“The Birth of #PalestineDay: Unearthing Origins | UN Archives”

On November 29th, 1947, the UN General Assembly adopted a resolution on the partition of Palestine.

During the inaugural commemoration of the international day, the former UN Secretary-General Kurt Waldheim expressed a sentiment shared by subsequent secretaries-general that “events of these last years have made the world painfully aware that the Palestinian people and the recognition and implementation of their rights are the key to any solution in the Middle East.”

Watch how the UN established the international day here, as part of our #ThrowbackThursday series highlighting significant moments in UN history, sourced from the UN Audiovisual Library‘s extensive collection of video and audio recordings, totaling 49,400 hours and 18,000 hours, respectively.

Explore UN Video’s Stories from the UN Archive playlist here and our Podcast Classics series here. Join us next Thursday for another journey into history.

When this picture was taken at Khan Younis in 1955, the tented refugee camp in the Gaza Strip had just been replaced by cement block houses. These youngsters were happy to have more weatherproof shelter against the summer sun and winter rains.