Al-Nakba (The Catastrophe)

Episode Synopsis

In late 1947 the United Nations devised a new plan for the partition of Palestine. Resolution 181 divided Palestine into an Arab and a Jewish state, with Jerusalem as an internationalised city. The Jewish state was granted 56 percent of the land; the city of Jaffa was included as an enclave of the Arab state; and the land known today as the Gaza Strip was split from its surrounding agricultural regions. Many Palestinians viewed the proposed Arab state as impractical. When the draft resolution was presented for voting, Arab newspapers 'named and shamed' the countries that voted for it, and Arab protesters took to the streets. Following the resolution's passage, Britain announced it would end its mandate in Palestine.