November 29, 2003

The Jerusalem Post reports on the 56th anniversary of the UN Partition Plan for Palestine. 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. The vote was 33 to 13 in favor with 10 abstained. 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. Thanks. 9:53:09 PM