Study Guide
Special Political And
Decolonization Committee
Israel and Palestina Palestinian Independence
The 16th Bratislava MUN Conference
4th - 6th November 2016
CONTENTS
Letter from the chairperson
3
SPECPOL basic information4
An introduction of the topic
6
History of Israel and Palestinian movements 9
a. Before foundation of Israel
b. Early years and wars
c. Modern Israel
Additional notes and peculiar aspects of the conflict
20
a. The disputed areas
b. Notable persons
c. Palestinian Government
d. UN involvement in the matter
Proposed solutions
29
How to act in the committee
31
Suggested reading`
33
Dear delegates,
I am delighted to welcome you to the Special Political and
Decolonization Committee at the 2016 BratMUN. The organization
team has worked restlessly to provide you with means and topics
for a fruitful debate and the development of your speaking and
English skills as well as the deepening of your understanding
of the processes in the United Nations.
The issue of Israel and Palestine is a troubling one. The foremost
diplomatic capacities it the world have tried to resolve the issue
for a very long time and they managed to halt most conflicts,
but there still are tensions between Israel and Palestine. This
committee will focus on the conflict of Israel and Palestine
with particular focus given on the possibility of declaring the
Independence of the State of Palestine.
This issue is rather complicated. Because of that, this guide
covers in extensive detail the history of Israel, the Palestinian
movement and animosities between Israel and Arab states/
Palestinians. It is crucial that the delegates have the knowledge
of the background and context of the issue, so please read the
whole guide. It will help you in the discussions that are going
to be taking place in the SPECPOL committee.
I am looking forward to meeting you in Bratislava and I hope
you will have a pleasant time attending BratMUN. If you have
any questions or concerns, feel free to contact me.
Best regards,
Michal Solcansky
Letter from the chairperson / 3
SPECPOL BASIC
INFORMATION
SPECPOL stands for Special Political and Decolonization
committee. It is the fourth committee of the general assembly
of the United Nations and it is concerned with decolonization,
Palestinian refugees and human rights, peacekeeping, mine action,
outer space, public information, atomic radiation and University for
Peace1. Its resolutions are not binding, but nevertheless may have
a diplomatic impact on the concerned countries. The current
chairperson of SPECPOL is H.E. Mr. Brian Bowler of Malawi2.
It is one of the three of the UN general assembly committees
frequently focusing on the conflict of Israel and Palestine/Arab
states, the other two being UNHRC (United Nations Human
Rights Council) and UNSC (United Nations Security Council).
SPECPOL basic information / 5
AN
INTRODUCTION
OF THE TOPIC
Israel is a country that occupies parts of several neighboring
countries. It also is one of the most developed countries in the
world. Palestine is one of the two non-member observer states
in the United Nations and one of the several “stateless nations”
in the world (although this is debatable). The conflict of these
two countries is one of the most pressing long term issues in
the Middle East. In this conflict, there appear various questions
difficult to answer, such as what justifies the claims of a nation
to have a sovereign state, how to get the opposing countries to
accept the decisions of the UN.
Since the formation of Israel, it has been in war with most
of its neighboring Arab countries. The overwhelming majority
of attacks have been repelled by Israel, which has one of the
best armies in the world. Furthermore, Israel possesses nuclear
weapons, which has a very strong deterrent effect on its enemies.
If a full scale war were to occur between Israel and the Arab
countries, the consequences could be disastrous due to the
nuclear weapons. A solution of this issue is further hampered
by the fact that the major world powers have their interest
in the region – Israel is supported by the US while its Arab
enemies have been helped by the USSR and after many years,
some regimes are still being helped by Russia, the successor of
USSR (for example Asad`s regime). Lastly, other wars are being
waged in the region at the moment, for example the Syria and
Iraq war and there are still many guerilla/terrorist groups in the
region (Hezbollah, Daesh/Islamic state, Al-Qaeda), which makes
peace negotiation between Israel and other Arabic states more
difficult.
Outside of external conflicts, Israel is also fighting with Palestinians.
During the previous decades, Palestinians have amassed support
for the state of Palestine. At the moment, 136 members
An introduction of the topic / 7
recognize it. However, Palestine is still de facto under the
control of Israel, even though there is a Palestinian government.
