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Amid social unrest over the Netanyahu government's judicial reform, the State of Israel finds itself at a crossroads on its platinum anniversary

Israel cumple 75 años de progreso, honor, superación y democracia

Israel seeks to extend truce with Iran to Gaza to recover hostages

The fragile ceasefire between Israel and Iran is faltering after a new attack from Tehran

Putin will agree to meet with Zelensky in the final phase of negotiations

PHOTO/AP - Israel celebrates 75 years
Enrique Fernández
Updated: 30/05/23

Prior to the partition of Palestine, Theodore Herzl predicted the existence of the Jewish state as early as 1897: "I don't know if in 5 years, but certainly in 50". Said and done, on 29 November 1947, 50 years after Herzl's "prophecy", the United Nations General Assembly approves the "Partition Plan" of Palestine, which will serve as the legal basis for the almost immediate creation of the State of Israel, in Resolution 181, possibly the most quoted resolution in history. A total of 33 nations voted in favour, including both the US and the USSR. On that day, Andrei Gromyko, the Soviet representative, would make one of the most famous speeches. Remembering that it was still under British control, Britain referred the "Palestine problem" to the UN in April 1947 because it could not resolve it.

The United Nations thus established a special commission known as UNSCOPP, which was charged with compiling a report containing recommendations, suggestions and proposals after months of research, analysis and fieldwork in the area. Finally, on 29 November 1947, the UN General Assembly approved the partition of Palestine into two states, one Arab and one Jewish. A few months later, on 14 May 1948, David Ben Gurion announced Israel's independence (in the Hebrew calendar, 26 April). However, this would not have been possible, at least not at the time, had the legal basis of Resolution 181 not been present.

The resolution was widely accepted by the pragmatic Zionist movement led by David Ben Gurion. The creation of an Arab and Jewish state was recognised by the Partition Plan. While a "corpus separatum" or zone of international control was to be established for Jerusalem and part of Bethlehem, there was to be open cooperation on economic and customs issues between the two. However, the Arabs, both Palestinian and non-Palestinian, acting under non-pragmatic and even fanatical leadership, refused to accept the resolution which also granted them a state. For the Jewish people and the Zionist movement, who had been "working on it" for 50 years, this was a significant achievement.

Although the UN recognised the Jewish people's historic claim to all or at least part of that land, Israel received nothing from the organisation. Israel was formally established after the Holocaust and other forms of persecution, and was the first country to obtain a charter of the nature of the UN, which at the time had only existed for two years. However, local Arabs understood that this came at the expense of stealing what was rightfully theirs.

More than five million refugees, mostly in Jordan, Syria, Lebanon and Palestine, are descended from the more than 700,000 exiles who lived in exile two generations ago. Israel has said on occasion that it will only accept the return of 50,000 refugees on the day of the signing of a peace agreement, assuming it is signed. UN Resolution 194, which was also enacted in 1948, as well as the descendants of those Palestinians who were affected by the conflict, recognise the right of return or, failing that, compensation.

Today's Israel is a modern and prosperous nation, "the only democracy in the Middle East", and a trading ally of the United States and the European Union, while Palestine was barely recognised as an observer at the UN ten years ago, lacking territorial sovereignty, with no clearly defined borders and occupied by 600,000 people living illegally in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. Moreover, Palestine has no authority to control its natural resources or its holy sites. Since 1948, Palestine has not appeared.

Israel eventually gained control of 77% of what had previously been historically Palestine, including West Jerusalem, as a result of that conflict, which it eventually won. Gaza remained governed by Jordan, as did the West Bank (which includes East Jerusalem). Even the 200,000 Arab residents of East Jerusalem do not have passports; yet they have only a residency permit, a weakened form of citizenship that requires them to remain continuously in the city and not leave, otherwise they would lose all their rights, including the right to reside.

In his previous terms in office, Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel's current prime minister, emphasised that Jerusalem is the "sole and indivisible" capital of his state. With some exceptions, such as Donald Trump during his time as US president, the international community still considers Tel Aviv, not Jerusalem, to be the nation's capital. Israel unilaterally enacted the Jerusalem Law in 1980, allowing it to annex East Jerusalem.

Seventy-five years after that choice was made on the carpets of the UN in Manhattan, things remain as they are today. With an Israeli government that is on the verge of imploding in the melting pot of coalitions where the far right is gaining ground, with a Palestine that is trying to achieve national unity but has no nation to manage, with violence escalating to a level not seen in months, and with solutions ineffective, it is becoming a persistent problem for which, it seems, no one is struggling to find a solution.

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