Recortes de Oriente Medio

Novem­ber 29, 1947

The Gene­ral Assem­bly, Having met in spe­cial ses­sion at the request of the man­da­tory Power to cons­ti­tute and ins­truct a Spe­cial Com­mit­tee to pre­pare for the con­si­de­ra­tion of the ques­tion of the future Govern­ment of Pales­tine at the second regu­lar session;

Having cons­ti­tu­ted a Spe­cial Com­mit­tee and ins­truc­ted it to inves­ti­gate all ques­tions and issues rele­vant to the pro­blem of Pales­tine, and to pre­pare pro­po­sals for the solu­tion of the pro­blem, and

Having recei­ved and exa­mi­ned the report of the Spe­cial Com­mit­tee (docu­ment A/364) inclu­ding a num­ber of una­ni­mous recom­men­da­tions and a plan of par­ti­tion with eco­no­mic union appro­ved by the majo­rity of the Spe­cial Committee,

Con­si­ders that the pre­sent situa­tion in Pales­tine is one which is likely to impair the gene­ral wel­fare and friendly rela­tions among nations;

Takes note of the decla­ra­tion by the man­da­tory Power that it plans to com­plete its eva­cua­tion of Pales­tine by l August 1948;

Recom­mends to the Uni­ted King­dom, as the man­da­tory Power for Pales­tine, and to all other Mem­bers of the Uni­ted Nations the adop­tion and imple­men­ta­tion, with regard to the future Govern­ment of Pales­tine, of the Plan of Par­ti­tion with Eco­no­mic Union set out below;

Requests that

The Secu­rity Coun­cil take the neces­sary mea­su­res as pro­vi­ded for in the plan for its implementation;

The Secu­rity Coun­cil con­si­der, if cir­cums­tan­ces during the tran­si­tio­nal period require such con­si­de­ra­tion, whet­her the situa­tion in Pales­tine cons­ti­tu­tes a threat to the peace. If it deci­des that such a threat exists, and in order to main­tain inter­na­tio­nal peace and secu­rity, the Secu­rity Coun­cil should sup­ple­ment the aut­ho­ri­za­tion of the Gene­ral Assem­bly by taking mea­su­res, under Arti­cles 39 and 41 of the Char­ter, to empo­wer the Uni­ted Nations Com­mis­sion, as pro­vi­ded in this reso­lu­tion, to exer­cise in Pales­tine the fun­ctions which are assig­ned to it by this resolution;

The Secu­rity Coun­cil deter­mine as a threat to the peace, breach of the peace or act of aggres­sion, in accor­dance with Arti­cle 39 of the Char­ter, any attempt to alter by force the settle­ment envi­sa­ged by this resolution;

The Trus­tees­hip Coun­cil be infor­med of the res­pon­si­bi­li­ties envi­sa­ged for it in this plan;

Calls upon the inha­bi­tants of Pales­tine to take such steps as may be neces­sary on their part to put this plan into effect;

Appeals to all Govern­ments and all peo­ples to refrain from taking any action which might ham­per or delay the carr­ying out of these recom­men­da­tions, and

Aut­ho­ri­zes the Secretary-General to reim­burse tra­vel and sub­sis­tence expen­ses of the mem­bers of the Com­mis­sion refe­rred to in Part 1, Sec­tion B, Para­graph I below, on such basis and in such form as he may deter­mine most appro­priate in the cir­cums­tan­ces, and to pro­vide the Com­mis­sion with the neces­sary staff to assist in carr­ying out the fun­ctions assig­ned to the Com­mis­sion by the Gene­ral Assembly.

The Gene­ral Assembly,

Aut­ho­ri­zes the Secretary-General to draw from the Wor­king Capi­tal Fund a sum not to exceed 2,000,000 dollars for the pur­po­ses set forth in the last para­graph of the reso­lu­tion on the future govern­ment of Palestine.

PLAN OF PARTITION WITH ECONOMIC UNION

Part I. – Future Cons­ti­tu­tion and Govern­ment of Palestine

A. TERMINATION OF MANDATE, PARTITION AND INDEPENDENCE

The Man­date for Pales­tine shall ter­mi­nate as soon as pos­si­ble but in any case not later than 1 August 1948.

The armed for­ces of the man­da­tory Power shall be pro­gres­si­vely with­drawn from Pales­tine, the with­dra­wal to be com­ple­ted as soon as pos­si­ble but in any case not later than 1 August 1948.

The man­da­tory Power shall advise the Com­mis­sion, as far in advance as pos­si­ble, of its inten­tion to ter­mi­nate the man­date and to eva­cuate each area. The man­da­tory Power shall use its best endea­vours to ensure that an area situa­ted in the terri­tory of the Jewish State, inclu­ding a sea­port and hin­ter­land ade­quate to pro­vide faci­li­ties for a subs­tan­tial immi­gra­tion, shall be eva­cua­ted at the ear­liest pos­si­ble date and in any event not later than 1 February 1948.

Inde­pen­dent Arab and Jewish Sta­tes and the Spe­cial Inter­na­tio­nal Regime for the City of Jeru­sa­lem, set forth in Part III of this Plan, shall come into exis­tence in Pales­tine two months after the eva­cua­tion of the armed for­ces of the man­da­tory Power has been com­ple­ted but in any case not later than 1 Octo­ber 1948. The boun­da­ries of the Arab State, the Jewish State, and the City of Jeru­sa­lem shall be as des­cri­bed in Parts II and III below.

The period bet­ween the adop­tion by the Gene­ral Assem­bly of its recom­men­da­tion on the ques­tion of Pales­tine and the esta­blish­ment of the inde­pen­dence of the Arab and Jewish Sta­tes shall be a tran­si­tio­nal period.

B. STEPS PREPARATORY TO INDEPENDENCE

A Com­mis­sion shall be set up con­sis­ting of one repre­sen­ta­tive of each of five Mem­ber Sta­tes. The Mem­bers repre­sen­ted on the Com­mis­sion shall be elec­ted by the Gene­ral Assem­bly on as broad a basis, geo­grap­hi­ca­lly and other­wise, as possible.

The admi­nis­tra­tion of Pales­tine shall, as the man­da­tory Power with­draws its armed for­ces, be pro­gres­si­vely tur­ned over to the Com­mis­sion, which shall act in con­for­mity with the recom­men­da­tions of the Gene­ral Assem­bly, under the gui­dance of the Secu­rity Coun­cil. The man­da­tory Power shall to the fullest pos­si­ble extent coor­di­nate its plans for with­dra­wal with the plans of the Com­mis­sion to take over and admi­nis­ter areas which have been evacuated.

In the dis­charge of this admi­nis­tra­tive res­pon­si­bi­lity the Com­mis­sion shall have aut­ho­rity to issue neces­sary regu­la­tions and take other mea­su­res as required.

The man­da­tory Power shall not take any action to pre­vent, obs­truct or delay the imple­men­ta­tion by the Com­mis­sion of the mea­su­res recom­men­ded by the Gene­ral Assembly.

On its arri­val in Pales­tine the Com­mis­sion shall pro­ceed to carry out mea­su­res for the esta­blish­ment of the fron­tiers of the Arab and Jewish Sta­tes and the City of Jeru­sa­lem in accor­dance with the gene­ral lines of the recom­men­da­tions of the Gene­ral Assem­bly on the par­ti­tion of Pales­tine. Nevert­he­less, the boun­da­ries as des­cri­bed in Part II of this Plan are to be modi­fied in such a way that village areas as a rule will not be divi­ded by state boun­da­ries unless pres­sing reasons make that necessary.

The Com­mis­sion, after con­sul­ta­tion with the demo­cra­tic par­ties and other public orga­ni­za­tions of the Arab and Jewish Sta­tes, shall select and esta­blish in each State as rapidly as pos­si­ble a Pro­vi­sio­nal Coun­cil of Govern­ment. The acti­vi­ties of both the Arab and Jewish Pro­vi­sio­nal Coun­cils of Govern­ment shall be carried out under the gene­ral direc­tion of the Commission.

If by 1 April 1948 a Pro­vi­sio­nal Coun­cil of Govern­ment can­not be selec­ted for eit­her of the Sta­tes, or, if selec­ted, can­not carry out its fun­ctions, the Com­mis­sion shall com­mu­ni­cate that fact to the Secu­rity Coun­cil for such action with res­pect to that State as the Secu­rity Coun­cil may deem pro­per, and to the Secretary-General for com­mu­ni­ca­tion to the Mem­bers of the Uni­ted Nations.

