This is a map of the Partition Plan accepted by the United Nations (UN) in 1947. The blue areas indicate the proposed Jewish state and the orange areas indicate an Arab state. The status of the city of Jerusalem is left white, as it was intended to become a city under international jurisdiction.
According to the map, the plan was proposed by the Ad Hoc Committee on the Palestinian Question. The date of publication is printed in the bottom left corner. The map was based on an earlier map, “Survey of Palestine, 1946.” According to the international boundaries on the original map, Palestine included Transjordan; however, this was not the case according to the UN Partition Plan.
It is interesting to note which cities are highlighted on the map. Some of the cities which are written in large lettering are today small cities, whereas there are some major Israeli cities today which did not exist then.
There are two railways marked on the map. The largest railway is the Hejaz railway, which was originally designed to connect Damascus to Medina. The railway runs along the eastern border of Palestine. A line connecting the Hejaz railway to Haifa is also visible. The smaller railway marks the Jaffa-Jerusalem route.
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The UN Partition Plan - In August 1947, the UN decided unanimously that the British Mandate in Palestine should be terminated. The UN Special Committee for Palestine (UNSCOP) visited the country and drew up a plan to partition the Land of Israel into two independent states: one Jewish and one Arab. On November 29, 1947, the UN General Assembly voted in favour of this resolution. The Jews, grateful to be granted any part of the land as their own, accepted the plan and the status of Jerusalem as an international city. The Arab nations, on the other hand, unwilling to accept the presence of a Jewish State in Palestine, rejected the UN proposal.
The adoption of the Partition Plan by the UN was celebrated by Jews around the world as a major step toward statehood, and it ultimately paved the way to the declaration of the State of Israel about six months later, in May 1948.