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Israel and the United Nations - Resolutions 242 and 338

© lawhawk

Israel and the United Nations have always been interrelated. Israel was incorporated as a State as a result of a United Nations vote on the Partition Plan posited November 1947. Since then, the United Nations has passed a significant number of resolutions regarding actions that Israel had taken as well as regarding the status of territory and people in the region formerly known as Palestine.

United Nations Resolutions 242 is the most prominent and central to the peace process as it has developed over the last thirty years. It was created by an agreement between the United States, Israel and Soviet Union following negotiations over many of the sections contained within and sets a framework by which the region's diplomats could negotiate a peaceful resolution to the conflict.

The resolution's text is purposely worded in such a way as to easily allow countries differing interpretations suitable for their national goals. The primary clause refers to the return of territories captured through the conflict in return for peace. It is this document that sets out the basic "land for peace" equation. However, a close reading would show that Israel would not have to give back all lands captured. This was a major point with the Israelis who didn't want to lose security gained through the addition of territory as Israel had captured the Sinai Peninsula, Gaza Strip, Golan Heights, West Bank and Jerusalem. They wanted to maintain control over Jerusalem because they felt an historical connection to the city and sought to maintain the Sinai, Golan Heights and West Bank as buffer zones between the pre-1967 border Israel and her neighbors.

The Arab view countered this as they believed that Israel was imposed on their region by a Western institution - the United Nations and had no power to decide the fate of the people of the region. This viewpoint was embodied in part within the Palestinian National Charter that founded the PLO. This document expressed the intentions of not only the PLO, but the support of Egypt, Syria and other Arab countries in attaining the goals contained therein. Israel was seen as an anethema to the region and its claims were invalid.

Claims that Israeli imperialism is the root cause of Israel's continued presence in the territories are encouraged and supported by Palestinians and Arabs even though the international law that they cite does not require total withdrawal from the territories. It is very understandable that Palestinians and Arabs alike believe Israel should totally withdraw from the territories captured in 1967 because from their viewpoint, the UN requires nothing less than withdrawal.