Sub­ject to the pro­vi­sions of these recom­men­da­tions, during the tran­si­tio­nal period the Pro­vi­sio­nal Coun­cils of Govern­ment, acting under the Com­mis­sion, shall have full aut­ho­rity in the areas under their con­trol inclu­ding aut­ho­rity over mat­ters of immi­gra­tion and land regulation.

The Pro­vi­sio­nal Coun­cil of Govern­ment of each State, acting under the Com­mis­sion, shall pro­gres­si­vely receive from the Com­mis­sion full res­pon­si­bi­lity for the admi­nis­tra­tion of that State in the period bet­ween the ter­mi­na­tion of the Man­date and the esta­blish­ment of the State’s independence.

The Com­mis­sion shall ins­truct the Pro­vi­sio­nal Coun­cils of Govern­ment of both the Arab and Jewish Sta­tes, after their for­ma­tion, to pro­ceed to the esta­blish­ment of admi­nis­tra­tive organs of govern­ment, cen­tral and local.

The Pro­vi­sio­nal Coun­cil of Govern­ment of each State shall, wit­hin the shor­test time pos­si­ble, recruit an armed mili­tia from the resi­dents of that State, suf­fi­cient in num­ber to main­tain inter­nal order and to pre­vent fron­tier clashes.

This armed mili­tia in each State shall, for ope­ra­tio­nal pur­po­ses, be under the com­mand of Jewish or Arab offi­cers resi­dent in that State, but gene­ral poli­ti­cal and mili­tary con­trol, inclu­ding the choice of the militia’s High Com­mand, shall be exer­ci­sed by the Commission.

The Pro­vi­sio­nal Coun­cil of Govern­ment of each State shall, not later than two months after the with­dra­wal of the armed for­ces of the man­da­tory Power, hold elec­tions to the Cons­ti­tuent Assem­bly which shall be con­duc­ted on demo­cra­tic lines.

The elec­tion regu­la­tions in each State shall be drawn up by the Pro­vi­sio­nal Coun­cil of Govern­ment and appro­ved by the Com­mis­sion. Qua­li­fied voters for each State for this elec­tion shall be per­sons over eigh­teen years of age who are (a) Pales­ti­nian citi­zens resi­ding in that State; and (b) Arabs and Jews resi­ding in the State, alt­hough not Pales­ti­nian citi­zens, who, before voting, have sig­ned a notice of inten­tion to become citi­zens of such State.

Arabs and Jews resi­ding in the City of Jeru­sa­lem who have sig­ned a notice of inten­tion to become citi­zens, the Arabs of the Arab State and the Jews of the Jewish State, shall be entitled to vote in the Arab and Jewish Sta­tes respectively.

Women may vote and be elec­ted to the Cons­ti­tuent Assemblies.

During the tran­si­tio­nal period no Jew shall be per­mit­ted to esta­blish resi­dence in the area of the pro­po­sed Arab State, and no Arab shall be per­mit­ted to esta­blish resi­dence in the area of the pro­po­sed Jewish State, except by spe­cial leave of the Commission.

The Cons­ti­tuent Assem­bly of each State shall draft a demo­cra­tic cons­ti­tu­tion for its State and choose a pro­vi­sio­nal govern­ment to suc­ceed the Pro­vi­sio­nal Coun­cil of Govern­ment appoin­ted by the Com­mis­sion. The Cons­ti­tu­tions of the Sta­tes shall embody Chap­ters 1 and 2 of the Decla­ra­tion pro­vi­ded for in sec­tion C below and include, inter alia, pro­vi­sions for:

Esta­blis­hing in each State a legis­la­tive body elec­ted by uni­ver­sal suf­frage and by secret ballot on the basis of pro­por­tio­nal repre­sen­ta­tion, and an exe­cu­tive body res­pon­si­ble to the legislature;

Settling all inter­na­tio­nal dis­pu­tes in which the State may be invol­ved by pea­ce­ful means in such a man­ner that inter­na­tio­nal peace and secu­rity, and jus­tice, are not endangered;

Accep­ting the obli­ga­tion of the State to refrain in its inter­na­tio­nal rela­tions from the threat or use of force against the terri­to­rial inte­grity or poli­ti­cal inde­pen­dence of any State, or in any other man­ner incon­sis­tent with the pur­pose of the Uni­ted Nations;

Gua­ran­te­eing to all per­sons equal and non-discriminatory rights in civil, poli­ti­cal, eco­no­mic and reli­gious mat­ters and the enjoy­ment of human rights and fun­da­men­tal free­doms, inclu­ding free­dom of reli­gion, lan­guage, speech and publi­ca­tion, edu­ca­tion, assem­bly and association;

Pre­ser­ving free­dom of tran­sit and visit for all resi­dents and citi­zens of the other State in Pales­tine and the City of Jeru­sa­lem, sub­ject to con­si­de­ra­tions of natio­nal secu­rity, pro­vi­ded that each State shall con­trol resi­dence wit­hin its borders.

The Com­mis­sion shall appoint a pre­pa­ra­tory eco­no­mic com­mis­sion of three mem­bers to make wha­te­ver arran­ge­ments are pos­si­ble for eco­no­mic co-operation, with a view to esta­blis­hing, as soon as prac­ti­ca­ble, the Eco­no­mic Union and the Joint Eco­no­mic Board, as pro­vi­ded in sec­tion D below.

During the period bet­ween the adop­tion of the recom­men­da­tions on the ques­tion of Pales­tine by the Gene­ral Assem­bly and the ter­mi­na­tion of the Man­date, the man­da­tory Power in Pales­tine shall main­tain full res­pon­si­bi­lity for admi­nis­tra­tion in areas from which it has not with­drawn its armed for­ces. The Com­mis­sion shall assist the man­da­tory Power in the carr­ying out of these fun­ctions. Simi­larly the man­da­tory Power shall co-operate with the Com­mis­sion in the exe­cu­tion of its functions.

With a view to ensu­ring that there shall be con­ti­nuity in the fun­ctio­ning of admi­nis­tra­tive ser­vi­ces and that, on the with­dra­wal of the armed for­ces of the man­da­tory Power, the whole admi­nis­tra­tion shall be in the charge of the Pro­vi­sio­nal Coun­cils and the Joint Eco­no­mic Board, res­pec­ti­vely, acting under the Com­mis­sion, there shall be a pro­gres­sive trans­fer, from the man­da­tory Power to the Com­mis­sion, of res­pon­si­bi­lity for all the fun­ctions of govern­ment, inclu­ding that of main­tai­ning law and order in the areas from which the for­ces of the man­da­tory Power have been withdrawn.

The Com­mis­sion shall be gui­ded in its acti­vi­ties by the recom­men­da­tions of the Gene­ral Assem­bly and by such ins­truc­tions as the Secu­rity Coun­cil may con­si­der neces­sary to issue.

The mea­su­res taken by the Com­mis­sion, wit­hin the recom­men­da­tions of the Gene­ral Assem­bly, shall become imme­dia­tely effec­tive unless the Com­mis­sion has pre­viously recei­ved con­trary ins­truc­tions from the Secu­rity Council.

The Com­mis­sion shall ren­der perio­dic monthly pro­gress reports, or more fre­quently if desira­ble, to the Secu­rity Council.

The Com­mis­sion shall make its final report to the next regu­lar ses­sion of the Gene­ral Assem­bly and to the Secu­rity Coun­cil simultaneously.

C. DECLARATION

A decla­ra­tion shall be made to the Uni­ted Nations by the Pro­vi­sio­nal Govern­ment of each pro­po­sed State before inde­pen­dence. It shall con­tain, inter alia, the follo­wing clauses:

Gene­ral Provision

The sti­pu­la­tions con­tai­ned in the Decla­ra­tion are recog­ni­zed as fun­da­men­tal laws of the State and no law, regu­la­tion or offi­cial action shall con­flict or inter­fere with these sti­pu­la­tions, nor shall any law, regu­la­tion or offi­cial action pre­vail over them.

Chap­ter 1: Holy Pla­ces, Reli­gious Buil­dings and Sites

Exis­ting rights in res­pect of Holy Pla­ces and reli­gious buil­dings or sites shall not be denied or impaired.

