UN General Assembly
1947

In its terms of reference, the Special Committee was instructed by the General Assembly to study the question of Palestine in all its phases. One of these phases is the legal aspect, which should have been considered the most important, along with the political, social and economic aspects. The Arab States, as well as several other delegations, raised this legal issue before the First Committee and before the General Assembly. They contested the legality of the Balfour Declaration and the exceptional terms of the Palestine Mandate. They emphasized the contradictory nature of these terms and their violation of and contradiction to the Covenant of the League of Nations, as well as to international law and the sacred rights of peoples. They presented substantial arguments to prove-their points. But the First Committee did not consider this legal aspect at all. It gave it no attention. It overlooked the question of the illegality of the documents which gave birth to this problem. The Committee restricted its efforts to dealing only with the symptoms of the disease rather than with its causes.