Home > Proposals for a Palestinian state
Proposals for a Palestinian state vary depending on one's views of Palestinian statehood, as well as various definitions of Palestine and " Palestinian" (see also State of Palestine).
1 History
At the dissolution of the Ottoman Empire following WWI, the victorious European states sought to divide the Middle East into political entities according to their own needs, and, to a much lesser extent, according to deals that had been struck with other interested parties. Lebanon and Syria came under French control, while Iraq, Palestine and Transjordan came under British control. Most of these territories achieved independence during the following three decades without unusual difficulty, but the case of Palestine remained problematic.
The future of Palestine was contentious from the beginning of the Palestine Mandate since it had been promised as the site of a Jewish homeland (see Balfour Declaration 1917) yet most of the population were Arabs. It was also, according to one common view, the subject of British promises to the Arabs during WWI. Therefore, it is not surprising that many different proposals have been made and continue to be made, including
- an Arab state, with or without a significant Jewish population
- a Jewish state, with or without a significant Arab population
- a single bi-national state, with or without some degree of cantonization
- two states, one bi-national and one Arab, with or without some form of federation
- two states, one Jewish and one Arab, with or without some form of federation.
See also: Views of Palestinian statehood
2 Historical proposals and events
2.1 Proposals for Arab or Jewish states in the early mandate period
- The 1937 Peel Commission proposal. A British Royal Commission led by Lord Peel examined the Palestine question beginning late in 1936Events January-February January 15 The first building to be completely covered in glass is completed in Toledo, Ohio, for the Owens-Illinois Glass Company. January 20 Death of George V of the United Kingdom. His son Edward VIII succeedes him as King of th. Its report, published in July 1937Events January January 1 Anastasio Somoza becomes President of Nicaragua January 11 The first issue of Look magazine goes on sale in the United States. January 19 Howard Hughes sets a new air record by flying from Los Angeles to New York City in 7 hours,, recommended the creation of a small Jewish state in a region less than 1/5 of the total area of Palestine. The remainder was to be joined to Transjordan except for some parts, including JerusalemCapitals in Asia For alternate uses see Jerusalem (disambiguation Jerusalem ( Modern Hebrew: Yerushalayim Biblical Hebrew: Arabic: al-Quds see also Names of Jerusalem) is an ancient Middle Eastern city of key importance to the religions of Judaism, Christ, that would remain under British control. The Arab population in the Jewish areas was to be removed, by force if necessary. The Zionist leaders accepted the proposal, seeing the tiny Jewish state as the seed of a future larger state, though their support of the "transfer" aspect was carefully hidden from the public. The Arab leadership rejected the proposal outright. Two more partition plans were also considered: and . It all came to nothing, as the British government had shelved the proposal altogether by the middle of 1938. In February 1939, the St. James Conference convened in London, but the Arab delegation refused to formally meet with its Jewish counterpart or to recognize them. The Conference ended on March 17March 17 is the 76th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (77th in Leap years). There are 289 days remaining. Events 45 BC In his last victory, Julius Caesar defeats the Pompeian forces of Titus Labienus and Pompey the Younger in the Battle of Munda., 1939 without making any progress. On May 17May 17 is the 137th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (138th in leap years). There are 228 days remaining. Events 1590 Anne of Denmark is crowned Queen of Scotland. 1642 Paul Chomedey, sieur de Maisonneuve (1612-1676) founds the Ville Marie de Mon, 1939, the British government issued the White Paper of 1939The White Paper of 1939 also known as the MacDonald White Paper after Malcolm MacDonald, the British Colonial Secretary who presided over it, was a policy paper issued by the British government in which the idea of partitioning the British Mandate of Pale, in which the idea of partitioning the Mandate was abandoned in favor of Jews and Arabs sharing one government. Due to impending World War II and the opposition from all sides, the plan was dropped.
- The Zionist Biltmore Conference of 1942
- Various proposals made in 1947
- United Nations General Assembly Resolution 181 of November 29, 1947 establishing two states west of the Jordan River: Israel and Palestine.
- Independence of Israel in May 15th, 1948
- The All-Palestine government. In September 1948, partly as an Arab League move to limit the influence of Jordan over the Palestinian issue, a Palestinian government was declared in Gaza. The former mufti of Jerusalem, Haj Amin al-Husseini, was appointed as president. On October 1, an independent Palestinian state in all of Palestine was declared, with Jerusalem as its capital. This government was recognised by Egypt, Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, and Yemen, but not by Jordan or any non-Arab country. However, it was little more than a facade under Egyptian control and had negligible influence or funding. Palestinians living in the Gaza Strip or Egypt were issued with All-Palestine passports until 1959, when Gamal Abdul Nasser, president of Egypt, annulled the All-Palestine government by decree.
- Various declarations of Palestinian independence
- During the 1978 Camp David negotiations between Israel and Egypt Anwar Sadat proposed the creation of a Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza. Israel refused.
