Functions and powers of the Security Council of the United
Nations
Mandate
The UN Charter established six main organs of the United Nations, including the Security Council. It gives
primary responsibility for maintaining international peace and security to the Security Council, which may
meet whenever peace is threatened.
According to the Charter, the United Nations has four purposes:
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to maintain international peace and security;
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to develop friendly relations among nations;
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to cooperate in solving international problems and in promoting respect for human rights;
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and to be a centre for harmonizing the actions of nations.
All members of the United Nations agree to accept and carry out the decisions of the Security Council. While
other organs of the United Nations make recommendations to member states, only the Security Council has
the power to make decisions that member states are then obligated to implement under the Charter.
Maintaining Peace and Security
When a complaint concerning a threat to peace is brought before it, the Council’s first action is usually to
recommend that the parties try to reach agreement by peaceful means. The Council may:
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set forth principles for such an agreement;
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undertake investigation and mediation, in some cases;
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dispatch a mission;
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appoint special envoys; or
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request the Secretary-General to use his good offices to achieve a pacific settlement of the dispute.
When a dispute leads to hostilities, the Council’s primary concern is to bring them to an end as
soon as possible. In that case, the Council may:
•
issue ceasefire directives that can help prevent an escalation of the conflict;
•
Dispatch military observers or a peacekeeping force to help reduce tensions, separate
opposing forces and establish a calm in which peaceful settlements may be sought.
Beyond this, the Council may opt for enforcement measures, including:
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economic sanctions, arms embargoes, financial penalties and restrictions, and travel bans;
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severance of diplomatic relations;
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blockade;
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or even collective military action.
A chief concern is to focus action on those responsible for the policies or practices condemned by
the international community, while minimizing the impact of the measures taken on other parts of
the population and economy.
Organization
The Security Council held its first session on 17 January 1946 at Church House, Westminster,
London. Since its first meeting, the Security Council has taken permanent residence at the United
Nations Headquarters in New York City. It also travelled to many cities, holding sessions in Addis
Ababa, Ethiopia, in 1972, in Panama City, Panama, and in Geneva, Switzerland, in 1990.
A representative of each of its members must be present at all times at UN Headquarters so that
the Security Council can meet at any time as the need arises.
(ref. http://www.un.org/en/sc/about/)
The Six-Day War
June 5th to June 10th, 1967
Israel – June 1967
Country profile
Israel is located at the eastern end of the Mediterranean Sea, bounded by Lebanon to the north,
Syria to the northeast, Jordan and the West Bank to the east, and Egypt and the Gaza Strip to the
southwest.
Population: 2,776,000 people in 1967 (Jewish Virtual Library: American – Israeli cooperative
enterprise)
Ethnic Groups: 74.8% were recorded by the civil government as Jews. Arabs comprised 20.8% of
the population, while non-Arab Christians and people who have no religion listed in the civil registry
made up 4.4%
Religions: 74.8% Jewish, 17.6% Muslim, 2% Christian, 1.6% Druze, 4% other and unspecified.
Government: Unitary Parliamentary Republic.
Economy: Israel has a technologically advanced free market economy. Cut diamonds, hightechnology equipment, and pharmaceuticals are among its leading exports. Its major imports
include crude oil, grains, raw materials, and military equipment. Israel usually posts sizable trade
deficits, which are covered by tourism and other service exports, as well as significant foreign
investment inflows. (World Fact Book and BBC world)
BRIEF HISTORICAL BACKGROUND
Following World War II, Britain withdrew from its mandate of Palestine, and the UN proposed
partitioning the area into Arab and Jewish states, an arrangement rejected by the Arabs.
Nonetheless, an Israeli state was declared in 1948, and Israel subsequently defeated the Arab
armies in a series of wars that did not end deep tensions between the two sides.
A day after the declaration of independence of the State of Israel, armies of five Arab countries,
Egypt, Syria, Transjordan, Lebanon and Iraq, invaded Israel. This marked the beginning of the War
of Independence. Arab states have jointly waged four full scale wars against Israel:
•
•
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1948 War of Independence
1956 Sinai War
1967 Six Day War
Egypt – June 1967
Country profile
Egypt is located in northern Africa, bordering the Mediterranean Sea, between Libya and the Gaza
Strip, and the Red Sea north of Sudan, and includes the Asian Sinai Peninsula Long known for its
pyramids and ancient civilization; Egypt is the largest Arab country and has played a central role in
Middle Eastern politics in modern times.
