The two-state solution: The UN Partition Resolution of Mandatory Palestine--analysis and sources.

• Author: Gavison, Ruth
• Position: Book review

Ruth Gavison edited a book which was brought together as a result of the founding conference of the Metzilah Center. The reviewed book brilliantly analyses various aspects of the UN Partition Resolution of Mandatory Palestine. The book is divided in two parts and provides a valuable key to understanding the historical context of the UN partition resolution including the history of Zionism, struggle of Jews for their homeland and Palestinian position towards the partition. Both parts of the book are well connected; analyses in the first part directly refer to documents and speeches which compose the second part of the book, and thus facilitate understanding of the topics related to the partition of Mandate Palestine.

The first part of the book is composed of five short analyses which were presented at the founding conference of the Metzilah Center on November 25, 2007. These papers analyze different aspects related to adoption of the UN partition resolution. The book presents both Israeli and Palestinian perspectives of the partition and can be thus understood as an unbiased source of information about the debates which shaped, and still are shaping the current Israeli-Palestinian relations. The first two papers discuss the Zionist and Jewish perspective of the UN partition resolution whereas the third and fourth papers focus on the Palestinian perspective of the UN resolution. The first analysis by Itzhak Galnoor presents a good summary of the internal Zionist debates over the partition of Palestine from 1919 till 1947. Galnoor points out the main problems discussed by the Zionists at the individual crossroads of the Zionist movement including the internal debate within the Zionist movement, alternative approaches, disputes within the Zionist movement and decisions taken by the Zionist movement at the individual crossroads (which are understood as the 1919 memorandum, 1937 reaction to the Peel Commission and the reaction to the 1947 partition proposal). The analysis is accompanied by a table summarizing the conditions of the individual partition proposals and their understanding by the Zionist movement and provides a good overview of the development of positions within the Zionist movement towards the partition of the Mandate Palestine. The analysis of the Jewish position is further discussed by Alexander Yakobson who focuses on the position in support of the partition plan. His analysis provides an in-depth overview of the Jewish approach...