1947 UN resolution on the partition of Palestine

70 years ago, on November 29, 1947, the UN General Assembly approved a plan to divide Palestine, which had the status of a British mandated territory, into a Jewish and an Arab state.

The Jewish state was to receive the coastal plain near Haifa up to Rehovot, the eastern part of the Galilee (including Lake Tiberias) and the Negev desert up to Umm Rashrash (Eilat) inclusive. The Arab state was to consist of the Western Galilee with the city of Akko, the mountainous regions of Judea and Samaria, the southern coast to the city of El Majal (Ashkelon), including today's Gaza Strip, and the desert strip along the Egyptian border.

498,000 Jews and 497,000 Arabs were to live in the Jewish state, and 807,000 Arabs and 10,000 Jews were to live in the Arab state. In Jerusalem, which was supposed to be declared a special international zone, there were 105,000 Arabs and 100,000 Jews.