Palestine & International Affairs · Commentary
Palestine, The Occupied Land
United Nations Resolution 50, 1948
The story began with the British occupation of Palestine and other Arab lands in 1917, starting with the occupation of Jerusalem in December 1917, while Britain was courting its Jewish citizens. Zionists wanted a Jewish State in the land of Palestine for the Jews. On November 2, 1917, Britain’s Foreign Secretary, Arthur J. Balfour promised that “His majesty’s government view with favor the establishment in Palestine for a national home for the Jewish people, and will use their best endeavors to facilitate the achievement of this objective.” (Meisler, p. 40) This essay will be discussing the United Nation resolution, Resolution 50 (1948) regarding the United Nations Truce Supervision Organization.
As promised by the Balfour declaration, mentioned above, Britain worked very diligently on the Zionist project. The League of Nations endorsed the Balfour declaration in the 1922 resolution that created the mandate for Britain. Therefore, after WWI, Britain kept Palestine under its control to execute on the Balfour plan. The desire of the Jews and the work of Zionists has proven to be the biggest mistake of the twentieth century which led to multiple massacres and genocides against the Christian and Muslim Palestinians that continues until today. The German massacres against Jews was a driving force for many Europeans to accept the injustice against the Palestinians who lost their land through occupation, confiscation, theft, and massacres. “Many Americans and Europeans–out of sympathy, horror, and perhaps a sense of guilt over the Holocaust-supported the Jewish campaign to open Palestine.” (Meisler, p. 40) In an attempt to alleviate their guilt, the Americans and Europeans’ actions led to decades of pain for both Arabs and Jews.
On November 29, 1947, the UN General Assembly adopted Resolution 181 (II). It proposed the creation of separate independent Arab and Jewish States. On May 14, 1948, the Provisional State Council in Tel Aviv declared the establishment of the Jewish State in Palestine. As hostilities between the Jews and the Arabs who rejected the declaration broke out, the Security Council of the United Nations issued resolution “50 (1948). Resolution of 29 May 1948.” That resolution started with the following statement: “The Security Council, Desiring to bring about a cessation of hostilities in Palestine without prejudice to the rights, claims and position of either Arabs or Jews.” (50 (1948). Resolution of 29 May 1948.) The eleventh paragraph of the resolution also stated the following: “(The Security Council) Decides that if the present resolution is rejected by either party or by both, or if, having been accepted, it is subsequently repudiated or violated, the situation in Palestine will be reconsidered with a view to action under Chapter VII of the Charter of the United Nations,” (50 (1948). Resolution of 29 May 1948.) which was substantially a threat towards the Arabs.
As a result of this resolution, the United Nations started its first peacekeeping mission in Palestine in 1948. The mission was named the United Nations Truce Supervision Organization (UNTSO) between the Arabs and the Israelis. It is interesting to find that the resolution was adopted on May 29th, 1948, in part only. There was no vote taken on the resolution as a whole. The mission started in May 1948 and continues until today, the longest ever United Nations peacekeeping mission. According to the United Nations website, as of March 2024, the deployed number of personnel is nine hundred ninety-eight total personnel out of whom one hundred and fifty-four are experts while the rest are civilians.
Non-permanent Members of the Security Council in 1948 were Argentina, Colombia, Canada, Ukrainian SSR, Syria and Belgium in addition to the permanent members China, USSR, France, Britain and the United States. By looking at the non-Arab composition of the council, it was obvious that the British plot was going to succeed in partitioning Palestine and protecting the newly created Zionist State of Israel which was the fulfillment of the Balfour promise. Syria, the only Arab country whose national interest is impacted, had no chance of changing the outcome of any resolution in the security council.
Was the mission a success or not is an interesting question. If we assess the outcome of the partition and UNTSO based on what they have achieved in 75 years, I will say it is the United Nations biggest failure since its inception. The United Nations made a big mistake in portioning the land of Palestine and giving most of it to European Jews. Considering the behavior of Jews in Palestine during the British mandate, it was obvious that the illogical creation of the State of Israel in the midst of the Arab world would create a lot of hostilities. The fact that the mission is still ongoing after seventy-five years and Israel’s continuous border expansion, annexation of Palestinian lands, attacking neighboring Arab countries, imprisoning Palestinians, torturing them and starting wars across the Middle East and committing a genocide in 2023 and 2024 while the world is watching proof that the mission is a big failure. The first United Nation peace keeping mission failed to achieve lasting peace.