Population: 94,666,993.
Ethnic Groups: Egyptian 99.6%, other 0.4% (CIA World Fact Book)
Religions: Muslim (predominantly Sunni) 90%, Christian (majority Coptic Orthodox, other
Christians include Armenian Apostolic, Catholic, Orthodox, and Anglican) 10%
Government: Presidential Republic.
Economy: Occupying the northeast corner of the African continent, Egypt is bisected by the highly
fertile Nile valley, where most economic activity takes place. Egypt's economy was highly
centralized during the rule of former President Gamal Abdel NASSER but opened up considerably
under former Presidents Anwar EL-SADAT and Mohamed Hosni MUBARAK. (World Fact Book and
BBC world)
BRIEF HISTORICAL BACKGROUND
The regularity and richness of the annual Nile River flood, coupled with semi-isolation provided by
deserts to the east and west, allowed for the development of one of the world's great civilizations. A
unified kingdom arose circa 3200 B.C., and a series of dynasties ruled in Egypt for the next three
millennia. The last native dynasty fell to the Persians in 341 B.C., who in turn were replaced by the
Greeks, Romans, and Byzantines. It was the Arabs who introduced Islam and the Arabic language
in the 7th century and who ruled for the next six centuries. A local military caste, the Mamluks took
control about 1250 and continued to govern after the conquest of Egypt by the Ottoman Turks in
1517. Completion of the Suez Canal in 1869 elevated Egypt as an important world transportation
hub. Ostensibly to protect its investments, Britain seized control of Egypt's government in 1882, but
nominal allegiance to the Ottoman Empire continued until 1914. Partially independent from the UK
in 1922, Egypt acquired full sovereignty from Britain in 1952.
In 1958, Egypt and Syria formed a sovereign union
known as the United Arab Republic. The union was
short-lived, ending in 1961 when Syria seceded, thus
ending the union. During most of its existence, the
United
Arab
Republic
was
also
in
a
loose confederation with North Yemen known as
the United Arab States. In 1959, the All-Palestine
Government of the Gaza Strip, an Egyptian client state,
was absorbed into the United Arab Republic under the
pretext of Arab union, and was never restored.
Gamal Abdel Nasser assumed power in 1956 as
president and the tension with Israel escalated.
Jordan – June 1967
Country profile
Jordan is located in the Middle East, northwest of Saudi Arabia, between Israel (to the west) and
Iraq.
Population: 8,185,384.
Ethnic Groups: Arab 98%, Circassian 1%, Armenian 1%
Religions: Muslim 97.2% (official; predominantly Sunni), Christian 2.2% (majority Greek Orthodox,
but some Greek and Roman Catholics, Syrian Orthodox, Coptic Orthodox, Armenian Orthodox, and
Protestant denominations), Buddhist 0.4%, Hindu 0.1%, Jewish <0.1, folk religionist <0.1,
unaffiliated <0.1, other <0.1
Government: Parliamentary Constitutional Monarchy.
Economy: Jordan's economy is among the smallest in the Middle East, with insufficient supplies of
water, oil, and other natural resources, underlying the government's heavy reliance on foreign
assistance. Other economic challenges for the government include chronic high rates of poverty,
unemployment and underemployment, budget and current account deficits, and government debt.
(World Fact Book)
BRIEF HISTORICAL BACKGROUND
Following World War I and the dissolution of the Ottoman Empire, the League of Nations awarded
Britain the mandate to govern much of the Middle East. Britain demarcated a semi-autonomous
region of Transjordan from Palestine in the early 1920s. The area gained its independence in 1946
and thereafter became The Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan. The country's long-time ruler, King
HUSSEIN (1953-99), successfully navigated competing pressures from the major powers (US,
USSR, and UK), various Arab states, Israel, and a large internal Palestinian population.
Transjordan was one of the Arab states opposed to the second partition of Palestine and creation of
Israel in May 1948. It participated in the war between the Arab states and the newly founded State
of Israel. Thousands of Palestinians fled the Arab-Israeli fighting to the West Bank and Jordan. The
Armistice Agreements of 3 April 1949 left Jordan in control of the West Bank and provided that the
armistice demarcation lines were without prejudice to future territorial settlements or boundary lines.
Syria – June 1967
Country profile
Syria is located in Middle East, bordering the Mediterranean Sea, between Lebanon and Turkey.
