Syria president refuses UN inquiry amid murder accusation News
Syria president refuses UN inquiry amid murder accusation

[JURIST] Syrian officials announced Thursday that President Bashar al-Assad [BBC profile] would not submit to questioning by the UN probe into the assassination of former Lebanese president Rafik Hariri [JURIST news archive]. Information Minister Mahdi Dahkl-Allah claimed that the refusal stemmed from concerns over preserving Syria's sovereignty and intimated that an informal meeting between the investigators and Assad in Syria is still possible. The news comes on the heels of last week's decision to allow foreign minister Farouq al-Shara to meet with UN investigators [JURIST report]. The UN Security Council [official website] has previously threatened "further action" against Syria if it does not cooperate fully with the UN probe. AP has more.

Also on Thursday, former Vice President Abdel-Halim Khaddam [Wikipedia profile] accused Assad of ordering Hariri's assassination [UN materials] in an interview [text; recorded video] with Britain's Sky News. Syria recently announced plans to try Khaddam, who was expelled from Syria's ruling Baath party [JURIST report], for high treason [JURIST report]. Reuters 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.

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