Free Essay: UNSCOP Analysis Paper

On 29th November 1947, the United Nations General Assembly ratified the resolution to partition Palestine (Ben-Dror, 2007). According to the resolve, two sovereign states would be created in Palestine, a Jewish state and an Arab state connected by an economic union. Jerusalem would be under global control (Ben-Dror, 2007). At the same juncture, the General Assembly commissioned the Palestine Commission and assigned it the role of implementing the partition plan. The General Assembly postulated that the British evacuation of the nation to be finished by 1st August 1948 (Ben-Dror, 2007). They further proposed that civilian control would be handed over in stages to the Palestine Commission as the British army withdrew (Chester, 2008). It also instructed the commission to introduce provisional governing councils to be heralded by general elections when the two nations gained full independence (Ben-Dror, 2007). The shifting period was to conclude by 1st October 1948. The paper will compare and analyze two major UNSCOP proposals; the majority report on the partition, and the minority report on the federation.

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Majority Report on the Partition of Palestine

The committee had an informal meeting as a means of facilitating its deliberations on precise proposals, two small working groups were established to reconnoiter the specific proposals with regard to a plan of partition involving the economic union. (UNSCOP, Ch. VI, Recommendations, 2). The working group on constitution subjects (Mr. Grandos, Mr. Rand, Mr. Blom, and Mr. Sandstorm) engaged in a series of informal meetings to design a plan for division with the provisions of economic parity and constitutional assurances. Three parts were developed from the meeting; part one involved partition with the economic union, part two; was frontiers, and part three was; City of Jerusalem (UNSCOP, Ch. VI, Recommendations, 2). The report states that Jews bring to the land the social dynamism, and scientific technique of the West (Caplan, 2019). The Arab challenges them with individualism and intuitive comprehension of life. In each state, the native intellect will have a range and chance to grow into its highest cultural forms and to accomplish its greatest reaches of the mind and spirit.

In part 11, explains the frontier of the three states. The report intends to divide Palestine into three sections; a Jewish State, an Arab State, and the City of Jerusalem (UNSCOP, Ch. VI, part 11). The planned Arab State will involve Western Galilee, the hill nation of Samaria, and Judea with the exception of the City of Jerusalem. It will further include the coastal plain from Isdud to the Egyptian border (UNSCOP, Ch. VI, part 11). The proposed Jewish state will encompass Eastern Galilee, the Esdraelon plain, and the majority of the coastal plain. It will further include; the whole of the Beersheba subdistrict that involves the Negeb. The frontiers of the City of Jerusalem are articulated in the recommendation on the City of Jerusalem (UNSCOP, Ch. VI, part 11). A declaration shall be pronounced to the United Nations by the provisional administration of each proposed state prior to the interim administration is brought to an end (UNSCOP, Ch. VI, part c).

Several justifications have been elucidated in Chapter VI. One is the challenge of minorities, and it proposed the central inland area of Palestine to include a large Arab population and left Jerusalem out of context. It is visibly the primary starting point in demarcating the Arab state (UNSCOP, Ch. VI, Justification, 2). The Jewish state was given its center to be in the coastal plain between Haifa and Tel Aviv. The second justification explained was the problem of viability. The creation of two productive states is considered important to a partition scheme. On the problem of development, a partition plan for Palestine took into account both the claims of the Jews to host immigrants and the needs of the Arab inhabitants, which meant increasing rapidly the overall land settlement scheme (UNSCOP, Ch. VI, Justification, 2).

The fourth justification delved on the problem of contiguity (UNSCOP, Ch. VI, Justification, 2). It explains the desire to establish the three states with constant borders. Due to topographic, and demographic factors, it is not possible to make a reasonable partition without foregoing this objective to a great extent (UNSCOP, Ch. VI, Justification, 2). Finally, on access to the sea for the Arab state. While trying to resolve challenging problems, a compromise is significant and in suggesting the boundaries upon, which the divider plan includes all these elements (UNSCOP, Ch. VI, Justification, 2). The proposed Jewish States leave great room for further growth and land settlement.

The third part was discussed broadly in the City of Jerusalem, and the following justification was fronted (UNSCOP, Ch. VI, part 111). The suggestion to place the City of Jerusalem under global trusteeship should be based on the following deliberationsJerusalem is regarded as a Holy City for three faiths, and their shrines are located nearby(UNSCOP, Ch. VI, part 111). The antiquity of Jerusalem, during the Ottoman regime as under the Mandate, displays that religious peace has been preserved in the city since the government was nervous and had the authority to avert controversies some religious interests from growing into a bitter scuffle (UNSCOP, Ch. VI, part 111). Religious peace in Jerusalem is essential for the maintenance of peace in both the Arab and Jewish states. The global trusteeship is touted as the most salient instrument for addressing the special challenges presented by Jerusalem (UNSCOP, Ch. VI, part 111).

