UN Security Council resolution 242

UN Security Council Resolution 242
Date:	November 22, 1967
Meeting:	1382
Identifier:	S / RES / 242 ( document )

Poll:	Pro: 15 Ent. : 0 Cons: 0
Object:	Middle East conflict
Result:	Accepted

Composition of the Security Council 1967:
Permanent members:
China Republic 1928 CHN FRA GBR SUN USAFrance United Kingdom Soviet Union 1955 United States
Non-permanent members:
Argentina ARG BRA BUL CAN DNKBrazil 1960 Bulgaria 1946 Canada Denmark
Ethiopia 1941 ETH IND JPN MLI NGAIndia Japan Mali Nigeria

The UN Resolution 242 of 22 November 1967 was a reaction to the Six Day War , the third Middle East war, and tried to control the Middle East conflict .

prehistory

In this war Israel had conquered East Jerusalem , the Palestinian territory annexed from Jordan in 1949 to the Jordan River , areas in Syria and the Sinai , a total of about three times the territory of Israel. About a million people lived there. In resolutions 233 and 234, the Security Council had called for an immediate cessation of military activities. The participating states complied, most recently Israel on July 10, 1967.

When the subject was discussed in the UN General Assembly, there was no consensus on key issues. There were different opinions about who was to blame for the war and how the security needs of the various sides could be taken into account. There was only one point of agreement. The changes in the status of Jerusalem begun by Israel are null and void, the Israeli government should be asked to reverse them. After several months of negotiations, progress was finally achieved and the Security Council passed Resolution 242. It calls for Israel's withdrawal “from (the) occupied territories that were occupied during the recent conflict” in return for recognition of Israel and respect for its security "Free from threats and violence".

text

The resolution reads:

" The Security Council, expressing its continuing concern at the grave situation in the Middle East, stressing the inadmissibility of land acquisition through war and the need to work towards a just and lasting peace in which every state in the region can live in safety Stressing that, in adopting the Charter of the United Nations, all Member States have made a commitment to act in accordance with Article 2 of the Charter,

1. Declares that the implementation of the principles of the Charter requires the establishment of a just and lasting peace in the Middle East, which should include the application of the following two principles:

i) Withdrawal of the Israel Defense Forces from the area (s) occupied during the recent conflict;

ii) End any assertion of a state of war or any state of war and respect and recognition of the sovereignty, territorial integrity and political independence of every state in the region and its right to live in peace within secure and recognized borders free from threats or acts of violence;

2. further declares that it is necessary

a) to guarantee the freedom of navigation on the international waterways in the region;

b) to bring about a fair settlement of the refugee problem;

c) to guarantee the territorial inviolability and political independence of every state in the region through measures including the creation of demilitarized zones;

3. Requests the Secretary-General to appoint a Special Envoy to the Middle East to liaise and communicate with the States involved with a view to promoting an agreement and efforts to achieve a peaceful and acceptable settlement in the Support consistent with the terms and principles of this resolution;

4. Requests the Secretary-General to report to the Security Council as soon as possible on the state of play of the Special Representative.

Adopted unanimously at the 1382nd Security Council meeting. "

interpretation

According to the interpretation of the author, the British Lord Caradon , no precise withdrawal of Israel to the armistice line of 1949 was deliberately called for, since border corrections should be made possible. The English original and working draft did not contain a specific article. The attempt of the Soviet Union to insert the word “all” failed in the negotiations. Discrepancies arose with the French version, which speaks of the withdrawal “from the territories”. In the meantime, the Spanish version also said “from 'the' areas”, but it has been adjusted to the English version, in which the article is missing.

Eugene V. Rostow , the then Deputy US Secretary of State and involved in drafting the resolution, said in an article published on October 21, 1991 in the magazine "The New Republic" about its real objective: UN Resolution 242 I was involved in bringing about it calls on all sides to make peace and allows Israel to administer the territories occupied in 1967 until a just and lasting peace is achieved. If such a peace is reached, Israel is obliged to withdraw its armed forces `` from areas '' it occupied during the Six Day War. Not from all areas, but from some which include the Sinai Peninsula , the West Bank , the Golan Heights , East Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip .

On the other hand, it was stated that the preamble explicitly mentions “the inadmissibility of acquiring territories through war”. However, Israel related this sentence to offensive wars and stressed that forbidding conquests in the wake of a defensive war would invite any aggressor to war. However, this line of reasoning was unsustainable under international law, and the Security Council did not follow Israel's original claim that it had been attacked. Israel then spoke of a preventive war.

The issue of a Palestinian state, as provided for in the 1947 UN partition plan for Palestine , was not addressed by the resolution. She only goes into the refugee question of the Palestinian issue. During and in the aftermath of the war, around 500,000 Palestinian residents of the West Bank and Gaza Strip fled or were expelled to neighboring Arab states. Only about ten percent of them had been able to return in the months after the war.

Web links

Jewish Virtual Library: Between the Wars (on the disputes over the interpretation of the resolution)

Individual evidence

↑ Johannes Glasneck, Angelika Timm : Israel. The history of the state since its founding , Bonn 1992, ISBN 3-416-02349-8 , pp. 146–153.
↑ Original translation of the UN website
↑ Johannes Glasneck, Angelika Timm : Israel. The history of the state since its foundation , Bonn 1992, ISBN 3-416-02349-8 , p. 150.

[1] Johannes Glasneck, Angelika Timm : Israel. The history of the state since its founding , Bonn 1992, ISBN 3-416-02349-8 , pp. 146–153.

[2] Original translation of the UN website

[3] Johannes Glasneck, Angelika Timm : Israel. The history of the state since its foundation , Bonn 1992, ISBN 3-416-02349-8 , p. 150.