In Solidarity

Aref Assaf

The UN Solidarity Day with the Palestinian People.

November 29, 2007 marked the sixtieth anniversary of UN Resolution 181 to partition Palestine. It was also the Annual UN Solidarity Day with the Palestinian People.

Hundreds of people, dignitaries, and supporters from many NGOs were gathered to hear speaker after speaker reflect on the tragedy that befell our people, their dispossession, their hopes, and their wishes.

But in 1947 and in the converted ice skating rink at the New York City Building in Flushing Meadow Park,  the delegates of 56 of the 57 members of the United Nations General Assembly were called upon to decide the future of Palestine. There were few Palestinians in New York then to witness what will become other homeland.

 The delegates were charged with deciding on a proposal that called for the splitting Palestine into two separate states, one Arab, one Jewish. And the rest is our Nakba.

 And so it was at Flushing Meadows that history came to a crucial moment. In that autumn of 1947, the Jews had beseeched the United Nations to grant them a state of their own. The debate in the cavernous grey hall was intense. To the Arabs, and above all for the 1.2 million Arabs of Palestine, the partitioning of the land in which they had been a majority for centuries seemed an injustice imposed upon them by Western imperialism for a crime they did not commit. For Britain, the nation that had administered Palestine for 30 difficult years, the debate offered an end to a nightmare; two years after the end of World War Two it was the only place on the globe where British soldiers were still dying in conflict.

By direct order from the White House, President Harry S. Truman told the U.S. delegate at Flushing Meadow to “damn well deliver the partition vote or there will be hell to pay.” Yet on the day originally set for the crucial vote, Wednesday, November 26, 1947, the prospect of defeat hung was real as a two-thirds majority was needed to pass the resolution. To offset the votes of the Arab-Moslem nations alone, the Jewish Agency, which represented the Zionist movement, needed 22 votes, more than a third of the General Assembly.  A filibuster forced the adjournment of the Wednesday session before a vote could be called. A Thanksgiving recess won a three day delay. During that time, diplomatic maneuvers on both sides would be exerted to alter the eventual outcome.

On Saturday afternoon, November 29, the delegates began to file into the NY City Building for the fateful decision. As their black limousines drove into Flushing Meadows they were greeted by singing, chanting crowds that had gathered outside the hall waving Zionist banners. Few Arabs or Arab supporters were there to protest the ensuing injustice.  Slowly the delegates’ 300 seats began to fill up. The stately figure of Emir Faisal ibn Abdel-Aziz of Saudi Arabia, moving with a solemn grace in a gold and black abayah, led the Arab delegates to their places.

After a long debate, at five o’clock, Assembly president Oswaldo Aranha of Brazil gaveled down the last speaker and solemnly informed the gathering that the vote would be taken. An aide handed Aranha a basket containing 56 slips of paper, each representing a nation in the hall. He extended his hand and slowly drew the name of the country whose vote would begin the roll call. He unfolded the paper and stared at the delegates assembled before him. “Guatemala,” he announced. Silence fell over the hall.

Shortly after sundown, the vote was over. The United Nations had voted to create the State of Israel. And the Palestinian Nakba has never ceased since that fateful day.

For sixty years, the UN has been trying to take responsibility for that fateful decision. Over thirteen UN Security Council Resolutions and untold General Assembly Resolution would pass but most would never be materialized. Hence, in 1977, the General Assembly called for the annual observance of 29 November as the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People (resolution 32/40 B). On that day, in 1947, the Assembly adopted the resolution on the partition of Palestine (resolution 181 (II)).  The Assembly asked the member states to continue to organize an annual exhibit on Palestinian rights or a cultural event in cooperation with the Permanent Observer Mission of Palestine to the UN. It also encouraged Member States to continue to give the widest support and publicity to the observance of the Day of Solidarity.

The day’s events included many speeches and discussions. Of interest was the morning remarks by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon  who called for strengthened efforts to bring justice, security, and peace to the Palestinian people in light of the Annapolis meeting.  He said that "the vision of an end of occupation, an end of conflict, and two States living side-by-side in peace is a vision of justice, security, and peace."

     "It is still achievable," he noted.  The U.N. chief noted that the Day comes at a time when Palestinians continue to suffer the indignities and violence of occupation and conflict, but also at a time when a new beginning has been made in efforts to achieve a two State solution to the conflict. He hailed the agreement achieved at Annapolis two days earlier between Palestine and Israel to launch negotiations on all core issues without exception, in order to conclude a peace treaty resolving all outstanding issues by the end of the year 2008. "Implementation is now paramount," he said. "What we do tomorrow is more important than what we say today."      Ban pointed out that the process launched at Annapolis must change the lives of Palestinians, secure their independence and freedom, end the occupation and create an independent and viable State of Palestine, at peace with itself and its neighbors.

    "It also must deliver on the vital interests of Israelis: a Palestinian State that is a true partner and not a source of terrorism, secure and recognized borders, and a permanent end to the conflict," he added.

     The Secretary-General stressed that final status negotiations need to begin in earnest, and address all the issues, including Jerusalem, refugees, borders, settlements, security and water, noting that "the broad outlines of solutions to these issues are clear."

    Renowned Palestinian American oud virtuoso Simon Shaheen culminated the evening by performing musical selections to the delight of the audience.

I have participated in this remembrance day many times since 1977. I wonder how many more days will the UN host this event till the Palestinians have their own independent State?