United Nations General Assembly Resolution 194

UN General Assembly
Resolution 194
Date: December 11 1948
Meeting no.: 186
Code: A/RES/194 (III) (Document)

Vote: For: 35 Abs.: 8 Against: 15
Subject: Palestine -- Progress Report of the United Nations Mediator
Result: Approved
1948 Palestinian exodus

Main articles
1948 Palestinian exodus


1947–48 civil war
1948 Arab-Israeli War
1948 Palestine War
Causes of the exodus
Nakba Day
Palestine refugee camps
Palestinian refugee
Palestinian right of return
Present absentee
Transfer Committee
Resolution 194

Background
British Mandate for Palestine
Israel's declaration of independence
Israeli-Palestinian conflict history
New Historians
Palestine · Plan Dalet
1947 partition plan · UNRWA

Key incidents
Battle of Haifa
Deir Yassin massacre
Exodus from Lydda

Notable writers
Aref al-Aref · Yoav Gelber
Efraim Karsh · Walid Khalidi
Nur Masalha · Benny Morris
Ilan Pappe · Tom Segev
Avraham Sela · Avi Shlaim

Related categories/lists
List of depopulated villages

Related templates
Palestinians


United Nations General Assembly Resolution 194 was passed on December 11, 1948, near the end of the 1948 Arab-Israeli War. The resolution expresses appreciation for the efforts of UN Envoy Folke Bernadotte after his assassination by members of the Zionist ultra-nationalist Lehi (group), headed by Yitzhak Shamir. Resolution 194 deals with the situation in the region after the majority of the Palestinian Arab population fled from areas which Israel controlled and the surviving Palestinian Jewish population in Arab-occupied Jerusalem and the West Bank had been expelled by the (Trans)Jordanian Arab Legion. The resolution called for the return of refugees to their homes and defined the role of the U.N. United Nations Conciliation Commission as an organization to facilitate peace in the region.

The resolution was adopted by a majority of 35 countries from among the 58 members of the United Nations at that time; however all six Arab countries then represented at the UN voted against it (Egypt, Iraq, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Syria and Yemen, all were parties to the conflict in question). Israel had not yet been admitted to the UN.[1]

The resolution consists of 15 articles, the most quoted of which are:

United Nations General Assembly Resolution 273 admitted Israel to the United Nations on May 11, 1949 after Israel consented to implement other UN resolutions including resolutions 194 and 181.

Contents

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International reception and interpretation

Many of the resolution's articles were not fulfilled, since these were opposed by Israel, rejected by the Arab states, or were overshadowed by war as the 1948 conflict continued until Armistice in 1949 between Israel and Transjordan.

Israel has since rejected any resolution which calls on it to allow the Palestinians to come to Israel. Since General Assembly resolutions are not binding, and only serve as advisory statements, there can be no obligation or enforcement of Resolution 194.

Article 11 - Refugees

Article 11 reads:

Resolves that the refugees wishing to return to their homes and live at peace with their neighbors should be permitted to do so at the earliest practicable date, and that compensation should be paid for the property of those choosing not to return and for loss of or damage to property which, under principles of international law or in equity, should be made good by the Governments or authorities responsible.
Instructs the Conciliation Commission to facilitate the repatriation, resettlement and economic and social rehabilitation of the refugees and the payment of compensation, and to maintain close relations with the Director of the United Nations Relief for Palestine Refugees and, through him, with the appropriate organs and agencies of the United Nations;

The exact meaning and timing of enforcement of the resolution were disputed from the beginning.

Since the late 1960s, Article 11 has increasingly been quoted by those who interpret it as a basis for the right of return of Palestinian refugees.

Israel has usually contested this reading, pointing out that the text merely states that the refugees "should be permitted" to return to their homes at the "earliest practicable date" and this recommendation applies only to those "wishing to... live at peace with their neighbors". The one exception was at the Lausanne Conference, 1949, where a Joint Protocol was accepted by the Israeli government and the Arab delegates on May 12, 1949. After Israel had become a member of the United Nations, prime minister Moshe Sharett offered to repatriate 100,000 refugees. This offer was subsequently withdrawn by Israel, when David Ben-Gurion again became prime minister.

As well as the immigration of Eastern European Jews, Israel absorbed a large number of Jewish refugees who had been forced to emigrate from Arab states or induced to immigrate to Israel by the Hagana, with total number of Jews from Arab lands between 750,000 - 850,000, between 1948-1951. In 1951 Israel passed the Law of Return [חוק השבות, תשכ"א], which legislated a right for all Jews to immigrate, or "return from Exile".

It is estimated that about 5 million Palestinians living in refugee communities scattered mainly in the West Bank, Gaza Strip, Jordan, Syria and Lebanon could claim a right of return under this article, assuming refugee status is hereditary.

Under the United Nations Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees of 1951, a refugee is more narrowly defined as a person who "owing to a well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group, or political opinion, is outside the country of his nationality, and is unable to or, owing to such fear, is unwilling to avail himself of the protection of that country". According to this definition, many of the Palestinians displaced during the 1948 war are not refugees, but internally displace persons.

Full text

The General Assembly,

Having considered further the situation in Palestine,

Expresses its deep appreciation of the progress achieved through the good offices of the late United Nations Mediator in promoting a peaceful adjustment of the future situation of Palestine, for which cause he sacrificed his life; and extends its thanks to the Acting Mediator and his staff for their continued efforts and devotion to duty in Palestine;

  1. Establishes a Conciliation Commission consisting of three States Members of the United Nations which shall have the following functions:
  2. To assume, insofar as it considers necessary in existing circumstances, the functions given to the United Nations Mediator on Palestine by resolution 186 (S-2) of the General Assembly of 14 May 1948;
  3. To carry out the specific functions and directives given to it by the present resolution and such additional functions and directives as may be given to it by the General Assembly or by the Security Council;
  4. To undertake, upon the request of the Security Council, any of the functions now assigned to the United Nations Mediator on Palestine or to the United Nations Truce Commission by resolutions of the Security Council; upon such request to the Conciliation Commission by the Security Council with respect to all the remaining functions of the United Nations Mediator on Palestine under Security Council resolutions, the office of the Mediator shall be terminated;

See also

References

External links

Arab Legion soldier watches over evacuation of Jews from Jewish Quarter of Jerusalem, 1948 (Life Magazine)