Frequently, conflict between Palestinian militant groups and Israel
occurs. Both sides of the conflict (Israel and Palestina) have
breached international law and violated human rights. There
have been multiple diplomatic initiatives to stop the fighting,
but none was successful in securing peace in the long term
(save for the Egypt-Israel and Israel-Jordan peace treaty).
An introduction of the topic / 8
HISTORY OF
ISRAEL AND
PALESTINIAN
MOVEMENTS
BEFORE FOUNDATION OF ISRAEL
In World War 1, Jews helped United Kingdom against the
Ottoman Empire, which controlled the region at the time.
The British sympathized with Zionism and promised to help
the Jews1. After the war, UK and France signed a bureaucratic
document (known as Sykes-Picot agreement) that divided the
dependencies of the former Ottoman Empire into zones of
British and French influence.
How Sykes – Picot divided the land
The British Mandate of Palestine was created. The Arab
population became increasingly nationalist and soon, there
1http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/the-balfour-declaration
History of Israel and Palestinian movements / 10
were riots over Jewish visit of holy parts of Jerusalem. The
Jews founded their own defense militia, the Haganah and in
direct response to the riots, the right wing Jews founded
their own, more radical organization - Irgun. The British
responded by passing immigration quotas for Jews to restrict
Jewish immigration and proposed a plan to divide Palestine
into exclusively Arab and exclusively Jewish territories. During
World War 2, the British imposed a document known as
the White Paper, which severely restricted Jewish immigration
into Palestine. After the war, Jews in Palestine became
increasingly anti-British and soon, they waged guerilla war.
Pressure from the UN and Lehi terrorist attack on King
David hotel forced the British to give the issue to the
General Assembly of United Nations and prepare to end its
Mandate.
UN prepared a plan for partition of Palestine and proposed
“an independent Arab State, an independent Jewish State, and
the City of Jerusalem” ..., the last to be under “an International
Trusteeship System2.” The Jews agreed with the plans, the
Arabs did not.
2
“Background Paper No. 47 (ST/DPI/SER.A/47)”. United Nations. 20 April 1949.
History of Israel and Palestinian movements / 11
UN Palestine
partition plan
compared
to Jewish
settlements
in British
Palestine
EARLY YEARS AND WARS
One day before the expiration of British mandate, the
Jews declared the establishment of the State of Israel. It
was immediately recognized by the US and USSR. Soon after
that, joint Arab armies of Egypt, Syria, Transjordan and Iraq,
helped by contingents from Sudan, Saudi Arabia, Morocco
and Yemen invaded the newly formed state of Israel to
prevent its formation. The Arab leaders stated that they
invaded Israel to “restore law and order and prevent further
bloodshed3, ” though there were some informal talks about
driving the Jews to the sea.
Israel eventually launched a counterattack and drove the
Arabs out, in the process conquering mixed territories and
territories that should have belonged to the Arab state. In
3
“PDF copy of Cablegram from the Secretary-General of the League of Arab States
to the Secretary-General of the United Nations: S/745: 15 May 1948”.
History of Israel and Palestinian movements / 12
1949, armistice agreements between Israel and the Arab
states were signed. Note that these are only permanent
ceasefire, not peace agreements. The borders of Israel were
de facto established with this deal and they are known
as the 1949 green line. Parts of Israel were however still
occupied by foreign forces – Jordan annexed the West Bank
of Jordan, Egypt occupied the Gaya strip, Syria controlled
an originally Israeli area along the See of Galilee and Lebanon
occupied a tiny area at Rosh Hanikra.
Israeli borders - Green line in
1949
In 1956, the Suez crisis occurred.
Egyptian president Gamal Abdel
Nasser nationalized the Suez
canal, operated by British and
French companies. Britain and
France, along with Israel helping
them, set out to attack Egypt,
seize control over Suez and
remove Nasser from power. The
UN, particularly the USA and
USSR strongly disagreed against
the invasion and Britain, France
and Israel were forced to stop.
A ceasefire was accepted and
the UN sent Emergency Forces (UNEF) on a peacekeeping
mission (first one in history) on Sinai to separate the
Egyptians and Israelis.
