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This is an important point. In the narrative about partition, the parallel to Ireland has only just begun to be adequately touched upon by scholars. Yet, Irelands partition was seen as a template of a ‘successful’ solution to ethnic/national conflict. 1/4 https://twitter.com/YairWallach/status/1351947184208572423
Commons debates make frequent reference to parallels with Ireland as do MI5 reports (many of the key figures in parl., army, etc. had served in Ireland) when discussing violence in the Mandate. This helped to drive the logic of partition as a solution. 2/4
The decision of UNSCOP in its majority report to partition Palestine, after years of discussion of it in Britain, meant partition was transformed from a British Imperial tactic to an internationally accepted and endorsed principle of post-war conflict resolution. 3/4
The greatest irony is that the Irgun and Lehi, maximalist in aim, intentionally aped the tactics of the IRA as a model for dislodging the British, only to end up with the same result as Ireland – a partitioned state. 4/4
