Editing History of Israel (section)

===United Nations Partition Plan===
{{Main|United Nations Partition Plan for Palestine}}
[[File:UN Partition Plan For Palestine 1947.png|thumb|upright|[[United Nations Partition Plan for Palestine]], 1947]]
On 2 April 1947, the United Kingdom requested that the question of Palestine be handled by the [[General Assembly of the United Nations|General Assembly]].<ref>[http://domino.un.org/unispal.nsf/9a798adbf322aff38525617b006d88d7/07175de9fa2de563852568d3006e10f3?OpenDocument UNITED NATIONS: General Assembly: A/364 3 September 1947: Chapter I: The Origin and Activities of UNSCOP: A. Creation of the Special Committee: Its Terms of Reference and Composition] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120603150222/http://domino.un.org/unispal.nsf/9a798adbf322aff38525617b006d88d7/07175de9fa2de563852568d3006e10f3?OpenDocument |date=3 June 2012 }}</ref> The General Assembly created a committee, [[United Nations Special Committee on Palestine]] (UNSCOP), to report on "the question of Palestine".<ref>[https://unispal.un.org/UNISPAL.NSF/0/F5A49E57095C35B685256BCF0075D9C2 A/RES/106 (S-1)] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120806072438/http://unispal.un.org/UNISPAL.NSF/0/F5A49E57095C35B685256BCF0075D9C2 |date=6 August 2012 }} of 15 May 1947 General Assembly Resolution 106 Constituting the UNSCOP: Retrieved 30 May 2012</ref>  In July 1947 the UNSCOP visited Palestine and met with Jewish and Zionist delegations. The [[Arab Higher Committee]] boycotted the meetings. During the visit the British Foreign Secretary [[Ernest Bevin]] ordered that passengers from an [[Aliyah Bet]] ship, [[SS Exodus|SS ''Exodus'']] ''1947'', to be sent back to Europe. The Holocaust surviving migrants on the ship were forcibly removed by British troops at Hamburg, Germany.<ref>{{Cite web |title=UNSCOP Committee - הארכיון הציוני |url=http://www.zionistarchives.org.il/en/Pages/UNSCOP.aspx |access-date=2023-11-30 |website=www.zionistarchives.org.il |archive-date=14 January 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240114010239/http://www.zionistarchives.org.il/en/Pages/UNSCOP.aspx |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1947v05/d783 {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240714110856/https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1947v05/d783 |date=14 July 2024 }}

US STATE DEPARTMENT, ''The Consul General at Jerusalem'' ( ''Macatee'' ) ''to the Secretary of State, '''Jerusalem''', July 14, 1947''</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title="Exodus 1947" |url=https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/exodus-1947 |access-date=2023-11-30 |website=encyclopedia.ushmm.org |language=en |archive-date=9 December 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231209140550/https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/exodus-1947 |url-status=live }}</ref>

The principal non-Zionist Orthodox Jewish (or [[Haredi]]) party, [[Agudat Israel]], recommended to UNSCOP that a Jewish state be set up after reaching a religious [[Status quo (Israel)|status quo agreement]] with Ben-Gurion regarding the future Jewish state. The agreement granted an exemption from military service to a quota of [[yeshiva]] (religious seminary) students and to all Orthodox women, made the Sabbath the national weekend, guaranteed [[kosher]] food in government institutions and allowed Orthodox Jews to maintain a separate education system.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.news1.co.il/uploadFiles/781353175640107.doc |script-title=he:מכתב הסטטוס קוו |date=19 June 1947 |language=he |access-date=5 December 2012 |archive-date=4 March 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304060234/http://www.news1.co.il/uploadFiles/781353175640107.doc |url-status=live }}</ref>

The majority report of UNSCOP proposed<ref>[http://domino.un.org/unispal.nsf/9a798adbf322aff38525617b006d88d7/07175de9fa2de563852568d3006e10f3?OpenDocument United Nations: General Assembly: A/364: 3 September 1947: Official Records of the Second Session of the General Assembly: Supplement No. 11: United Nations Special Committee on Palestine: Report to the General Assembly Volume 1: Lake Success, New York 1947: Retrieved 30 May 2012] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120603150222/http://domino.un.org/unispal.nsf/9a798adbf322aff38525617b006d88d7/07175de9fa2de563852568d3006e10f3?OpenDocument |date=3 June 2012 }}</ref> "an independent Arab State, an independent Jewish State, and the City of Jerusalem", the last to be under "an International Trusteeship System".<ref>{{Cite report |publisher=United Nations |date=20 April 1949 |access-date=31 July 2007 |title=Palestine |id=Background Paper No. 47 (ST/DPI/SER.A/47) |url=https://unispal.un.org/UNISPAL.NSF/0/2248AF9A92B498718525694B007239C6 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110103014616/http://unispal.un.org/UNISPAL.NSF/0/2248AF9A92B498718525694B007239C6 |archive-date=3 January 2011}}</ref> On 29 November 1947, in [[Resolution 181]] (II), the General Assembly adopted the majority report of UNSCOP, but with slight modifications.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://domino.un.org/unispal.nsf/0/7f0af2bd897689b785256c330061d253 |title=A/RES/181(II) of 29 November 1947 |publisher=United Nations |year=1947 |access-date=30 May 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120524094913/http://domino.un.org/unispal.nsf/0/7f0af2bd897689b785256c330061d253 |archive-date=24 May 2012}}</ref> The Plan also called for the British to allow "substantial" Jewish migration by 1 February 1948.<ref>Part I paragraph 2 UN resolution 181(II), {{cite web|url=https://unispal.un.org/unispal.nsf/0/7F0AF2BD897689B785256C330061D253 |title=A/RES/181(II) of 29 November 1947 |access-date=7 February 2014 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150906162506/http://unispal.un.org/unispal.nsf/0/7F0AF2BD897689B785256C330061D253 |archive-date=6 September 2015}}</ref>

Neither Britain nor the UN Security Council took any action to implement the recommendation made by the resolution and Britain continued detaining Jews attempting to enter Palestine. Concerned that partition would severely damage Anglo-Arab relations, Britain denied UN representatives access to Palestine during the period between the adoption of Resolution 181 (II) and the termination of the British Mandate.<ref>[[Trygve Lie]], In the Cause of Peace, Seven Years with the United Nations (New York: MacMillan 1954) p. 163</ref> The British withdrawal was finally completed in May 1948. However, Britain continued to hold (formerly illegal) Jewish immigrants of "fighting age" and their families on  [[Cyprus internment camps|Cyprus]] until March 1949.<ref>Morris Laub, ''Last barrier to freedom: internment of Jewish holocaust survivors on Cyprus 1946–1949'', Berkeley 1985</ref>