New Zealand's involvement in the partitioning of Palestine and the creation of Israel

Abstract

When the fate of Palestine was placed in the hands of the United Nations General Assembly in April 1947, the New Zealand Government became actively involved in the search for a solution to this seemingly intractable problem.

New Zealand's policy on the Palestine problem evolved from the interaction of three principal concerns; New Zealand's commitment to the United Nations and desire to see it develop as a successful agency for preserving international peace and security and promoting co-operation in economic and social matters; the desire to fulfill Commonwealth responsibilities and obligations by assisting Britain to obtain relief from the increasing burden of maintaining law and order in Palestine; and interest in the humanitarian issues involved in creating a Jewish homeland in Palestine while paying due regard to the civil and religious rights of the Arab population.

New Zealand's initial optimism rapidly dissipated. Misgivings at the provisions made for the Special Committee on Palestine during the Assembly's first special session increased following the submission of the Committee's report and its proposal for a solution. The Assembly's discussions narrowed in focus, concentrating on the choice between the federal-state and partition proposals. How either solution was to be implemented received cursory attention only and the crucial issue of enforcement was ignored despite attempts by New Zealand and a handful of other states to make all members confront their responsibilities to the United Nations and the peoples of Palestine.

After recording its concern at the failure to consider enforcing the plan, New Zealand voted in favour of the partition resolution of November 1947. Fighting between Arabs and Jews in Palestine escalated and the United Nations responded, not by making belated provision for enforcement, but by meeting to discuss a United States proposal to set aside the November resolution and make Palestine an international trusteeship. New Zealand led the defence of partition only to see supervision of the United Nations' involvement in Palestine move inexorably from the General Assembly to the Security Council as Palestine moved from the 'problem' category to a 'breach of the peace'.

The United Nations' involvement in Palestine demonstrated to New Zealand that the bulk of member-nations were no more willing to act collectively to preserve peace and prevent aggression than had been the case with the League of Nations. The simultaneous onset of the Cold War revealed the temporary and illusory nature of Allied war-time unity even more dramatically. New Zealand was forced to accept that the United Nations was an ineffectual agency for collective security and that the tensions between the two 'super powers' and their allies made it unlikely that the United Nations would ever fulfil the role in world affairs that New Zealand had hoped for. The organization had much to contribute in the social and economic fields but in the increasingly hostile international atmosphere of the late 1940's New Zealand sought to guarantee its security through more traditional arrangements, reaffirming its commitment to the defence of the British Commonwealth and regarding regional alliances with more favour.