1947 in Mandatory Palestine

1947 in the British Mandate of Palestine
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See also: 1947 in the United Kingdom Other events of 1947

Events in the year 1947 in the British Mandate of Palestine.

Incumbents

• High Commissioner - Sir Alan Cunningham

Events

The Exodus after British takeover.

UN 1947 partition plan for Palestine

• 7 January – The founding of the kibbutz Mivtahim.
• 26 January - Irgun members kidnap a British intelligence officer two days before the planned execution date of the Irgun member Dov Gruner.
• 27 January - Irgun members kidnap the British President of the district court of Tel Aviv.
• 18 February - British Foreign Minister Ernest Bevin announces that the United Kingdom has decided to give up its mandate over Palestine and allow the United Nations to determine the country's future.
• 3 March - 17 British officers killed, during raid and explosion performed by Irgun.
• 11 March – The founding of the kibbutz Ma'ayan Barukh.
• 4 May - Acre Prison break: Irgun forces break through the walls of the Acre prison and free 28 incarcerated Irgun and Lehi activists. 214 Arab prisoners also escaped.
• 16 June - The UNSCOP Committee, the Special UN Committee in charge of finding a solution to the conflict in Palestine, begins its work in Palestine.
• 30 June – The founding of the kibbutz Sa'ad.
• 11 July – The Exodus leaves France for Palestine, with 4,500 Jewish Holocaust survivor refugees on board who have no legal immigration certificates to enter Palestine.
• 12 July - The Irgun kidnaps two British Intelligence Corps NCOs in Netanya, and threatens to kill them if Irgun members death row prisoners held in the Acre prison are executed.
• 18 July - Following wide media and UNSCOP coverage, the Exodus is captured by British troops and refused entry into Palestine at the port of Haifa.
• 29 July - The British execute three Irgun members captured during the Acre Prison break. In response, the Irgun hangs the two British hostages kidnapped eighteen days earlier.
• 28 August – The founding of the Kibbutz HaOgen.
• 31 August - The UNSCOP Committee publishes the United Nations Partition Plan for Palestine.
• 16 November - The United Kingdom begins withdrawing its army troops from Palestine.
• 29 November – The United Nations approves partition of Palestine into Jewish and Arab states. It is accepted by the Jews, but rejected by the Arab leaders (See ).

1947–1948 Civil War

• 30 November - Following the announcement of the Partition Plan, Arabs in Palestine react violently and fighting breaks out leading to the civil war which centered around the Haganah and Palestinian Arabs supported by the Arab Liberation Army.
• 2–5 December - 1947 Jerusalem riots: The Arab Higher Committee declares a strike and public protest of the vote. A crowd of Arabs marching to Zion Square, Jerusalem, are stopped by the British, and the Arabs instead turn towards the commercial center of the City, burning many buildings and shops. Violence continued for two more days, with Arab mobs attacking a number of Jewish neighborhoods. 70 Jews and 50 Arabs are killed.
• 30 December - Haifa Oil Refinery massacre: Irgun militants hurl two bombs into a crowd of Arab workers from a passing vehicle, killing six workers and wounding 42, damaging the relative peace between the two groups in Haifa. Later that day, the Arab crowd breaks into the refinery compound, killing 39 Jews.

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  Haganah Ship Jewish State at Haifa Port, October 1947

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  Palestinian Arab Volunteer Fighters, 1947

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  Haganah Fighters, 1947

Unknown dates

• The founding of the kibbutz Mashabei Sadeh.
• The founding of the kibbutz Tze'elim.
• The founding of the kibbutz Gevim.

Notable births

• 20 January - Ze'ev Segal, Israeli jurist and journalist (died 2011).
• 20 January - Batya Gur, Israeli writer (died 2005).
• 1 February - Mike Brant, Israeli singer, born in an internment camp in Cyprus, while parents awaiting entry to Palestine (died 1975).
• 22 February - Yehonatan Geffen, Israeli author, poet, songwriter, journalist and playwright.
• 22 April - Shmuel Rosenthal, Israeli footballer.
• 23 April - Dan Meridor, Israeli politician.
• 28 May - Boaz Sharabi, Israeli musician.
• 3 June - Shuki Levy, Israeli-American composer, writer, director, and executive producer.
• 27 July - Giora Spiegel, Israeli footballer.
• 1 October – Aaron Ciechanover, Israeli biologist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry.
• 23 October - Abdel Aziz al-Rantissi, Palestinian Arab, co-founder of the militant Palestinian Islamist organization Hamas (died 2004).
• 7 November - Sefi Rivlin, Israeli actor.

Notable deaths

• April 16
  • Dov Gruner (born 1912), Irgun member captured during a raid on a police station, executed by hanging.
  • Yehiel Dresner (born 1922), Irgun member, captured during the Night of the Beatings, executed by hanging.
  • Mordechai Alkahi (born 1925), Irgun member, captured during the Night of the Beatings, executed by hanging.
• April 21
  • Meir Feinstein, Irgun member captured following the bombing of a railway station, committed suicide while awaiting execution.
  • Moshe Barazani, Lehi member captured carrying a grenade, committed suicide while awaiting execution.
• July 29
  • Avshalom Haviv (born 1926), Irgun member and former Palmach member captured during the Acre Prison break, executed by hanging.
  • Meir Nakar (born 1926), Irgun member captured during the Acre Prison break, executed by hanging.
  • Yaakov Weiss (born 1924), Irgun member captured during the Acre Prison break, and Czech immigrant who saved hundreds of Jews from the Nazis, executed by hanging.