This is a special edition of the Haaretz newspaper dated November 25, 1947, 10:30 pm, announcing that the “UN Committee is in favour of partition.” The press release contains a list of the countries that opposed the plan (for example: the Arab Nations, India, and Thailand), the countries that abstained (for example: Britain, France, China, and Holland) and the countries that supported the plan (for example: the United States, Russia, Canada, and Norway).
The committee referred to here was an ad hoc committee that was attended by representatives of all UN member states and approved by a majority vote. The final Partition Plan was presented to the General Assembly and adopted four days later on November 29, 1947.
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, 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.
