Page 367 - הדרך לכט בנובמבר

Abstract

This first-ever systematic study of UNSCOP, the United Nations Special
Committee on Palestine, traces how a majority of the committee’s members
came to adopt, almost in full, the demands of the Zionist movement. It thus
played a decisive role in establishing the state of Israel and in the evolution
of Israel-Arab conflict. UNSCOP, appointed in 1947 when the British
asked the United Nations to help it formulate a policy on Palestine’s future,
performed an intensive inquiry into the country that summer. In the end,
its eleven members, from eleven different countries, recommended the end
of the British Mandate and the partition of Palestine into two independent
sovereign states, one Jewish, on a majority of the territory, and one Arab.
These two states, along with Jerusalem, which was designated to come under
UN rule, would be linked by mechanisms that would ensure their economic
unity. These recommendations formed the basis for the debate at the
second session of the UN General Assembly. After making minor changes,
the General Assembly adopted the plan on November 29, 1947. In large
measure, the decision set in motion the establishment of Israel.
The book offers a comprehensive account of UNSCOP and its work. It is
based on extensive archival material, some newly declassified and explains
how the members of the committee reached their conclusions. Most of the
source material comes from the UN Archives in New York. But, as it also
seeks to account for the personal viewpoint of each of the committee’s
members, it also makes use of documents they produced and archives of their
papers. This wide-ranging approach has produced some findings of great
historical importance.