Was the State of Israel created by a UN decision?

Was the State of Israel born from a UN decision? The question exacerbates the already high tensions between Emmanuel Macron and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, at a time when Paris is insistently calling for a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip and Lebanon. The tone rose again on Tuesday October 15 as the Israeli leader strongly criticized the comments attributed to the French president on the creation of the Hebrew state.

“Mr Netanyahu must not forget that his country was created by a UN decision”launched Emmanuel Macron during the council of ministers, according to comments reported by participants, while the conflict in the Middle East was being discussed. “And therefore this is not the time to free ourselves from UN decisions”he continued, addressing, indirectly, the Israeli Prime Minister with whom he then spoke by telephone.

Benyamin Netanyahu was visibly stung by these statements and made it known with a thunderous response. “A reminder to the President of France: it was not the UN resolution that established the State of Israel, but rather the victory achieved in the War of Independence with the blood of heroic fighters, many of whom were survivors of the Holocaust – notably of the Vichy regime in France”reacted the head of the Israeli government in a press release.

A vote of 33 to 13

The “UN decision” mentioned by Emmanuel Macron is resolution 181 adopted on November 29, 1947 by the United Nations General Assembly. This provided for the division of Mandatory Palestine into three entities: a Jewish State (on 55% of the territory), an Arab State (45%), as well as an area under international administration corresponding to Jerusalem. During the vote, 33 countries including the United States, France and the USSR voted in favor of the sharing plan, while 13 countries, most of them Arab, voted against. The United Kingdom and nine other countries abstain.

This decision was followed by the declaration of independence of the State of Israel on May 14, 1948, on the last day of the British mandate over Palestine, officially marking the birth of a Jewish state. The latter was immediately recognized by the United States, followed by France and many communist countries such as the USSR, Poland and Czechoslovakia.

A war following the creation of Israel

This proclamation and the partition plan rejected by the Palestinians triggered the Israeli-Arab war on May 15, 1948 from 1948 to 1949, called the “war of independence” on the Israeli side.

The conflict was suspended with the Israeli-Arab armistice agreements of 1949, establishing the provisional armistice lines and leaving 78% of the former territory of Mandatory Palestine to the Israelis. The remaining 22% is then occupied by Egypt and Transjordan (which will later become Jordan).

For Israelis, this first Arab-Israeli war is considered a victorious war of independence. For Palestinians, the year 1948 remains that of Nakbathe “catastrophe” opening the struggle for their return to their lost lands.

Israel was officially recognized for the first time by an Arab country, Egypt, in September 1978, with the signing of the Camp David peace accords. He then concluded a peace treaty with Jordan in 1994, and in 2020 established diplomatic relations with the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Morocco and Sudan.