For nearly two years David Horowitz exchanged correspondence with the King of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, Abdullah Ibn al-Hussein. Central to their dialogue was the Palestine Question and the notion of whether the ancient texts of the Bible and Koran could play a role in the resolution of key issues.

In February 1947, the British, succumbing to the problems and pressures from Palestine and at home, announced they were referring the Palestine Mandate question to the United Nations. This spurred a beehive of activity at the UN. David Horowitz, sensing that the timing was right, was about to take his case directly to the big house.

UN PartianVote

As a prelude, David spent considerable time discussing and interviewing several Arab and Muslim delegates including Dr. Charles Malik of Lebanon, Dr. Fadhil Jamali of Iraq and M. Asif Ali, a Muslim delegate from India. He posed the same question to all delegates: “Do you think the Bible and the Koran could be used as the basis in solving the Palestine Problem?” Responses were mixed, however, several contended that the impasse included a deeper religious element that the ultimate solution might have to face.

Following these encouraging responses, United Israel World Union sent a letter to the Chairman of the UN’s Political and Security Committee, Lester B. Pearson, suggesting the World Organization consider using the Bible and Koran to help settle the Arab-Israeli dispute over Palestine.

On April 28, 1947, fifty-five nations of the world, representing the greater part of mankind, took seats in the New York City Building at Flushing Meadows, Long Island. They had been summoned in special session to begin deliberations over the vexing and seemingly unsolvable issue of Palestine.

In the May-June, 1947 edition of United Israel Bulletin, David Horowitz authored an article entitled: “Controversy over Zion comes to United Nations.”

In his letter to Pearson, David stated both the purpose and reason for the appeal:

“As an international Anglo-Hebrew Organization, chartered under the laws of the State of New York, we have a deep interest in the fate of Palestine. We wish, therefore, to submit the following for the consideration of the Fact-Finding Commission, which it is the duty of your committee to elect for the study of the seemingly unsolvable Palestine Question.”

David then proceeded to recommend that the Commission give serious and careful consideration to the two historic documents that constitute the life-pattern of the Jewish and Arabic peoples, namely, the Bible and the Koran. After a gentle reminder to the Commission that all other previous approaches to the solution to the problem of Palestine have failed, he stated: “We recommend that your Committee include these world-recognized documents as evidence to be considered in the study.” It seemed incumbent then upon the cousins, the Arabs and the Jews, to recognize fully what is actually inherent in the Palestine question.

The proposal included three main points: 1) that these documents are honored by both peoples and are also recognized by world courts; 2) they establish these peoples statehood status, and 3) they indicate the extent of their historic domain in the Middle East.

On June 2, 1947, United Israel World Union received a reply from the Commission. It expressed thanks for the submission and stated: “that the Committee would give the fullest consideration to every relevant opinion” and then asked the UIWU Organization to submit it’s views regarding Palestine on or before June 26.

Throughout the deliberations, the eleven-nation Special UN Committee had before it a Memorandum which was submitted by United Israel World Union and which was duly acknowledged both by the Chairman of the Special Committee and by Secretary-General Trygve Lie himself. The Memorandum gave the members of the Committee the full opportunity to know what the Bible had to say on this issue.

The four page Memorandum pointed out that legislative bodies and courts recognize the Bible to the extent of having all oaths of fealty and honor sworn by it, giving indisputable logic that this ancient document be given foremost consideration by members of the Special Committee. That its recorded history be examined in the light of genealogy and also, the rights, claims and deeds it has attributed to the peoples linked to the Holy Land, should be properly evaluated.

Carefully laid out and emphasized in the Memorandum were the facts that the Holy Koran, religiously observed by all true Moslems, never invalidated the Bible. That it upholds the Bible as the highest authority and portrays Hebrew leaders such as Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Moses, David and a host of others, as holy prophets whose utterances were accepted as inspired word. That yearly, all true Moslems honor Moses by commemorating the festival Nebi Musa and that it was this same Moses who originally set the biblical borders of the Holy Land for all the tribes of Israel as an everlasting statute.

Definitive statements from the Koran were then set forth that confirmed the Hebrew Scriptures, thus making the biblical injunctions equally as binding upon all true believers to obey.

Scriptural references were given that pertained to the issues of the biblical boundaries of Palestine, land-deeds and inheritances, as well as the covenant blessings given to Ishmael with the Arabian territory defined.

Evidence was submitted that served to prove that the original Mandate looked upon Transjordan as an integral part of Palestine proper. Article 7 of the “Convention between the United States and Britain” regarding “Rights in Palestine” was signed in London on December 3, 1924, and ratified by the President of the United States on March 2, 1925.

The case had been duly presented. The evidence carefully laid out for consideration and it was time for the closing statement.

Reading like an oracle penned from an ancient prophet, David Horowitz made his impassioned closing argument to the committee representatives of the nations:

“All of the above facts are self-explanatory and need no further comment. The picture is clear, and brave men, truthful men, God-fearing men, should know what to do in the sight of an all-seeing God who is known to all mankind from the Bible as The God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, the Holy One of Israel. He it is who swore to give Palestine to Israel. For nearly two thousand years the wandering Jew has never once ceased hearing the eternal threat: Go back to Jerusalem from whence you came. The Jew has now come to the end of the road and Jerusalem too, has become forbidden ground. The cry of the ancient prophet still rings: Let My People Go!”

 Following an intensive investigation of the many-sided Palestine problem. The special U. N. Committee succeeded in completing its arduous tasks. A decision had been made. On September 1, 1947, Secretary-General Trygve Lie had the Committee’s recommendations on his desk. It was indeed recommended that Palestine be partitioned into a Jewish state and an Arab state. But not according to the ancient blueprint. The efforts of United Israel World Union had failed to influence the Pearson Committee.

UN-Partition-Plan

On that faithful November 29, 1947, the vote on Israel’s future was held at the UN. The UN vote -33 to 13-favoring the establishment of a Hebrew State in Palestine came between 5:30 and 5:45 PM on Sabbath evening, the 16th day of Kislev, 5708.

The Zionists would accept the partition plan with some reluctance, and the Arab countries, along with the Arabs of Palestine, flatly rejected the plan, but that story will have to wait.

At UIWU’s Fifth meeting held on April 18, 1948, David reported on the results of the UN Assembly Special Committee’s decision. He stated: “As long as the UN fails to follow God’s blueprint for Palestine, it will fail to solve the problem. It will always remain in our official records that we brought to the attention of the United Nations the plan of the Bible for Palestine.”

Though David Horowitz and UIWU did not achieve the success they were hoping for, he was not deterred. He would soon embark on another campaign that would prove to be highly successful-one that would influence a sitting President and a vote for Israel’s statehood.

Bio PictureRalph Buntyn is executive vice president and associate editor of United Israel World Union. A historian and researcher, his many articles and essays have appeared in various media outlets.

This post is the third in the series “Remembering David Horowitz.” For the complete archive see here.