On 12/7/06, Rui Correia <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
Great recipe this partition thing!!!! - I think Muhammad Ali Jinnah had the
same idea about separate territories for Hindus and Muslims in India in 1940
.... I million dead, 11 million homeless and six decades later, they are
fighting over 'bits' lying on the wrong side of the partition.
More recently, Yugoslavia went through the same process, with Serbs, Croats
and Bosnians ...
So history does repeat itself but we don't seem to learn much - perhaps it
is because we forget the lessons so quickly and need refresher courses!!!
Below is the NYT article about the UN partition plan on Palestine
(voted on 29 November 1947) run on its front page. The article
includes the last-ditch Arab proposal for a "federal independent state
of Palestine." But no power listened to the Arabs -- not even the
USSR, which worked with America to encourage all states to vote for
partition. No wonder socialism never got ver far in the Middle East.
<http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/1129.html#article>
ASSEMBLY VOTES PALESTINE PARTITION;
MARGIN IS 33 TO 13;
ARABS WALK OUT;
ARANHA HAILS WORK AS SESSION ENDS
U.N. REJECTS DELAY
Proposal Driven Through by U.S. and Soviet Will Set Up Two Sates
COMMISSION IS APPOINTED
Britain Holds Out Hand to It - Arabs Fail in Last-Minute Resort to Federal Plan
By THOMAS J. HAMILTON
The United Nations General Assembly approved yesterday a proposal to
partition Palestine into two states, one Arab and the other Jewish,
that are to become fully independent by Oct.1. The vote was 33 to 13
with two abstentions and one delegation, the Siamese, absent.
The decision was primarily a result of the fact that the delegations
of the United States and the Soviet Union, which were at loggerheads
on every other important issue before the Assembly, stood together on
partition. Andrei A. Gromyko and Herschel V. Johnson both urged the
Assembly yesterday not to agree to further delay but to vote for
partition at once.
The Assembly disregarded last minute Arab efforts to effect a
compromise. Although the votes of a dozen or more delegations
see-sawed to the last, supporters of partition had two votes more than
the required two-thirds majority, or a margin of three.
How Members Voted
The roll-call vote was as follows: For (33) - Australia, Belgium,
Bolivia, Brazil, Canada, Costa Rica, Czechoslovakia, Denmark,
Dominican Republic, Ecuador, France, Guatemala, Haiti, Iceland,
Liberia, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Norway,
Panama, Paraguay, Peru Philippines, Poland, Sweden, Ukraine, South
Africa, Uruguay, the Soviet Union, the United States, Venezuela, White
Russia.
Against (13) - Afghanistan, Cuba, Egypt, Greece, India, Iran, Iraq,
Lebanon, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Turkey, Yemen.
Abstentions (10) - Argentina, Chile, China, Colombia, El Salvador,
Ethiopia, Honduras, Mexico, United Kingdom, Yugoslavia.
Absent (1) - Siam.
All other questions before the Assembly were disposed of a week ago,
and it ended its second regular session at 6:57 P.M. after farewell
speeches by Dr. Oswaldo Aranha, its President, and Trygve Lie, the
Secretary General. The Assembly's third regular session is to open in
a European capital on Sept. 21.
The vote on partition was taken at 5:35 P. M. Representatives of Iraq,
Saudi Arabia, Syria, and Yemen, four of the six Arab member states,
announced that they would not be bound by the Assembly's decision and
walked determinedly out of the Assembly Hall at Flushing Meadow. The
Egyptian and Lebanese delegates were silent but walked out, too.
Briton Seeks Contact
Sir Alexander Cadogan, representative of Britain, which is to
terminate the League of Nations mandate over Palestine and withdraw
all British troops by Aug. 1, made a brief statement after the vote.
He requested the United Nations Palestine Commission to establish
contact with the British Government about the date of its arrival in
Palestine and the coordination of its plans with the withdrawal of
British troops.
The United Nations commission which will be responsible to the
Security Council in the event that the Arabs carry out their threats
to fight rather than agree to partition, will be composed of
representatives of Bolivia, Czechoslovakia, Denmark, Panama and the
Philippines.
This state, which is understood to have the backing of the United
States, was proposed by Dr. Aranha and approved without opposition
after the Arab delegates had walked out.
The commission, as proposed by the partition subcommittee, of the
Assembly's Ad Hoc Committee on Palestine, was to have been composed of
Denmark, Guatemala, Iceland, Poland, and Uruguay, but the question was
left to the Assembly because of United States opposition.
The Assembly, without discussion, also approved an appropriation of
$2,000,000 for the expenses of the commission, which will take over
authority in Palestine after the British terminate the mandate and
will then transfer it to the "shadow governments" of the two states.
The walkout of the Arab delegates was taken as a clear indication that
the Palestinian Arabs would have nothing to do with the Assembly's
decision. The British have emphasized repeatedly that British troops
could not be used to impose a settlement not acceptable to both Jews
and Arabs, and the partition plan does not provide outside military
force to keep order.
