This came up on another thread but was not specific to the topic so I thought I would get the issue out there if there was still some interest. It's key to a lot of what has happened since in the ME, so maybe we ought to thrash out the details of what actually happened.

The question.What were the forces that led to the UN partition of Palestine into the predominately Jewish sector and the predominately Palestinian sector in 1947 and what were the significant events and consequences that arose out of that.

Obviously the war between Israel and the Arab states and the Palestinian displacement would be the big ones that come to mind but I'm not limiting it to that because I want to get at least a partial picture of why we're at where we're at in the ME right now.

Well, the power vacuum left after the fall of the Ottoman empire earlier was the precipitating factor in the actual partitioning- I think ignorance on the part of the British empire probably led to nearly every problem in the ME today- very similar to the issues in the African continent as well- just drawing lines on a map that followed certain latitudes and rivers or mountain ranges instead of actual ethnic divisions etc. I think one area that is going to really blow up is the Kurds- I believe it is the largest displaced ethnic group in the world right now- I may be wrong about that though. Iraq/Iran/Afghanistan/Pakistan/India are all simmering problems due to this particition, especially in the Kashmir area.

Yeah CR. I'd say Brittish colonial policy left a big mess behind them in a lot of areas of the of the world.

This should be a good introduction to the partition issue. Check the partition map. Is that not a recipe for future war or what?

Internet encyclopedia shows and explains the 1947 partition plan

Creation of the plan

The United Nations, the successor to the League of Nations, attempted to solve the dispute between the Jews and Arabs in Palestine. The UN appointed a committee, the UNSCOP, composed of representatives from several states. To make the committee more neutral, none of the Great Powers were represented. UNSCOP considered two main proposals. The first called for the creation of independent Arab and Jewish states, with Jerusalem to be placed under international administration. The second called for the creation of a single federal state containing both Jewish and Arab constituent states. A majority of UNSCOP adopted the first option, although several members supported the second option instead and one member (Australia) said it was unable to decide between them. The UN General Assembly largely accepted UNSCOP's proposals, though they made some adjustments to the boundaries between the two states proposed by it. The division was to take effect on the date of British withdrawal
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Reactions to the plan

The Arab leadership opposed the plan, arguing that it violated the rights of the majority of the people in Palestine, which at the time was 67% non-Jewish (1,237,000) and 33% Jewish (608,000). They criticised the amount and quality of land given to Israel. The Jews had been offered 55% percent of the land when they only owned 7%. Although it should be noted that much of the land area was not actually owned by anyone (Jewish or Arab) -- it was desert under the control of the British Mandate. The population for the proposed Jewish State would be 498,000 Jews and 325,000 non-Jews. The population for the proposed Arab State would be 807,000 non-Jews and 10,000 Jews. The population for the proposed International Zone would be 105,000 non-Jews and 100,000 Jews.

Arabs also feared that the Jewish state would be a stepping stone for further advancement; this view is supported by statements from David Ben Gurion and other leaders recently discovered by Israel's New Historians and other independent scholars.