(source: Jewish Virtual Library)
On November 29, 1947, the United Nations voted in favor of Resolution 181, to partition the remaining territorial area that was part of the British Mandate known as Palestine, into two states: one Jewish, one Arab. Of course, the Jews accepted the idea of a shrunken, truncated state with Jerusalem under international jurisdiction, and the Arabs rejected it. This led to Israel’s War of Independence and the re-establishment of the state of Israel in 1948. The rest, as they say, is history.
What many people do not know, or conveniently neglect to mention, is that the British Mandate for Palestine, which was earmarked for Jewish settlement and to become the Jewish state, originally included the land that today is the state of Jordan. In 1921, after the Balfour Declaration and the San Remo conference confirmed international, political and legal rights to the founding of a Jewish state in Palestine, the British tried to placate the Arabs by giving them part of the land that was included under the Palestine Mandate. This land comprised 77% of the original Mandate, and was used to create the state of Transjordan, to be renamed Jordan in 1949.
Over the years there have been numerous proposals to establish an Arab state west of the Jordan River, including by Israeli governments, all rejected by the Arabs. And the Arabs, especially the “Palestinian” Arabs, have not given up their dream to destroy Israel and create the apartheid state of Palestine, from the river to the sea in its place.
So, do we celebrate the passing of Resolution 181 in November 1947? We certainly commemorate it, as perhaps as the saying goes, half a loaf is better than no loaf at all.
The good news today, however, is that Jews – the true indigenous people in the Land of Israel – are returning to their historic homeland, Judea and Samaria, even in the face of obstacles placed by the international community and Israeli governments. May this return continue unabated and may full sovereignty be restored throughout the Land of Israel, to its rightful owners.