Zahavsdad: The British were anxious to leave in 1948. Remember the Empire went out of business in 1947, so it wasn’t important to control Suez anymore. The alternative to Israeli independence was an American trusteeship (all mandates were being converted into trusteeships). The Americans were quite interested in encouraging Jewish immigration to Palestine, since frankly, a great many Americans (including if not especially the upper class secular Jews who dominated the American Jewish community 70 years ago) didn’t want them coming to America. Most zionists were socialists, and the last thing they wanted was to have capitalist America taking over. Whereas in 1922 (when De Haan was shot) the Hareidim were talking about an Islamic state with a Jewish autonomous community, in 1948 they were talking about an American takeover (meaning the American armed forces would be in charge). Based on what has happened to other American trust territories, it means that Palestine today would probably have a legal status similar to Puerto Rico.
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