In so far as Holy Pla­ces are con­cer­ned, the liberty of access, visit, and tran­sit shall be gua­ran­teed, in con­for­mity with exis­ting rights, to all resi­dents and citi­zen of the other State and of the City of Jeru­sa­lem, as well as to aliens, wit­hout dis­tin­ction as to natio­na­lity, sub­ject to requi­re­ments of natio­nal secu­rity, public order and decorum.

Simi­larly, free­dom of wors­hip shall be gua­ran­teed in con­for­mity with exis­ting rights, sub­ject to the main­te­nance of public order and decorum.

Holy Pla­ces and reli­gious buil­dings or sites shall be pre­ser­ved. No act shall be per­mit­ted which may in an way impair their sacred cha­rac­ter. If at any time it appears to the Govern­ment that any par­ti­cu­lar Holy Place, reli­gious, buil­ding or site is in need of urgent repair, the Govern­ment may call upon the com­mu­nity or com­mu­ni­ties con­cer­ned to carry out such repair. The Govern­ment may carry it out itself at the expense of the com­mu­nity or com­mu­nity con­cer­ned if no action is taken wit­hin a reaso­na­ble time.

No taxa­tion shall be levied in res­pect of any Holy Place, reli­gious buil­ding or site which was exempt from taxa­tion on the date of the crea­tion of the State.

No change in the inci­dence of such taxa­tion shall be made which would eit­her dis­cri­mi­nate bet­ween the owners or occu­piers of Holy Pla­ces, reli­gious buil­dings or sites, or would place such owners or occu­piers in a posi­tion less favou­ra­ble in rela­tion to the gene­ral inci­dence of taxa­tion than exis­ted at the time of the adop­tion of the Assembly’s recommendations.

The Gover­nor of the City of Jeru­sa­lem shall have the right to deter­mine whet­her the pro­vi­sions of the Cons­ti­tu­tion of the State in rela­tion to Holy Pla­ces, reli­gious buil­dings and sites wit­hin the bor­ders of the State and the reli­gious rights apper­tai­ning the­reto, are being pro­perly applied and res­pec­ted, and to make deci­sions on the basis of exis­ting rights in cases of dis­pu­tes which may arise bet­ween the dif­fe­rent reli­gious com­mu­ni­ties or the rites of a reli­gious com­mu­nity with res­pect to such pla­ces, buil­dings and sites. He shall receive full co-operation and such pri­vi­le­ges and immu­ni­ties as are neces­sary for the exer­cise of his fun­ctions in the State.

Chap­ter 2: Reli­gious and Mino­rity Rights

Free­dom of cons­cience and the free exer­cise of all forms of wors­hip, sub­ject only to the main­te­nance of public order and morals, shall be ensu­red to all.

No dis­cri­mi­na­tion of any kind shall be made bet­ween the inha­bi­tants on the ground of race, reli­gion, lan­guage or sex.

All per­sons wit­hin the juris­dic­tion of the State shall be entitled to equal pro­tec­tion of the laws.

The family law and per­so­nal sta­tus of the various mino­ri­ties and their reli­gious inter­ests, inclu­ding endow­ments, shall be respected.

Except as may be requi­red for the main­te­nance of public order and good govern­ment, no mea­sure shall be taken to obs­truct or inter­fere with the enter­prise of reli­gious or cha­ri­ta­ble bodies of all faiths or to dis­cri­mi­nate against any repre­sen­ta­tive or mem­ber of these bodies on the ground of his reli­gion or nationality.

The State shall ensure ade­quate pri­mary and secon­dary edu­ca­tion for the Arab and Jewish mino­rity, res­pec­ti­vely, in its own lan­guage and its cul­tu­ral traditions.

The right of each com­mu­nity to main­tain its own schools for the edu­ca­tion of its own mem­bers in its own lan­guage, while con­for­ming to such edu­ca­tio­nal requi­re­ments of a gene­ral nature as the State may impose, shall not be denied or impai­red. Foreign edu­ca­tio­nal esta­blish­ments shall con­ti­nue their acti­vity on the basis of their exis­ting rights.

No res­tric­tion shall be impo­sed on the free use by any citi­zen of the State of any lan­guage in pri­vate inter­course, in com­merce, in reli­gion, in the Press or in publi­ca­tions of any kind, or at public meetings.

No expro­pria­tion of land owned by an Arab in the Jewish State (by a Jew in the Arab State) shall be allo­wed except for public pur­po­ses. In all cases of expro­pria­tion full com­pen­sa­tion as fixed by the Supreme Court shall be said pre­vious to dispossession.

Chap­ter 3: Citi­zens­hip, Inter­na­tio­nal Con­ven­tions and Finan­cial Obligations

1. Citi­zens­hip Pales­ti­nian citi­zens resi­ding in Pales­tine out­side the City of Jeru­sa­lem, as well as Arabs and Jews who, not hol­ding Pales­ti­nian citi­zens­hip, reside in Pales­tine out­side the City of Jeru­sa­lem shall, upon the recog­ni­tion of inde­pen­dence, become citi­zens of the State in which they are resi­dent and enjoy full civil and poli­ti­cal rights. Per­sons over the age of eigh­teen years may opt, wit­hin one year from the date of recog­ni­tion of inde­pen­dence of the State in which they reside, for citi­zens­hip of the other State, pro­vi­ding that no Arab resi­ding in the area of the pro­po­sed Arab State shall have the right to opt for citi­zens­hip in the pro­po­sed Jewish State and no Jew resi­ding in the pro­po­sed Jewish State shall have the right to opt for citi­zens­hip in the pro­po­sed Arab State. The exer­cise of this right of option will be taken to include the wives and chil­dren under eigh­teen years of age of per­sons so opting.

Arabs resi­ding in the area of the pro­po­sed Jewish State and Jews resi­ding in the area of the pro­po­sed Arab State who have sig­ned a notice of inten­tion to opt for citi­zens­hip of the other State shall be eli­gi­ble to vote in the elec­tions to the Cons­ti­tuent Assem­bly of that State, but not in the elec­tions to the Cons­ti­tuent Assem­bly of the State in which they reside.

2. Inter­na­tio­nal conventions

The State shall be bound by all the inter­na­tio­nal agree­ments and con­ven­tions, both gene­ral and spe­cial, to which Pales­tine has become a party. Sub­ject to any right of denun­cia­tion pro­vi­ded for the­rein, such agree­ments and con­ven­tions shall be res­pec­ted by the State throughout the period for which they were concluded.

Any dis­pute about the appli­ca­bi­lity and con­ti­nued vali­dity of inter­na­tio­nal con­ven­tions or trea­ties sig­ned or adhe­red to by the man­da­tory Power on behalf of Pales­tine shall be refe­rred to the Inter­na­tio­nal Court of Jus­tice in accor­dance with the pro­vi­sions of the Sta­tute of the Court.

3. Finan­cial obligations

The State shall res­pect and ful­fil all finan­cial obli­ga­tions of wha­te­ver nature assu­med on behalf of Pales­tine by the man­da­tory Power during the exer­cise of the Man­date and recog­ni­zed by the State. This pro­vi­sion inclu­des the right of public ser­vants to pen­sions, com­pen­sa­tion or gratuities.

These obli­ga­tions shall be ful­fi­lled through par­ti­ci­pa­tion in the Joint Eco­no­mic Board in res­pect of those obli­ga­tions appli­ca­ble to Pales­tine as a whole, and indi­vi­dua­lly in res­pect of those appli­ca­ble to, and fairly appor­tio­na­ble bet­ween, the States.

A Court of Claims, affi­lia­ted with the Joint Eco­no­mic Board, and com­po­sed of one mem­ber appoin­ted by the Uni­ted Nations, one repre­sen­ta­tive of the Uni­ted King­dom and one repre­sen­ta­tive of the State con­cer­ned, should be esta­blis­hed. Any dis­pute bet­ween the Uni­ted King­dom and the State res­pec­ting claims not recog­ni­zed by the lat­ter should be refe­rred to that Court.

Com­mer­cial con­ces­sions gran­ted in res­pect of any part of Pales­tine prior to the adop­tion of the reso­lu­tion by the Gene­ral Assem­bly shall con­ti­nue to be valid accor­ding to their terms, unless modi­fied by agree­ment bet­ween the concession-holders and the State.

