The Palestinian State That Never Was: How The Arab Higher Committee Rejected United Nations Partition In 1947 while Israel wisely accepted what was offered to them
For decades, the world has been told that the central tragedy of the Middle East is that the Palestinians have never been given a state. Singer Macklemore is in the news right now for his support to “Free Palestine” which has polarized the social media universe. But history contains an inconvenient fact that cannot simply be erased. When an Arab state and a Jewish state were formally placed side by side on the table in 1947, the Palestinian Arab leadership rejected the deal. Why? Because they Palestinians are much more interested in getting rid of Israel than they are in getting their own state. Israel very wisely took the offer, and has never looked back. Looking forward, however, is a completely different story.
“Yea, and what have ye to do with me, O Tyre, and Zidon, and all the coasts of Palestine? will ye render me a recompence? and if ye recompense me, swiftly and speedily will I return your recompence upon your own head;” Joel 3:4 (KJB)
On November 29, 1947, the United Nations adopted Resolution 181, recommending the end of the British Mandate and the creation of two states—one Jewish and one Arab—with Jerusalem placed under an international regime. The Jewish Agency accepted the partition proposal despite objecting to portions of it. The Arab Higher Committee rejected partition and instead demanded an Arab state encompassing all of Palestine. That is the historical hinge upon which this entire argument turns, and they could have had an Arab state in 1947. Instead, the Palestinian Arab leadership rejected a two-state arrangement because accepting an Arab state under Resolution 181 also meant accepting the existence of a Jewish state next door. The official record is remarkably clear: the Arab Higher Committee declared itself determined to continue rejecting partition and refusing to recognize the United Nations resolution establishing it. And 1947 was not the first time partition had appeared.
On a side note, why do all the modern versions erase the words ‘Palestine’ and ‘Palestina’ and replace them with ‘Philistines’ and ‘Philistia’? Beacuse your King James Bible contains advanced revelation, and lots of it. Click here to read our article on the prophetic mentioning of ‘Palestine’ in the Bible.
1937 — THE PEEL COMMISSION
Ten years earlier, Britain’s Peel Commission had concluded that the Mandate was unworkable and recommended partition. Its proposal envisioned an independent Jewish state and an Arab area that would be joined with Transjordan. The Mufti of Jerusalem rejected partition “in principle,” according to a contemporary American diplomatic dispatch.
The specific Peel boundaries never became an implemented final settlement—the subsequent Woodhead Commission found the proposed partition impracticable—but the fundamental political divide was already visible: partition itself faced strong Arab opposition.
Then came the moment that changed everything.
1947 — UNITED NATIONS RESOLUTION 181
This was no vague discussion about autonomy. The UN proposal explicitly contemplated an Arab State and a Jewish State. The Palestinian Arab leadership rejected it, the Jewish Agency accepted it, and war followed.
Israel declared independence in 1948. The Arab state contemplated by Resolution 181 was never created according to the partition plan.
That makes 1947 the strongest historical answer to anyone claiming that Palestinian statehood was simply never offered. It was offered in one of the most consequential international partition proposals of the twentieth century, and the leadership representing the Palestinian Arabs rejected the arrangement.
Then history kept moving.
2000 — CAMP DAVID AND THE CLINTON PARAMETERS
Camp David in July 2000 failed to produce a final agreement, and this episode is frequently described as another straightforward Palestinian rejection of statehood. But the subsequent documentary record is more specific: President Bill Clinton later presented parameters calling for a sovereign Palestinian state in Gaza and the vast majority of the West Bank, with territorial swaps and arrangements concerning Jerusalem and refugees. By January 2001, both Ehud Barak and Yasser Arafat had accepted those parameters as a basis for further negotiations, while both attached reservations.
So 2000 belongs in the history of failed negotiations, but it is not as clean a rejection case as 1947.
2008 — THE OLMERT PROPOSAL
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert presented Mahmoud Abbas with another far-reaching proposal for Palestinian statehood. Abbas later acknowledged that he did not accept the offer, explaining that Olmert would not allow him to take the proposed map away for detailed examination.
Whatever explanation one assigns to that decision, the agreement was not concluded, and the Palestinian state contemplated by the proposal was not created.
2020 — TRUMP’S PEACE TO PROSPERITY PLAN
President Donald Trump’s administration then proposed its ‘Peace To Prosperity’ plan for another two-state framework. The plan explicitly described a future “Palestinian State”, although with significant security conditions, demilitarization requirements and limitations on certain sovereign powers. Mahmoud Abbas and the Palestinian Authority rejected it. Abbas told the UN Security Council that the proposal violated Palestinian demands concerning borders, Jerusalem, sovereignty and refugees. The Palestinian Authority, Arab League and Organization of Islamic Cooperation all rejected the plan.
So put the major episodes together:
- 1937 — Peel partition proposal: rejected by the dominant Palestinian Arab leadership.
- 1947 — UN Arab-and-Jewish two-state partition: rejected by the Palestinian Arab leadership.
- 2000 — Camp David/Clinton negotiations: no final agreement, although both sides later accepted Clinton’s parameters with reservations.
- 2008 — Olmert statehood proposal: Abbas did not accept it.
- 2020 — Trump two-state proposal: Palestinian leadership rejected it.
And that brings us right back to 1947, because none of the later arguments can change what happened on November 29 of that year. The world didn’t merely discuss the abstract idea of Palestinian Arab statehood. The United Nations adopted a concrete plan for an Arab state alongside a Jewish state. Palestinian Arab leaders had a choice before them, and they rejected partition. That is the uncomfortable history at the heart of the modern debate. The absence of a Palestinian state cannot be explained solely by saying that nobody ever offered one. Palestinian and Arab leaders have themselves rejected, declined or failed to conclude multiple proposals involving statehood—and in 1947, they rejected the clearest partition opportunity of them all.
The Myth Of A Nation Called Palestine
Now The End Begins is your front line defense against the rising tide of darkness in the last Days before the Rapture of the Church
- HOW TO DONATE: Click here to view our WayGiver Funding page
When you contribute to this fundraising effort, you are helping us to do what the Lord called us to do. The money you send in goes primarily to the overall daily operations of this site. When people ask for Bibles, we send them out at no charge. When people write in and say how much they would like gospel tracts but cannot afford them, we send them a box at no cost to them for either the tracts or the shipping, no matter where they are in the world. We have a Gospel Billboard program. We are now broadcasting Bible studies, Podcasts and a Sunday Service 5 times a week, thanks to your generous donations. All this is possible because YOU pray for us, YOU support us, and YOU give so we can continue growing.
But whatever you do, don’t do nothing. Time is short and we need your help right now. The Lord has given us an open door with a tremendous ‘course’ for us to fulfill that will create an excellent experience at the Judgement Seat of Christ. Please pray for our efforts, and if the Lord leads you to donate, be as generous as possible. The war is REAL, the battle HOT and the time is SHORT…TO THE FIGHT!!!
“Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ;” Titus 2:13 (KJB)
“Thank you very much!” – Geoffrey, editor-in-chief, NTEB
The post Arab ‘Palestinians’ Were Offered Their Own State 5 Times And Rejected Every Proposal That Was Presented Because They Have A Different Agenda appeared first on Now The End Begins.