<P> The history of the State of Palestine describes the creation and evolution of the State of Palestine in the West Bank and Gaza Strip . </P> <P> During the Mandatory period, numerous plans of partition of Palestine were proposed but without the agreement of all parties . In 1947, the United Nations Partition Plan for Palestine was voted . This triggered the 1948 Palestine war, which established a Jewish state but no Palestinian state . Since then there have been proposals to establish a Palestinian state . In 1969, for example, the PLO proposed the establishment of a binational state over the whole of the former British Mandate territory . This proposal was rejected by Israel, as it would have amounted to the disbanding of the state of Israel . The basis of the current proposals is for a two - state solution on either a portion of or the entirety of the Palestinian territories--the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, which have been occupied by Israel since 1967 . </P> <P> At the dissolution of the Ottoman Empire following World War I, the victorious European states divided many of its component regions into newly created states under League of Nations mandates according to deals that had been struck with other interested parties . In the Middle East, Syria (including the Ottoman autonomous Christian Lebanon and the surrounding areas that became the Republic of Lebanon) came under French control, while Mesopotamia and Palestine were allotted to the British . </P> <P> Most of these states achieved independence during the following three decades without great difficulty, though in some regimes, the colonial legacy continued through the granting of exclusive rights to market / manufacture oil and maintain troops to defend it . However, the case of Palestine remained problematic . </P>

Who ruled the area of palestine right before israel gained its independence