The Arab armies continued to increase in numbers their
presence close to the Israeli borders. In May 1967, Egyptians
History of Israel and Palestinian movements / 13
closed the Strait of Tiran, threatened the UNEF troops to
leave from Sinai and with other Arab states threatened war
with Israel. Egyptian president Nasser even announced in
a radio broadcast, “The battle will be a general one and our
basic objective will be to destroy Israel4.” Israelis enlisted every
civilian reserve and created a national unity government. On
5 June 1967, a war began. Israelis conducted a preemptive
strike against Egyptian aircraft. It surprised the Egyptians and
was incredibly successful, eliminating the most of Egyptian
aircrafts. The resulting aerial dominance helped Israel defeat
Egypt in record time and conquer the whole Sinai peninsula.
Due to false information from Nasser, Syria and Jordan also
joined the war. Israelis managed to defeat the Jordan
forces after heavy fighting and daring military operations.
Jordanian forces retreated beyond river Jordan, allowing
the Israeli forces to occupy the West Bank and Jerusalem.
Syrian forces attacked the Israelis from Golan heights, a
strategically placed area with very good defense. Due to
excellent intelligence from Isreali operative Eli Cohen, the
Israeli forces managed to seize
Golan heights from Syria after
heavy fighting. The war ended
and Israel was victorious on all
fronts. Because the war lasted
only 6 days, it was named as 6
day war.
After the 6 day war, Israeli
territory tripled
4
Samir A. Mutawi (18 July 2002). Jordan in the 1967 War. Cambridge University
Press.
History of Israel and Palestinian movements / 14
The 6 day war had also a profound impact on the Arabs,
particularly Palestinians. Until then, Palestinians believed that
the other Arabic states will defeat Israel, but since the 6
day war, they relied on themselves to fight Israel. Palestinian
military and political groups came into prominence. The
fight of Karameh saw Israelis destroy a Palestinian camp
and then retreating. Despite heavy casualties, the battle was
interpreted in the Arab world as a victory over Israelis and
Palestine Liberation organization, especially its faction Fatah
and its leader, Yasser Arafat, became famous and received
substantially more funding.
At the 1972 Munich Olympics, Israeli athletes were attacked
and then executed by Palestinian radicals. The decision
of Avery Brundage, the chief of the International Olympic
Committee to continue the games and the German failed
rescue attempts have been criticized over years. The Munich
attack was a part of a wave of Palestinian terrorism on Israel.
Israel responded by launching an assassination campaign.
In 1973, tension between Israel and the Arab states began
to grow again. Arab states were again seemingly preparing
for an invasion, but Israel this time did not respond with a
preemptive attack. Eventually, the Egypt and Syria, supported
by other Arab states surprisingly attacked Israel on Yom
Kippur, which is the holiest day of year in Judaism. The
attack was well planned and in the first stages of the Yom
Kippur war, it was uncertain, whether Israel could defend
itself successfully. USA and USSR both expressly delivered
arms to their allies in conflict. Israel eventually managed to
repel Syrian troops from Golan heights and crossed the Suez,
stopping 200 km from Cairo. The war ended with another
History of Israel and Palestinian movements / 15
ceasefire, but it influenced
the world significantly, as
Saudi Arabia in response
to the Western countries
helping Israel imposed an
embargo on oil exports to
Western countries, causing
the oil crisis.
Israel lost land to Egypt at
the west of Sinai, but gained
land east of Golan
MODERN ISRAEL
In the, 1970ies, Egyptian president Anwar Sadat began
advocating a different, more peaceful approach to Israel
and recognized its right to exist. In September 1978, Jimmy
Carter, the US president, invited Sadat and Begin to Camp
David to conduct peace talks. Eventually, Sadat and Begin
signed the Peace treaty between Egypt and Israel on March
26 1979. The deal cemented a proper peace state between
Egypt and Israel. Egypt recognized the right of Israel to
exist and did not attack Israel anymore since then. Israel in
return stopped occupying Sinai and gave it to Egypt.
