The Seeds of Conflict. Examining Britain's Withdrawal from Palestine in 1948

Essay from the year 2014 in the subject History - Miscellaneous, grade: 68, University of Strathclyde, course: History, language: English, abstract: The inter- and post-war years in Palestine occupied some of the most turbulent decades of conflict in the history of the Middle East. Following the dissolution of the Ottoman Empire at the end of the First World War, the League of Nations entrusted the mandated territory of Palestine to the United Kingdom at the San Remo Conference of 1920. For twenty-eight years, responsibility for the Palestinian people and their land would fall subject to British control.

However, this penetration of western control would bring a de-stabilizing effect upon the land and a multitude of factors later intertwined to cause dissipation of the mandate. The decision to withdraw from Palestine was officially reached on the November 29th, 1947 by a two-thirds majority vote at the United Nations General Assembly. However, despite discussions for this retreat taking place months prior, its execution would by no means form a simple process. Rather, the repercussions of this decision led not only to the Arab-Israeli War in 1948, but also dramatically altered the demographic landscape of Palestine itself.

The ambition of this essay will not be to identify a single 'supreme' factor which influenced the British to relinquish control of the mandate. Nor will it attempt to cover every element that contributed towards the decision for partition, as to do so would both dilute and complicate the study of the essay. However, it will propose to examine several integral factors of both short- and long-term positions in order to develop a clearer understanding of what lead to Britain's decision to withdraw from Palestine on May 14th 1948 and the repercussions cast behind the creation of Israel.