Chap­ter 4: Mis­ce­lla­neous Provisions

The pro­vi­sions of chap­ters 1 and 2 of the decla­ra­tion shall be under the gua­ran­tee of the Uni­ted Nations, and no modi­fi­ca­tions shall be made in them wit­hout the assent of the Gene­ral Assem­bly of the Uni­ted Nations. Any Mem­ber of the Uni­ted Nations shall have the right to bring to the atten­tion of the Gene­ral Assem­bly any infrac­tion or dan­ger of infrac­tion of any of these sti­pu­la­tions, and the Gene­ral Assem­bly may the­reu­pon make such recom­men­da­tions as it may deem pro­per in the circumstances.

Any dis­pute rela­ting to the appli­ca­tion or inter­pre­ta­tion of this decla­ra­tion shall be refe­rred, at the request of eit­her party, to the Inter­na­tio­nal Court of Jus­tice, unless the par­ties agree to anot­her mode of settlement.

D. ECONOMIC UNION AND TRANSIT

The Pro­vi­sio­nal Coun­cil of Govern­ment of each State shall enter into an under­ta­king with res­pect to Eco­no­mic Union and Tran­sit. This under­ta­king shall be draf­ted by the Com­mis­sion pro­vi­ded for in sec­tion B, para­graph 1, uti­li­zing to the grea­test pos­si­ble extent the advice and coope­ra­tion of repre­sen­ta­tive orga­ni­za­tions and bodies from each of the pro­po­sed Sta­tes. It shall con­tain pro­vi­sions to esta­blish the Eco­no­mic Union of Pales­tine and pro­vide for other mat­ters of com­mon inter­est. If by 1 April 1948 the Pro­vi­sio­nal Coun­cils of Govern­ment have not ente­red into the under­ta­king, the under­ta­king shall be put into force by the Commission.

The Eco­no­mic Union of Palestine

The objec­ti­ves of the Eco­no­mic Union of Pales­tine shall be:

A cus­toms union;

A joint currency sys­tem pro­vi­ding for a sin­gle foreign exchange rate;

Ope­ra­tion in the com­mon inter­est on a non-discriminatory basis of rail­ways inter-State high­ways; pos­tal, telep­hone and tele­grap­hic ser­vi­ces and ports and air­ports invol­ved in inter­na­tio­nal trade and commerce;

Joint eco­no­mic deve­lop­ment, espe­cia­lly in res­pect of irri­ga­tion, land recla­ma­tion and soil conservation;

Access for both Sta­tes and for the City of Jeru­sa­lem on a non-discriminatory basis to water and power facilities.

There shall be esta­blis­hed a Joint Eco­no­mic Board, which shall con­sist of three repre­sen­ta­ti­ves of each of the two Sta­tes and three foreign mem­bers appoin­ted by the Eco­no­mic and Social Coun­cil of the Uni­ted Nations. The foreign mem­bers shall be appoin­ted in the first ins­tance for a term of three years; they shall serve as indi­vi­duals and not as repre­sen­ta­ti­ves of States.

The fun­ctions of the Joint Eco­no­mic Board shall be to imple­ment eit­her directly or by dele­ga­tion the mea­su­res neces­sary to realize the objec­ti­ves of the Eco­no­mic Union. It shall have all powers of orga­ni­za­tion and admi­nis­tra­tion neces­sary to ful­fil its functions.

The Sta­tes shall bind them­sel­ves to put into effect the deci­sions of the Joint Eco­no­mic Board. The Board’s deci­sions shall be taken by a majo­rity vote.

In the event of fai­lure of a State to take the neces­sary action the Board may, by a vote of six mem­bers, decide to with­hold an appro­priate por­tion of the part of the cus­toms reve­nue to which the State in ques­tion is entitled under the Eco­no­mic Union. Should the State per­sist in its fai­lure to coope­rate, the Board may decide by a sim­ple majo­rity vote upon such furt­her sanc­tions, inclu­ding dis­po­si­tion of funds which it has with­held, as it may deem appropriate.

In rela­tion to eco­no­mic deve­lop­ment, the fun­ctions of the Board shall be plan­ning, inves­ti­ga­tion and encou­ra­ge­ment of joint deve­lop­ment pro­jects, but it shall not under­take such pro­jects except with the assent of both Sta­tes and the City of Jeru­sa­lem, in the event that Jeru­sa­lem is directly invol­ved in the deve­lop­ment project.

In regard to the joint currency sys­tem, the curren­cies cir­cu­la­ting in the two Sta­tes and the City of Jeru­sa­lem shall be issued under the aut­ho­rity of the Joint Eco­no­mic Board, which shall be the sole issuing aut­ho­rity and which shall deter­mine the reser­ves to be held against such currencies.

So far as is con­sis­tent with para­graph 2(b) above, each State may ope­rate its own cen­tral bank, con­trol its own fis­cal and cre­dit policy, its foreign exchange receipts and expen­di­tu­res, the grant of import licen­ces, and may con­duct inter­na­tio­nal finan­cial ope­ra­tions on its own faith and cre­dit. During the first two years after the ter­mi­na­tion of the Man­date, the Joint Eco­no­mic Board shall have the aut­ho­rity to take such mea­su­res as may be neces­sary to ensure that – to the extent that the total foreign exchange reve­nues of the two Sta­tes from the export of goods and ser­vi­ces per­mit, and pro­vi­ded that each State takes appro­priate mea­su­res to con­serve its own foreign exchange resour­ces – each State shall have avai­la­ble, in any twelve months’ period, foreign exchange suf­fi­cient to assure the sup­ply of quan­ti­ties of impor­ted goods and ser­vi­ces for con­sum­ption in its terri­tory equi­va­lent to the quan­ti­ties of such goods and ser­vi­ces con­su­med in that terri­tory in the twelve months’ period ending 31 Decem­ber 1947.

All eco­no­mic aut­ho­rity not spe­ci­fi­ca­lly ves­ted in the Joint Eco­no­mic Board is reser­ved to each State.

There shall be a com­mon cus­toms tariff with com­plete free­dom of trade bet­ween the Sta­tes, and bet­ween the Sta­tes and the City of Jerusalem.

The tariff sche­du­les shall be drawn up by a Tariff Com­mis­sion, con­sis­ting of repre­sen­ta­ti­ves of each of the Sta­tes in equal num­bers, and shall be sub­mit­ted to the Joint Eco­no­mic Board for appro­val by a majo­rity vote. In case of disa­gree­ment in the Tariff Com­mis­sion, the Joint Eco­no­mic Board shall arbi­trate the points of dif­fe­rence. In the event that the Tariff Com­mis­sion fails to draw up any sche­dule by a date to be fixed, the Joint Eco­no­mic Board shall deter­mine the tariff schedule.

The follo­wing items shall be a first charge on the cus­toms and other com­mon reve­nue of the Joint Eco­no­mic Board:

The expen­ses of the cus­toms ser­vice and of the ope­ra­tion of the joint services;

The admi­nis­tra­tive expen­ses of the Joint Eco­no­mic Board;

The finan­cial obli­ga­tions of the Admi­nis­tra­tion of Pales­tine, con­sis­ting of:

The ser­vice of the outs­tan­ding public debt;

The cost of super­an­nua­tion bene­fits, now being paid or falling due in the future, in accor­dance with the rules and to the extent esta­blis­hed by para­graph 3 of chap­ter 3 above.

After these obli­ga­tions have been met in full, the sur­plus reve­nue from the cus­toms and other com­mon ser­vi­ces shall be divi­ded in the follo­wing man­ner: not less than 5 per cent and not more than 10 per cent to the City of Jeru­sa­lem; the resi­due shall be allo­ca­ted to each State by the Joint Eco­no­mic Board equi­ta­bly, with the objec­tive of main­tai­ning a suf­fi­cient and sui­ta­ble level of govern­ment and social ser­vi­ces in each State, except that the share of eit­her State shall not exceed the amount of that State’s con­tri­bu­tion to the reve­nues of the Eco­no­mic Union by more than appro­xi­ma­tely four million pounds in any year. The amount gran­ted may be adjus­ted by the Board accor­ding to the price level in rela­tion to the pri­ces pre­vai­ling at the time of the esta­blish­ment of the Union. After five years, the prin­ci­ples of the dis­tri­bu­tion of the joint reve­nue may be revi­sed by the Joint Eco­no­mic Board on a basis of equity.