History of Israel and Palestinian movements / 16
Celebration
of the
signed
treaty. From
left to
right: Begin,
Carter, Sadat
PLO and Fatah commenced terrorist attacks on Israel to
halt the singing of the deal. Israel retaliated by sending
an army to the southern Lebanon and driving the PLO
north. The Israeli operation was stopped by the UN
and UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) was placed
in southern Lebanon. Israeli troops occupied most of
Lebanon, even the capital city, Beirut. Eventually a peace
agreement between Israel and Lebanon was signed.
During the previous decade, Israeli settlements in the
occupied areas began growing and this sowed dissent
among the Arab population of the territories, which
eventually culminated in an Arab uprising (protests that
turned to riots) known as the First Intifada. It started in
1987 and ended in 1991. Israel responded with a policy
of “breaking Palestinian bones.” Israel is known for having
violated human rights at the time and came under critique.
During the 1990ies, two other terrorist movements directed
against Israel were beginning to gain prominence – the first
one was Hezbollah, a militant Shia Muslim organization
supported by Iran. The second one was Hamas, a more
radical Palestinian organization which became a rival to
History of Israel and Palestinian movements / 17
Fatah and the PLO. Israel employed its army twice to attack
the Hezbollah positions in the decade.
Soon another important round of peace talks took place.
The peace talks were between Israel and Palestine. The
agreements between Israel and PLO were signed on the front
lawn of White House. There were problems with implementing
the deal, because Hamas did not accept it and continued
attacking Israel using suicide bombers. Israel responded by
erecting a security wall around Gaza strip.
Oslo accords signed by (from left to right) Rabin, Clinton,
Arafat.
In 2000, Israeli opposition leader Ariel Sharon visited Temple
Mount, which both Judaism and Islam claim as theirs. This
sparked the beginning of the Second Intifada. The Second
Intifada lasted from 2000 to approximately 2004 and was
characterized by greatly increased terrorist attacks against
Israel and Israeli retaliatory measures. The Intifada ended
History of Israel and Palestinian movements / 18
shortly after Arafat`s death, which weakened Palestina. In
the aftermath, a barrier was built around the West Bank
and Israelis started doubting the peaceful intentions of
Palestinian authority.
In 2006, Hamas won the Palestinian elections in Gaza
and the following year, it forcibly took control of Gaza.
Israel and Palestinian authority responded with a blockade.
Soon after, Hezbollah attacked Israel with rockets again,
this time supported by newly anti-Israel Iran. Israel went
to Lebanon again to stop Hezbollah.
The last conflict so far is the one of Israel versus Hamas
in 2014, where Hamas started firing rockets on Israeli
land even though those were intercepted by the Israeli
rocket shield. Israel focused on destroying tunnels that
Hamas used to attack Israel and smuggle.
History of Israel and Palestinian movements / 19
ADDITIONAL
NOTES AND
PECULIAR
ASPECTS OF
THE CONFLICT
Even though the history of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict has
been thoroughly explored in the previous part of the guide,
there still are some issues that may hamper the understanding
of the conflict and the topic of the committee. To eliminate
such problems, read this part of the guide which focuses
on four main topics that the SPECPOL delegates who want
to understand the topic should know:
THE DISPUTED AREAS
Gaza is a strip of coastal land in the south of Israel that
is bordering Egypt. Gaza has an area of 365 km2 and
population of 1.85 million, which yields an overwhelming
density of population of 5046 people on 1 square kilometer
of land. Gaza is currently under the control of Hamas, which
expelled all other political power (mainly Fatah). Gaza is under
a sea blockade imposed by Israel. There is often bombing
of Israel coming from Gaza, to which Israel responds with
retaliatory bombing.
Gaza map, specifically
focused on Israeli
settlements inside. Those do
not exist anymore
Additional notes and peculiar aspects of the conflict / 21
The West Bank of Jordan is a territory that extends from
East Jerusalem to the boundaries with Jordan. West Bank
has an area of 5,640 km2. The largest cities of the West
Bank are Jerusalem, Bethlehem, Jericho, Hebron and Nablus.
Many of those cities are historical and considered holy by
Christians and Jews. West Bank also covers a portion of
Dead Sea, which is the major body of water (brine) in the
area. The majority of West Bank is encircled by a barrier.
West Bank map with
Israeli and Palestinian
governance areas
GOLAN HEIGHTS
Golan Heights is a
mountainous plateau
in the northeast of
Israel. It is considered
to be Syrian territory,
but
it
has
occupied
and
annexed
by
been
later
Israel.
