The United Nations Security Council - 1858 Words

On May 12, 1970, the United Nations Security Council entered Resolution 279, which read, simply, â€Å"Demands the immediate withdrawal of all Israeli armed forces from Lebanese territory.† So starts the first of many resolutions about the Israeli-Palestinian war. In 1946, the Security Council was formed pursuant to the Charter of the United Nations, an intergovernmental organization comprised of 15 states. The Security Council falls under the United Nations charter as an agency with discretionary powers to deal with threats to peace and/or security (Orakhelashvili, 2005). The United Nations approaches peacekeeping based on three principles: consent of the parties, impartiality, and non-use of force except in self-defense and defense of†¦show more content†¦On May 19, 1970, the UNSC adopted Resolution 280 reaffirming prior resolutions and condemning Israel for its military action in violation of the charter, and deploring the loss of life and property. The resolution further warned that such action cannot be tolerated and consideration of recourse was under review. The year 1970 found the Arab states still in a tumultuous condition. The Arabs abused the Palestinians constantly and there seemed to be no end in sight. In September that same year, King Hussein felt especially threatened and commanded a virtual slaughter of the Palestinians. Thousands were massacred leading to surrender of some and was called â€Å"Black September† based on the number of viciousness of the attacks and the number of casualties (Karsh, 2014). The first oil crisis was experienced in 1973 (El-Hamad, 2004). Because the west was supporting Israel, the Arab oil countries embargoed oil. This, of course, caused wide spread panic among the oil-dependent countries. The United States attempted to find other oil sources with little luck. By the 1980s, Arab oil was still being supplied to Japan, Western Europe and the U.S. at 80%, 70% and 30%, respectively, of the countries’ oil requirements (El-Hamad, 2004). The U.S. was concerned about its economic presenc e in the market and its continuingly increasing dependence on Arab oil was worrisome (it had grown from 7% in the ‘70s to 30% in the ‘80s) (El-Hamad, 2004). August