All inter­na­tio­nal con­ven­tions and trea­ties affec­ting cus­toms tariff rates, and those com­mu­ni­ca­tions ser­vi­ces under the juris­dic­tion of the Joint Eco­no­mic Board, shall be ente­red into by both Sta­tes. In these mat­ters, the two Sta­tes shall be bound to act in accor­dance with the majo­rity of the Joint Eco­no­mic Board.

The Joint Eco­no­mic Board shall endea­vour to secure for Palestine’s exports fair and equal access to world markets.

All enter­pri­ses ope­ra­ted by the Joint Eco­no­mic Board shall pay fair wages on a uni­form basis.

Free­dom of Tran­sit and Visit

The under­ta­king shall con­tain pro­vi­sions pre­ser­ving free­dom of tran­sit and visit for all resi­dents or citi­zens of both Sta­tes and of the City of Jeru­sa­lem, sub­ject to secu­rity con­si­de­ra­tions; pro­vi­ded that each State and the City shall con­trol resi­dence wit­hin its borders.

Ter­mi­na­tion, Modi­fi­ca­tion and Inter­pre­ta­tion of the Undertaking

The under­ta­king and any treaty issuing the­re­from shall remain in force for a period of ten years. It shall con­ti­nue in force until notice of ter­mi­na­tion, to take effect two years the­reaf­ter, is given by eit­her of the parties.

During the initial ten-year period, the under­ta­king and any treaty issuing the­re­from may not be modi­fied except by con­sent of both par­ties and with the appro­val of the Gene­ral Assembly.

Any dis­pute rela­ting to the appli­ca­tion or the inter­pre­ta­tion of the under­ta­king and any treaty issuing the­re­from shall be refe­rred, at the request of eit­her party, to the Inter­na­tio­nal Court Of Jus­tice, unless the par­ties agree to anot­her mode of settlement.

E. ASSETS

The mova­ble assets of the Admi­nis­tra­tion of Pales­tine shall be allo­ca­ted to the Arab and Jewish Sta­tes and the City of Jeru­sa­lem on an equi­ta­ble basis. Allo­ca­tions should be made by the Uni­ted Nations Com­mis­sion refe­rred to iii sec­tion B, para­graph 1, above. Immo­va­ble assets shall become the pro­perty of the govern­ment of the terri­tory in which they are situated.

During the period bet­ween the appoint­ment of the Uni­ted Nations Com­mis­sion and the ter­mi­na­tion of the Man­date, the man­da­tory Power shall, except in res­pect of ordi­nary ope­ra­tions, con­sult with the Com­mis­sion on any mea­sure which it may con­tem­plate invol­ving the liqui­da­tion, dis­po­sal or encum­be­ring of the assets of the Pales­tine Govern­ment, such as the accu­mu­la­ted trea­sury sur­plus, the pro­ceeds of Govern­ment bond issues, State lands or any other asset.

F. ADMISSION TO MEMBERSHIP IN THE UNITED NATIONS

When the inde­pen­dence of eit­her the Arab or the Jewish State as envi­sa­ged in this plan has become effec­tive and the decla­ra­tion and under­ta­king, as envi­sa­ged in this plan, have been sig­ned by eit­her of them, sym­pat­he­tic con­si­de­ra­tion should be given to its appli­ca­tion for admis­sion to mem­bers­hip in the Uni­ted Nations in accor­dance with arti­cle 4 of the Char­ter of the Uni­ted Nations.

Part II. – Boundaries

A. THE ARAB STATE

The area of the Arab State in Wes­tern Gali­lee is boun­ded on the west by the Medi­te­rra­nean and on the north by the fron­tier of the Leba­non from Ras en Naqura to a point north of Saliha. From there the boun­dary pro­ceeds south­wards, lea­ving the built-up area of Saliha in the Arab State, to join the sout­hern­most point of this village. There it follows the wes­tern boun­dary line of the villa­ges of ‘Alma, Riha­niya and Tei­taba, thence follo­wing the nort­hern boun­dary line of Mei­run village to join the Acre-Safad Sub-District boun­dary line. It follows this line to a point west of Es Sammu’i village and joins it again at the nort­hern­most point of Farra­diya. Thence it follows the sub-district boun­dary line to the Acre-Safad main road. From here it follows the wes­tern boun­dary of Kafr-I’nan village until it reaches the Tiberias-Acre Sub-District boun­dary line, pas­sing to the west of the jun­ction of the Acre-Safad and Lubiya-Kafr-I’nan roads. From the south-west cor­ner of Kafr-I’nan village the boun­dary line follows the wes­tern boun­dary of the Tibe­rias Sub-District to a point close to the boun­dary line bet­ween the villa­ges of Maghar and ‘Eila­bun, thence bul­ging out to the west to include as much of the eas­tern part of the plain of Bat­tuf as is neces­sary for the reser­voir pro­po­sed by the Jewish Agency for the irri­ga­tion of lands to the south and east.

The boun­dary rejoins the Tibe­rias Sub-District boun­dary at a point on the Nazareth-Tiberias road south-east of the built-up area of Tur’an; thence it runs south­wards, at first follo­wing the sub-district boun­dary and then pas­sing bet­ween the Kadoo­rie Agri­cul­tu­ral School and Mount Tabor, to a point due south at the base of Mount Tabor. From here it runs due west, para­llel to the hori­zon­tal grid line 230, to the north-east cor­ner of the village lands of Tel Adas­him. It then runs to the north­west cor­ner of these lands, whence it turns south and west so as to include in the Arab State the sour­ces of the Naza­reth water sup­ply in Yafa village. On reaching Gin­nei­ger it follows the eas­tern, nort­hern and wes­tern boun­da­ries of the lands of this village to their south-west comer, whence it pro­ceeds in a straight line to a point on the Haifa-Afula rail­way on the boun­dary bet­ween the villa­ges of Sarid and El-Mujeidil. This is the point of inter­sec­tion. The south-western boun­dary of the area of the Arab State in Gali­lee takes a line from this point, pas­sing north­wards along the eas­tern boun­da­ries of Sarid and Gevat to the north-eastern cor­ner of Naha­lal, pro­cee­ding thence across the land of Kefar ha Horesh to a cen­tral point on the sout­hern boun­dary of the village of ‘Ilut, thence west­wards along that village boun­dary to the eas­tern boun­dary of Beit Lahm, thence north­wards and north-eastwards along its wes­tern boun­dary to the north-eastern cor­ner of Wald­heim and thence north-westwards across the village lands of Shafa ‘Amr to the sout­heas­tern cor­ner of Ramat Yoha­nan. From here it runs due north-north-east to a point on the Shafa ‘Amr-Haifa road, west of its jun­ction with the road of I’billin. From there it pro­ceeds north-east to a point on the sout­hern boun­dary of I’billin situa­ted to the west of the I’billin-Birwa road. Thence along that boun­dary to its wes­tern­most point, whence it turns to the north, follows across the village land of Tamra to the north-westernmost cor­ner and along the wes­tern boun­dary of Julis until it reaches the Acre-Safad road. It then runs west­wards along the sout­hern side of the Safad-Acre road to the Galilee-Haifa Dis­trict boun­dary, from which point it follows that boun­dary to the sea.

