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9 Civil war, total war or a war of partition? Reassessing the 1948 War in Palestine from a global perspective

Abstract

The chapter has several aims. First, it argues for an entangled history of partitioned political spaces, and suggests that we should trace back the idea of partition to the interwar years and locate it in a British imperial context. It is argued that the idea of partition emerged as a colonial management tool for maintaining and controlling religious and ethnonational differences within the Empire, but adapted to the post-1914 language of self-determination. Second, the chapter places the Palestine and India partitions of 1947–48 side by side and proposes that, from this vantage point, the 1947–49 war in Palestine would be better understood as a war of partition. Finally, the chapter concludes that neither in India/Pakistan nor in Israel/Palestine did partition prove to be a practical solution as its architects announced it to be.

Abstract

The chapter has several aims. First, it argues for an entangled history of partitioned political spaces, and suggests that we should trace back the idea of partition to the interwar years and locate it in a British imperial context. It is argued that the idea of partition emerged as a colonial management tool for maintaining and controlling religious and ethnonational differences within the Empire, but adapted to the post-1914 language of self-determination. Second, the chapter places the Palestine and India partitions of 1947–48 side by side and proposes that, from this vantage point, the 1947–49 war in Palestine would be better understood as a war of partition. Finally, the chapter concludes that neither in India/Pakistan nor in Israel/Palestine did partition prove to be a practical solution as its architects announced it to be.

Chapters in this book

  1. Front Matter i
  2. Dedication v
  3. Contents vii
  4. List of contributors ix
  5. Foreword by Lucy Chester xiii
  6. Acknowledgements xvi
  7. Introduction - Connecting the partitions of India and Palestine 1
  8. Part I: The partition of British India
  9. 1 The Mountbatten Viceroyalty reconsidered 35
  10. 2 The paradigmatic partition? The Pakistan demand revisited 57
  11. Part II: The partition of Palestine
  12. 3 Partition and the question of international governance 75
  13. 4 Fighting for Palestine as a holy duty? The Syrian Muslim Brotherhood and the partition of Palestine in 1947 91
  14. Part III: The partitions of India and Palestine compared
  15. 5 The communal question and partition in British India and mandate Palestine 113
  16. 6 India’s dilemmas of pragmatism v. principles 138
  17. Part IV: The consequences of partition for South Asia, the Middle East and beyond
  18. 7 The partitions of India and Palestine and the dawn of majority rule in Africa and Asia 159
  19. 8 ‘Unfinished’ partition 193
  20. 9 Civil war, total war or a war of partition? Reassessing the 1948 War in Palestine from a global perspective 222
  21. 10 Partitioned identities? Regional, caste and national identity in Pakistan 259
  22. Afterword 278
  23. Index 289
The breakup of India and Palestine
This chapter is in the book The breakup of India and Palestine
https://doi.org/10.7765/9781526170323.00020

Chapters in this book

  1. Front Matter i
  2. Dedication v
  3. Contents vii
  4. List of contributors ix
  5. Foreword by Lucy Chester xiii
  6. Acknowledgements xvi
  7. Introduction - Connecting the partitions of India and Palestine 1
  8. Part I: The partition of British India
  9. 1 The Mountbatten Viceroyalty reconsidered 35
  10. 2 The paradigmatic partition? The Pakistan demand revisited 57
  11. Part II: The partition of Palestine
  12. 3 Partition and the question of international governance 75
  13. 4 Fighting for Palestine as a holy duty? The Syrian Muslim Brotherhood and the partition of Palestine in 1947 91
  14. Part III: The partitions of India and Palestine compared
  15. 5 The communal question and partition in British India and mandate Palestine 113
  16. 6 India’s dilemmas of pragmatism v. principles 138
  17. Part IV: The consequences of partition for South Asia, the Middle East and beyond
  18. 7 The partitions of India and Palestine and the dawn of majority rule in Africa and Asia 159
  19. 8 ‘Unfinished’ partition 193
  20. 9 Civil war, total war or a war of partition? Reassessing the 1948 War in Palestine from a global perspective 222
  21. 10 Partitioned identities? Regional, caste and national identity in Pakistan 259
  22. Afterword 278
  23. Index 289
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