 After the adoption of the United Nations Partition Plan for Palestine in November 1947 , a civil war erupted in the British Mandate of Palestine . The Jews living in Jerusalem constituted one of the weak points of the Yishuv and a main cause for concern to its leaders . With nearly 100 @,@ 000 inhabitants , a sixth of the total Jewish population in the Mandate , the city was isolated in the heart of territory under Arab control . 