The boun­dary of the hill coun­try of Sama­ria and Judea starts on the Jor­dan River at the Wadi Malih south-east of Bei­san and runs due west to meet the Beisan-Jericho road and then follows the wes­tern side of that road in a north-westerly direc­tion to the jun­ction of the boun­da­ries of the Sub-Districts of Bei­san, Nablus, and Jenin. From that point it follows the Nablus-Jenin sub-District boun­dary west­wards for a dis­tance of about three kilo­me­tres and then turns north-westwards, pas­sing to the east of the built-up areas of the villa­ges of Jal­bun and Faqqu’a, to the boun­dary of the Sub-Districts of Jenin and Bei­san at a point nort­heast of Nuris. Thence it pro­ceeds first north­west­wards to a point due north of the built-up area of Zie’in and then west­wards to the Afula-Jenin rail­way, thence north-westwards along the Dis­trict boun­dary line to the point of inter­sec­tion on the Hejaz rail­way. From here the boun­dary runs south­west­wards, inclu­ding the built-up area and some of the land of the village of Kh. Lid in the Arab State to cross the Haifa-Jenin road at a point on the dis­trict boun­dary bet­ween Haifa and Sama­ria west of El– Mansi. It follows this boun­dary to the sout­hern­most point of the village of El-Buteimat. From here it follows the nort­hern and eas­tern boun­da­ries of the village of Ar’ara rejoi­ning the Haifa-Samaria dis­trict boun­dary at Wadi ‘Ara, and thence pro­cee­ding south-south-westwards in an appro­xi­ma­tely straight line joi­ning up with the wes­tern boun­dary of Qaqun to a point east of the rail­way line on the eas­tern boun­dary of Qaqun village. From here it runs along the rail­way line some dis­tance to the east of it to a point just east of the Tul­karm rail­way sta­tion. Thence the boun­dary follows a line half-way bet­ween the rail­way and the Tulkarm-Qalqiliya-Jaljuliya and Ras El-Ein road to a point just east of Ras El-Ein sta­tion, whence it pro­ceeds along the rail­way some dis­tance to the east of it to the point on the rail­way line south of the jun­ction of the Haifa-Lydda and Beit Nabala lines, whence it pro­ceeds along the sout­hern bor­der of Lydda air­port to its south-west cor­ner, thence in a south-westerly direc­tion to a point just west of the built-up area of Sara­fand El ‘Amar, whence it turns south, pas­sing just to the west of the built-up area of Abu El-Fadil to the north-east cor­ner of the lands of Beer Ya’aqov. (The boun­dary line should be so demar­ca­ted as to allow direct access from the Arab State to the air­port.) Thence the boun­dary line follows the wes­tern and sout­hern boun­da­ries of Ramle village, to the north-east cor­ner of El Na’ana village, thence in a straight line to the sout­hern­most point of El Barriya, along the eas­tern boun­dary of that village and the sout­hern boun­dary of ‘Innaba village. Thence it turns north to follow the sout­hern side of the Jaffa-Jerusalem road until El-Qubab, whence it follows the road to the boun­dary of Abu-Shusha. It runs along the eas­tern boun­da­ries of Abu Shusha, Sei­dun, Hulda to the sout­hern­most point of Hulda, thence west­wards in a straight line to the north-eastern cor­ner of Umm Kalkha, thence follo­wing the nort­hern boun­da­ries of Umm Kalkha, Qazaza and the nort­hern and wes­tern boun­da­ries of Mukhe­zin to the Gaza Dis­trict boun­dary and thence runs across the village lands of El-Mismiya El-Kabira, and Yasur to the sout­hern point of inter­sec­tion, which is mid­way bet­ween the built-up areas of Yasur and Batani Sharqi.

From the sout­hern point of inter­sec­tion the boun­dary lines run north-westwards bet­ween the villa­ges of Gan Yavne and Barqa to the sea at a point half way bet­ween Nabi Yunis and Minat El-Qila, and south-eastwards to a point west of Qas­tina, whence it turns in a south-westerly direc­tion, pas­sing to the east of the built-up areas of Es Sawa­fir Esh Shar­qiya and ‘Ibdis. From the south-east cor­ner of ‘Ibdis village it runs to a point south­west of the built-up area of Beit ‘Affa, cros­sing the Hebron-El-Majdal road just to the west of the built-up area of ‘Iraq Suwei­dan. Thence it pro­ceeds south­ward along the wes­tern village boun­dary of El-Faluja to the Beers­heba Sub-District boun­dary. It then runs across the tri­bal lands of ‘Arab El-Jubarat to a point on the boun­dary bet­ween the Sub-Districts of Beers­heba and Hebron north of Kh. Khu­wei­lifa, whence it pro­ceeds in a south-westerly direc­tion to a point on the Beersheba-Gaza main road two kilo­me­tres to the north-west of the town. It then turns south-eastwards to reach Wadi Sab’ at a point situa­ted one kilo­me­ter to the west of it. From here it turns north-eastwards and pro­ceeds along Wadi Sab’ and along the Beersheba-Hebron road for a dis­tance of one kilo­me­ter, whence it turns east­wards and runs in a straight line to Kh. Kuseifa to join the Beersheba-Hebron Sub-District boun­dary. It then follows the Beersheba-Hebron boun­dary east­wards to a point north of Ras Ez-Zuweira, only depar­ting from it so as to cut across the base of the inden­ta­tion bet­ween ver­ti­cal grid lines 150 and 160.

About five kilo­me­tres north-east of Ras Ez-Zuweira it turns north, exclu­ding from the Arab State a strip along the coast of the Dead Sea not more than seven kilo­me­tres in depth, as far as ‘Ein Geddi, whence it turns due east to join the Trans­jor­dan fron­tier in the Dead Sea.

The nort­hern boun­dary of the Arab sec­tion of the coas­tal plain runs from a point bet­ween Minat El-Qila and Nabi Yunis, pas­sing bet­ween the built-up areas of Gan Yavne and Barqa to the point of inter­sec­tion. From here it turns south-westwards, run­ning across the lands of Batani Sharqi, along the eas­tern boun­dary of the lands of Beit Daras and across the lands of Julis, lea­ving the built-up areas of Batani Sharqi and Julis to the west­wards, as far as the north-west cor­ner of the lands of Beit-Tima. Thence it runs east of El-Jiya across the village lands of El-Barbara along the eas­tern boun­da­ries of the villa­ges of Beit Jirja, Deir Suneid and Dimra. From the south-east cor­ner of Dimra the boun­dary pas­ses across the lands of Beit Hanun, lea­ving the Jewish lands of Nir-Am to the east­wards. From the south-east cor­ner of Beit Hanun the line runs south-west to a point south of the para­llel grid line 100, then turns north-west for two kilo­me­tres, tur­ning again in a south­wes­terly direc­tion and con­ti­nuing in an almost straight line to the north-west cor­ner of the village lands of Kir­bet Ikhza’a. From there it follows the boun­dary line of this village to its sout­hern­most point. It then runs in a sout­herly direc­tion along the ver­ti­cal grid line 90 to its jun­ction with the hori­zon­tal grid line 70. It then turns south-eastwards to Kh. El-Ruheiba and then pro­ceeds in a sout­herly direc­tion to a point known as El-Baha, beyond which it cros­ses the Beersheba-EI ‘Auja main road to the west of Kh. El-Mushrifa. From there it joins Wadi El-Zaiyatin just to the west of El-Subeita. From there it turns to the north-east and then to the south-east follo­wing this Wadi and pas­ses to the east of ‘Abda to join Wadi Nafkh. It then bul­ges to the south-west along Wadi Nafkh, Wadi ‘Ajrim and Wadi Las­san to the point where Wadi Las­san cros­ses the Egy­ptian frontier.

The area of the Arab enclave of Jaffa con­sists of that part of the town-planning area of Jaffa which lies to the west of the Jewish quar­ters lying south of Tel-Aviv, to the west of the con­ti­nua­tion of Herzl street up to its jun­ction with the Jaffa-Jerusalem road, to the south-west of the sec­tion of the Jaffa-Jerusalem road lying south-east of that jun­ction, to the west of Miqve Yis­rael lands, to the north­west of Holon local coun­cil area, to the north of the line lin­king up the north-west cor­ner of Holon with the nort­heast cor­ner of Bat Yam local coun­cil area and to the north of Bat Yam local coun­cil area. The ques­tion of Kar­ton quar­ter will be deci­ded by the Boun­dary Com­mis­sion, bea­ring in mind among other con­si­de­ra­tions the desira­bi­lity of inclu­ding the sma­llest pos­si­ble num­ber of its Arab inha­bi­tants and the lar­gest pos­si­ble num­ber of its Jewish inha­bi­tants in the Jewish State.

B. THE JEWISH STATE

The north-eastern sec­tor of the Jewish State (Eas­tern Gali­lee) is boun­ded on the north and west by the Leba­nese fron­tier and on the east by the fron­tiers of Syria and Trans-jordan. It inclu­des the whole of the Huleh Basin, Lake Tibe­rias, the whole of the Bei­san Sub-District, the boun­dary line being exten­ded to the crest of the Gil­boa moun­tains and the Wadi Malih. From there the Jewish State extends north-west, follo­wing the boun­dary des­cri­bed in res­pect of the Arab State. The Jewish sec­tion of the coas­tal plain extends from a point bet­ween Minat El-Qila and Nabi Yunis in the Gaza Sub-District and inclu­des the towns of Haifa and Tel-Aviv, lea­ving Jaffa as an enclave of the Arab State. The eas­tern fron­tier of the Jewish State follows the boun­dary des­cri­bed in res­pect of the Arab State.

