Cuba was one of the 13 countries that opposed the division of the Palestinian territory in the recently created United Nations Organization, back in 1947.
“I should like to explain very briefly why the Cuban delegation feels bound to vote against the plan for the partition of Palestine recommended by the Ad Hoc Committee,” stated Dr. Ernesto Dihigo, in November that year, at the second session of the UN General Assembly. (Following January 1, 1959, Dr. Dihigo continued to practice revolutionary diplomacy, and joined the Cuban Academy of Language).
The dignified position of our country in that forum saw the denunciation of the United Kingdom’s violation of international law through the Balfour Declaration, and the plan to grant a “national home” for the Jewish people in Palestinian territory.
“The Balfour Declaration, in our opinion, is not legally valid because in it the British Government was offering something which did not belong to it and which it had no right to give,” Dihigo stressed.
The Partition Plan for Palestine was later adopted by the UN General Assembly as Resolution 181, giving rise to the creation of the State of Israel.
The action by the United Nations, perhaps the most controversial in its history, unleashed the first Arab-Israeli War and gave rise to one of the longest and deadliest conflicts in the Middle East, which continues to this day.
The triumph of the Cuban Revolution ended the ambiguities of the island’s neo-Republican governments and their submission to the interests of the United States, the main Zionist ally.
“No more brutal dispossession of the rights to peace and existence of a people has been committed in this century,” stated leader of the Revolution, Fidel Castro, in summarizing the Cuban position on the Palestinian cause, in a speech delivered at the opening session of the 6th Summit of the Non-Aligned Movement, September 3, 1979.
“We repudiate with all our strength the ruthless persecution and genocide that in its time Nazism unleashed against the Hebrew people. But I cannot recall anything more similar in our contemporary history than the eviction, persecution, and genocide being carried out today by imperialism and Zionism against the Palestinian people,” he added.
Cuba’s revolutionary diplomacy maintains its unlimited support for the search for a comprehensive, just, and lasting solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, based on the creation of two states.
Cuba also believes that a solution to this long-standing conflict would help to reduce tensions in the region, where the United States promotes war to guarantee its geopolitical interests.
“A fair and lasting solution in the Middle East conflict unquestionably requires the true exercise, by the Palestinian people, of their inalienable right to build their own state within the borders existing prior to 1967, and its capital in East Jerusalem, which we strongly support, “ Army General Raúl Castro stated at the UN in September 2015.
Cuba has also denounced that it is unacceptable for the Security Council to be held hostage by the veto, or the threat of veto, by the United States, preventing the organization from fulfilling its mandate and protecting the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people, and sanctioning Israel for its constant violations of human rights.
In December 2017, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MINREX) expressed its deep concern and condemnation of the unilateral declaration by the President of the United States recognizing the city of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.
It was noted that the measure constituted “a serious and flagrant violation of the UN Charter, of International Law, and of the relevant United Nations resolutions.”
MINREX warned that the decision by the Donald Trump administration “will have grave consequences for the stability and the security of the Middle East, will further increase tensions in this region, and hamper any efforts directed toward re-starting peace talks between Israelis and Palestinians.”
(Granma)