Palestine (Cherry, Plum, and Chrysanthemum)

Palestine (Arabic: فلسطين‎ Filasṭin), officially the State of Palestine' (Arabic: دولة فلسطين‎ Dawlat Filasṭin'') is a country in the Middle East, comprised by three administrative districts: Gaza, West Bank and Galilee. Galilee separated as an enclave and bordered with Lebanon in the north and Israel to the west, north and east while Gaza bordered with Egypt to the south and Israel to the north, east and southeast and West Bank with Transjordan to the east and Israel to the north and south.

British Mandate of Palestine
Under British rule, the Palestinian community divided between the Arabs and the Jewish. The nationalism among Arabs and the Jewish movement of Zionism started to grow in parallel and often clashed with each other. The 1922 Palestine Order in Council established a Legislative Council, which was to consist of 23 members; 12 elected, 10 appointed and the High Commissioner. Of the 12 elected members, eight were to be Muslim Arabs, two Christian Arabs and two Jews.

Arabs protested against the distribution of the seats, arguing that as they constituted 88% of the population, having only 43% of the seats was unfair. Elections were held in February and March 1923, but due to an Arab boycott, the results were annulled and a 12-member Advisory Council was established.

The continuous Jewish immigration to the British Mandate of Palestine met an fierce opposition from the Palestinian Arabs. The death of anti-Zionist and anti-British figure, Izz ad-Din al-Qassam, in 1936 generated widespread outrage in the Arab community. A few months later, in April 1936, the Arab national general strike broke out. The strike lasted until October 1936, instigated by the Arab Higher Committee, headed by Amin al-Husseini and led to the Arab revolt of 1936–1939.

In 1937, the Peel Commission proposed a partition between a small Jewish state, whose Arab population would have to be transferred, and an Arab state to be attached to Jordan. The proposal was rejected by the Arabs and by the Zionist Congress, but accepted by the latter as a basis for negotiations between the Zionist Executive and the British government.

During the World War II, a number of leaders and public figures saw an Axis victory as the likely outcome and a way of securing Palestine back from the Zionists and the British. SS-Reichsfuehrer Heinrich Himmler was keen to exploit this, going so far as to enlist the aid of the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, Mohammad Amin al-Husseini. The Mufti al-Husseini would spend the rest of the war in Nazi Germany and the occupied areas in Europe.

On 10 June 1940, Italy declared war on the British Commonwealth and sided with Germany. Within a month, the Italians attacked Palestine from the air, bombing Tel Aviv and Haifa, inflicting multiple casualties. On 6 November 1944, Eliyahu Hakim and Eliyahu Bet Zuri, members of radical Zionist Lehi, assassinated the British Minister of State for the Middle East, Lord Moyne, in Cairo. The assassination is said by some to have turned British Prime Minister Lord Halifax against the Zionist cause.

Partition of Palestine
In 1947, the United Nations created the United Nations Special Committee on Palestine (UNSCOP) to find an quick solution to the Palestine question, which the British had handed over to the UN. The majority of the members of UNSCOP proposed the recommendations for the UN General Assembly which on November 29, 1947 adopted a resolution recommending the adoption and implementation of the Partition Plan, based substantially on those proposals as Resolution 181(II).

War on Palestine
Jewish leaders accepted parts of the Partition Plan, while Arab leaders of Arab Higher Council refused it. Large-scale fighting soon broke out between the Jews and the Arabs. King Abdullah I of Jordan met with a delegation headed by Golda Meir to negotiate terms for accepting the partition plan, but rejected its proposal that Transjordan remain neutral. Indeed, the king knew that the nascent Palestinian state would soon be absorbed by its Arab neighbors, and therefore had a vested interest in being party to the imminent war. King Abdullah I later assassinated on November 3, 1948 by the agents sent by Palestinian Arab military leader, Abd al-Qadir al-Husseini, to warn Jordan for not annexing West Bank as its own territory.

The All-Palestine Government established in Gaza with Abd al-Qadir al-Husseini as its President in September 1948. On October 1, 1948, the government declared an independent Palestinian state in all of Palestine region with Jerusalem as its capital. This government was soon recognized by Egypt, Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, Hejaz, and Saudi Arabia.

By November 1948, the Palestinian forces already occupied most of Palestine except the area around Tel Aviv, known as Jaffa Perimeter. But, the situation quickly altered on March 1949 where the Israeli forces able to push the Palestinian and Arab forces as far as eastern West Bank. The All-Palestine government in Gaza temporarily evacuated to Alexandria.

On September 1949, Lebanese Army, under the new government of Syrian Social Nationalist Party, invaded the northern part of Palestine that already controlled by Israeli forces. France and the United Kingdom, gave a warning to Antun Saadeh's government of Lebanon about its involvement in the Palestine Crisis. But, Lebanon refused because Saadeh wanted a non-Arab nationalist, pro-Lebanon Palestinian state and driven the Jewish forces "further into the deep of Red Sea", to secure the stability of Lebanon southern borders from future Zionist threats.

As the Israeli military strategy shifted to north, Arab forces in West Bank moved to Bi’r as-Sab’, directly toward Gaza Strip in December 1949. That move was successfully united separate All-Palestine Government in West Bank and Gaza and alienated many Israeli forces in Negev. Katobushi Toshio, the First Vice-President of Japan, sent a cablegram to Saadeh on January 3, 1950, tried to persuade the Lebanese government to pull off their troops from Galilee. Being the only ally of Lebanon, Japan, however, wanted Lebanon for not being involved on the crisis as France and the UK already warned.

A stalemate reached by two conflicted sides on March 1950. The Israeli and All-Palestine government signed an armistice on April 3, 1950 that stated both governments will governed effectively in the area intended for them according to 1947 Partition Plan. The UN-sponsored Rome Conference held from 7 to 28 of July 1950 and attended by the delegation from the Israeli government, the All-Palestine government, the United States, the United Kingdom, the Soviet Union, the Arab League, Egypt, Syria, Hejaz, Transjordan, Iraq, and Lebanon.

The Conference decided the State of Israel would made up by the region intended for a Jewish state as stated in 1947 Partition Plan while the State of Palestine by the region intended for an Arab state with minor border modifications. Jerusalem would divided into two areas: East Jerusalem incorporated into Palestine and West Jerusalem under Israeli administration.