PALESTINE Memories of 1948 - Photographs of Jerusalem | Page 153

1.  The plan to partition Palestine put in place
by the Unscop (United Nations Special Com-
mittee on Palestine) was approved by the UN in
November 1947, by voting for Resolution 181.
The plan divided Palestine into three entities:
the creation of a Jewish state and an Arab state,
with Jerusalem and its immediate suburbs
placed under international control (corpus sepa-
ratum). The plan was accepted by all the Jewish
community in Palestine except the Irgun (an
armed Zionist organization, founded in 1931,
and directed in 1943 by Menachem Begin).
It was rejected by the whole Arab community
(Christian and Muslim) and supported by the
state members of the Arab League (founded in
1945 by seven countries, there are now 22).
2.  Unrwa (United Nations Relief and Works
Agency) for Palestinian Refugees in the Near
East, was founded in 1949 by Resolution 302.
This program aiding Palestinian refugees in the
Gaza Strip, the West Bank, Jordan, Lebanon and
Syria, caters for their needs in terms of health,
education, humanitarian aid and social servic-
es. Palestinians are thus the only refugees in the
world who do not depend on the United Nations
High Commissioner for Refugees (Unhcr).
3.  Nazareth has remained an Arab town, both
Christian and Muslim. Nazareth Illit (Upper
Nazareth) was built in 1956 to develop the Jew-
ish population in Galilee.
4.  On the analysis of Christian Bedouin in a
Muslim context, see Géraldine Chatelard,
Briser la mosaïque  : les tribus chrétiennes de
Madaba (XIXe et XXe siècles), Paris, CNRS édi-
tions, “Moyen-Orient” collection, 2004.
5.  John Bagot Glubb (known as Glubb Pasha)
had been seconded from the British army in
1926, and was the leader of the Transjordanian
Arab Legion in 1939 (taking over from Freder-
ick G. Peake). On March 2, 1956, he was dis-
missed by King Hussein of Jordan, who thus
took control of his armed forces.
6.  Clashes in September 1970, between Pales-
tinian resistance and the Jordanian army. See
the article by Lisa Romeo, “Septembre Noir”,
Les clés du Moyen-Orient, December 19, 2011.
Church of the
seminary, Beit Jala,
before 1914
Michel
151