Recalling the UN’s Historic Vote to Create Israel 75 Ago
Monday, November 29 marks the 75th anniversary of the United Nations vote to create a Jewish state. It was the first time the international community threw its support behind the creation of a Jewish state.
Tova Ofer sharing her story with soldiers at Beit HaPalmach. Photo courtesy the family
The UN plan, known as the Partition Plan, would have created Jewish and Arab states while internationalising Jerusalem.
The Partition Plan passed by a vote of 33-13 with 10 abstentions and one country absent and was immediately accepted by the Jewish community and Zionist movements. But the Arabs unanimously rejected it.
Tova Ofer of Ganei Tivka, shared her recollections of that day with the Tazpit Press Service. Ofer, now 93, was born to Polish immigrants who arrived in pre-state Israel in 1923.
What was the situation like for the Jewish community here at the time of the UN vote?
In the beginning, my parents did not have a job, they lived in a rental. They worked for a living from hand to mouth. That’s how we grew up. We went to school in Tel Aviv.
I was in the Hashomer Hatzair youth movement. We were volunteers in the defence. Early in the morning, we put up posters since there were no radio receivers or technology. That’s how we distributed the wall posters. We had to be careful of the British and the other movements.
At the end of 1947, we left for training at Kibbutz Negba, where we trained in defence, like using a gun for example. The British each time imposed a curfew, and we had to be careful. We worked on all kinds of weapons work and helped with maintenance.
Tova Ofer as an Israeli army medic. Photo courtesy the family
Did you expect the partition vote to pass?
In November, we were already in the midst of the War of Independence. It was word of mouth that there was such a plan, but we didn’t know it was going to happen. We were in the middle of the fighting and we didn’t have a radio.
[After hearing about the outcome of the UN vote] we didn’t have time to rejoice. We were in the middle of a fight. We sang a little, danced a little around a fire we made. Then we heard that Tel Aviv was happy. But we were in the middle of a fight.
Would you say the vote was historic?
It is certainly a historical event. We could have received more parts of the historical Land of Israel, but it was impossible to honour everything anew. This is quite a significant event, certainly for those who were here in Israel.
The author has overlooked the 1922 League of Nations Mandate for “Palestine,” which was the international community’s endorsement of “reconstituting the Jewish National Home.” The UN Charter (Article 80) endorsed the perpetual validity of all League of Nations binding resolutions such as the abovementioned one.
Moreover, that Jewish National Home was to include all of Jerusalem plus all of Judea and Samaria plus the Gaza Strip, plus, obviously , all of pre-1967 Israel.
The preamble to the Mandate is the Balfour Declaration. The British Cabinet members who issued the Balfour Declaration asserted that the intent was the reconstituting of a Jewish State, once the Jews became a majority in the Land of Israel.