FORUM:
The 6th Committee of the General Assembly
STUDENT OFFICER:
Marvin Gambusch, Main Chair of the 6th Committee of the GA
ISSUE:
The legal status of persons in areas where there has been a
succession of states
Introduction into the Topic:
In the past century there has been a succession of governments in the region of Israel and the
Palestinian territory. From the beginning of the conflict the distribution of land between these
governments has not been successful since they do not recognize each other. The task of the
UN should now be to find solutions on which both of them can agree, concerning of how the
land should be distributed, but also on how to prevent further fighting on the matter of the
borders.
Timeline of Events and Present Situation:
1922:
After the collapse of the Ottoman Empire in 1922 which had control over the
area of Greater Syria, the British Mandate of Palestine was created and a big
migration of Jewish people mainly from Eastern Europe took place. This had
the effect that Jews owned about 7% of the total land of Palestine, which may
not seem much but in respect to the fact, that the Palestine government owned
about 70% of the total land it is (This distribution can be seen on the first map
of the picture on the next page.). Therefore Palestine and its future were mainly
affected by Arabs and Jews.
1947:
The UN Partition Plan encouraged the separation of Palestine into an Arab and
a Jewish state, thereby the area of and around Jerusalem should be controlled
by a special international regime. The land was distributed as shown in the
picture on the next page on the right, the Arabs (green) got the area which is
now known as the Gaza Strip and
almost the whole West Bank, but
also some other areas. The Jews
(white) got almost the rest, except
the area of Jerusalem. This plan
was accepted by the leaderships of
the Jews, but rejected by the Arabs.
Thus the Arab League was willing
to take military actions if the
Picture 1
Partition Plan would get into
action, in order to protect the rights of the Arab population.
1948:
On the 14 May 1948 the state of Israel declared itself independent, with the
basic border lines the Partition Plan requested. This state was almost instantly
accepted by some counties including the USA. Consequently the Arab
countries declared war on the state of Israel, which started the Arab-Israeli
War, which was called "an intervention in Palestine to restore law and order"
by the Arab countries and led into the Palestine War.
1949:
After the war, the Armistice Agreement was established, which clarified the
lines between the two sides, but also gave Israel control over some of the parts,
which due to the Partition Plan were Arabic. Also Transjordan had control over
the West Bank and East Jerusalem, furthermore Egypt got control over the
Gaza Strip and Syria got control over the Himmah Area.
1950:
Jordan annexed the West Bank, which was only accepted by the UK, except the
East part of Jerusalem. In the Gaza Strip the Arab League formed the AllPalestine Government, which was under Egypt occupation.
1967:
During the Six-Day War Israel captured the Gaza Strip and the West Bank but
also other areas belonging to Syria, Egypt and Jordan, however, Israel offered
some areas to the three countries in exchange of peace. This was objected by
the involved countries with the following statement: “no peace with Israel, no
recognition of Israel and no negotiations with Israel.”
UN SC Resolution 242 created “Land for Peace” which is a formula how the
relations between Israel and its neighboring countries could be normalized.
This was used in 1979 in order to trade the Sinai Peninsula against a peace
treaty, although the former Egyptian territories in the Gaza Strip stayed under
the control of Israel.
Early 1990s: The Oslo Accords between the Palestine Liberation Organization and Israel led
to the establishment of an organization called Palestinian Authority, which
allowed a limited form of Palestine self-government in the state of Israel on a
small scale, in a period of five years, which should be used to negotiate and
find peace. Since 1999 when the period expired there have not been final
agreements even though there were multiple attempts.
Present Sit.:
The distribution of the territory at the present is shown on
the right (2). Israel (white inside the dark blue lines) is still
the major party, but since the Israelis disengaged from the
Gaza Strip there are two separate governments inside the
Gaza Strip and the West Bank which are Palestinian (dark
and light green).
Definition of Key Terms:
Palestine:
A country called Palestine no longer exists at least not under that name.
The UN, the UK and the EU refer to Palestine as “the Occupied
Palestinian Territories” although the International Court of Justice is
Picture 2
referring to it as “the Occupied Palestine Territory”. There is “the State of Palestine” which is
accepted by some countries, but the Chair suggests the use of the term accepted by
the UN for the debate.
Overall the area referred to is the region of Israel, the West Bank and the Gaza
Strip. And in the case of “the State of Palestine” it only refers to the Gaza Strip and
the West Bank.
Gaza Strip:
Picture 3
The Gaza Strip is a region inside former Palestine and in the west of the present
Israel. It is shown in the map on the right (3).
West Bank:
As shown on the right (4) the West Bank is inside former
Palestine and located in the east of present Israel.
Countries involved:
Israel:
Picture 4
As Israel is one of the countries which is interacting in the conflict and will be affected by the
actions which will be taken by the UN, furthermore it is one of the starters of the problem and
is located in former Palestine.
Egypt, Jordan and Syria:
Those countries are involved since they had control over some parts of the referred area and
are neighboring countries.
Questions Delegates Should Consider During Research:
Is your country directly involved in the conflict or has it been?
Is your country separated by different types of religions?
Does your country more agree on the Israelis or the Palestinians?
How could there be a fair solution for the issue?
Should there be a redistribution of the land?
Is your country of the opinion a solution on how to communicate between the two sides
should be found?
Should the two states be reunited in order to stabilize the situation?
Useful Links and Sources:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_the_UN_resolutions_concerning_Israel_and_Palestine
https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/is.html
https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Israeli%E2%80%93Palestinian_conflict
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ngFYOLOkmaI
My Sources:
Text:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palestinian_territories
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-29362505
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palestinian_territories#History
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Nations_Partition_Plan_for_Palestine
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palestinian_territories#Name
Pictures in order of appearance:
https://thenewliberator.files.wordpress.com/2009/01/palestine.jpg
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palestinian_territories#/media/File:Palestinian_National_Authority_wi
thin_Israel,_2006.svg
http://media-2.web.britannica.com/eb-media/69/100469-004-847FD7B2.jpg
http://www-tc.pbs.org/prod-media/newshour/photos/2013/01/21/Israel-travelmap_edit_slideshow.jpg