Reply #34: I will grant that 47/48 might have been a strategic error [View All]

[Douglas Carpenter]

on the part of the Palestinian leadership. However, in the context of the time with much of the Zionist movement claiming that their acceptance was only a first step and with open talk of transferring major portions of the Palestinian population and with 66% of the population being offered 45% of the land it may not have seemed like a very generous or even a very wise offer at the time.

In retrospect, since the indigenous Palestinian independence movement had already been bitterly defeated and most of its leadership exiled by the British as a result of the rebellion of 1936-1939, it may now seem apparent that accepting the 47 partition would have at least left the Palestinians in a stronger position.

The question now is what to do about the whole matter? The Geneva Accord as well as the Saudi Peace Plan offers an alternative with a two-state solution. If expansionism continues then a two-state solution well become completely nonviable. Then the only options as-demographics accelerate to the advantage of the Palestinians-will either be massive expulsion or some form of a single-state solution.
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University of Michigan - Department of Middle East Studies:

" Arabs opposed this decision (47 partition) for four reasons: First, 66% of the population was Arab, and Jews held only 6% of the land. Second, Palestinians questioned the legality of Resolution 181 since the British Mandate specified that the opinions of the inhabitants must be taken into account in any decisions. Since 2/3 of the people in Palestine were Arabs, they maintained that the creation of a "Jewish" state against the will of the Arab majority could not be legal. Third, neighboring independent Arab states feared that Israel would be an agent of powerful Western nations that would use it to dominate the region. Finally, Muslims and many Christians (the Catholic Church most prominently) felt that the significance of Palestine and Jerusalem to all three faiths--Judaism, Christianity, and Islam--should be respected.

When the dust settled in January 1949 a Jewish state was in place but the Palestinian Arab state had been stillborn. The declaration of a Jewish state in May 1948 sparked a war. This war was made worse by the determination of Arab leaders to keep Palestine united and to resist a Jewish state, and by the determination of Israelis to expand the size of their state to include part of the proposed Palestinian state."

link:

http://www.umich.edu/~iinet/worldreach/assets/docs/israeli-palestinian_conflict/studentlesson3.html