Population: 17,185,170 (approximately 20,500 Israeli settlers live in the Golan Heights)
Ethnic Groups: Arab 90.3%, Kurdish, Armenian, and other 9.7%
Religions: Muslim 87% (official; includes Sunni 74% and Alawi, Ismaili, and Shia 13%), Christian
10% (includes Orthodox, Uniate, and Nestorian), Druze 3%, Jewish (few remaining in Damascus
and Aleppo)
Government: Presidential Republic.
Economy: The government of Damascus had begun liberalizing economic policies, including cutting
lending interest rates, opening private banks, consolidating multiple exchange rates, raising prices
on some subsidized items, and establishing the Damascus Stock Exchange, but the economy
remains highly regulated. Long-run economic constraints include foreign trade barriers, declining oil
production, high unemployment, rising budget deficits, increasing pressure on water supplies
caused by heavy use in agriculture, rapid population growth, industrial expansion, water pollution,
and widespread infrastructure damage (World Fact Book).
BRIEF HISTORICAL BACKGROUND
Following World War I, France acquired a mandate over the northern portion of the former Ottoman
Empire province of Syria. The French administered the area as Syria until granting it independence
in 1946. The new country lacked political stability and experienced a series of military coups. Syria
united with Egypt in February 1958 to form the United Arab Republic. In September 1961, the two
entities separated, and the Syrian Arab Republic was reestablished.
During the Suez Crisis of 1956, after the invasion of the Sinai Peninsula by Israeli troops, and the
intervention of British and French troops, martial law was declared in Syria. Later Syrian and Iraqi
troops were brought into Jordan to prevent a possible Israeli invasion. The November 1956 attacks
on Iraqi pipelines were in retaliation for Iraq's acceptance into the Baghdad Pact. In early
1957 Iraq advised Egypt and Syria against a conceivable takeover of Jordan.
In November 1956 Syria signed a pact with the Soviet Union, providing a foothold
for Communist influence within the government in exchange for planes, tanks, and other military
equipment being sent to Syria
.
BACKGROUND to the SIX-DAY WAR
Also known as the June War, 1967 Arab-Israeli War or Third Arab-Israeli War, the Six-Day War was
fought between June 5 and 10, 1967. The importance of this conflict went beyond the sands of
Middle East and heavily influenced the Arab-Israeli political and diplomatic relations in the following
years.
Those same relations had never fully normalized after the first 1948 Arab-Israeli War. Tensions and
border incidents became daily administration for the Israeli government. Every incident was
instantly followed by an act of retaliation from both parties and in many occasions the escalation
process was inevitable. On April 7th 1967, for example, “Syrian gunners fired from their Golan
Heights position on an Israeli tractor farming in the demilitarized zone. Artillery fire was exchanged
and the fight escalated. Israel sent airplanes against the Syrian gun positions and several Syrian
villages. The Syrians sent up MiG jets and an all-out dogfight ensued – Israel downed six Syrian
MiG 21 fighters and chased the remainder all the way back to Damascus.”1
The Jews of Israel have always been regarded by the Arabs as an alien culture and a tool of
Western imperialism, having invaded the holy lands of Islam and subjugated the centuriesestablished Arabs of Palestine. Since the first decades of 20th century, every new wave of Jewish
immigration into Palestine, their Promised Land, set off violent Arab reactions and when the spirit of
Pan-Arabism grew stronger in the Thirties, the Jews of Israel aroused the wrath of all neighboring
Arab nations.
On December 1947, after some violent struggles between Israeli soldiers and Palestinian guerrillas,
the first partition resolution approved by the UN was deemed unworkable and when the British
Mandate ended, on May 1948, the State of Israel had already been declared.
Soon after, the neighboring Arab nations considered the constitution of Israel politically and
historically illegitimate and swept forward to their territories in what was described as a “police
action”. After the initial victories and despite the Israeli military inferiority, the coalition formed by
Egypt, Syria, Lebanon, Transjordan and Iraq was eventually defeated. “The War of Independence,
as the Israelis called it, had ended. The Jewish state had captured some 30 percent more territory
than the UN had allotted it, and, by dint of the Palestinian exodus, a solid Jewish majority. […] The
mixed bag of Israel’s victory, added to the aggregate trauma of Jewish history, created an
ambivalence within the Israelis: an overblown confidence in their invincibility alongside an equally
inflated sense of doom.”2
This ambivalence still exists nowadays and it’s by now an unavoidable part of Israeli constitution.
