Syria agrees to UN questioning in Hariri probe News
Syria agrees to UN questioning in Hariri probe

[JURIST] Syria agreed Friday to allow UN investigators to question five unidentified Syrian officials at the Vienna UN offices [UN Security Council official website] in connection with the February assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri [JURIST news archive]. The agreement has pleased chief UN investigator Detlev Mehlis, who was on the verge of giving up on Syrian cooperation [UN News report]. Deputy Foreign Ministry Walid al-Moualem said that by allowing the questioning Syria had taken an important step to protect itself against economic sanctions. 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.