RAMALLAH,Today, November 29, marks the 75th anniversary of the United Nations General Assembly’s adoption of Resolution 181 partitioning Palestine, which was under British Mandate, into two separate states, one Arab and the other Jewish, with Jerusalem remaining under international rule.

The passage of the resolution on November 29, 1947, and the declaration of the Israeli state on May 15, 1948, following the end of the British mandate over Palestine, led to the first Arab-Israeli war and the start of the Palestinian refugee problem and displacement. As a result of the creation of Israel, almost 800,000 Palestinians were forced out of their homes and become refugees until today.

Since then, Israel has occupied all of Palestine and continues to enforce military rule over the Palestinian population in the territories it occupied in June 1967. The Arab state agreed on in Resolution 181 never came into existence.

In 1977, the UN General Assembly adopted Resolution 32/40 B which called for the annual observance of 29 November as the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People.

In follow-up Resolution 60/37 of 1 December 2005, the General Assembly requested the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People and the Division for Palestinian Rights, as part of the observance of the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People on 29 November, to continue to organize an annual exhibit on Palestinian rights or a cultural event in cooperation with the Permanent Observer Mission of Palestine to the UN.

The resolution on the observance of the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People also encourages Member States to continue to give the widest support and publicity to the observance of the Day of Solidarity.

Source: Palestine News & Info Agency