EVOLUTION OF BORDERS OF PALESTINE
THROUGHOUT MODERN HISTORY
Bashar JUMAA (Ministry of Planning and International Cooperation (MOPIC). Special Technical Unit for Négociations (STU). Ramallah)
Background
The Palestinian position on borders evolved significantly over the last 50 years. It came to represent an enormous, and painful compromise to the Palestinian people.
Palestine was first provisionally recognized as an independent nation at the end of World War I. Mandated Palestine encompassed the area presendy recognized as the State of Israel, in addition to the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.
The demographic composition since has witnessed significant changes over the course of the mandate. The population census of 1922 indicated that the population was 87.4 percent Arab, Muslim and Christian, and only 11 percent Jewish. However, the Zionist movement and its drive to colonize the country, combined with the British government’s encouragement at the time, resulted in a substantial raise in the number of European Jews immigrating to Palestine.
The Jewish immigration movement was so profound that by 1948, the population of Palestine was estimated to be 2,115,000 persons, of which about a third were J ewish.
G.A. N° 28
The rise in the number of the Zionist population after 1922, and their stated objectives of “land without people for people without land” worked on creating tension between the local Palestinians, who were defending their land, and the Zionist immigrants during this period.
The high point of the conflict during this period of time occurred towards the second half of the 1930s. The British government, at the time, decided to send a “royal commission” of inquiry to investigate the roots conflict and to propose measures to deal with it.
The Lord Robert Peel headed the commission, which became named “the Peel Commission” after him. During their time in Palestine, the commission heard a great deal of testimony, and in July of 1937 they issued their recommendations. These recommen¬ dations included the abolishment of the Mandate on Palestine, and the partition of the country between the two peoples. Only a zone between Jaffa and Jerusalem would remain under the British mandate and international supervision.
The proposed Jewish state included the coastal strip, in addition to the Jezreel Valley and the Galilee. The Arab state
2004
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