At the beginning of November, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu traveled all the way to London in order to mark 100 years of the Nov. 2, 1917, Balfour Declaration — the famous letter in which the British foreign secretary committed that his government would support the establishment of a Jewish home for the Jewish people in the Land of Israel/Palestine. Indeed, the Balfour Declaration was a significant road mark in the history of the Zionist enterprise. However, the organization that translated the British document from a general declaration of intentions to practical political language three decades later was the United Nations.
On Nov. 29, 1947, the ears of future citizens of Israel and Jews throughout the world were turned to radio transmitters, counting the votes for and against the establishment of a Hebrew state at the UN General Assembly. When the results of the vote were declared, crowds went out to the streets and celebrated with song and dance until dawn. In his book "A Tale of Love and Darkness," Amos Oz recalls how strangers hugged and kissed each other with tears in the streets, shocked British soldiers were dragged to the dance circles and plied with beer and liquor, and ecstatic celebrators climbed British tanks and waved the flags of the state that hadn’t yet been established.
Nov. 29 (marked by Israelis by a combination of the Hebrew and Gregorian date) was commemorated by the naming of streets in big Israeli cities. The house in which Netanyahu was raised, on Haportzim Street in Jerusalem, is only a few steps away from 29th of November Street. But in recent years, the status of the term “29th of November” has slowly declined. The 70th anniversary of the official decision to establish a state for the Jewish people hasn’t received a fraction of the honor and attention the Israeli establishment gave to the Balfour Declaration.
The main reason for the loss of status of the Nov. 29, 1947, UN Resolution 181, is found in the title given to it on the Knesset’s website: “The resolution of the United Nations on the establishment of the Hebrew state.” Only at the end in parentheses does it say “partition plan.” Partition between whom? Does the decision only relate to a Hebrew state? This title does not mention the prominent existence of an Arab state in Resolution 181, and it discloses Israel’s weak spot: the refusal to divide the land and recognize any kind of Palestinian sovereignty.
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