The Peel Plan and It's Implications

     During the high tensions between the Jewish and Arab communities in Palestine in 1937, the British government sought to devise a plan that would best mitigate the conflict between the two groups. The Peel Commission Plan, also known as the Peel Plan, was a plan put out by the British government to partition the government. The basis of the Peel Plan was reliant on a few main objectives. First, to partition a Jewish state in Galilee and on the coast, while the rest of the territory including Negev went to the Arabs. As well, there would be a small British enclave in order to monitor the escalating violence in the region. In simpler terms, about one third of the area would belong to the Jewish community, while the other two thirds would be given to the Arabs. As well, the commission recommended a transfer between the populations to these regions in order to ensure demographic cohesion. This part of the plan was the most controversial, and saw drawback from the leaders of both groups. The British government thought that these changes would best settle or at least lessen the conflict between the two groups.

    However, the Peel Plan was ultimately rejected by both the Jewish and Arab leaders. While the Jewish leaders were initially open to the idea of a partition, they opposed the territorial boundaries and the transfer of populations. On the other hand, the Arab leaders rejected the plan outright as they saw it as a violation of their rights as the people living on the land. Because this plan failed to address the underlying issues that both sides had, the stage was set for continued conflict and ultimately escalated into the Arab-Israeli War of 1948.

    While this plan was never implemented, the idea of a partition was never fully let go. In 1947, the United Nations devised a new plan that would divide the region into Jewish and Arab states as originally thought of, with the Jewish population controlling about 55% of the area and the Arabs the other 45%. While the Peel Plan failed to bring a lasting solution to the conflict, it laid the groundwork for future discussions and proposals for the partition of the region.