Editing Clement Attlee (section)

===== Palestine =====
[[File:VE day Jerusalem 1945.jpg|thumb|right|[[VE Day]] celebrations in British-controlled [[Jerusalem]] (1945)]]
One of the most urgent problems facing Attlee concerned the future of the [[Mandatory Palestine|British mandate in Palestine]], which had become too troublesome and expensive to handle. British policies in Palestine were perceived by the [[Zionist movement]] and the Truman administration to be pro-Arab and anti-Jewish, and Britain soon found itself unable to maintain public order in the face of a [[Jewish insurgency in Mandatory Palestine|Jewish insurgency]] and a [[1947–1948 civil war in Mandatory Palestine|civil war]].

During this period, 70,000 Holocaust survivors attempted to reach Palestine as part of the [[Aliyah Bet]] refugee movement. Attlee's government tried several tactics to prevent the migration.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |title=Cyprus Detention Camps |url=https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/cyprus-detention-camps |access-date=2023-02-08 |website=encyclopedia.ushmm.org |language=en |archive-date=8 February 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230208005330/https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/cyprus-detention-camps |url-status=live }}</ref> Five ships were bombed by the [[Secret Intelligence Service]] (though with no casualties) with a fake Palestinian group created to take responsibility.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Operation Embarrass? You bet: Britain's secret war on the Jews – The Jewish Chronicle |url=https://www.thejc.com/news/uk-news/operation-embarrass-you-bet-britain-s-secret-war-on-the-jews-1.18403 |access-date=2023-02-08 |website=[[The Jewish Chronicle]] |date=21 September 2010 |archive-date=8 February 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230208005330/https://www.thejc.com/news/uk-news/operation-embarrass-you-bet-britain-s-secret-war-on-the-jews-1.18403 |url-status=live }}</ref> The navy apprehended over 50,000 refugees en route, interning them in [[Cyprus internment camps|detention camps in Cyprus]]. Conditions in the camps were harsh and faced global criticism. Later, the refugee ship [[Exodus 1947]] would be sent back to mainland Europe, instead of being taken to Cyprus.<ref name=":0" />

In response to the increasingly unpopular mandate, Attlee ordered the evacuation of all British military personnel and handed over the issue to the United Nations, a decision which was widely supported by the general public in Britain.<ref>Ellen Jenny Ravndal, "Exit Britain: British Withdrawal From the Palestine Mandate in the Early Cold War, 1947–1948". ''Diplomacy & Statecraft'' 21#3 (2010): 416–433.</ref> With the establishment of the state of [[Israel]] in 1948, the camps in Cyprus were eventually closed, with their former occupants finally completing their journey to the new country.<ref name=":0" />

Attlee remained hostile to Israel years after its establishment. In 1958, describing the Israelis as extremely aggressive against the neighbouring Arab states and describing the [[Balfour Declaration]] as a mistake.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2015-03-20 |title=Lord Attlee, British Ex-premier, Attacks Israel in House of Lords |url=https://www.jta.org/archive/lord-attlee-british-ex-premier-attacks-israel-in-house-of-lords |access-date=2024-12-09 |website=Jewish Telegraphic Agency |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2015-03-20 |title=Attlee Explains Why He Thought the Balfour Declaration a "mistake" |url=https://www.jta.org/archive/attlee-explains-why-he-thought-the-balfour-declaration-a-mistake |access-date=2024-12-09 |website=Jewish Telegraphic Agency |language=en-US}}</ref>