The Myth of 1947: How the World Did Not “Give” Israel to Zionists

Q6

One of the most persistent myths surrounding the creation of Israel is that “the world” collectively bestowed it upon the Zionist movement in 1947. This claim, often used to justify the violent establishment of a settler-colonial state in Palestine, erases both the illegitimacy of the process and the ongoing Palestinian resistance against it. The reality is starkly different: the UN Partition Plan was neither legally binding nor representative of global consensus. More importantly, it was a colonial decision that disregarded the will of the Indigenous Palestinian population.

The UN Partition Plan: A Colonial Power Play

The United Nations Partition Plan (Resolution 181) was passed on November 29, 1947, recommending the division of Palestine into separate Jewish and Arab states, with Jerusalem under international control. However, it was only a recommendation, not an enforceable resolution.

• The vote passed with 33 in favor, 13 against, and 10 abstentions, out of 57 countries present.

• The vast majority of nations that supported it were either European colonial powers (e.g., Britain, France, the Netherlands) or their settler-colonial extensions (e.g., the U.S., Canada, Australia, and apartheid South Africa).

• The countries that opposed it were largely from the Arab and Muslim world, while many from Latin America and Asia abstained.

Crucially, the Palestinian people—who comprised over 65% of the population and owned over 90% of the land—were never consulted. The decision was made without their consent, violating their fundamental right to self-determination.

The Security Council Rejection: No Legal Standing

While Zionist narratives claim that the UN “granted” Israel legitimacy, they fail to mention that the Partition Plan was never ratified by the UN Security Council. Unlike binding Security Council resolutions, General Assembly votes carry no legal force unless adopted through additional mechanisms.

Moreover, the British government—which still held colonial control over Palestine—never implemented the plan. Instead, Zionist militias launched Operation Dalet in early 1948, carrying out ethnic cleansing campaigns that forcibly expelled over 750,000 Palestinians in what became known as the Nakba (Catastrophe).

The Reality: Israel Was Established Through Ethnic Cleansing, Not Diplomatic Legitimacy

Israel’s creation in May 1948 was not the result of diplomatic legitimacy but of violence, mass displacement, and forced land expropriation:

• Zionist militias—the Haganah, Irgun, and Lehi—launched systematic campaigns to massacre, expel, and terrorize Palestinian communities in cities like Haifa, Jaffa, and Tiberias.

• By the time of the formal declaration of Israel’s existence, Zionist forces had already taken over significant portions of the land beyond what the UN Partition Plan had even proposed.

• The new state of Israel was recognized first by the United States and then the Soviet Union, not by the international community as a whole. Many nations rejected its legitimacy outright.

A Colonial Legacy, Not a “Gift”

The claim that the world “gave” Israel to Zionists in 1947 is a deliberate distortion of history that serves to:

1. Obscure the colonial origins of Zionism, which depended on European and U.S. imperial backing to establish a settler state.

2. Justify ethnic cleansing by implying that Palestinian resistance was illegitimate rather than an anti-colonial struggle.

3. Deflect responsibility for ongoing crimes, as Israel continues to violate international law through military occupation, settlement expansion, and apartheid policies.

The reality is clear: Israel was not “given” to Zionists—it was violently taken from the Palestinian people through a process of settler-colonial conquest. The Nakba did not “happen” as a consequence of war; it was the foundational event that built the Israeli state, an act of genocidal dispossession that continues today.

No UN vote can erase that fact.