Man who set self on fire in White House protest was key witness in terror case News
Man who set self on fire in White House protest was key witness in terror case

[JURIST] A man who lit himself on fire Monday in front of the White House was a key government witness in the case against Sheik Ali Hassan al-Moayad, who is accused of raising millions for terror groups including al-Qaida, defense attorneys for al-Moayad have said. Mohammed Alanssi, a 52-year-old Virginia resident, is in serious condition, a fact which al-Moayad's attorneys said will seriously hurt the government's case. Alanssi wrote letters to both the FBI [PDF] and a Washington Post reporter [PDF], explaining that he was unhappy with the government's treatment of him but was afraid to stop cooperating. The FBI has refused to comment on the case or on Alanssi. 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.