Israel Becomes a Nation

         In April of 1947, the British relinquished their power over Palestine. The Jews and Arabs had been in a power-struggle, conflicting over who would control Palestine.
          To ease the fighting between the Arab and Jewish forces, the UN formed UNSCOP- an eleven-nation committee, which stands for the UN special committee for Palestine. With such a large and diverse committee, it became harder to decide upon who should control Palestine. The only agreement that UNSCOP could agree exactly was granting �independence� by the UN; however, with UN supervision throughout the area. Seven out of the eleven members of the UNSCOP decided to partition Palestine, dividing it into a Jewish state, an Arab state, and a UN trusteeship over Jerusalem.
          The UN voted in favor of partitioning Palestine, but Britain refused to vote. The partition did not pass. Britain planned to leave Palestine on May 15, 1948. The Arabs wanted all of Palestine to be an Arab state so they prepared for war. On May 14, 1948 three resolutions were approved:

          1. To support a security council truce initiative
          2. To name a mediator to work with the five-member UN truce commission to preserve peace
          3. To protect the many holy places in Jerusalem in the event of war

          The Jewish delegation declared its own state in Palestine, called Israel. It is then that President Truman recognized the state of Israel.