chapter=Chapter 3|section=The Arab and Palestinian Positions|page=34|quote=The injustice was as striking then as it appears now, and yet it was hardly commented on at the time by any of the leading Western newspapers then covering Palestine: the Jews, who owned less than six per cent of the total|pdf=https://cloudflare-ipfs.com/ipfs/bafykbzacedod4irl7doqf2n5iym5sa2eyrmk6ql2zs7yq7yznvezr26fielzc?filename=Ilan%20Pappe%20-%20The%20Ethnic%20Cleansing%20of%20Palestine-Oneworld%20%282006%29.pdf|publisher=Oneworld|isbn=9781851684670|lg=http://libgen.rs/book/index.php?md5=44F7CEAB3B4EA784451D636BC648D02F|trans-lang=English}}</ref> to almost 56%<ref>{{Web citation|newspaper=Decolonize Palestine|title=Myth: Had Palestinians accepted the 1947 partition plan, they would have had a state by now|url=https://decolonizepalestine.com/myth/had-palestinians-accepted-the-1947-partition-plan-they-would-have-had-a-state-by-now/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240521000358/https://decolonizepalestine.com/myth/had-palestinians-accepted-the-1947-partition-plan-they-would-have-had-a-state-by-now/|archive-date=May 21 2024|retrieved=June 21 2024|quote=If we consider that most of this population arrived during the 4th and 5th Aliyot (Between 1924-1939), then the majority of those demanding partition of the land had barely been living there for 20 years at the most. To make matters worse, the UN partition plan allotted approximately 56% of the land of mandatory Palestine to the Jewish state.}}</ref> of all Palestinian land without Palestinian support; it is impossible to realize Zionism's ambitions without the systematic expulsion of Palestinians. | |||
Furthermore, it is natural that Palestinians rejected this plan, as it went directly against their interests (and violated their right of self-determination) and would further intensify the ethnic cleansing operations. Therefore, it is obvious that such a plan could only be enacted by overwhelming force, since it is obviously impossible to forcibly expand the colonizer's reach from 6%<ref>{{Citation|author=Ilan Pappe|year=2006|title=The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine|chapter=Chapter 3|section=The Arab and Palestinian Positions|page=34|quote=The injustice was as striking then as it appears now, and yet it was hardly commented on at the time by any of the leading Western newspapers then covering Palestine: the Jews, who owned less than six per cent of the total|pdf=https://cloudflare-ipfs.com/ipfs/bafykbzacedod4irl7doqf2n5iym5sa2eyrmk6ql2zs7yq7yznvezr26fielzc?filename=Ilan%20Pappe%20-%20The%20Ethnic%20Cleansing%20of%20Palestine-Oneworld%20%282006%29.pdf|publisher=Oneworld|isbn=9781851684670|lg=http://libgen.rs/book/index.php?md5=44F7CEAB3B4EA784451D636BC648D02F|trans-lang=English}}</ref> to almost 56%<ref>{{Web citation|newspaper=Decolonize Palestine|title=Myth: Had Palestinians accepted the 1947 partition plan, they would have had a state by now|url=https://decolonizepalestine.com/myth/had-palestinians-accepted-the-1947-partition-plan-they-would-have-had-a-state-by-now/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240521000358/https://decolonizepalestine.com/myth/had-palestinians-accepted-the-1947-partition-plan-they-would-have-had-a-state-by-now/|archive-date=May 21 2024|retrieved=June 21 2024|quote=If we consider that most of this population arrived during the 4th and 5th Aliyot (Between 1924-1939), then the majority of those demanding partition of the land had barely been living there for 20 years at the most. To make matters worse, the UN partition plan allotted approximately 56% of the land of mandatory Palestine to the Jewish state.}}</ref> of all Palestinian land without Palestinian support. | |||
=== Zionist colonization (1948–present) === | === Zionist colonization (1948–present) === | ||