JERUSALEM (JTA) — The United Nations is marking the anniversary of its approval of the Palestine partition plan with ceremonies supporting the Palestinians.
The United Nations has marked the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People since 1977. This year’s commemoration, including anti-Israel speeches in the General Assembly and an exhibit about Palestinian refugees, took place Monday and continued Tuesday
The debate in the General Assembly is expected to generate six resolutions critical of Israel, according to reports.
Israeli U.N. Ambassador Gabriela Shalev was scheduled to address the assembly on Tuesday. Israel previously has boycotted the Palestinian solidarity day meetings.
Palestinian U.N. observer Riyad Mansour is expected ask the U.N. Security Council to define the 1967 borders as the new borders of a Palestinian state, Ynet reported. On Monday, Mansour accused Israel of failing to be committed to peace due to continued settlement activity and occupation of Palestinian territory.
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called on Israel to freeze all settlement activity, saying last week’s announced freeze by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu did not go far enough.
"It is vital that a sovereign state of Palestine is achieved," he said. "This should be on the basis of the 1967 lines with agreed land swaps and a just and agreed solution to the refugee issue — a state that lives side by side in peace with Israel within secure and recognized borders."
The partition plan in 1947 divided Palestine into a Jewish and an Arab state. The land designated for an Arab state, which Israel captured in a succession of wars with neighboring Arab countries, is what the Palestinians claim for their state.
