Today in Labor History November 30, 1947: The 1947–1949 Palestine war broke out after the UN adopted a resolution recommending the Partition Plan for Palestine. The UN-approved plan would have divided Palestine into two states, giving Jews 56% of the land, even though there were twice as many Palestinian Arabs already living there, and despite the fact that Jews legally owned only 6-7% of the land. The war was part of what the Israelis called their War of Independence, and the Palestinians refer to as the Nakba (catastrophe), because it resulted in their violent displacement and the dispossession of their land, as well as the destruction of their society, culture, identity, political rights, and national aspirations. During the war, the Jewish and Arab communities of Palestine clashed, while the British, who had the obligation to maintain order, mostly looked on and did nothing. When the British Mandate expired in 1948, Israel declared itself a state and the neighboring Arab states (Egypt, Transjordan, Iraq & Syria) invaded. Israel’s military victory allowed them to claim 78% of Palestinians’ land.
