nov 29, 1947 - UN votes to partition Palestine between Jewish and Arab sectors

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Vietnam remained out of the public spotlight even as American support ramped up. The same could not be said of the Middle East, an area rich in oil, political complexity, and the legacy of European colonialism. The most volatile area was Palestine, which had a majority Arab population but was also historically the ancient land of Israel and desired by the Zionist movement as the site of a Jewish national homeland. Jewish immigration to Palestine had begun in the aftermath of World War I, and thousands of Jews arrived as anti-Semitism in Europe steadily intensified in the 1930s. After World War II, many survivors of the Nazi extermination camps resettled in Palestine, which was still controlled by Britain under a 1922 mandate from the defunct League of Nations. On November 29, 1947, the UN General Assembly voted to partition Palestine between Jewish and Arab sectors. When the British mandate ended in 1948, Palestinian leaders rejected the partition as a violation of their right to self-determination, while Zionist leaders embraced the partition and proclaimed the state of Israel. In response, the Arab nations of Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, and Egypt invaded the newly proclaimed state. The infant nation of Israel survived, and many Palestinian Arabs fled or were driven from their homes by the Israeli army during the fighting. The Arab defeat left these people permanently stranded in refugee camps or exiled in foreign countries. President Truman recognized the new state immediately, which won him crucial support from Jewish voters in the 1948 election but aroused opposition in the Arab world.

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