No Israel

What if Britain had the foresight in 1947 to realize that creating a Jewish state in Palestine would anger the Muslim majority and destabilize the region? Where does world history go without extreme Islamic terrorism?
 
I'm not convinced no Israel=No "Islamism" (or whatever you wish to call it). The Arab world's problems with modernity and likely reaction is both more deeply rooted and more contingent then that.

What I would say is that one advantage of no Israel is a lot more Arab infighting--such instability is no good for the Arab world, but might focus terrorism more inward, or make it more nationally focused etc.
 
What if Britain had the foresight in 1947 to realize that creating a Jewish state in Palestine would anger the Muslim majority and destabilize the region? Where does world history go without extreme Islamic terrorism?

by then it's to late to stop it, the Jews are there and want a state. in fact the Jews had been coming to Israel in large numbers from 1882 on
 
Other than the fact that the British knew all these things and were strongly opposed to the creation of Israel, being the only Western power not to vote in favor when the General Assembly made the decision...
 
This is hard to do
1- Britain's League of Nations Mandate was about to expire.
2- Ben Gurion's, and the other Jewish Organizations were smuggling Jews in as fast as they could.
3- Britain was starting it's long pull back from Empire.

So even if the UN extends Britain's Mandate You still have 2 & 3 to deal with.

To deal effectively with point 2, you need a lot more soldiers in Palestine, which goes against point 3, and the Internal Politics of post war Britain.

Note that by 1952 France was willing to begin discussion about pulling out of Syria and Lebanon.
I figure that you may have Britain hold on till the Mid 50's, before being forced to the Negotiating table.
This give the Jewish organization 5-6 more years of Buying Land. Remembre most of the Land the UN partition gave Israel was legally purchased,
Most of the refugees come from the area between this UN Isreal Borders and the Green line Israel [Cease Fire Line] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Green_Line_(Israel)
It is also important to recognize that most of the purchases in 1948 were concentration on the -West Bank-
Most of the Bought out Palestinians either moved to Jordan where they bought land, or emigrated abroad.

Give Ben Gurion a extra 5-6 years and most of the West Bank would legally be in Israeli Hands.
Where does world history go without extreme Islamic terrorism?
A Lot of the Extremism in Islam today come from Pakistani Waddism Preachers traveling around the Middle East in the Post War Years.
This POD does nothing to change that.
 
What if Britain had the foresight in 1947 to realize that creating a Jewish state in Palestine would anger the Muslim majority and destabilize the region?

1947 is way too late. As soon as the British leave, the Israelis proclaim a state anyway, as in OTL. The Soviets then recognize the state de jure, seeing it as a potentially socialist ally against the neighboring British-backed Arab kingdoms, just as in OTL. The Soviets arrange for the Israelis to receive Czech arms, just as in OTL. And Israel comes into existence, just as in OTL.

Now, if we move the British foresight back to 1917, cancel the Balfour Declaration, and have the British effectively impose an explicitly anti-Zionist policy . . . Islamic fundamentalism still comes into existence. For example, the Muslim Brotherhood is still founded in 1928, because the conditions in Egypt near Suez are not appreciably altered by a lack of Jewish immigration to Mandatory Palestine. As another example, the Wahhabi sect is still the religion of the House of Saud, and the Saudis still wind up a rich oil state that funds the Wahhabis.

Heck, Arab Nationalism/Socialism probably still rises largely as it did historically to topple Arab kingdoms, and the Iraqi manifestation may well then threaten American and British oil interests on the Arabian Penninsula, resulting in "infidel" troops being deployed to Saudi Arabia, thus offending the Islamic militants, provoking them to spectacular acts of anti-American terrorism. The precise details will be different than what happened in OTL, of course.
 
Top