The Question of Palestine

http://unispal.un.org/unispal.nsf/home.htm

The United Nations has been working on the question of Palestine since the first special session of the General Assembly on 28 April 1947, which established a body to investigate the issue and return with its recommendations. Over 60 years later, the range of the UN's work on the issue has continued to adapt to meet new challenges and address changing realities on the ground.
HISTORY
History of the question of Palestine
The question of Palestine and the United Nations (pdf)
Monthly chronology of events (1998 to present)
UNDERSTANDING THE ISSUE
Key issues in a permanent settlement
UN system's response
Basic facts and figures
RESOURCES
UNISPAL library of documents
UN map collection
UN events on the question of Palestine

ABOUT THE UNITED NATIONS The United Nations is central to global efforts to solve problems that challenge humanity. Coperating in this effort are more than 30 affiliated organizations, know together as the UN system. Day in and day out, the UN and its family of organizations work to promote respect for human rights, protect the environment, fight disease and reduce poverty.

RELEVANT UN RESOLUTIONS General Assembly Security Council Economic and Social Council Human Rights Council

KEY ISSUES IN A PERMANENT SETTLEMENT

Inalienable rights of the Palestinian people

Jerusalem

Refugees

In 1947, the United Nations proposed the partitioning of Palestine into two independent States, one Palestinian Arab and the other Jewish, with Jerusalem internationalized (General Assembly Resolution 181 (II) of 29 November 1947). One of the two States envisaged in the partition plan proclaimed its independence as Israel and in the 1948 war it expanded to occupy 77 per cent of the territory of Palestine. 750,000 Palestinians, over half the indigenous population, fled or were expelled. In the 1967 war, Israel occupied the remaining territory of Palestine, until then under Jordanian and Egyptian control. The war brought a second exodus of Palestinians, estimated at more than half a million. (DPR study: The Origins and Evolution of the Palestine Problem: 1917-1988) General Assembly resolution 194 of 11 December 1948 states that: "...The refugees wishing to return to their homes and live at peace with their neighbors should be permitted to do so at the earliest practicable date, and that compensation should be paid for the property of those choosing not to return and for loss of or damage to property which, under principles of international law or in equity, should be made good by the Governments or authorities responsible." Decades later, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) continues to provide education, health care, relief and development assistance and social services to some 5 million registered Palestine refugees in Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, and the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Living standards in refugee communities remain poor, and are characterised in some fields by high unemployment, falling household income, overburdened infrastructure, and restrictions on employment and mobility. See also: Reports of the Commissioner-General of UNRWA, The Right of Return of the Palestinian People - a DPR study.

Israeli settlements

Water