JERUSALEM _ Palestine News Network
The United Nations resolution to divide Palestine into two states, Arab and Jewish, as well as the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People, adopted in 1977, marks 71 years on Thursday (November 29th).
In November 1947, the United Nations issued resolution 181, known as the partition decision, which provided for the termination of the British Mandate on Palestine, as well as the division of its territory in three parts, and the resolution was approved by 33 states, and by 13 other states, while 10 abstained in favour of the resolution.
The UN resolution stipulated in time that Palestine would be divided into three regions, the first Arab and 4,300 square miles, equivalent to 43.5% of the area of Palestine, located on the western Galilee region, the city of Acre, the West Bank, the south coast from north of Ashdod and south to Rafah, with part of the desert along Border strip with Egypt.
The second area is a Jewish state with a size of 5,700 square miles equivalent to 56.2% of the historic area of Palestine, located on the coastal plain from Haifa to the south of Tel Aviv, the eastern Galilee, including the Lake Tiberias, the "Finger of Galilee", and the Negev desert.
The third part, which includes "Jerusalem, the City of Bethlehem and the neighboring territories," is placed under international guardianship, according to the decision.
According to official statistics, Israel today seizes more than 85 percent of Palestine´s historic territory, which is about 27,000 square kilometers, and the Palestinians have only about 15 percent of the land area left.
