For thousands of years since their expulsion the Jewish people lived all over the world, a group unto themselves, never quite a full-fledged part of any host society. And never without persecution either. Theodore Herzl, a Jewish correspondent in Paris, witnessed The Dreyfus Affair in 1894, involving a Jewish army officer accused of treason due to the prevailing anti-semitism, concluded Jews can only be truly safe in their own nation. His 1902 book Altneuland (Old New Land), envisioned a utopian Jewish nation, sparking the zionist movement that eventually resulted in the creation of a new Jewish state.

On this day Nov. 29, 1947, the U.N. passed General Assembly Resolution 181, partitioning Palestine into “Independent Arab and Jewish States.” The Jewish state would have 22% of the former Palestenian territories.

The resolution created a complex arrangement – the port of Jaffa, within Israel-controlled lands, would belong the the Arabs, and Jerusalem would be entirely separate altogether, under international control. The Arab assembly rejected the plan, but it was implemented anyway. Violence between Jews and Palestinians mounted, and a day before Britain was to relinquish the Mandate, Israel declared independence.