The Road Not Taken

From beginning (1917) to end (?), Palestine and its people have been comprehensively shafted by the international order. Arguably, the worst ever milestone in this process was UN General Assembly Resolution 181, which proposed the partitioning of British Mandate Palestine into Jewish and Arab states.

It should rightly be viewed as the most shameful resolution ever passed by the United Nations in its now entire 71-year history, and today marks the 69th anniversary of its passing.

But the UN didn't have to go down the road to partition/ perdition in Palestine. If the UN had voted to refer the matter of Palestine's future to the International Court of Justice, as recommended by the United Nations Special Committee on Palestine (UNSCOP)'s Sub-Committee 2 (instead of settling for partition, as advised by Sub-Committee 1), the Palestinian people would, in all likelihood, have been spared the agony they have gone through now for the past 60 plus decades, and are still going through today.

Here is the first part of the concluding section of Sub-Committee 2's Draft Resolution Referring Certain Legal Questions to The International Court of Justice. The next time you here a Zionist banging on about Partition Resolution 181 of November 29, 1947, remember this document: 

The General Assembly 

Considering that the Palestine question raises certain legal issues connected, inter alia, with the inherent right of the indigenous population of Palestine to their country and to determine its future, the pledges and assurances given to the Arabs in the First World War regarding the independence of Arab countries, including Palestine, the validity and scope of the Balfour Declaration and the Mandate, the effect on the Mandate of the dissolution of the League of Nations and of the declaration by the Mandatory Power of its intention to withdraw from Palestine,

Considering that the Palestine question also raises other legal issues connected with the competence of the United Nations to recommend any solution contrary to the Covenant of the League of Nations or the Charter of the United Nations, or to the wishes of the majority of the people of Palestine,

Considering that doubts have been expressed by several Member States concerning the legality under the Charter of any action by the United Nations, or by any Member State or group of Member States, to enforce any proposal which is contrary to the wishes, or is made without the consent, of the majority of the inhabitants of Palestine,

Considering that these questions involve legal issues which so far have not been pronounced upon by an impartial or competent tribunal, and that it is essential that such questions be authoritatively determined before the United Nations can recommend a solution of the Palestine question with the principles of justice and international law,

Resolves to request the International Court of Justice to give an advisory opinion under Article 96 of the Charter and Chapter IV of the Statute of the Court on the following questions:

(a) Whether the indigenous population of Palestine has not an inherent right to Palestine and to determine its future constitution and government;

(b) Whether the pledges and assurances given by Great Britain to the Arabs during the First World War (including the Anglo-French Declaration of 1918) concerning the independence and future of Arab countries at the end of the war did not include Palestine;

(c) Whether the Balfour Declaration, which was made without the knowledge or consent of the indigenous population of Palestine, was valid and binding on the people of Palestine, or consistent with the earlier or subsequent pledges and assurances given to the Arabs;

(d) Whether the provisions of the Mandate for Palestine regarding the establishment of a Jewish National Home in Palestine are in conformity or consistent with the objectives and provisions of the Covenant of the League of Nations (in particular Article 22), or are compatible with the provisions of the Mandate relating to the development of self-government and the preservation of the rights and position of the Arabs of Palestine;

(e) Whether the legal basis for the Mandate for Palestine has not disappeared with the dissolution of the League of Nations, and whether it is not the duty of the Mandatory Power to hand over power and administration to a government of Palestine representing the rightful people of Palestine;

(f) Whether a plan to partition Palestine without the consent of the majority of its people is consistent with the objectives of the Covenant of the League of Nations, and with the provisions of the Mandate for Palestine;

(g) Whether the United Nations is competent to recommend either of the two plans and recommendations of the majority or minority of the United Nations Special Committee on Palestine, or any other solution involving partition of the territory of Palestine, or a permanent trusteeship over any city or part of Palestine, without the consent of the majority of the people of Palestine;

(h) Whether the United Nations, or any of its Member States, is competent to enforce or recommend the enforcement of any proposal concerning the constitution and future government of Palestine, in particular, any plan of partition which is contrary to the wishes, or adopted without the consent of, the inhabitants of Palestine,

Instructs the Secretary-General to transmit this resolution to the International Court of Justice, accompanied by all the documents likely to throw light upon the questions under reference.