Abbas to UN: UN should have “suppressed” Israel with force of arms in 1948
Official PA TV YouTube channel, PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas' speech to the UN General Assembly on Sept. 20, 2017
PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas: "Israel has violated and continues to violate the UN’s decisions since the moment of its establishment. It has violated and continues to violate the clauses of the UN Charter and Resolutions 181 (The UN partition plan, rejected by Arab leaders –Ed.) and 194. Resolution 181 divided Palestine and said, according to the charter, according to Articles 41 and 42 – you can look – that whoever takes over the lands of the other side according to the determined division will be suppressed by the force of arms (sic., the charter says armed force may be used to enforce resolutions if non-military methods are unsuccessful; see note below). Israel took 23% of our land (sic., see note below) and the UN did not act to suppress it with the force of arms."
UN Resolution 194 (Chapter 11, Dec. 11, 1948) states that "refugees wishing to return to their homes and live at peace with their neighbors should be permitted to do so at the earliest practicable date, and that compensation should be paid for the property of those choosing not to return." Palestinian leaders argue this means that all Arabs who left Israel during the war (hundreds of thousands) and their descendants (a few million) have a "right of return" to Israel. Israel argues that the resolution only calls for a limited return and only under certain conditions, especially focusing on the words "wishing to return... and live at peace with their neighbors."
UN Charter Article 41 discusses measures to enforce UN decisions that do not include force, while Article 42 discusses the use of force only if these measures have not worked:
Article 41: "The Security Council may decide what measures not involving the use of armed force are to be employed to give effect to its decisions, and it may call upon the Members of the United Nations to apply such measures. These may include complete or partial interruption of economic relations and of rail, sea, air, postal, telegraphic, radio, and other means of communication, and the severance of diplomatic relations."
Article 42: "Should the Security Council consider that measures provided for in Article 41 would be inadequate or have proved to be inadequate, it may take such action by air, sea, or land forces as may be necessary to maintain or restore international peace and security. Such action may include demonstrations, blockade, and other operations by air, sea, or land forces of Members of the United Nations."
The land that PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas referred to as being taken by Israel was not Arab land as they rejected UN Resolution 181, and it was captured in a war of self-defense, after Israel was attacked by the neighboring Arab states.