A historical territorial entity that comprises much of present-day Israel and the West Bank, East Jerusalem and Gaza. Palestine was among the several former Ottoman Empire territories that the League of Nations placed under the administration of Great Britain after World War I. In 1947, United Nations General Assembly Resolution 181 proposed the partitioning of Palestine into two independent states: one Palestinian Arab and the other Jewish. This proposal was not realized as Arab leaders, and other nations who rejected the plan, regarded it as invalid. The State of Israel declared independence in 1948 on part of Palestine. The war that followed led to most of Palestine’s territory being annexed by Israel and other parts falling under Egyptian and Jordanian control (see War of 1948). While the state of Palestine does not exist today, the term is used by many to refer alternatively to a future Palestinian state in the West Bank, East Jerusalem and Gaza, or in the entire territory of British mandate Palestine. See Cleveland, William L. A History of the Modern Middle East. 2nd ed. Boulder: Westview Press, 2000; Farsoun, Samih K. and Naseer H. Aruri. Palestine and the Palestinians, 2nd ed. Boulder: Westview Press, 2006; and Pappe, Ilan A History of Modern Palestine: One Land, Two Peoples. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2004.  http://www.justvision.org/glossary/palestine