Ichud Association Memorandum to UNSCOP: The Case Against Partition

Presented by Judah L. Magnes, on behalf of the Ichud Association, to the United Nations Special Committee on Palestine (UNSCOP), 23rd July 1947

[Excerpt]

We have been asked for a statement as to why we are against the partition of Palestine... We believe genuine segregation to be impossible. No matter where you draw the boundaries of the Jewish state, there will always be a very large Arab minority... It is impossible to draw satisfactory economic boundaries... The larger the Jewish state, the more impossible becomes the economic existence of the Arab state... Satisfactory 'national boundaries', if the object is to promote peace, cannot be drawn. Whenever you draw these boundaries, you create irredentas on either side of the border. Irredentas almost invariably lead to war... There are those who say that we should accept partition now, because 'borders are not eternal'... In other words, the partitioned Jewish Palestine would be a bridge-head for the further conquest of the whole of the country. Many Jews are in favour of partition... But there are many Jews, moderates and extremists, religious and not religious, who are opposed to partition. Almost all the Arabs are opposed to partition... Imposing partition would therefore be a hazardous undertaking. Under all these circumstances, we find it strange that anyone should claim for partition that it, at least, gives finality. To us it seems to be but the beginning of real warfare... perhaps between Jew and Jew, and warfare between Jew and Arab.