The Peel Commission proposed partition in July 1937 after investigating the Arab Revolt. Its map assigned a compact area to a Jewish state, a much larger Arab area to be joined with Transjordan, and Jerusalem-Bethlehem with a corridor to Jaffa to British administration. Most of the Negev was in the proposed Jewish state. The commission’s report and map are available through the Economic Cooperation Foundation’s Peel Commission record and the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs map.
The Zionist Congress did not approve every boundary. In August 1937, the Twentieth Zionist Congress authorized its executive to negotiate on the basis of the partition proposal; delegates disagreed about the plan’s terms. Arab leaders rejected partition and sought an independent Arab government across the territory. The British later withdrew the proposal after further examination found the boundaries and population transfers difficult to implement. This divided response is more precise than saying one side accepted the Peel map and the other rejected every compromise.
What Resolution 181 proposed
On 29 November 1947, the UN General Assembly adopted Resolution 181 by 33 votes to 13, with 10 abstentions and one absence. It recommended ending the British Mandate and creating independent Arab and Jewish states, an economic union, and an international regime for Jerusalem. Its boundaries placed three separated areas in each state; Jaffa was an Arab enclave inside the Jewish state. The text of Resolution 181 specifies the proposed institutions, borders, transition, and protections for religious sites and minorities.
The Jewish Agency accepted the resolution as a basis for statehood, despite reservations about the proposed borders. The Arab Higher Committee and Arab League rejected partition. Fighting between Arab and Jewish forces began after the vote; the interstate war followed Israel’s declaration of independence and the entry of neighboring Arab armies in May 1948. These are successive phases, not one event. For the plan’s map and structure, see the UN’s summary of the partition plan; for the roll call and sequence of adoption, see the UN’s historical account.
Why the two votes are not interchangeable
The Peel proposal was a British commission recommendation, not an adopted international plan, and the Zionist Congress authorized negotiations rather than unconditional acceptance. Resolution 181 was a General Assembly recommendation with a defined plan, accepted by the Jewish leadership and rejected by Arab political representatives. The differences in bodies, proposals, and decisions matter when comparing the episodes.