The historical situation in 1947–1948
When Harry S. Truman was president, the region then known as the British Mandate for Palestine was nearing the end of British rule. Jewish and Arab nationalist movements were both demanding their own states.

The international proposal that shaped events was the United Nations Partition Plan for Palestine (1947).
That plan suggested dividing the territory into two states — one Jewish and one Arab — with Jerusalem under international administration.

Many Jewish leaders accepted the plan as a basis for a state.
Arab leaders and neighbouring Arab governments rejected it.
Why did Truman talk about population and conflict

At the time, there were millions of Arab residents already living in the region, and roughly 600,000 Jews. Any solution raised huge questions about:
borders
minority populations
displacement
whether the two communities could coexist.

Truman and other officials were trying to manage pressure from different political groups, humanitarian concerns after the Holocaust, and the risk of regional war.

What actually happened next
In May 1948, Jewish leaders proclaimed the Israeli Declaration of Independence (1948), creating the state of Israel. Soon after, several neighbouring Arab states intervened militarily, starting the Arab–Israeli War (1948).
That war produced the long-running conflict between Israel and the surrounding Arab countries.

Key takeaway
There were intense political negotiations and competing plans before Israel was created, but historians generally describe them as contested proposals and diplomatic struggles, not a single coordinated plan to engineer conflict across the region.

Different groups had very different goals, and the situation quickly escalated into war.

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