Vukovar massacre trial opens at UN war crimes tribunal News
Vukovar massacre trial opens at UN war crimes tribunal

[JURIST] Prosecutors at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) [official website] opened their case [press release] Tuesday in the trial against three former officers of the Yugoslavian army who allegedly permitted the massacre of more than 200 hospital patients in the Croatian town of Vukovar. The prosecution accused the three former officers, known as the Vukovar Three [BBC profile], of ignoring orders to prevent soldiers under their command from committing acts of retribution, and were thus complicit in one of the most significant massacres during the Balkan wars. The three former officers have been charged [ICTY case backgrounder] with five counts of crimes against humanity and three counts of violation of the laws or customs of war. 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.

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.