Editing One-state solution (section)

===Ottoman and later British control===
From 1915 to 1916, the [[United Kingdom|British]] High Commissioner in [[Egypt]], [[Sir Henry McMahon]], corresponded by letters with [[Sayyid Hussein bin Ali]], the father of [[Pan Arabism]]. These letters were later known as the [[Hussein–McMahon Correspondence]]. McMahon promised Hussein and his [[Arab]] followers the territory of the Ottoman Empire in exchange for assistance in driving out the [[Ottoman Turks]]. Hussein interpreted these letters as promising the region of Palestine to the Arabs. McMahon and the [[Churchill White Paper]] maintained that Palestine had been excluded from the territorial promises,<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=_X5tAAAAMAAJ&dq=%22I+feel+it+my+duty+to+state%2C+and+I+do+so+definitely+and+emphatically%2C+that+it+was+not+intended+by+me+in+giving+this+pledge+to+King+Hussein+to+include+Palestine+in+the+area+in+which+Arab+independence+was+promised.%22&pg=PA40 "The Jewish National Home in ...."] ''Google Books''.  4 May 2022.</ref> but minutes of a Cabinet Eastern Committee meeting held on 5 December 1918 confirmed that Palestine had been part of the area that had been pledged to Hussein in 1915.<ref>UK National Archives, PRO CAB 27/24, reprinted in 'Palestine Papers, 1917–1922', by Doreen Ingrams, George Braziller Edition, 1973, page 48.</ref>

In 1916, Britain and [[France]] signed the [[Sykes–Picot Agreement]], which divided the colonies of the Ottoman Empire between them. Under this agreement, the region of Palestine would be controlled by Britain.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://avalon.law.yale.edu/20th_century/sykes.asp |publisher=The Avalon Project: Documents in Law, History and Diplomacy |title=The Sykes-Picot Agreement: 1916 |access-date=2016-04-12}}</ref> In a 1917 letter from [[Arthur James Balfour]] to [[Walter Rothschild, 2nd Baron Rothschild|Lord Rothschild]], known as the [[Balfour Declaration]], the [[British government]] promised "the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people", but at the same time required "that nothing shall be done which may prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine".<ref name=balfourdeclarationof1917>{{cite web |url=http://avalon.law.yale.edu/20th_century/balfour.asp |publisher=The Avalon Project: Documents in Law, History and Diplomacy |title=Balfour Declaration 1917 |access-date=2016-04-12}}</ref>

In 1922, the [[League of Nations]] granted Britain a mandate for Palestine. Like all [[League of Nations Mandate]]s, this mandate derived from article 22 of the [[League of Nations Covenant]], which called for the self-determination of former Ottoman Empire colonies after a transitory period administered by a world power.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://avalon.law.yale.edu/20th_century/leagcov.asp |publisher=The Avalon Project: Documents in Law, History and Diplomacy |title=The Covenant of the League of Nations |access-date=2016-04-12}}</ref> The [[Mandate for Palestine|Palestine Mandate]] recognized the [[Balfour Declaration]] and required that the mandatory government "facilitate Jewish immigration" while at the same time "ensuring that the rights and position of other sections of the population are not prejudiced".<ref>{{cite web |url=http://avalon.law.yale.edu/20th_century/palmanda.asp |publisher=The Avalon Project: Documents in Law, History and Diplomacy |title=The Palestine Mandate |access-date=2016-04-12}}</ref>

