In 1947, Britain referred the future of its Mandate to the United Nations. The 11-member UN Special Committee on Palestine (UNSCOP) produced majority and minority proposals; the majority recommended partition into Arab and Jewish states with Jerusalem under international administration. The General Assembly adopted Resolution 181 on November 29, 1947, by 33 votes to 13, with 10 abstentions.
What UNSCOP and Resolution 181 proposed
UNSCOP investigated the issue during the summer of 1947 and heard competing proposals. Seven committee members supported partition with economic union; three favored a federal state. Resolution 181 recommended a Jewish state, an Arab state, and a special international regime for Jerusalem. It also called for economic union and protections for religious and minority rights. The vote adopted a recommendation; it did not itself establish either state. The UNSCOP report contains the committee’s recommendations, and the full Resolution 181 text sets out the plan and vote.
From the vote to independence
The Jewish Agency accepted partition as the basis for statehood. Arab leaders rejected it, and fighting between Jewish and Arab forces began after the vote. Britain announced that it would end the Mandate on May 15, 1948, and British forces withdrew as the administration ended. On May 14, David Ben-Gurion proclaimed the State of Israel in Tel Aviv; President Harry Truman announced U.S. recognition that same day. The U.S. Office of the Historian’s account summarizes the UN process, withdrawal and declaration. The declaration’s timing and the political sequence are also documented in the 1948 diplomatic record.
The transition followed decades of institution-building and a long debate over partition, including the Peel Commission plan.