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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…