Instead, it provides for the establishment of armed militia by the two
nascent states to keep internal order and that any threats to peace by
the neighboring Arab states are to be referred to the Security
Council.
The Assembly decided Friday to take a recess of twenty-four hours to
give the Arabs time to submit a comprise proposal, but this turned out
to be what Mr. Johnson called a mere resurrection of the proposal for
a federal Palestine, which had been recommended by a minority of the
United Nations Special Committee on Palestine.
The resolution to return the entire question to the Ad Hoc Committee
on Palestine, introduced by Mostafa Adl, the representative of Iran,
would furthermore have directed the committee to take into account the
last-minute Arab proposal.
A simple procedural resolution returning the question to the committee
would have had precedence over the partition proposal, but Dr. Aranha,
after considerable reflection, ruled that the extraneous provisions
barred it from being treated as a procedural motion and that it could
not be voted on until after the Assembly's decision on partition.
Vote on Principles Sought
Camille Chamoun, the Lebanese representative, tried to meet Dr.
Aranha's ruling by demanding that the committee vote first on the
eleven principles on the future government of Palestine, which had
been approved unanimously by the Special Committee on Palestine last
summer.
Mr. Chamoun remarked that the resolution before the Assembly did not
mention these principles, but Dr. Aranha replied that they were
covered by the plan substituted by the Palestine committee, to which
the Assembly's resolution will give effect, and rejected the final
Arab attempt to postpone a decision.
Dr. Alfonso Lopez, the Colombian representative, who on Friday had
submitted a complicated proposal that, among other things, would have
returned the question to the committee, had arranged with another
delegate to make a simple proposal to recommit. However, the delegate,
sensing the mood of the Assembly, remained silent and Dr. Aranha
called for the decisive vote.
U.S. Efforts Praised
The United States delegation played its part in persuading the
delegate in question not to present the motion for recommittal, and
supporters of partition agreed that, after long hesitation, it had
sincerely done its best to obtain Assembly approval of partition.
It was still difficult to account for the fact that Greece, which
otherwise followed United States leadership throughout the long
Assembly, voted against partition and that some Latin American
countries abstained.
Britain, which brought the Palestine question before the Assembly last
March, abstained on all votes in the Palestine committee and in poling
on the issue in the Assembly.
It was expected that had the Assembly failed to reach a decision the
United States would have asked Britain to stay on in Palestine. Sir
Alexander's statement after the decision was taken was welcomed as
being more cooperative than previous ones. It was generally expected
that the United States and Britain would now agree on a working
arrangement to facilitate the commission's work.
The Arab delegates, particularly after the vote, referred bitterly to
the "heavy pressure" exerted on other delegations. Other delegates
interpreted these complaints as attacks on the United States.
The Syrian representatives led this attack. Faris el-Khoury, in a
statement before the vote, charged that the proportion of Jews to the
rest of the population in the United States was 1 to 30. Jews were
trying to "intimidate the United Nations ... and hiss the speakers
here," which, he said was "proof that they are dominating here."
This assertion drew hisses from the gallery, and Dr. Aranha pounded
his gavel for order.
A few minutes before the Assembly convened Arab spokesmen announced
that they had drawn up a new six-point program in twenty-four hours of
conferences. The program involved this formula:
(1) A federal independent state of Palestine shall be created not
later than Aug. 1, 1949.
(2) The Government of Palestine shall be constituted on a federal
basis and shall include a federal government and governments for Arab
and Jewish countries.
(3) Boundaries of the cantons will be fixed so as to include a federal
basis and shall include a federal government and governments for Arab
and Jewish countries.
(4) The population of Palestine shall elect by universal, direct
suffrage a Constituent Assembly, which shall draft the Constitution of
the future federated state of Palestine. The Constituent Assembly
shall be composed of all elements of the population in proportion to
the number of their respective citizens.
(5) The Constituent Assembly, in defining the attributes of the
federated government of Palestine as well as of its legislative and
judiciary organs and the attributes of the governments of the cantons
and of the relation of the governments of these cantons with the
federal government, shall draw its inspiration chiefly from the
principles of the Constitution of the United States as well as from
the organization of laws in the states of the United States.
(6) The Constitution will provide, among other things, for protection
of the holy places, liberty of access to visit the holy places and
freedom of religion as well as safeguarding of the rights of religious
establishments of all nationalities in Palestine.
RELATED HEADLINES
Arabs See U.N. 'Murdered,' Disavow Any Partition Role: Angry Delegates
Stalk From Assembly Hall Before Formal Closing -- Silver Voices
Gratification, Offers Friendship
Peace Gains Noted: Brazilian Says Contacts Inspired No Forecast of
Imminent War: Cites Role of Minority: Lie Regrets That Economic Issues
Were Sidetracked -- Others Hail Aranha
Zioninst Audience Joyful After Vote: Tears, Excited Laughter Mark
Tension -- Aranha Commends Public's Good Behavior
OTHER HEADLINES
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--
Yoshie
<http://montages.blogspot.com/>
<http://mrzine.org>
<http://monthlyreview.org/>
