Obligations of a Jewish State in Palestine

Following is a discussion of selected points from the U.N. Partition Plan to create a Jewish and a Palestinian state in 1948.

Obligations of the Jewish state in Palestine include:

• "settling all international disputes in which the State may be involved by peaceful means in such a manner that international peace and security and justice are not endangered"


• "accepting the obligation of the state to refrain in its international relations from the threat or use of force against territorial integrity or political independence of any state, or in any other manner inconsistent with the purposes of the U.N."


• "guaranteeing to all persons equal, non-discriminatory rights in civil, political, economic, and religious matters, enjoyment of human rights and fundamental freedoms, including freedom of religion, language, speech and publication, education, assembly, and association."

(The Jewish state is what has become Israel today.)

To the first point, international disputes with the Jewish state include at the least those with the Arab countries involved in the 1967 war as well as Lebanon in the 1980s and again more recently. Also included is the continuous conflict with the Palestinian state, also created as a sovereign state in this U.N. plan. These disputes were not settled by peaceful means. They were all settled by military action, and this is how the Jewish state continues to try to settle disputes (i.e. with the Palestinian state). There is no indication of a change in methodology in the near future, either; especially with the election of a hard-line Prime Minister Netanyahu.

So the Jewish state elects to use military force to settle its disputes; however, a state has the right to defend itself if attacked by the opponent first. So the next condition in this point is that the settlement of dispute is to not endanger international peace and security. Well, the violation of peace occurs as soon as military action is taken but the prospect of peace in the future has also been damaged during the Jewish state's disputes. Keeping troops on the borders of neighboring countries when no conflict is occurring and there are no troops of the opposing nation is not a move suggestive of desired peace. Rather, it instigates further conflict. Instigating conflict is detrimental to the security of a state, the Jewish state and others. Even with non-military action like legislative movements, the security of the Palestinians continues to diminish. Corralling people into the tiniest space possible without basic human necessities, let alone basic human rights and freedoms, is not a way to create security. This again is an instigation of conflict, not only between the Jewish and Palestinian states but the Jewish state is creating conditions which instigate civil conflict within the Palestinian state.

To the second point, territorial integrity definitely has been lost by force to the Jewish state. This is most notably the seizure of Palestinian land, which continues today in Jerusalem, Bethlehem, and elsewhere. The Jewish state also undermines the political independence of the Palestinian state as it denies entry and exit of diplomats as part of international gatherings.

The violation of the third point is exemplified clearly in the Jewish state's treatment of Palestinians both within the Jewish state's current borders and within the Palestinian state which is occupied by Israel. Discrimination is institutionalized in the court system by giving unreasonably long prison sentences to young Palestinians years after the alleged crime is committed while Jewish settlers within the Palestinian state who agress against the Palestinians are not surpisingly pardoned by the occupying Jewish powers. It is also evident in the granting of permits to Jews for building homes in Jerusalem but not for Palestinians in the same city. The lack of political freedom has already been discussed. There is also no economic freedom for Palestinians as business owners can not operate while the Jewish state holds or denies its shipments of money or goods into and out of Palestine. There is discrimination in religious matters by the Jewish state as well. Israel controls the city of Jerusalem by military force and Palestinian citizens are not allowed to enter to worship at the holy places. Any Jew would be allowed in, though. The basic human rights and freedoms which were mentioned earlier are listed more clearly in this point of the U.N. plan. I will choose just one of these for which I have a definite example: language. Palestinian residents in the current borders of the expanding Jewish state are not allowed to speak Arabic. They can be harrassed, cited, beaten, or worse if a soldier hears them speaking Arabic rather than Hebrew, the Jewish language.

There are more points from the U.N. two-state plan of 1948 that are to be discussed but I will let all of the above sink in for now. The U.N. has created these obligations but what are the consequences of the obligations not being met? This is to where the discussion will lead.