Golan Heights serve
as
an
important
strategical point. The main advantage of defense in the
Heights is the difficult terrain and elevation enabling the
defenders to see far. In the peacetime, there are farms in the
Heights, but one can find here also Israeli settlements. About
Additional notes and peculiar aspects of the conflict / 22
10% of the native Syrian
population has accepted
Israeli citizenship.
CIA map of Golan
heights
NOTABLE PERSONS
David Ben-Gurion: Born as David Grün in Poland, this Jewish
politician was the first prime minister of Israel, known as
“Father of Israel.” He emigrated to Palestine in 1919 and
shaped the politics of Zionism and later Israel in the
following decades. He had a good relationship with West
Germany, supported Jew immigration to Israel and decisively
responded to Arab attacks. At the end of his life, he retired
to live in Negev desert in the south of Israel.
Menachem Begin: The counterpart of Ben-Gurion, Begin
was born in a Polish city in Russian Empire. He founded
Irgun, a movement often described as terrorist to fight the
British in Palestine. Unlike Ben-Gurion, Begin was right wing
Additional notes and peculiar aspects of the conflict / 23
supporter, but his party stayed out of the government for
over two decades and the leftists have considered him
to be an extremist. Ironically, it was him who signed the
first peace treaty in the history of Israel, for which he was
awarded a Nobel prize.
Muhammad Anwar el-Sadat: The successor of Nasser. He
changed the course of Egyptian politics, reinstating the
multiple party system and drifting away from the Soviet bloc.
He led Egypt in the Yom Kippur war, giving him recognition
and fame in the Arab world. His popularity suffered after
the Egyptian – Israeli peace treaty and he was eventually
murdered by a Muslim Brotherhood member.
Mohammed Yasser Abdel Rahman Abdel Raouf Arafat al-Qudwa:
This man, known as Yasser Arafat, was a longtime leader of
Palestinians and his own political/military group, Fatah. Arafat
rose to prominence after the Battle of Karamesh in 1968.
Since then, he attacked Israel multiple times and shifted
strongholds from Jordan through Lebanon and Tunisia to
West Bank. He is hailed by Palestinians as a hero and hated
by Israelis as a long time terrorist. As the time progressed,
he became more of a political leader, willing to negotiate
and make agreements (he recognized Israel and toned down
the more radical members of Fatah, even though Israel
believed he still was supporting terrorists in secret). His
longevity as a political leader is impressive – he managed
to survive decades in an extremely dangerous environment,
being the target of multiple assassination attempts. It is still
Additional notes and peculiar aspects of the conflict / 24
believed by many of the Palestinians that he was poisoned
by the Israelis when he died.
PALESTINIAN GOVERNMENT
The Palestinian government, or the Palestinian National
Authority is along with the Israeli government one of the
key partners in solving the Israeli – Palestinian conflict. The
position of the government is however complicated. The first
problem of Palestinian government is its lack of international
recognition. Palestinian government could be seen as the
government of an independent state, but Palestine still has
not declared independence and such a declaration could
prove to be the cause of a major escalation of violence
between Israel and Palestine. Palestine is recognized as a
non-member observer state in the UN, its status in the
most UN committees and institutions is still not considered
to be “state – like.” An exception to this is UNESCO, which
granted Palestine state membership in 2011.
A second problem with the Palestinian government is that
it is fractured. The leading political party in the country
is Fatah. However, Hamas does not recognize Fatah as
the official ruling party is Gaza and controls Gaza alone.
To clarify further, Hamas won 65% majority in the 2006
Palestine parliament elections. However, when it came to
power, it refused the right of Israel to exist, continued with
violence and did nto accept previous agreements. As a
result, Israel imposed economic sanctions on Palestine and
Additional notes and peculiar aspects of the conflict / 25
it was aided by US, UN, EU and Russia. The Palestinians
formed a national unity government and soon, Hamas and
Fatah began fighting for power. Hamas won the war in
Gaza and oustd Fatah officials from there. Fatah remains in
control in the West Bank.
