The British Empire spent a few decades reinforcing a Palestinian national identity , then gave half the land claimed under that identity to the Zionist movement to create a separate nationstate . No , they did not . This is completely incorrect . The British spent no time creating a Palestinian national identity , that formed as a competitor to Zionism only once the British prevented the area from joining with Syria and Jordan in the 1920 s . The British did not give half the land to anyone . They gave up trying to divide the land . They had tried to divide it in 1937 , giving Arabs 75 % and Jews 25 %, and both sides refused . The British decided to give up in the 1940 s , after WWII . They asked the UN to try to find a solution . The UN tried to propose a plan that was non binding . It gave Jews 55 % and Arabs 45 %, but Jews would get the desert , which made up a huge part of their proposed state . Jews accepted this , but Arabs refused it . After the non binding proposal passed the General Assembly as a non binding recommendation to the Security Council , Arabs began attacking Jews , as they warned they ' d do prior to the vote saying there would be rivers of blood if the General Assembly passed the plan . This led to a civil war , which Jews had all but won by May 1948 , when the British control officially ended and they were withdrawing . Jews declared the state of Israel , saying they were prepared to cooperate on all issues with neighbors and asking them to accept peace . Instead , the Arab states invaded , and they too lost . There was no giving of land . No one gave any land to anyone . Every inch was earned in a selfdefensive war .