The Beers­heba area com­pri­ses the whole of the Beers­heba Sub-District, inclu­ding the Negeb and the eas­tern part of the Gaza Sub-District, but exclu­ding the town of Beers­heba and those areas des­cri­bed in res­pect of the Arab State. It inclu­des also a strip of land along the Dead Sea stret­ching from the Beersheba-Hebron Sub-District boun­dary line to ‘Ein Geddi, as des­cri­bed in res­pect of the Arab State.

C. THE CITY OF JERUSALEM

The boun­da­ries of the City of Jeru­sa­lem are as defi­ned in the recom­men­da­tions on the City of Jeru­sa­lem. (See Part III, sec­tion B, below).

Part III. – City of Jerusalem

A. SPECIAL REGIME

The City of Jeru­sa­lem shall be esta­blis­hed as a cor­pus sepa­ra­tum under a spe­cial inter­na­tio­nal regime and shall be admi­nis­te­red by the Uni­ted Nations. The Trus­tees­hip Coun­cil shall be desig­na­ted to dis­charge the res­pon­si­bi­li­ties of the Admi­nis­te­ring Aut­ho­rity on behalf of the Uni­ted Nations.

B. BOUNDARIES OF THE CITY

The City of Jeru­sa­lem shall include the pre­sent muni­ci­pa­lity of Jeru­sa­lem plus the surroun­ding villa­ges and towns, the most eas­tern of which shall be Abu Dis; the most sout­hern, Beth­lehem; the most wes­tern, ‘Ein Karim (inclu­ding also the built-up area of Motsa); and the most nort­hern Shu’fat, as indi­ca­ted on the atta­ched sketch-map (annex B).

C. STATUTE OF THE CITY

The Trus­tees­hip Coun­cil shall, wit­hin five months of the appro­val of the pre­sent plan, ela­bo­rate and approve a detai­led sta­tute of the City which shall con­tain, inter alia, the subs­tance of the follo­wing provisions:

Govern­ment machi­nery; spe­cial objec­ti­ves. The Admi­nis­te­ring Aut­ho­rity in dis­char­ging its admi­nis­tra­tive obli­ga­tions shall pur­sue the follo­wing spe­cial objectives:

To pro­tect and to pre­serve the uni­que spi­ri­tual and reli­gious inter­ests loca­ted in the city of the three great monot­heis­tic faiths throughout the world, Chris­tian, Jewish and Mos­lem; to this end to ensure that order and peace, and espe­cia­lly reli­gious peace, reign in Jerusalem;

To fos­ter coope­ra­tion among all the inha­bi­tants of the city in their own inter­ests as well as in order to encou­rage and sup­port the pea­ce­ful deve­lop­ment of the mutual rela­tions bet­ween the two Pales­ti­nian peo­ples throughout the Holy Land; to pro­mote the secu­rity, well-being and any cons­truc­tive mea­su­res of deve­lop­ment of the resi­dents having regard to the spe­cial cir­cums­tan­ces and cus­toms of the various peo­ples and communities.

Gover­nor and Admi­nis­tra­tive staff. A Gover­nor of the City of Jeru­sa­lem shall be appoin­ted by the Trus­tees­hip Coun­cil and shall be res­pon­si­ble to it. He shall be selec­ted on the basis of spe­cial qua­li­fi­ca­tions and wit­hout regard to natio­na­lity. He shall not, howe­ver, be a citi­zen of eit­her State in Palestine.

The Gover­nor shall repre­sent the Uni­ted Nations in the City and shall exer­cise on their behalf all powers of admi­nis­tra­tion, inclu­ding the con­duct of exter­nal affairs. He shall be assis­ted by an admi­nis­tra­tive staff clas­sed as inter­na­tio­nal offi­cers in the mea­ning of Arti­cle 100 of the Char­ter and cho­sen whe­ne­ver prac­ti­ca­ble from the resi­dents of the city and of the rest of Pales­tine on a non-discriminatory basis. A detai­led plan for the orga­ni­za­tion of the admi­nis­tra­tion of the city shall be sub­mit­ted by the Gover­nor to the Trus­tees­hip Coun­cil and duly appro­ved by it.

3. Local autonomy

The exis­ting local auto­no­mous units in the terri­tory of the city (villa­ges, towns­hips and muni­ci­pa­li­ties) shall enjoy wide powers of local govern­ment and administration.

The Gover­nor shall study and sub­mit for the con­si­de­ra­tion and deci­sion of the Trus­tees­hip Coun­cil a plan for the esta­blish­ment of spe­cial town units con­sis­ting, res­pec­ti­vely, of the Jewish and Arab sec­tions of new Jeru­sa­lem. The new town units shall con­ti­nue to form part the pre­sent muni­ci­pa­lity of Jerusalem.

Secu­rity measures

The City of Jeru­sa­lem shall be demi­li­ta­ri­zed; neu­tra­lity shall be decla­red and pre­ser­ved, and no para-military for­ma­tions, exer­ci­ses or acti­vi­ties shall be per­mit­ted wit­hin its borders.

Should the admi­nis­tra­tion of the City of Jeru­sa­lem be seriously obs­truc­ted or pre­ven­ted by the non-cooperation or inter­fe­rence of one or more sec­tions of the popu­la­tion the Gover­nor shall have aut­ho­rity to take such mea­su­res as may be neces­sary to res­tore the effec­tive fun­ctio­ning of administration.

To assist in the main­te­nance of inter­nal law and order, espe­cia­lly for the pro­tec­tion of the Holy Pla­ces and reli­gious buil­dings and sites in the city, the Gover­nor shall orga­nize a spe­cial police force of ade­quate strength, the mem­bers of which shall be recrui­ted out­side of Pales­tine. The Gover­nor shall be empo­we­red to direct such bud­ge­tary pro­vi­sion as may be neces­sary for the main­te­nance of this force.

Legis­la­tive Organization.

A Legis­la­tive Coun­cil, elec­ted by adult resi­dents of the city irres­pec­tive of natio­na­lity on the basis of uni­ver­sal and secret suf­frage and pro­por­tio­nal repre­sen­ta­tion, shall have powers of legis­la­tion and taxa­tion. No legis­la­tive mea­su­res shall, howe­ver, con­flict or inter­fere with the pro­vi­sions which will be set forth in the Sta­tute of the City, nor shall any law, regu­la­tion, or offi­cial action pre­vail over them. The Sta­tute shall grant to the Gover­nor a right of vetoing bills incon­sis­tent with the pro­vi­sions refe­rred to in the pre­ce­ding sen­tence. It shall also empo­wer him to pro­mul­gate tem­po­rary ordi­nan­ces in case the Coun­cil fails to adopt in time a bill dee­med essen­tial to the nor­mal fun­ctio­ning of the administration.

Admi­nis­tra­tion of Justice.

The Sta­tute shall pro­vide for the esta­blish­ment of an inde­pen­dent judi­ciary sys­tem, inclu­ding a court of appeal. All the inha­bi­tants of the city shall be sub­ject to it.

Eco­no­mic Union and Eco­no­mic Regime.

The City of Jeru­sa­lem shall be inclu­ded in the Eco­no­mic Union of Pales­tine and be bound by all sti­pu­la­tions of the under­ta­king and of any trea­ties issued the­re­from, as well as by the deci­sions of the Joint Eco­no­mic Board. The head­quar­ters of the Eco­no­mic Board shall be esta­blis­hed in the terri­tory City. The Sta­tute shall pro­vide for the regu­la­tion of eco­no­mic mat­ters not falling wit­hin the regime of the Eco­no­mic Union, on the basis of equal treat­ment and non-discrimination for all mem­bers of thc Uni­ted Nations and their nationals.

Free­dom of Tran­sit and Visit: Con­trol of residents.

Sub­ject to con­si­de­ra­tions of secu­rity, and of eco­no­mic wel­fare as deter­mi­ned by the Gover­nor under the direc­tions of the Trus­tees­hip Coun­cil, free­dom of entry into, and resi­dence wit­hin the bor­ders of the City shall be gua­ran­teed for the resi­dents or citi­zens of the Arab and Jewish Sta­tes. Immi­gra­tion into, and resi­dence wit­hin, the bor­ders of the city for natio­nals of other Sta­tes shall be con­tro­lled by the Gover­nor under the direc­tions of the Trus­tees­hip Council.

