Palestinian Arab opposition to partition, 1947

The entire Arab world reacted angrily at the concept of partition of Palestine, which was gaining currency in 1946 and early 1947. But the Palestinian Arabs themselves did not make any official statement about it until late January.

Here, we can see the arguments used against partition by Jamal eff. Husseini, the PalArab delegate to the Anglo-Arab Conference on Palestine:

Another Palestinian Arab leader, who was exiled after his role in the 1936-39 Arab terror spree, used a somewhat different argument - that partition would be bad for the Jews as well:

This bizarre logic was refuted in October, when the Arabs of Palestine threatened to strike yet again against the concept of partition. This op-ed explains how that threat was the best proof for the necessity of a Jewish state: It is also a nice summary of the Jewish position on settling the land.

There is a lot to learn by looking at history.