Humanity, et al,
Security Council Resolution 242 According to its Drafters January 15, 2007
After the 1967 Six Day War, when Israel prevented an attempt by surrounding Arab nations to destroy it militarily, the United Nations Security Council prepared a carefully-worded resolution to guide the parties. Since then, U.N. Resolution 242 has been invoked as the centerpiece for negotiation efforts, including the Israeli-Egyptian Camp David Accords, the Oslo Accords and the Road Map peace plan.
But while many sources correctly describe the wording and intent of Resolution 242, others have misrepresented it as requiring Israel to return to the pre-1967 lines – the armistice lines established after Israel’s War of Independence.
Such an interpretation was explicitly not the intention of the framers of 242, nor does the
language of the resolution include any such requirement.
It is important that we understand what
UN Security Council Resolution 242 actually said.
(COMMENT)
The authors of UNSC Resolution 242 were:
Lord Caradon,
Eugene Rostow,
Arthur Goldberg,
Baron George-Brown,
Lord Caradon was the permanent representative of the United Kingdom to the United Nations, 1964-1970, and chief drafter of Resolution 242
Much play has been made of the fact that we didn’t say “the” territories or “all the” territories. But that was deliberate. I myself knew very well the 1967 boundaries and if we had put in the “the” or “all the” that could only have meant that we wished to see the 1967 boundaries perpetuated in the form of a permanent frontier. This I was certainly not prepared to recommend.
Eugene Rostow, was a legal scholar and former dean of Yale Law School, US Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs, 1966-1969.
Rostow said ... resolution required agreement on "secure and recognized" boundaries, which, as practical matter, and as matter of interpreting resolution, had to precede withdrawals. Two principles were basic to Article I of resolution. Paragraph from which Dobrynin quoted was linked to others, and he did not see how anyone could seriously argue, in light of history of resolution in Security Council, withdrawal to borders of June 4th was contemplated. These words had been pressed on Council by Indians and others, and had not been accepted.
Arthur J. Goldberg was the United States representative to the United Nations, 1965-1968, and before that a U.S. Supreme Court justice.
Does Resolution 242 as unanimously adopted by the UN Security Council require the withdrawal of Israeli armed forces from all of the territories occupied by Israel during the 1967 war? The answer is no. In the resolution, the words the and all are omitted. Resolution 242 calls for the withdrawal of Israeli armed forces from territories occupied in the 1967 conflict, without specifying the extent of the withdrawal. The resolution, therefore, neither commands nor prohibits total withdrawal.
Baron George-Brown was the British Foreign Secretary from 1966 to 1968.
[Resolution 242] does not call for Israeli withdrawal from “the” territories recently occupied, nor does it use the word “all”. It would have been impossible to get the resolution through if either of these words had been included, but it does set out the lines on which negotiations for a settlement must take place. Each side must be prepared to give up something: the resolution doesn’t attempt to say precisely what, because that is what negotiations for a peace-treaty must be about.
J. L. Hargrove was Senior Adviser on International Law to the United States Mission to the United Nations, 1967-1970
The language “from territories” was regarded at the time of the adoption of the resolution as of high consequence because the proposal put forward by those espousing the Egyptian case was withdrawal from “the territories.” In the somewhat minute debate which frequently characterizes the period before the adoption of a United Nations resolution, the article “the” was regarded of considerable significance because its inclusion would seem to imply withdrawal from all territories which Israel had not occupied prior to the June war, but was at the present time occupying.
Consequently, the omission of “the” was intended on our part, as I understood it at the time and was understood on all sides, to leave open the possibility of modifications in the lines which were occupied as of June 4, 1967, in the final settlement.
(COMMENT)
UNSC Resolution 478, is (what as described as) "fundamentally flawed. It attempts to address "Israel's annexation of East Jerusalem."
UNSC Resolution 497, deals with the Golan Hieghts, which the Palestinians have no standing and vested interest in at all.
The Geneva Convention does not deal with the status of an occupation at all, and does not address the legality of the issue.
The "settlements" are covered under the Oslo Accords and subject to the permanent status of negotiations.
Most Respectfully,
R