UN INVOLVEMENT IN THE MATTER
The UN has played a very important role in the beginning of
the conflict. It was UN which created the first partition plan
for the Mandate of Palestine and. UN also established its
first peacekeeping forces, UNEF into the conflict. However, in
recent years, UN has not been active in the conflict except
of issuing resolutions and sponsoring peace plans.
The UN actively supports Palestinians. Palestinians have been
the reason for various newly – created UN organizations,
such as United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine
Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), Committee on the Exercise
of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People, the United
Nations Division for Palestinian Rights, the Special Committee
to Investigate Israeli Practices Affecting the Human Rights of the
Palestinian People, the United Nations Information System on
the Question of Palestine (UNISPAL).
Israel had often problems in the UN body. While it was
admitted into the UN with little trouble as a “peace loving
country,” later it was isolated from the rest of the UN
countries. When the regional groups were being formed
Additional notes and peculiar aspects of the conflict / 26
in the UN, Israel was blocked from entering the Asia –
Pacific group by Arab countries. This meant that Israel
was effectively isolated from the other states in the UN,
not being allowed to be one of the states in the Security
council and barred from many election. Israel was admitted
at a temporary basis into the Western European and Others
Group after more than four decades.
In the UN Israel is often pressured and there have been
numerous allegations of UN being biased against Israel
by not only Israel, but also members of the WEOG and
individual independent observers and organizations. A 2005
US institute for peace and UN reform said that “contrary
to the UN Charter’s principle of equality of rights for all nations,
Israel is denied rights enjoyed by all other member-states, and
that a level of systematic hostility against it is routinely expressed,
organized, and funded within the United Nations system.”1
There was a resolution of the UN general assembly in
1975 that claimed that “Zionism is a form of racism and racial
discrimination”2. This resolution has since then been revoked.
UNHRC is seen as one of the most anti - Israel UN institutions
and it has been alleged of being anti-Semitist. UNHRC is
also criticized for turning a blind eye to other countries
human rights abuse and focusing solely on Israel. According
to UN watch, UNHRC “had through August 2015, issued
more condemnations of Israel than of all other member states
1
http://www.usip.org/sites/default/files/file/usip_un_report.pdf
2
Manor, Yohanan (2010-05-02). “The 1975 “Zionism Is Racism” Resolution: The Rise,
Fall, and Resurgence of a Libel”. Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs.
Additional notes and peculiar aspects of the conflict / 27
combined.“3 In March 2012, UNHRC came under heavy
critique for facilitating an event that featured a Hamas
politician speaking (Hamas is considered to be a terrorist
organization). Ron Prosor said that “Inviting a Hamas terrorist
to lecture to the world about human rights is like asking Charles
Manson to run the murder investigation unit at the NYPD.”4 Anne
Bayefsky said that “There has never been a single resolution
about the decades-long repression of the civil and political rights
of 1.3 billion people in China, or the more than a million female
migrant workers in Saudi Arabia being kept as virtual slaves, or
the virulent racism which has brought 600,000 people to the
brink of starvation in Zimbabwe. Every year, UN bodies are
required to produce at least 25 reports on alleged human rights
violations by Israel, but not one on an Iranian criminal justice
system which mandates punishments like crucifixion, stoning,
and cross-amputation. This is not legitimate critique of states
with equal or worse human rights records. It is demonization of
the Jewish state.“
UN has also been criticized of treating Israeli and Palestinian
casualties differently. A study by the UN association of the
UK reported that “resolutions adopted in the same period by the
General Assembly were far more explicit in their condemnation of
Israel. (...) Violence perpetrated against Israeli civilians, including
the use of suicide bombers, is mentioned only a few times and
then in only vague terms. Violence against Palestinian civilians,
on the other hand, is described far more explicitly.”5
3http://www.unwatch.org/updated-chart-of-all-unhrc-condemnations/
4
“Netanyahu to UNHRC: You should ashamed”. The Jerusalem Post. 2012-03-19.
5
Comparison of United Nations member states’ language in relation to Israel and
Palestine as evidenced by resolutions in the UN Security Council and UN General Assem-
Additional notes and peculiar aspects of the conflict / 28
PROPOSED
SOLUTIONS
As a result of the UN policy that is allegedly biased
against Israel, Israeli officials are not friendly towards the UN.