Resentment over Zionist plans led to an outbreak of Arab-Jewish violence in the [[Palestine Riots of 1920]]. Violence erupted again the following year during the [[Jaffa Riots]]. In response to these riots, Britain established the [[Haycraft Commission of Inquiry]].  The British Mandatory authorities put forward proposals for setting up an elected legislative council in Palestine. In 1924 the issue was raised at a conference held by [[Ahdut Ha'avodah]] at [[Ein Harod]]. [[Shlomo Kaplansky]], a veteran leader of [[Poalei Zion]], argued that a [[Parliament]], even with an Arab majority, was the way forward. [[David Ben-Gurion]], the emerging leader of the [[Yishuv]], succeeded in getting Kaplansky's ideas rejected.<ref>Teveth, Shabtai (1985) ''Ben-Gurion and the Palestinian Arabs: From Peace to War''. Oxford University Press. {{ISBN|0-19-503562-3}}. Pages 66–70</ref> Violence erupted again in the form of the [[1929 Palestine riots]]. After the violence, the British led another commission of inquiry under [[Walter Shaw (judge)|Sir Walter Shaw]]. The report of the [[Shaw Commission]], known as the [[Shaw Report]] or [[Command Paper No 3530]], attributed the violence to "the twofold fear of the Arabs that, by Jewish immigration and land purchase, they might be deprived of their livelihood and, in time, pass under the political domination of the Jews".<ref>{{cite web|url=https://domino.un.org/UNISPAL.NSF/3d14c9e5cdaa296d85256cbf005aa3eb/5f21f8a1ca578a57052566120067f658!OpenDocument |title=Mandate for Palestine - Minutes of the Permanent Mandates Commission/LoN 17th (Extraordinary) session (21 June 1930) |access-date=9 February 2016 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080508061212/http://domino.un.org/UNISPAL.NSF/3d14c9e5cdaa296d85256cbf005aa3eb/5f21f8a1ca578a57052566120067f658%21OpenDocument |archive-date=8 May 2008 }}</ref>

[[File:UNGA 181 Map.png|thumb|right|How UN members voted on Palestine's partition in 1947{{legend|#339933|In favour}} {{legend|#e0e36f|Abstained}} {{legend|#813a3a|Against}} {{legend|#d64b56|Absent}}]]
Violence erupted again during the [[1936–39 Arab revolt in Palestine]]. The British established the [[Peel Commission of 1936–1937]] in order to put an end to the violence. The Peel Commission concluded that only partition could put an end to the violence, and proposed the [[Peel Partition Plan]]. While the Jewish community accepted the concept of partition, not all members endorsed the implementation proposed by the Peel Commission. The Arab community entirely rejected the Peel Partition Plan, which included population transfers, primarily of Arabs. The partition plan was abandoned, and in 1939 Britain issued its [[White Paper of 1939]] clarifying its "unequivocal" position that "it is not part of [Britain's] policy that Palestine should become a Jewish State" and that "The independent State [of Palestine] should be one in which Arabs and Jews share government in such a way as to ensure that the essential interests of each community are safeguarded."

The White Paper of 1939 sought to accommodate Arab demands regarding Jewish immigration by placing a quota of 10,000 Jewish immigrants per year over a five-year period from 1939 to 1944. It also required Arab consent for further Jewish immigration. The White Paper was seen by the Jewish community as a revocation of the [[Balfour Declaration]], and due to Jewish persecution in [[the Holocaust]], Jews continued to immigrate illegally in what has become known as [[Aliyah Bet]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://avalon.law.yale.edu/20th_century/brwh1939.asp |publisher=The Avalon Project: Documents in Law, History and Diplomacy |title=British White Paper of 1939 |access-date=2016-04-12}}</ref>

Continued violence and the heavy cost of [[World War II]] prompted Britain to turn over the issue of Palestine to the [[United Nations]] in 1947. In its debates, the UN divided its member States into two subcommittees: one to address options for partition and a second to address all other options. The Second Subcommittee, which included all the Arab and Muslim States members, issued a long report arguing that partition was illegal according to the terms of the Mandate and proposing a unitary democratic state that would protect rights of all citizens equally.<ref>A/AC. 14/32 and Add. I of 11 November 1947. See full text in Walid Khalidi, ''From Haven to Conquest: Readings in Zionism and the Palestine Problem until 1948'' (Washington: Institute for Palestine Studies, 1987), #63 "Binationalism Not Partition", pp. 645–701.</ref> The General Assembly instead voted for partition and in [[UN General Assembly Resolution 181]] recommended that the Mandate territory of Palestine be partitioned into a Jewish state and an Arab state. The Jewish community accepted the 1947 partition plan, and declared independence as the State of Israel in 1948. The Arab community rejected the partition plan, and army units from five Arab countries – [[Lebanon]], [[Syria]], [[Iraq]], [[Jordan|Transjordan]], and Egypt – contributed to a united Arab army that attempted to invade the territory, resulting in the [[1948 Arab–Israeli War]].