Get Us-og-181

United Nations Resolution 181, resolution passed by the United Nations (UN) General Assembly in 1947 that called for the partition of Palestine into Arab and Jewish states, with the city of Jerusalem as a corpus separatum (Latin: “separate entity”) to be governed by a special international regime.

The U.S. and thirteen other countries voted against the truce, while 45 countries voted to abstain Friday. One hundred and twenty countries voted in favor of the humanitarian truce. The resolution calls for an “immediate, durable and sustained humanitarian truce” between Israeli forces and Hamas militants in Gaza.

In February 1947 the UN was called upon to determine the future of Palestine. This territory, with its some 650,000 Jewish inhabitants and 1,200,000 Arabs, was still held under British Mandate. The Jews were determined to create a state of their own for themselves and the persecuted Jews of the world.

In late May 1948, the British supported the Arab states in opposing a ceasefire resolution at the UN that was accepted by the Israelis, who had by now annexed a large amount of Palestinian territory and were content to consolidate their gains.

Those that voted against were six of the then seven members of the Arab League (Egypt, Iraq, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Syria and Yemen) as well as Afghanistan, Burma, Ethiopia, India, Iran and Pakistan. Those abstaining were: Belgium, Brazil, Denmark, El Salvador, Greece, Siam, Sweden, Turkey and United Kingdom.

The Soviet Union was the first country to grant de jure recognition to Israel on 17 May 1948, followed by Nicaragua, Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia, and Poland. The United States extended de jure recognition after the first Israeli election, on 31 January 1949.

By resolution 181 (II), the Assembly decided to partition Palestine into two states, one Arab and one Jewish, with Jerusalem placed under a special international regime.

The Jewish population had been attacked during the Arab revolt, leading to the idea that the two populations could not be reconciled. The Commission concluded that the Mandate had become unworkable, and recommended Partition into an Arab state linked to Transjordan, a small Jewish state, and a mandatory zone.