Historical Overview — November 29, 1947
A United Nations investigative committee in Palestine proposed that a UN Partition Vote should be held. After the UN Partition Plan resolution was passed on 29 November 1947, the civil war between Palestinian Jews and Arabs eclipsed the previous tensions of both with the British. However, British and Zionist forces continued to clash throughout the period of the civil war up to the termination of the British Mandate for Palestine and the Israeli Declaration of Independence on 14 May 1948.
On 3 September 1947 the United Nations Partition Plan was accepted with 33 votes for, 13 against and 10 abstained. This was accepted by the Jews who created their portion as Israel and was rejected by the Arabs who invaded Israel the following day.
The final stage of the 1948 Palestine war formally began following the end of the British Mandate for Palestine at midnight on 14 May 1948; the Israeli Declaration of Independence had been issued earlier that day, and a military coalition of Arab states entered the territory of British Palestine in the morning of 15 May.
After the war the country fought over was split into Israel, Gaza under the Egyptians (this is where the Egyptian army was based at the end of the war) and Jordan who had occupied the West Bank and East Jerusalem.