Summary
British prime minister whose Guildhall speech of 9/11/55, proposing a compromise between the 1949 ceasefire lines and the UN Partition lines, reopened the question of the UN resolutions in Peace, Peace, When There Is No Peace and drew replies from both Ben-Gurion and Nasser (Peace, Peace, When There Is No Peace, PDF p.79-82).
Details
- In the speech, seeking to recover prestige Britain lost in Egypt, Eden said the hostility between Israel and its Arab neighbours was unhealed and time was not bringing a cure, that Israel must give up part of its territory for a compromise because the Arab states adhere to the 1947 UN resolution, and that “to disregard the resolutions of the UN is not just”; he proposed a compromise between the ceasefire lines and the Partition lines (Peace, Peace, When There Is No Peace, PDF p.79).
- Ben-Gurion’s reply (15/11/55, through a prearranged Knesset question) answered that what contradicts the UN resolutions is Egypt’s army in the Gaza Strip and Transjordan’s annexation, and that if Eden did not see the 1949 ceasefire agreements as binding, Egypt must leave Gaza and Transjordan evacuate western Palestine (PDF p.80).
- Nasser’s reply (25/11/55, Radio Cairo interview): “for the first time since 1947 a British prime minister is voting for the UN resolutions of 1947” — a recognition of the right of the Palestinian people whose land was robbed while it was under British occupation (PDF p.81-82).
Related pages
Peace, Peace, When There Is No Peace, David Ben-Gurion, Gamal Abd al-Nasser, UN General Assembly Resolution 181