According to Caroline Glick, “Due to the UN’s unvarnished
belligerence toward it, in recent years a consensus has formed in
Israel that there is nothing to be gained from cooperating with
this openly and dangerously hostile body1.” As a practical result
of this, Israel has refused entry to UN observing missions and
is unwilling to negotiate at the UN. Egyptian – Israeli peace
treaty and the following peace treaties have been signed
bypassing UN. If an official Palestine state was declared, the
US stated that it would veto the Security council decision
if the declaration of Palestinian independence would not be
supported by Israel. Because of that, it is very important
that Israel is on good terms with the UN.
A solution to the conflict in the UN could be an official
resolution from SPECPOL that would apologize to Israel for
the animosity from the UN. Such a resolution would soften
the tensed relationship between the UN and Israel. Another
step that could be taken by this committee is to condemn
Hamas as a terrorist organization. Such resolutions would
however be strongly opposed by the Arab countries in the
UN and because of that, a consensus should be reached.
1
Caroline Glick: Our irredeemable international system Jerusalem Post, September
18, 2009.
Proposed solutions / 30
HOW TO ACT IN
THE COMMITTEE
All of the UN countries could be put into three categories
in the Israel and Palestine issue – Supporting Israel, Supporting
Palestine or staying neutral. The countries that are the
most staunch supporters of Israel are the United States of
America and its associated states such as Palau, Marshall
Islands or Micronesia. Vocal supporters of Israel are also
Canada and in the last few decades also Australia. The
US follows the Negroponte doctrine, which dictates that
the US will oppose Security Council decisions towards the
Israeli – Palestinian conflict that condemn Israel without also
condemning terrorist groups. European countries take mostly
a neutral stance to the issue - they abstain from condemning
Israel and support the foundation of a Palestinian state.
Such countries are for example Germany, Russia and France.
Most Arab countries strongly oppose Israel in the UN and
support the Palestinians. They also tend to support Hamas
and are the most likely to draft and sponsor a resolution
condemning Israel.
The actions of the countries in the committee should
also be determined by whether they recognized the State
of Palestine. The countries that did not recognize it are
all in North America, Australia, Western Europe (with the
exception of Malta, Holy See, Sweden and Island), Armenia,
Greece, FYROM, Kosovo, Moldavia, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania,
Slovenia, Croatia, Colombia, Cameroon, Eritrea, Myanmar
(Burma), Taiwan, Japan, South Korea and New Zealand.
Other countries may feel to be bound to support the
declaration of Palestinian independence.
Lastly, it is important to mention that this problem is
massive. Hordes of experienced diplomats were trying to
solve it for more than half a century. Do not expect to solve
it in two days of committee sessions - something like that
could not happen in the real world. Instead of a complete
solution, a step forward could be made. Remember this and
be prepared for intense discussions and debates.
How to act in the committee / 32
SUGGESTED
READING
The US diplomatic stance: http://www.csmonitor.
com/2003/1208/p06s02-wome.html
UNISPAL website: https://unispal.un.org/DPA/DPR/unispal.
nsf/udc.htm
Report of CIRPP from 2012: http://www.un.org/ga/search/
view_doc.asp?symbol=a/66/35
Analysis of the development of Israel - Palestine
relationship: http://www.jpost.com/Opinion/Op-EdContributors/Israel-at-the-UN-An-affair-to-follow
Opening remarks of Kofi Annan on Antisemitism: https://
web.archive.org/web/20090211081542/http://www.un.org/
Pubs/chronicle/2004/webArticles/062104_sg_remarks.asp
An article relating to the causa of UN worker openly
condemning Israel: http://www.jpost.com/International/Nosign-UN-will-fire-worker-over-incendiary-tweet
Summary of UNHRC country condemnations by UN
watch: http://www.unwatch.org/updated-chart-of-all-unhrccondemnations/
A causa of Israel refusing a UN official in Palestinian
territories: http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.
asp?NewsID=29326&Cr=israel&Cr1=OHCHR#.V6dzjriLTIU
Israel condemning UN agency for hiding information
about Hezbollah: http://www.haaretz.com/israel-unifil-hidinginfo-about-hezbollah-from-security-council-1.244746
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