Mainstream discourse on the question of Palestine is anything but straightforward. The history has often been portrayed in a selective and deceiving manner, where half-truths and misconceptions reign supreme. This becomes exceedingly clear when discussing the origins of the Palestinian struggle and how Israel came to be established in the first place. A rather persistent myth surrounding this is the claim that the United Nations established the state of Israel.
It is not very difficult to understand why this claim has been so enduring; it would lend legitimacy to the creation of Israel, and frame it as a result of global consensus in full accordance with international law. There are, however, some fairly major flaws with this talking point.
By 1947, partitioning Palestine was not a novel idea. There had already been multiple proposals and plans drafted by various parties going back to at least 1919. Some were more brazen than others in their disregard for Palestinians and their rights, while others made a half-hearted attempt to reconcile the well-being of the Palestinians with the fact that they were about to lose the majority of their country to newly-arrived settlers.
I do not wish to delve into the specifics of the 1947 partition plan, nor analyze it from a practical or moral perspective [You can read more about this here]. Rather, this article is more concerned with the claims surrounding the UN and the persistence of the myth that it established Israel, particularly through UNGA resolution 181.
To be clear, UNGA resolution 181 simply did not partition Palestine. It was in fact, a partition plan, which was to be seen as a recommendation, and that the issue should be transferred to the Security Council. But don’t take our word for it, we encourage you to read the actual resolution and see if you arrive at the same conclusions. The resolution does not in any way obligate the people of Palestine to accept it, especially considering the non-binding nature of UNGA resolutions.
For its part, the Security Council attempted to find a resolution based on the UNGA recommendation, but could not arrive at a consensus. Many arrived at the conclusion that the plan could not be enforced. Israel was unilaterally declared by Zionist leadership by force while the Security Council was still trying to arrive at a conclusion. The plan was never implemented.
However, there is an argument that although the plan never came to fruition, the UNGA recommendation to partition Palestine to establish a Jewish state conferred the legal authority to create such a state. As a matter of fact, this can be seen in the declaration of the establishment of the state of Israel.
This argument falls flat on its face when we take into account that the United Nations, both its General Assembly as well as its Security Council do not have the jurisdiction to impose political solutions, especially without the consent of those it affects. There is nothing in the UN charter that confers such authority to the United Nations. Indeed, this was brought up during discussions on the matter.
Warren Austin, the US representative at the Security Council stated that:
“The Charter of the United Nations does not empower the Security Council to enforce a political settlement whether it is pursuant to a recommendation of the General Assembly or of the Security Council itself […] The Security Council’s action, in other words, is directed to keeping the peace and not to enforcing partition.”
Furthermore, not only would this be outside the scope of the United Nations’ power, it would as a matter of fact run counter to its mandate. This was even brought up by The United Nations Special Committee on Palestine itself:
“With regard to the principle of self-determination, although international recognition was extended to this principle at the end of the First World War and it was adhered to with regard to the other Arab territories, at the time of the creation of the ‘A’ Mandates, it was not applied to Palestine, obviously because of the intention to make possible the creation of the Jewish National Home there. Actually, it may well be said that the Jewish National Home and the sui generis Mandate for Palestine run counter to that principle.”
This is a direct admission that the creation of a Jewish national home in Palestine runs counter to the principle of self-determination for Palestinians already living there. The United Nations needed to twist itself into a knot and make an exception to their own charter to recommend the partition of Palestine. Despite these efforts, the United Nations did not manage to partition Palestine, and even if it did it would be void due to it not being within its powers.
Furthermore, the selective nature of Israeli appeals to the UN are quite well-documented. In this instance, the UN is touted as the supreme arbiter of justice and international consensus, but the moment it decrees anything bearing on Israeli interests, or criticizing its violation of international law, it is suddenly a cowardly, corrupt organization intent on spreading antisemitism. An organization that is framed as a source of legitimacy is instantly discarded when it becomes inconvenient.
So no, Israel was not established through the United Nations. Israel was established through warfare and the creation of facts on the ground. Facts it created through the massacre of Palestinians and the ethnic cleansing of hundreds of villages [You can read more about this here]. This is how the modern state of Israel came into the world, and no amount of sophistry or euphemization can lend that any legitimacy.
- Hammond, Jeremy R. “The Myth of the UN Creation of Israel.” Foreign Policy Journal 26, 2010.
- Hammond, Jeremy R. ” Rejoinder to ‘Is UN Creation of Israel a Myth? Ask Foreign Policy Journal’. Foreign Policy Journal, October 28th, 2010.
- UN General Assembly, Palestine: question of an international regime for the Jerusalem area and the protection of the Holy Places, 9 December 1949, A/RES/303
- Flapan, Simha. The birth of Israel: Myths and realities. London: Croom Helm, 1987.
- Pappe, Ilan. The ethnic cleansing of Palestine. Simon and Schuster, 2007.
- Khalidi, Rashid. The Hundred Years’ War on Palestine: A History of Settler Colonialism and Resistance, 1917–2017. Metropolitan Books, 2020.