palestine in united nations

history Before 1948

• 1918 – British colonization after Ottoman defeated in WW1

• Britain put into action its undertaking to the Jews to help them to have a home in Palestine

• special laws were issued to facilitate Jewish immigration and acquisition of land in Palestine

• 1948 - they manage to own just 180,000 hectares, around 6.67% of the land at that time, that they got mainly from the rich feudal class, mostly Lebanese and Syrian Families.

1947 - The United Nations in General Assembly adopted Resolution No. 181

• After expiry British mandate proposed a partition plan : 2 states

• Arab State – 45%

• Jewish State – 54% (costal and fertile land)

• Jerusalem – international (1%)

• Arabs had then constituted 68.3% of the population and owned 93.5% of its land, while the Jews only immigrants, thus the partition extremely unfair to the Arabs, who had logically out rightly rejected it

After 1948

• The Zionist declared the independent “State of Israel”, and war intensified between the Zionist gangs

• worst massacres after the world wars era, resulted in the Zionist acquisition of 77% of Palestinian land

• The West Bank was annexed to Jordan and the Gaza Strip was put under Egyptian administration

• 1974, the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) was accepted by the UN General Assembly meetings, participates in procedural votes, and to sponsor and sign resolution, but not to vote on resolutions and other substantive matters

• Up to 28 November 2012, Palestine has not been officially announced as a State despite the facts that 127 states had recognized Palestine as a State

States Recognition • need not be expressed in a formal document

• States treat an entity as a State, then they are considered to recognize it

• Case Tinoco Arbitration (United Kingdom v Costa Rica) (1923) 1 RIAA 369

• Palestine is not recognized as a State by a little number of States including of : Israel, United States, Canada, Czech Republic, Marshall Islands, Micronesia (Federated States of), Nauru, Panama, and Palau

• However, mere recognition is not sufficient. The idea that an issue of statehood involves the mere acknowledgement of a fact is really too simple

Montevideo Convention 1933

• Article 1 of the Montevideo Convention defines ‘State’ as a person of international law should possess the following qualifications:

• (a) permanent population

• (b) a defined territory (West Bank, East Jurusalem, and the Gaza Strip)

• (c) government (PLO)

• (d) capacity to enter into relations with other states.

Current Status of Palestine • 29 November 2012, the UN General Assembly

voted to upgrade the status of the Palestinians to that of a “non-member observer state”.

• 138 in favour to 9 against with 41 abstentions • 14 September 2015, 136 (70.5%) of the 193

member states of the United Nations have recognized the State of Palestine

• recognise the PLO as the "representative of the Palestinian people“

• PLO's Executive Committee is empowered by the Palestinian National Council to perform the functions of government of the State of Palestine

‘Non-member State’ Recognized By The UN

• continue to have observer status but now as a State with territory

• the West Bank, including East Jerussalem, and the Gaza Strip – recognized by the UN

• can apply for the status of Permanent Observer state

• arranged for seating in the General Assembly Hall immediately after the Member States

• participate in the sessions and the work of the General Assembly

• maintaining permanent observer missions in Headquarter.

Recognition of State by the UN

• The fact that the UN does not yet grant Palestine a full membership is not an evidence of it not attaining statehood. This is because admittance to the UN as a member is not a criterion for statehood

Non-acceptance of Palestine as a full member of UN

• entity to be admitted to the UN as a member, Article 4 of the UN Charter 1945 requires that it be (a) a State, (b) peace-loving, (c) prepare to accept the obligations contained in the Charter, and (d) able and willing to carry out these obligations

• depends on the discretion of the Security Council and the General Assembly

• Advisory Opinion on the Competence of the General Assembly for the Admission of a State to the United Nations the court held that

– “The admission of a State to membership in the United Nations, pursuant to paragraph 2 of Article 4 of the Charter, cannot be effected by a decision of the General Assembly when the Security Council has made no recommendation for admission..”

• despite the resolution by the General Assembly recognizing Palestine as a State, still it cannot be a member of the UN until and unless recommend by the Security Council

• The main obstacle in the way to UN membership is because the United States of America, who is against the Palestinian statehood, being one who possesses the veto power in the Security Council.

Rights of Palestine

Right as Non-Member State

Observer Right as Minority Arab in Israel

Right to Speak at General Assembly

Meetings

Citizenship Right

Right to Vote on Procedural Matters

Income/Poverty

Right to Serve Signatories on Working Papers

Redistribution of resources and social welfare

Right to Sign Resolutions, but not to Sponsor Resolutions or Vote on

Resolutions of Substantive Matters Employment

Right to Circulate Communications Without Intermediary

Health

Right to Prosecutes International Criminals for Crimes committed in

Palestine

Educational Access

Political Participation

Economic Assets: Land