JCPA: 70 Years after UN Resolution 181: An Assessment
Seventy years ago, on November 29, 1947, the UN General Assembly adopted Resolution 181 calling for the partition of Mandatory Palestine into Jewish and Arab states. The Jews accepted the plan with a mixture of joy and hesitation, while the Arabs rejected it and launched a war to forcibly prevent its implementation.Israel to re-enact historic UN vote that led to its establishment
The Arabs denied the Jews any right whatsoever in their ancestral homeland, and a large majority still maintains this view to this day.
Since the Arab states rejected the resolution upon its adoption and prevented its implementation, the Palestinian leadership can neither logically nor legally claim today that Resolution 181 can serve as a basis for the establishment of a Palestinian state.
Moreover, the partition plan refers to the creation of an Arab state, not a Palestinian state. Indeed, nowhere does it indicate the creation of a Palestinian state for the Palestinian people. There was never any such designation as “Palestinian” for the Arab population residing in the area.
Finally, according to the UN Charter, General Assembly resolutions are simply recommendations and are not legally binding. Only resolutions adopted by the Security Council under Chapter 7 of the Charter may be obligatory. Thus, Resolution 181 cannot in any manner be considered to be a basis for a Palestinian claim to statehood.
The Israeli delegation to the U.N. will mark 70 years to the historic vote on Nov. 29, 1947 that resulted in the establishment of a Jewish state in Israel with a festive re-enactment of the vote, to be attended by U.S. Vice President Mike Pence and dozens of ambassadors from around the world.Amb. Danny Danon: We fulfilled the dream
The re-enactment, the initiative of Israeli Ambassador to the U.N. Danny Danon in collaboration with the World Jewish Congress, will kick off a series of celebrations in honor of 70 years to the Jewish state's founding. The event will be held at the original hall where the vote was held in 1947. The hall, which is now located inside the Queens Museum in New York, has been decorated to look as it did on the day of the historic vote, with wooden tables, a stage and a world map hanging on the wall. At the conclusion of the vote, dancers will break out in the hora, just as they did in the actual vote in 1947. Israeli singer Ninet Tayeb will then perform "Jerusalem of Gold."
Pence will be a guest of honor at the ceremony and will be accompanied by U.S. Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin, who is Jewish. Dozens of diplomats and ambassadors will also attend the event, including World Jewish Congress President Ronald Lauder as well as representatives from the 33 countries that voted in favor of establishing a Jewish state in Palestine, as well as local Jewish community leaders.
"We are proud to celebrate with our heads held high the definitive event that led to the establishment of the state and present the achievements and the vast support that Israel has around the world," Danon said. "It is a great honor for Israel to host Vice President Pence at the festivities. The president of the United States 70 years ago, Harry Truman, was the first leader to recognize the State of Israel with its founding. Ever since then, Israel has had no better friend than the United States."
On Tuesday, New York's Times Square will show clips from the historic vote alongside Israel's first Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion's declaration of the establishment of the State of Israel as well as footage of modern-day Israel on its megascreens. Dancers waving Israeli flags and wearing shirts saying "I love Israel" will dance in Times Square at the event, the initiative of the World Zionist Organization and the Zionist Organization of America.
Seventy years have passed since the moment that will forever be engraved in the history of our people, and since then, every one of us can picture themselves listening to the radio, tense with anticipation, during that historic vote on Nov. 29, 1947.
Every time we watch or listen to the long minutes of the vote, which seemed to last as long as our 2,000 years in the Diaspora, we get chills.
In 1897, Zionist visionary Theodor Herzl imagined the unimaginable when he wrote, "At Basel, I founded the Jewish State. If I said this out loud today l would be greeted by universal laughter. In five years perhaps, and certainly in fifty years, everyone will perceive it."
Fifty years later, the Zionist dream came true. Reality eclipsed anything we could have imagined and the U.N. recognized the establishment of the Jewish state in the land of Israel. Today, 70 years after the vote, we stand with our heads held high, proud of our extraordinary achievements, and continue to believe and dream.
Looking back from where we are today, in a strong, thriving and independent Israel, it might be hard to fathom the tense atmosphere that preceded the vote, how momentous it was or the herculean efforts on the part of the Jewish leadership, which realized that the fate of their people rested on their shoulders.
Today, we are grateful to the 33 nations that voted in favor of founding the Jewish state, thereby changing history.