The weak and fragile Armistice signed between the contenders in 1949 – Israel was still considered
dangerous and illegitimate by the Arabs – prepared the ground for future conflicts. In 1956, the
crisis of the Suez Canal ignited a second war between Israel and the neighboring Arab Nations, but
the victory was for the Jews even more greater and overwhelming. By then, the border incidents
escalated and in less than ten years the conditions were ready for another war to come.
Fred J. Khouri, The Arab-Israeli Dilemma (Contemporary Issues in the Middle East), Syracuse University
Press, 1985.
2
Michael. B. Oren, Six Days of War, Oxford University Press, 2002.
1
CRISIS SITUATION – JUNE 1967
Spring of 1967, Gamal Abdel Nasser came to know that Israel was dislocating a huge military
contingent on the Syrian border. The reports, made by the Soviet Union, were false, but Nasser
seized the opportunity to give war a second chance. He begins massing troops throughout the Sinai
Peninsula and on May 22-23, he declares the Straits of Tiran closed to Israeli shipping, perfectly
knowing that this blockade would be considered an act of war by Israel. A week later, while the
Israelis were preparing for the worst, Egypt and Jordan signed a defense pact and Iraq began
moving troops and armored units in Jordan. The Arab nations were patently preparing for a war.
SIX- DAY WAR BACKGROUND TIMELINE
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Jan - March 1967 In the first quarter of 1967 there were over 270 border "incidents", mainly
emanating from Syria, which caused rising concern in Israel.
April 7th 1967 Syrian gunners fired from their Golan Heights position on an Israeli tractor
farming in the demilitarised zone. Artillery fire was exchanged and the fight escalated. Israel
sent airplanes against the Syrian gun positions and several Syrian villages. The Syrians
sent up MiG jets and an all-out dogfight ensued – Israel downed six Syrian MiG 21 fighters
and chased the remainder all the way back to Damascus.
May 13th 1967 Soviets misinform Anwar Sadat in Moscow that Israel is massing 10-12
brigades in preparation for an attack on Syria, supposedly to take place May 17.
May 14th 1967 Israel learns that Egyptian troops have been put on alert and begun
reinforcing units in the Sinai.
May 15th 1967 Israel responds by ordering some regular armored units to reinforce the
Sinai front and drafted a message to ensure Egypt understood that Israel was responding
to Egyptian actions and not massing troops on its own initiative: “Israel wants to make it
clear to the government of Egypt that it has no aggressive intentions whatsoever against
any Arab state at all” http://www.sixdaywar.co.uk/timeline-concise.htm 01/05/2007
May 16th 1967 Nasser demands withdrawal of 3,400 man UN Emergency Force (UNEF)
Egypt now has a further 30,000 troops to the 30-35 thousand permanently stationed on the
peninsula, plus 200 tanks, and it was continuing to pour in more troops all the time.
May 17th 1967 A series of emergency meetings was held by the Cabinet in Israel. There
was great apprehension when head of Israeli military intelligence, Major General Aharon
Yariv, reported to army headquarters, apparently mistakenly; that the Egyptian army was
equipped with poison gas (Israel was unprepared for chemical warfare). “All Egypt is now
prepared to plunge into total war which will put an end to Israel” - Cairo Radio
May 18th 1967 “The Zionist barrack in Palestine is about to collapse and be destroyed.
Every one of the hundred million Arabs has been living for the past nineteen years on one
hope – to live to see the day Israel is liquidated…There is no life, no peace nor hope for the
gangs of Zionism to remain in the occupied land.” “As of today, there no longer exists an
international emergency force to protect Israel….The sole method we shall apply against
Israel is a total war which will result in the extermination of Zionist existence”. - Cairo
Radio’s Voice of the Arabs broadcast.
May 20th 1967 “Our forces are now entirely ready not only to repulse the aggression, but to
initiate the act of liberation itself, and to explode the Zionist presence in the Arab
homeland”. - Syria’s Defence Minister Hafez Assad (later to be Syria’s President). Egypt
and Israel faced each other directly tonight as the United Nations Emergency Force, which
had stood between them for more than ten years, began its official withdrawal.
