They viewed an independent Arab State as the only solution to the Arab-Jewish “deadlock.” The Report explains that Jews and Arabs differ so strongly in culture, social life, conduct, values and conduct that they neither will put in the effort to reconcile and therefore they cannot share a national aspiration. It was the first official statement of Palestinian nationalism.
The White Paper abandoned the idea of partitioning Palestine. It instead proposed an alternative- a ten year plan for a unitary Palestine State governed by Arabs and Jews in proportion to their population numbers by 1939. It also outlined a Jewish immigration plan that allowed for 75,000 Jewish immigrants for the first five years but then no immigration without Arab consent.
The Zionist Reaction to the White Papers was strongly negative. The reaction issued by the Jewish Agency for Palestine argues that the White Papers were a betrayal to the Mandate and surrender to Arab terrorism. It ends by stressing that it is in the “darkest hour of Jewish history” that the White Papers were written and the Jews need a homeland now more than ever. According to the Jewish Agency for Palestine, the Papers were death sentence to persecuted Jews in need of a secure …show more content…
There had been tension and conflict between the Arabs and the Jews, and between each of them and the British forces, ever since the Balfour Declaration and the British Mandate of Palestine. British policies dissatisfied both Arabs and Jews. The Arabs' opposition resulted in the Arab revolt in Palestine, while The Jewish resistance led to the Jewish insurgency in Palestine. These ongoing tensions erupted on 30 November 1947 into a war between the Arab and Jewish populations in response to the UN Partition Plan. The war transformed into a conflict between Israel and the Arab states on May 15, 1948 when a combined invasion by Egypt, Jordan and Syria, together with expeditionary forces from Iraq, entered Palestine. The invading forces took control of the Arab areas and immediately attacked Israeli forces and several Jewish settlements. As a result of the war, Israel retained the area that the UN had recommended for the proposed Jewish state and also took control of almost 60% of the area allocated for the proposed Arab state. No Arab Palestinian state was