“The deep, slightly hoarse voice came back, making the air shake as it summed up with a rough dryness brimming with excitement: Thirty-three for. Thirteen against. Ten abstentions and one country absent from the vote. The resolution is approved. His voice was swallowed up in a roar that burst from the radio….” These are the events of November 29, 1947 as recalled by Amos Oz, Israel’s greatest living author.

Sixty years ago the United Nations voted for a two-state solution – one Jewish, one Arab.  Six months after the authorizing vote and despite the threat of war from the same countries that rejected the UN resolution, the State of Israel declared independence.

For sixty years, the UN’s decision has been vindicated overwhelmingly.  In a region plagued with religious extremism, tyranny and economic stagnation, Israel is a model of democratic pluralism, economic growth and human progress. The Jewish State has contributed to the global community in myriad ways; agricultural innovations in irrigation, advances in medicine that detect and fight cancer, and dozens of inventions that make voicemail, cellphones, instant messaging, wireless networks and satellite television possible. Israel has developed solutions that hold promise for the developing world and advanced nation-states alike, and has generously granted assistance around the world in the aftermath of earthquakes, tsunami and other natural disasters.

Despite these momentous contributions, Israel remains the only state whose right to exist is still under attack, often by the same array of forces who rejected the two-state solution six decades ago. Yet, a two-state solution remains, as the UN recognized in 1947, the only reasonable answer to the Arab-Israeli conflict.  

Unfortunately, the UN’s landmark decision has been commandeered by forces opposed to any peaceful solution. In an Orwellian twist contrived by Arab countries in 1976, the UN declared November 29th a “Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People.” The original UN resolution was thus distorted beyond recognition, and used to undermine, rather than promote, the cause of peace.

Last year’s “Day of Solidarity” misleadingly displayed a large map of “Palestine” on which Israel did not appear. The “Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People” used a map dated before Israel’s day of Independence. While technically correct, the implication of a Palestine without Israel was clear.

In this instance, and others like it, the UN became a vehicle to single-out and de-legitimize one of its members, Israel, therefore rendering the global body virtually irrelevant to regional peacemaking. As a result, it would be difficult for any responsible Israeli leader to trust the UN to play a productive and fair-minded role in bringing the parties together and helping them reach a just solution.

On this sixtieth anniversary, UN member states should reclaim the moral high ground, and again allow the UN to become a relevant player in the quest for peace. One simple, but symbolically potent, action would be for top UN officials to use the Day of Solidarity events as an opportunity to promote the spirit of the original 1947 UN resolution – the Jewish State of Israel and the Arab State of Palestine living side by side in peace and security.

A declaration for a more constructive, even-handed UN posture would not come at the expense of the Palestinians. By refusing to acquiesce to an anti-Israel agenda promoted by despots and dictators, UN officials will make it more, not less, likely that Palestinians realize a state of their own. Such a balanced approach is particularly critical as Israelis, Palestinians and some Arab countries forge ahead with a new round of peace negotiations.

The UN made the right decision in 1947, but in ensuing years its policies were hijacked by member states and non-governmental organizations more interested in perpetuating conflict than solving it. In order to move forward, the UN must remind the international community of the courageous vote it took 60 years ago. Only then can the world body live up to the high ideals of its charter and help salvage one of the greatest moments in its own history.

Upon hearing the radio broadcast, Amos Oz recounted his father’s words, “…from now on, from the moment we have our own state, you will never be bullied just because you are a Jew and because Jews are so-and-so’s. Not that. Never again. From tonight that’s finished here. Forever.”

Seth Brysk is Executive Director of the American Jewish Committee in Los Angeles