India and the Palestine Question: The Emergence of the Asio-Arab Bloc and India's Quest for Hegemony in the Post-Colonial Third World

Abstract

The end of the Second World War and the acceleration of the process of independence of Arab states that had been subjected to foreign domination, French or British, raised hopes and expectations among both Jews and Arabs that the British Mandate in Palestine would also soon come to an end. These hopes grew considerably when, on 2 April 1947, the British requested the Secretary General of the UN to place the question of Palestine on the agenda of the next regular session of the General Assembly. The British government also suggested that, in view of the need for an early solution to the Palestine problem, it would be necessary to summon a special session of the General Assembly as soon as possible for the purpose of constituting and instructing a commission of enquiry to prepare for the consideration of the question at the next Regular Session in September.' The British request was met with approval, and on 28 April, the First Special Session of the UN General Assembly opened. No definite or final decisions were made by this special session; however it did recommend that a commission to study the question should be formed and would have to present a report to the Assembly's Regular Session in September 1947. From this stage on, Britain ceased being the sole determining power with regard to Palestine. The two newly emerged superpowers, the USSR and the United States, as well as other countries, showed growing interest in this issue, albeit each country was motivated by different considerations. The development of events after April 1947 had disclosed major disagreements between the powers concerning the appropriate solution to Palestine. Towards the end of 1947, in spite of Britain's opposition, the USA and the USSR stood united in their support for a partition plan for Palestine. Their support paved the way for the plan's success, which, on 29 November, received the necessary two-thirds majority in the Assembly.2 As a result, both