Fifty years ago today the UN General Assembly voted for the partition of Palestine into three parts - a Jewish state, an Arab state, and an international enclave around Jerusalem.
For the Zionists the adoption by the assembly of this "recommendation" was a major victory. It awarded 55 per cent of the country to Jewish settlers, who comprised one-third of the population and owned only 7 per cent of the land, and accorded legitimacy before-the-fact to the Jewish state unilaterally proclaimed six months later.
For the majority Palestinian population and the Arabs the vote was a disaster: it led to the occupation of the whole of Palestine by the Jewish state, five wars and 50 years of turmoil.
In this not-so-golden jubilee year the days and dates configure with those of 1947. The assembly's deliberations began on Wednesday, the 26th, with the Zionists, led by Israel's first President, Mr Chaim Weizmann, uncertain of the outcome. In addition to the Muslim bloc six states opposed the plan while several Latin Americans wavered. The non-Muslim opponents were the Philippines, Haiti, Liberia, China (Taiwan), Ethiopia and Greece. Siam, another opponent, had been eliminated by withdrawing its credentials. When it was obvious that the necessary two-thirds could not be obtained that day the Zionists and their US allies (who did not include the Departments of Defence or State) called for Thanksgiving "time-out" in the debate.
On Thursday, the 27th, the pro-partition forces focused on wobbly Latinos and the six non-Muslim nay-sayers. An adviser to the Philippine president persuaded him to reverse the position taken by his foreign minister (who was by then on the high seas); the Firestone Rubber Company convinced Liberia to change its vote. The wrangling went on throughout Saturday, the 29th, until finally, the reluctant Latin Americans firmly committed themselves and five of the vulnerable six hold-outs caved in, four voting with the majority, Greece against and China abstaining. The partition plan was adopted by 33 votes to 13 with 10 abstentions.
Those voting in favour were the countries of Western and Eastern Europe and the Americas. The Asians stood against. Angry Arab and Pakistani delegates walked out of the hall, condemning the vote and predicting bloodshed. A great deal of the enduring Palestinian and Arab resentment against Israel and the US flows from the partition vote half a century ago. For, although the assembly had the power merely to "recommend" a course of action, the Zionists promptly went onto a war footing and established their state in the expectation of instant recognition - which it was granted by both Washington and Moscow within minutes of its proclamation. The Palestinians were unfortunate that they had neither leaders capable of exploiting the opportunity for statehood offered by the partition resolution nor the influential backing they needed to secure their own state.
Fifty years too late the President of the Palestine Authority, Mr Yasser Arafat, frustrated by the collapse of the peace process with Israel, has threatened to issue a unilateral declaration of independence. But the Palestinians do not yet have the military wherewithal or diplomatic clout to follow the Zionist example. So next spring they will stand on the sidelines of history, still stateless and largely landless, the majority refugees living outside Palestine, to watch Israel celebrate the 50th anniversary of its founding.