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
May 22nd 1967 Egypt’s President Nasser announced: “The Israeli flag shall not go through
the Gulf of Aqaba. Our sovereignty over the entrance to the Gulf cannot be disputed”. "We
want a full scale, popular war of liberation… to destroy the Zionist enemy" - Syrian
President Dr. Nureddin al-Attasi speech to troops. "Israel today proposed a mutual
reduction in troop concentrations in the Middle East, while its Arab neighbors laid plans to
strengthen still further their forces round her borders…" - The Times
May 23rd 1967 Egypt closed the Straits of Tiran (Gulf of Aqaba ) to Israeli shipping,
thereby cutting off Israel’s only supply route with Asia and stopping the flow of oil from its
main supplier, Iran. By international law, this was an act of war. President Johnson tonight
condemned the Arab blockade of Israel shipping in the Gulf of Aqaba as "illegal and
potentially disastrous to the cause of peace"..."The purported closing of the Gulf of Aqaba
has brought a new and grave dimension to the crisis. The United States considers the gulf
to be an international waterway."...Mr Johnson condemned the "hurried withdrawal" of the
United Nations emergency force from Gaza and Sinai, and the "recent build-up of military
forces in the area". - Times
May 24th 1967 Israel’s foreign minister Abba Eban met with UK Prime Minister Harold
Wilson at 10 Downing Street. Wilson revealed that the Cabinet had met that morning and
concluded that Egypt’s blockade “must not be allowed to triumph; Britain would join with
others in an effort to open the Straits.”
May 26th 1967 “Taking over Sharm el Sheikh meant confrontation with Israel (and) also
meant that we were ready to enter a general war with Israel. The battle will be a general
one and our basic objective will be to destroy Israel” - Gamal Abdel Nasser speech to the
General Council of the International Confederation of Arab Trade Unions - broadcast in
Arabic by Cairo Radio’s Voice of the Arabs, Gamal Abdel Nasser, 19.35 GMT, 26th May
1967 (the speech made front page news in The Times May 27th)
May 27th 1967 Nasser cancels a planned Egyptian attack on Israel (Operation Fajr Dawn), planned for following day, after it became obvious that the Israelis knew about the
plan. The NY Times reported that Jordan would admit Saudi and Iraqi forces into its country
to do battle with Israel.
May 28th 1967 “The existence of Israel is in itself an aggression…what happened in 1948
was an aggression – an aggression against the Palestinian people. …(the crisis had
developed because) “Eshkol threatened to march on Damascus, occupy Syria and
overthrow the Syrian regime. It was our duty to come to the aid of our Arab brother. It was
our duty to ask for the withdrawal of UNEF. When UNEF went, we had to go to the Gulf of
Aqaba and restore things to what they were when we were in Aqaba in 1956” - Gamel
Abdel Nasser at a press conference for several hundred of the World’s press. “We will not
accept any…coexistence with Israel.…Today the issue is not the establishment of
peace between the Arab states and Israel….The war with Israel is in effect since
1948”. - Gamel Abdel Nasser press conference
May 29th 1967 “Now, eleven years after 1956 we are restoring things to what they were in
1956…The issue now at hand is not the Gulf of Aqaba, the Straits of Tiran or the withdrawal
of UNEF, but the rights of the Palestinian people.” - Nasser speech to General Assembly in
Cairo.
May 30th 1967 Jordan signed a mutual defense treaty with Egypt, thereby joining the
military alliance already in place between Egypt and Syria. Jordanian forces were given to
the command of an Egyptian General. "The armies of Egypt, Jordan, Syria and Lebanon
are poised on the borders of Israel ... to face the challenge, while standing behind us are
the armies of Iraq, Algeria, Kuwait, Sudan and the whole Arab nation. This act will astound
the world. Today they will know that the Arabs are arranged for battle, the critical hour has
arrived. We have reached the stage of serious action and not of more declarations." Gamal Abdel Nasser speech Israel called upon Jordan numerous times to refrain from
hostilities.
May 31st 1967 “The existence of Israel is an error which must be rectified. This is our
opportunity to wipe out the ignominy which has been with us since 1948. Our goal is clear to wipe Israel off the map” - President Aref of Iraq
TIMELINE: http://www.sixdaywar.co.uk/
To know more:
• http://www.sixdaywar.co.uk/
• Michael B. Oren, Six Days of War: June 1967 and the Making of the Modern Middle East,
Oxford University Press, 2002.
• Fred J. Khouri, The Arab-Israeli Dilemma (Contemporary Issues in the Middle East),
Syracuse University Press, 1985.
• https://www.britannica.com/event/Six-Day-War