The United Nations played an historic role in the establishment of Israel, by partitioning Palestine into a Jewish state and an Arab state. Thus began its extraordinary involvement in the continuing quest for a peaceful resolution to the ensuing conflict, now more than 50 years in duration.

The United Nations assumed responsibility for the welfare of the Palestinians - who became refugees as a result of Israel's founding and its victory over Arab armies in 1967. Also, U.N. Security Council Resolutions 242 and 338 remain the agreed upon international basis for peacemaking. However, the United Nations was nearly locked out of Israeli-Palestinian peacemaking during the Oslo process, which was under the virtual control of the U.S. Administration.

Recently, with the cycle of violence raging, there were renewed calls for the United Nations Security Council to provide a protection mechanism in the West Bank and Gaza. The Presbyterian Church (USA), along with other churches and NGOs, sent a letter to the Security Council members on August 23 urging the Security Council to deploy multinational observers, "at the earliest possible date as one immediate means of discouraging further violence."