The partition scheme allowed the Palestine Commission to conduct a long series of tasks between its inception and in late October 1948, the date when the two states would get their independence from the United Nations (Farsakh, 2011). The most striking of these assignments was demarcating of the frontiers of the three states. Further, setting up provisional governing authorities for the Arab state and the Jewish state, and overseeing the transfer of power to them from the compulsory administration (Caplan, 2019).

Minority Report on Plan for the Federal States

This report entails informal meetings of the Palestine Committee to explore solutions to deal with the federal-state proposal (UNSCOP, Ch. VI, Recommendations, 3). The working group that was established designed a detailed proposal on the federal state subject, and voted upon, and it was backed by three nations (India, Iran and Yugoslavia) at the forty-seventh meeting of the Palestine committee on 1947 (UNSCOP, Ch. VI, Recommendations, 3). The comprehensive federal-state plan concluded on the following justifications. First, it is undeniable that any resolution for Palestine cannot be regarded as a resolution for the Jewish problem in overall (UNSCOP, Ch. VI, Justification, 3).

Second, it recognized Palestine as a common nation of both aboriginal Arabs and Jews, and that both individuals have had a historical association on the economic and cultural aspects of the nation (UNSCOP, Ch. VI, Justification, 3). The objective is a dynamic resolution that will ensure parity for both Arabs and Jews as a common state, and will preserve that economic unity that is vital to the life and growth of Palestine nation (UNSCOP, Ch. VI, Justification, 3). The standard presumption defining the views herein articulated is that the proposal of other members of the committee for a union under artificial arrangements should be meant to accomplish important economic and social unity after initially developing political, and geographical divergence by a partition (UNSCOP, Ch. VI, Justification, 3).

Two primary questions they have been regarded in assessing the practicability of the federal state tenacity include, whether Jewish nationalism and the demand for a separate and independent Jewish state should be acknowledged at all expenses (UNSCOP, Ch. VI, Recommendations, 3). Second, whether the intention to merge in a federal state could be fostered among Arabs and Jews. It would be a tragic fault on the end of the global community not to merge with other federal states (UNSCOP, Ch. VI, Recommendations, 3). The common factor is seen when this report states that it is essential for the three states to back the preservation of the unity of Palestine by fostering collaboration, and cooperation among these states (Farsakh, 2011).

The primary goals of a federal-state resolve are to ensure the most practical recognition to the nationalist aspirations of both Arabs and Jews and to integrate them into a single loyalty and patriotism that would find expression in a sovereign Palestine (UNSCOP, Ch. VI, Recommendations, 3). The federal state provides a democratic answer, both as regards to the measures needed for its implementation, and its operation since it needs no undemocratic monetary controls (UNSCOP, Ch. VI, Justification, 3). The aspect of the federal state will provide a good avenue for full and effective engagement in the Palestine administration to each citizen of the three states (Farsakh, 2017). The federal-state resolution would also allow the growth of patterns of government and social organization in Palestine that would agree with the administrative and social patterns in the neighboring nations (Farsakh, 2017).

In conclusion, the paper has provided a broad context of the two reports' proposals, further articulating how they compare each other. The General Assembly further postulated that civilian control would be handed over in stages to the Palestine Commission as the British army withdrew. In summary, the majority report proposal on the partition of the three states in Palestine accentuated that Jews bring to the land the social dynamism and scientific technique of the West. While the Arab world impose individualism and an intuitive understanding of life. The minority report proposal of the federal state examines the feasible approaches that can be looked into to merge the three states into a single loyalty and patriotism that would find a voice in a sovereign Palestine (UNSCOP, Ch. VI, Recommendations, 3).

Reference

Ben-Dror, E. (2007). How the United Nations intended to implement the partition plan: The handbook drawn up by the secretariat for the members of the United Nations Palestine Commission. Middle Eastern Studies, 43(6), 997-1008. Retrieved from: file:///C:/Users/User/Downloads/fMES_436_Ben-Dror.pdf

Caplan, N. (2019). The Israel-Palestine conflict: contested histories. John Wiley & Sons.

Chester, L. (2008). Boundary commissions as tools to safeguard British interests at the end of the empire. Journal of Historical Geography, 34(3), 494-515. Retrieved from: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0305748807001193

Farsakh, L. (2011). The one-state solution and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict: Palestinian challenges and prospects. The Middle East Journal, 65(1), 55-71. Retrieved from: https://s3.amazonaws.com/academia.edu.documents/44900767/one_state_soultion_proposapl.pdf?response-content-disposition=inline%3B%20filename%3DThe_One-State_Solution_and_the_Israeh-Pa.pdf

Farsakh, L. (2017). The "right to have rights": Partition and Palestinian self-determination. Journal of Palestine Studies, 47(1), 56-68. Retrieved from: https://jps.ucpress.edu/content/47/1/56.abstract