United Nations

1 Printed in United Nations , New YorkPublished by the United Nations Department of Public Information07-44457 DPI/2499 April 2008 4,000 Reprinted: 08-67554 DPI/2499 January 2009 3,000 United Nations New York, 2008 The Palestinian people still yearn for the freedom and dignity denied them for decades. The Israeli people yearn for long-term security. Neither can achieve their legitimate demands without a settlement of the conflict. Today, we are at a critical juncture in efforts to move beyond crisis management and renew efforts toward genuine conflict resolution. United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, February 2007 iiiForewordNo issue has engaged the attention of the international community over the past half century or more as much as what is known as the Question of Palestine.

2 The issue has been on the agenda of the United Nations in one form or another since the Organization s earliest days. It has been the subject of countless hours of debate, discussion and negotiation. Yet, despite all the intensive and extensive efforts, the Palestine issue remains unresolved, and continues to require the urgent attention of the international revised edition of The Question of Palestine and the United Nations reflects a number of milestones and events through the end of 2007. Foremost among these was the passage of 60 years since the adoption by the General Assembly in 1947 of resolution 181 (II), providing for the establishment of an Arab State and a Jewish State in the former Mandate territory of Palestine, with a special status for the holy city of Jerusalem.

3 Also, it had been 40 years since the June 1967 war, the occupation by Israel of Egyptian and Syrian territory and the Palestinian territories of the Gaza Strip and West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and the adoption of Security Council resolution 242 (1967), which is the basis of all subsequent peace year 2007 also marked 20 years since the outbreak of the Palestinian uprising against Israeli occupation, the first intifada. On a more positive note, it had been 15 years since multilateral working groups had begun serious discussion of the main aspects of the Middle East issue arms control, regional security, water, environment, economic and regional development, borders, refugees in the aftermath of the 1991 Madrid Peace Conference, where the parties to the conflict had sat down for the first time, face-to-face, to examine the prospects for The Question of Palestine and the United NationsYet, the conflict has intensified alarmingly since this booklet was last published in 2003.

4 To the point where the occupied Palestinian territory presents a scene of grave political strife, economic hardship and humanitarian crisis. Developments since 2000 have created new and greater demands on the United Nations system, and particularly its agencies on the ground, in addressing the political dimensions of the Question of Palestine and the needs of the Palestinian assuming office in January 2007, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has stressed his full commitment to advancing a comprehensive, just and lasting peace in the Middle East, based on Security Council resolutions 242 (1967), 338 (1973), 1397 (2002) and 1515 (2003) and the principle of land for peace.

5 As the Secretary-General has said, The United Nations will continue to support international efforts aimed at bringing an end to the occupation that began forty years ago, and achieving a two-state solution. A viable and independent Palestine and a safe and secure Israel would not only be a blessing to the two peoples, but would also help promote peace and stability in the wider region. I invite readers to use this booklet as a background reference on the Question of Palestine, and to follow developments on the situation in the Middle East through the United Nations web site and its related links.

6 A comprehensive database with full-text documentation of the role of the United Nations system and other international and non-governmental organizations relevant to the Question of Palestine and the Arab-Israeli conflict since 1946 is available, with a directory of linked sites, at AkasakaUnder-Secretary-General for Communications and Public Information vContentsI. History Chapter 1: The Question of Palestine before the United Nations .. 3 Chapter 2: The Partition Plan and end of the British Mandate .. 7 Chapter 3: The 1967 and 1973 wars and first steps towards peace .. 15 Chapter 4: Growing recognition of Palestinian rights.

7 23 Chapter 5: Intifada (The Uprising) and further steps towards peace, 1987-2003.. 27II. The United Nations and Palestine today Chapter 6: The United Nations and the search for peace.. 47 Chapter 7: Human rights and the Palestinians .. 59 Chapter 8: Social and economic conditions of the Palestinian people.. 71 Chapter 9: The United Nations role in Palestinian development .. 81 III. Towards a permanent settlement: unresolved issues Chapter 10: Palestine refugees .. 97 Chapter 11: Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian territory .. 107 Chapter 12: The status of Jerusalem.

8 111 Further reading.. 113 IHistory 3 Palestine: From League of Nations to United Nations , 1922-1947 When the United Nations was founded on 24 October 1945, the territory of Palestine was administered by the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, under a Mandate received in 1922 from the League of the issues that the Mandatory Power had to deal with, particularly after the end of the Second World War, was the question of a proposed Jewish home in Palestine. (In November 1917, the British Government, in the so-called Balfour Declaration , had declared itself in favour of the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people , on the understanding that nothing shall be done which may prejudice the civil and religious rights of the existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine.)

9 Increasing Jewish immigration had been consistently opposed by the Arab inhabitants of Palestine, who in the mid-1940s comprised about two thirds of the territory s population of 2 million. Faced with escalating violence, the British Government decided, in February 1947, to bring the question of Palestine before the new United attention to the desirability of an early settlement in Palestine , Great Britain asked that a special session of the General Assembly be called immediately in Second session of the General Assembly in Flushing, New York, discussing the issue of Palestine, 28 April 1947.

10 Photo: United NationsChapter 1 The Question of Palestine before the United Nations4 The Question of Palestine and the United Nationsorder to constitute and instruct a special committee to prepare a preliminary study on the question of Palestine for consideration by the Assembly at its next regular special session of the General Assembly, 1947At the first special session of the General Assembly, which began on 28 April 1947, five Arab countries Egypt, Iraq, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia and Syria tried unsuccessfully to include in the agenda an item that would address the termination of the Mandate over Palestine and the declaration of its independence.