Syrian president to refuse meeting with UN Hariri probe, official says News
Syrian president to refuse meeting with UN Hariri probe, official says

[JURIST] An advisor to the Syrian Ministry of Information said Tuesday that President Bashar al-Assad [BBC profile] will refuse a request [JURIST report] for an interview made Monday by the UN commission [UN materials] investigating the death of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri [JURIST news archive]. A member of parliament said that such requests violate the Syrian constitution, which provides sovereign immunity to the President in connection with all investigations. Arabic News has local coverage.

Also on Tuesday, Syrian Brigadier General and former head of military intelligence Rustom Ghazaleh, who has been implicated in Hariri's death, said in an interview that he was willing to resign from his position if necessary. Ghazaleh maintained his innocence to accusations made last week by former Vice President Abdel Halim Khaddam [Wikipedia profile], including allegations that Ghazaleh stole over $35 million [Aljazeera report] from Lebanon's now-defunct Al-Madina Bank. Ghazaleh acknowledged, however, that the current political situation, fueled by Khaddam's incendiary interview [JURIST report] last Friday, may require him to step down. AFP 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).

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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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