Rela­tions with Arab and Jewish Sta­tes. Repre­sen­ta­ti­ves of the Arab and Jewish Sta­tes shall be accre­di­ted to the Gover­nor of the City and char­ged with the pro­tec­tion of the inter­ests of their Sta­tes and natio­nals in con­nec­tion with the inter­na­tio­nal admi­nis­tra­tion of thc City.

Offi­cial languages.

Ara­bic and Hebrew shall be the offi­cial lan­gua­ges of the city. This will not pre­clude the adop­tion of one or more addi­tio­nal wor­king lan­gua­ges, as may be required.

Citi­zens­hip.

All the resi­dents shall become ipso facto citi­zens of the City of Jeru­sa­lem unless they opt for citi­zens­hip of the State of which they have been citi­zens or, if Arabs or Jews, have filed notice of inten­tion to become citi­zens of the Arab or Jewish State res­pec­ti­vely, accor­ding to Part 1, sec­tion B, para­graph 9, of this Plan.

The Trus­tees­hip Coun­cil shall make arran­ge­ments for con­su­lar pro­tec­tion of the citi­zens of the City out­side its territory.

Free­doms of citizens

Sub­ject only to the requi­re­ments of public order and morals, the inha­bi­tants of the City shall be ensu­red the enjoy­ment of human rights and fun­da­men­tal free­doms, inclu­ding free­dom of cons­cience, reli­gion and wors­hip, lan­guage, edu­ca­tion, speech and press, assem­bly and asso­cia­tion, and petition.

No dis­cri­mi­na­tion of any kind shall be made bet­ween the inha­bi­tants on the grounds of race, reli­gion, lan­guage or sex.

All per­sons wit­hin the City shall be entitled to equal pro­tec­tion of the laws.

The family law and per­so­nal sta­tus of the various per­sons and com­mu­ni­ties and their reli­gious inter­ests, inclu­ding endow­ments, shall be respected.

Except as may be requi­red for the main­te­nance of public order and good govern­ment, no mea­sure shall be taken to obs­truct or inter­fere with the enter­prise of reli­gious or cha­ri­ta­ble bodies of all faiths or to dis­cri­mi­nate against any repre­sen­ta­tive or mem­ber of these bodies on the ground of his reli­gion or nationality.

The City shall ensure ade­quate pri­mary and secon­dary edu­ca­tion for the Arab and Jewish com­mu­ni­ties res­pec­ti­vely, in their own lan­gua­ges and in accor­dance with their cul­tu­ral traditions.

The right of each com­mu­nity to main­tain its own schools for the edu­ca­tion of its own mem­bers in its own lan­guage, while con­for­ming to such edu­ca­tio­nal requi­re­ments of a gene­ral nature as the City may impose, shall not be denied or impai­red. Foreign edu­ca­tio­nal esta­blish­ments shall con­ti­nue their acti­vity on the basis of their exis­ting rights.

No res­tric­tion shall be impo­sed on the free use by any inha­bi­tant of the City of any lan­guage in pri­vate inter­course, in com­merce, in reli­gion, in the Press or in publi­ca­tions of any kind, or at public meetings.

Holy Pla­ces Exis­ting rights in res­pect of Holy Pla­ces and reli­gious buil­dings or sites shall not be denied or impaired.

Free access to the Holy Pla­ces and reli­gious buil­dings or sites and the free exer­cise of wors­hip shall be secu­red in con­for­mity with exis­ting rights and sub­ject to the requi­re­ments of public order and decorum.

Holy Pla­ces and reli­gious buil­dings or sites shall be pre­ser­ved. No act shall be per­mit­ted which may in any way impair their sacred cha­rac­ter. If at any time it appears to the Gover­nor that any par­ti­cu­lar Holy Place, reli­gious buil­ding or site is in need of urgent repair, the Gover­nor may call upon the com­mu­nity or com­mu­ni­ties con­cer­ned to carry out such repair. The Gover­nor may carry it out him­self at the expense of the com­mu­nity or com­mu­ni­ties con­cer­ned if no action is taken wit­hin a reaso­na­ble time.

No taxa­tion shall be levied in res­pect of any Holy Place, reli­gious buil­ding or site which was exempt from taxa­tion on the date of the crea­tion of the City. No change in the inci­dence of such taxa­tion shall be made which would eit­her dis­cri­mi­nate bet­ween the owners or occu­piers of Holy Pla­ces, reli­gious buil­dings or sites or would place such owners or occu­piers in a posi­tion less favou­ra­ble in rela­tion to the gene­ral inci­dence of taxa­tion than exis­ted at the time of the adop­tion of the Assembly’s recommendations.

Spe­cial powers of the Gover­nor in res­pect of the Holy Pla­ces, reli­gious buil­dings and sites in the City and in any part of Palestine.

The pro­tec­tion of the Holy Pla­ces, reli­gious buil­dings and sites loca­ted in the City of Jeru­sa­lem shall be a spe­cial con­cern of the Gover­nor. With rela­tion to such pla­ces, buil­dings and sites in Pales­tine out­side the city, the Gover­nor shall deter­mine, on the ground of powers gran­ted to him by the Cons­ti­tu­tion of both Sta­tes, whet­her the pro­vi­sions of the Cons­ti­tu­tion of the Arab and Jewish Sta­tes in Pales­tine dea­ling the­re­with and the reli­gious rights apper­tai­ning the­reto are being pro­perly applied and respected.

The Gover­nor shall also be empo­we­red to make deci­sions on the basis of exis­ting rights in cases of dis­pu­tes which may arise bet­ween the dif­fe­rent reli­gious com­mu­ni­ties or the rites of a reli­gious com­mu­nity in res­pect of the Holy Pla­ces, reli­gious buil­dings and sites in any part of Palestine.

In this task he may be assis­ted by a con­sul­ta­tive coun­cil of repre­sen­ta­ti­ves of dif­fe­rent deno­mi­na­tions acting in an advi­sory capacity.

D. DURATION OF THE SPECIAL REGIME

The Sta­tute ela­bo­ra­ted by the Trus­tees­hip Coun­cil the afo­re­men­tio­ned prin­ci­ples shall come into force not later than 1 Octo­ber 1948. It shall remain in force in the first ins­tance for a period of ten years, unless the Trus­tees­hip Coun­cil finds it neces­sary to under­take a re-examination of these pro­vi­sions at an ear­lier date. After the expi­ra­tion of this period the whole scheme shall be sub­ject to exa­mi­na­tion by the Trus­tees­hip Coun­cil in the light of expe­rience acqui­red with its fun­ctio­ning. The resi­dents the City shall be then free to express by means of a refe­ren­dum their wis­hes as to pos­si­ble modi­fi­ca­tions of regime of the City.

Part IV. Capitulations

Sta­tes whose natio­nals have in the past enjo­yed in Pales­tine the pri­vi­le­ges and immu­ni­ties of foreig­ners, inclu­ding the bene­fits of con­su­lar juris­dic­tion and pro­tec­tion, as for­merly enjo­yed by capi­tu­la­tion or usage in the Otto­man Empire, are invi­ted to renounce any right per­tai­ning to them to the re-establishment of such pri­vi­le­ges and immu­ni­ties in the pro­po­sed Arab and Jewish Sta­tes and the City of Jerusalem.

Adop­ted at the 128th ple­nary meeting:

In favour: 33

Aus­tra­lia, Bel­gium, Boli­via, Bra­zil, Bye­lo­rus­sian S.S.R., Canada, Costa Rica, Cze­chos­lo­va­kia, Den­mark, Domi­ni­can Repu­blic, Ecua­dor, France, Gua­te­mala, Haiti, Ice­land, Libe­ria, Luxem­burg, Net­her­lands, New Zea­land, Nica­ra­gua, Nor­way, Panama, Para­guay, Peru, Phi­lip­pi­nes, Poland, Swe­den, Ukrai­nian S.S.R., Union of South Africa, U.S.A., U.S.S.R., Uru­guay, Venezuela.

Against: 13

Afgha­nis­tan, Cuba, Egypt, Greece, India, Iran, Iraq, Leba­non, Pakis­tan, Saudi Ara­bia, Syria, Tur­key, Yemen.

Abs­tai­ned: 10

Argen­tina, Chile, China, Colom­bia, El Sal­va­dor, Ethio­pia, Hon­du­ras, Mexico, Uni­ted King­dom, Yugoslavia.