Zionist aspirations and the Balfour Declaration The idea of a
Jewish homeland in
Palestine had been a goal of
Zionist organisations since the late 19th century. In 1917
British foreign secretary Arthur Balfour expressed support for this goal in a letter to British Jewish community leader
Walter, Lord Rothschild: His Majesty's government view with favour the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people, and will use their best endeavours to facilitate the achievement of this object, it being clearly understood that nothing shall be done which may prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine, or the rights and political status enjoyed by Jews in any other country. Through this letter, which became known as the
Balfour Declaration, British government policy officially endorsed Zionism. After
World War I, the United Kingdom was given a
mandate for Palestine, which it had conquered from the
Ottomans during the war.
International efforts and the UN Partition Plan In 1937 the
Peel Commission suggested
partitioning Mandate Palestine into an Arab state and a Jewish state, though the proposal was rejected as unworkable by the government and was at least partially to blame for the renewal of the
1936–39 Arab revolt. In the face of increasing violence after
World War II, the British handed the issue over to the recently established
United Nations. The result was
Resolution 181(II), a plan to partition Palestine into
Independent Arab and Jewish States and the Special International Regime for the City of Jerusalem. The Jewish state was to receive around 56% of the land area of Mandate Palestine, encompassing 82% of the Jewish population, though it would be separated from Jerusalem. The plan was accepted by most of the Jewish population, but rejected by much of the Arab populace. On
29 November 1947, the resolution to recommend to the
United Kingdom, as the mandatory Power for Palestine, and to all other Members of the United Nations the adoption and implementation, with regard to the future government of Palestine, of the Plan of Partition with Economic Union was put to a vote in the United Nations General Assembly. The result was 33 to 13 in favour of the resolution, with 10 abstentions. Resolution 181(II):
PART I: Future constitution and government of Palestine: A. TERMINATION OF MANDATE, PARTITION AND INDEPENDENCE: Clause 3 provides:Independent Arab and Jewish States and the Special International Regime for the City of Jerusalem, ... shall come into existence in Palestine two months after the evacuation of the armed forces of the mandatory Power has been completed but in any case not later than 1 October 1948. The Arab countries (all of which had opposed the plan) proposed to query the
International Court of Justice on the competence of the General Assembly to partition a country, but the resolution was rejected.
Drafting the text The first draft of the declaration was made by
Zvi Berenson, the legal advisor of the
Histadrut trade union and later a Justice of the
Supreme Court, at the request of
Pinchas Rosen. A revised second draft was made by three lawyers, Mordechai Baham, and , and was framed by a committee including
David Remez,
Pinchas Rosen,
Haim-Moshe Shapira,
Moshe Sharett and
Aharon Zisling.
Palestinian Arab perspectives and ongoing conflict Palestinian Arabs were largely excluded from the drafting process and viewed the declaration as a unilateral decision over the sovereignty of the territory they inhabited. They considered the UN Partition Plan unfair, both because it denied their right to self-determination, and because it gave a significant portion of the land to a Jewish state despite the Arab population being the majority. Consequently, Arab leaders and communities opposed the plan, stating they would not support any scheme that "provided for the dissection, segregation or partition of their country". This exclusion and denial of political rights contributed to rising tensions, and ultimately, conflict and the 1948 war.
Minhelet HaAm Vote On 12 May 1948, the
Minhelet HaAm (, lit. ''People's Administration'') was convened to vote on declaring independence. Three of the thirteen members were absent, with
Yehuda Leib Maimon and
Yitzhak Gruenbaum being blocked in
besieged Jerusalem, while
Yitzhak-Meir Levin was in the United States. The meeting started at 13:45 and ended after midnight. The decision was between accepting the American proposal for a truce, or declaring independence. The latter option was put to a vote, with six of the ten members present supporting it: •
For:
David Ben-Gurion,
Moshe Sharett (
Mapai);
Peretz Bernstein (
General Zionists);
Haim-Moshe Shapira (
Hapoel HaMizrachi);
Mordechai Bentov,
Aharon Zisling (
Mapam). •
Against:
Eliezer Kaplan,
David Remez (Mapai);
Pinchas Rosen (
New Aliyah Party);
Bechor-Shalom Sheetrit (
Sephardim and Oriental Communities).
Chaim Weizmann, the Chairman of the
World Zionist Organization, and soon to be
first President of Israel, endorsed the decision, after reportedly asking "What are they waiting for, the idiots?" The original draft had declared that the borders would be decided by the UN partition plan. While this was supported by Rosen and
Bechor-Shalom Sheetrit, it was opposed by Ben-Gurion and Zisling, with Ben-Gurion stating, "We accepted the UN Resolution, but the Arabs did not. They are preparing to make war on us. If we defeat them and capture western Galilee or territory on both sides of the road to Jerusalem, these areas will become part of the state. Why should we obligate ourselves to accept boundaries that in any case the Arabs don't accept?" The inclusion of the designation of borders in the text was dropped after the provisional government of Israel, the
Minhelet HaAm, voted 5–4 against it. Judea and Zion were rejected because, according to the partition plan, Jerusalem (Zion) and most of the
Judaean Mountains would be outside the new state. Ben-Gurion put forward "Israel" and it passed by a vote of 6–3.
Other items At the meeting on 14 May, several other members of Moetzet HaAm suggested additions to the document.
Meir Vilner wanted it to denounce the British Mandate and military but Sharett said it was out of place.
Meir Argov pushed to mention the
Displaced Persons camps in Europe and to guarantee freedom of
language. Ben-Gurion agreed with the latter but noted that Hebrew should be the main language of the state. The debate over wording did not end completely even after the Declaration had been made. Declaration signer
Meir David Loewenstein later claimed, "It ignored our sole right to
Eretz Israel, which is based on the covenant of the Lord with
Abraham, our father, and repeated promises in the
Tanach. It ignored the aliya of the
Ramban and the students of the
Vilna Gaon and the
Ba'al Shem Tov, and the [rights of] Jews who lived in the 'Old Yishuv'." == Declaration ceremony ==