-
The Nakba (Arabic for “catastrophe”) refers to the mass displacement and dispossession of Palestinian Arabs during the 1947–1949 Palestine war that accompanied the creation of Israel. Triggered by the UN’s 1947 Partition Plan and ensuing civil war, it saw roughly 700,000 Palestinian civilians forced from their homes by Zionist/Israeli militias . Palestinian historians emphasize that this was not a simple byproduct of war but a planned campaign. For Palestinians it is a foundational event: shaping national identity, refugee claims, and the enduring demand for return . From the start, Palestinians viewed the UN Partition Plan (Nov. 1947) as unjust (it…
-
In late 1947, Britain announced it would terminate its Mandate in Palestine by May 1948. On 29 November 1947 the UN adopted Resolution 181 to partition Palestine into Jewish and Arab states to take effect with the end of the Mandate . Violence between Jewish and Arab communities quickly escalated into civil war. The Jewish Yishuv’s main defense force, the Haganah, prepared for full-scale war amid uncertainty. As the British began to leave, Zionist leaders (including Ben Gurion and military officers) drew up Plan Dalet (Plan D) in March 1948, the final version of a series of Haganah war plans. …
-
The question of Palestine had become increasingly unmanageable for Britain by 1947. After World War II the Mandatory government faced relentless Jewish immigration (legal and clandestine), guerrilla attacks by Zionist militias (including the 1946 King David Hotel bombing), and widespread Arab resistance. British leaders lamented that both communities showed “no inclination to live together under the same governmental umbrella,” and that Palestine had become a drain on British resources with no strategic payoff . Faced with mounting violence and international pressure, Foreign Secretary Ernest Bevin announced on 14 February 1947 that Britain would refer the Palestine problem to the newly…
-
By the close of World War II, the British Mandate in Palestine had become a toxic burden for London. Exhausted by years of war, mounting costs, and relentless unrest, Britain’s leaders concluded that holding on to Palestine was no longer tenable. Prime Minister Clement Attlee and Foreign Secretary Ernest Bevin saw Mandate Palestine as a “costly, painful, and thankless” task that drained resources and invited conflict . Attlee openly argued that diminished British power meant it was time to “cut our losses” in Palestine just as Britain had in India . Indeed, by 1947 Britain had roughly 100,000 troops stationed…
-
As an international aid flotilla approaches the shores of Gaza, sailing directly towards an Israeli naval blockade, strikers in Italy have forced the government there to send warships to escort them (much against the official policy of the far right Meloni government). This shows us the power of solidarity and strike action. Go Deeper: Visit our website at www.explaininghistory.org for articles and detailed explorations of the topics discussed.▸ Join the Conversation: Our community of history en
-
In this episode, I draw on My Palestine by Mohammad Tarbush to examine two often-overlooked episodes in the history of Zionism and its global reception.First, we revisit the 1975 United Nations General Assembly vote that declared Zionism a form of racism—an extraordinary moment that sent shockwaves through international diplomacy, reshaped alliances in the Cold War, and left a lasting legacy in debates about race, colonialism, and nationhood.Second, we turn to the influential role of the British