An early pilot · A community project
QADIYA is an independent, noncommercial community project: an archive of Palestine’s history, built for the cause and open to everyone.
This is an early pilot. Its records were gathered with AI help from cited sources and are still being checked, so don’t rely on them yet, and tell us if something is wrong.
We’re looking for people and organisations to build it with us: historians, archivists, translators, designers, developers, and partners who can support the work.
خطة تقسيم فلسطين
Exact day29 November 1947
Gathered from its sources, not yet reviewed
On 29 November 1947 the UN General Assembly adopted resolution 181, recommending the partition of Palestine into a Jewish and an Arab state, with Jerusalem under international rule. The Jewish state was to have some 56 percent of the country, when Jews were less than a third of its people and owned less than 7 percent of its land.
The proposed Jewish state covered some 56 percent of Mandate Palestine, in three barely contiguous parts, and its Arab “minority” approached 47 percent. The Arab state was to have some 43 percent, for an Arab population exceeding two-thirds, also in three parts, besides the small enclave of Jaffa inside the Jewish state. Jerusalem and Bethlehem were to form an international enclave. When the plan was adopted, Jews made up less than a third of Palestine’s population and owned less than 7 percent of its land.1
Link to this chapterThe vote was first set for 26 November. The plan’s supporters, fearing it would not reach the two-thirds majority it needed, had it delayed by three days, time the encyclopedia says was used for intense lobbying of member states, above all by Washington and Zionist organisations. The resolution was adopted on 29 November with 33 votes in favour, 13 against and 10 abstentions.2
Link to this chapterIn Arab Palestine the vote was met with a general strike and demonstrations, some of which, in Jerusalem and elsewhere, turned to destructive riots. Zionist military organisations attacked Arab villages and quarters, before launching the organised campaigns of Plan Dalet in early April 1948. The encyclopedia sees the plan as the immediate precursor of the establishment of Israel, predicated on the expulsion of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians from their lands.3
Link to this chapterLinked context in the legacy record
Within a yearThe Nakba, The Mandate ends; Israel is declared, Plan Dalet, The Lydda massacre and death march, The Deir Yassin massacre
Evidence
PalQuest · Institute for Palestine Studies · section: Highlight text (Alex Winder)
Editorial paraphrase · enAdopted 29 November 1947; the Jewish state some 56 percent, with an Arab “minority” approaching 47 percent; the Arab state some 43 percent; Jews less than a third of the population, owning less than 7 percent of the land.
Link to this citationPalQuest · Institute for Palestine Studies · section: Highlight text (Alex Winder)
Editorial paraphrase · enVote delayed from 26 November for three days of lobbying; adopted by 33 to 13, with 10 abstentions.
Link to this citationPalQuest · Institute for Palestine Studies · section: Highlight text (Alex Winder)
Editorial paraphrase · enA general strike and demonstrations, some turning to riots; attacks on Arab villages and quarters, then Plan Dalet from early April 1948; the precursor of Israel, predicated on expulsion.
Link to this citationdocument · United Nations
Supports the event summary and historical context. Consult the original record for detail and attribution.
Reference and original summary only. Original material remains with its publisher; no full-text reproduction permission is implied.
photograph · Wikimedia Commons
The photograph shown with this event: The UN’s sketch map of the plan, September 1947.
Public domain: a United Nations map; Wikimedia Commons records that UN maps are to be considered in the public domain unless the map says otherwise (PD-UN-map).
article · PalQuest · Institute for Palestine Studies
Overview by Alex Winder, Interactive Encyclopedia of the Palestine Question (Institute for Palestine Studies).
Reference metadata and an original summary only. No permission to copy or host the source’s text, photographs, audio or video is asserted.
11-29 · occurrence
Anniversary of the documented date.