After World War II the British government relinquished the Mandate for Palestine which it had accepted from the League of Nations. It no longer felt that Britain had the resources that would be needed to maintain the peace.
The newly-formed United Nations Organisation decided to divide the country into two states, with the Jerusalem district as a separate entity under international control.
55 per cent of the land was allocated to Israel, but this included the Negev Desert which had few inhabitants.
The Partition Resolution was reluctantly accepted by mainstream Zionists, but many hoped for an opportunity to enlarge the Jewish State in due course. The Arab nations rejected it, accusing the UN of dividing a land which did not belong to it.
The British left Palestine in 1948 without a civil administration. This led inevitably to the Nakba and the plight of the Palestinian refugees.