56th Anniversary of UN Partition Plan

[Gość: AIYSHA]

56th Anniversary of UN Partition Plan
By GILA FINE

56th Anniversary of UN Partition Plan

On this day in 1947, the United Nations General Assembly approved the
partition plan for Palestine put forward by the United Nations Special
Committee on Palestine, dividing the area into three entities: a Jewish
state, an Arab state, and an international zone around Jerusalem.

The resolution, though it did call for a Palestinian state in the area, was
non-binding on two counts: because it was a General Assembly rather than a
Security Council resolution, and because the Palestinians themselves
unequivocally rejected the partition plan, thereby making it null and void.

UN Resolution 181 has long held a prominent place in official Israeli
historiography. Generations have been raised on textbooks and documentaries
telling of the legendary night of November 29, 1947, when Jews throughout
the world stayed up late to count the yeas and nays as the United Nations
voted in Lake Success, New York, on the proposal to establish a Jewish state
upon the termination of the British Mandate.

When the requisite two - thirds majority for passing the resolution was
attained, the population of the Yishuv spontaneously took to dancing in the
streets. Eight months later, the Declaration of Independence of the new
State of Israel specifically referred to the resolution as one among a list
of justifications for establishing the state.

Listen to the UN vote [Provided by the Foreign Ministry]

Full Text of the Partition Resolution

The resolution was adopted at the 128th plenary meeting:

In favor: 33

Australia, Belgium, Bolivia, Brazil, Byelorussian S.S.R., Canada, Costa
Rica, Czechoslovakia, Denmark, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, France,
Guatemala, Haiti, Iceland, Liberia, Luxemburg, Netherlands, New Zealand,
Nicaragua, Norway, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Philippines, Poland, Sweden,
Ukrainian S.S.R., Union of South Africa, U.S.A., U.S.S.R., Uruguay,
Venezuela.

Against: 13

Afghanistan, Cuba, Egypt, Greece, India, Iran, Iraq, Lebanon, Pakistan,
Saudi Arabia, Syria, Turkey, Yemen.

Abstained: 10

Argentina, Chile, China, Colombia, El Salvador, Ethiopia, Honduras, Mexico,
United Kingdom, Yugoslavia.