State Department releases new human rights report News
State Department releases new human rights report

[JURIST] The US State Department Monday released its third annual report on American efforts to support and promote human rights around the world. In Supporting Human Rights: The US Record 2004-2005 [text], the US said it will make respect for human rights the test for its bilateral relations around the world, although it also indicated it will temper this ideology with political realities. The report promises that the US will keep up rights pressure on nations such as China, Russia, Pakistan, Libya, and Saudi Arabia. Critics, however, point to the easing of sanctions against Libya, one of the world's worst human rights violators, and the recent sale of F-16 fighter planes to Pakistan [AFP story], as evidence of the administration's difficulties in pushing its agenda in this area. Read Secretary Rice's comments regarding the report. AP has more.

THIS DAY @ LAW

UN General Assembly approves Palestine partition plan

The UN General Assembly approved UN Resolution Resolution 181 (II) on November 29, 1947, recommending that the British Mandate for Palestine be split into a Jewish state, an Arab state, and an international zone for Jerusalem. The vote in the assembly was 33 for to 13 against, with 10 abstentions. The resolution sparked a war between Palestinian Arabs and Jews in 1947 and a wider war after Egypt, Syria, Jordan, Iraq, and Lebanon invaded the new State of Israel in 1948. Read Resolution 181 (II).

UN divided Palestine between Arabs and Jews

On November 29, 1947, the UN General Assembly voted to partition Palestine into Jewish and Arab territories, leading to the establishment of a Jewish state the following year. Read UN General Assembly Resolution 181.

Defense Secretary Robert McNamara resigns during Vietnam Conflict

On November 29, 1967, Secretary of Defense Robert S. McNamara announced that he was resigning from his office to accept an appointment as head of the World Bank. The announcement came as the Vietnam Conflict was becoming increasingly unpopular in the United States and abroad.