Count Bernadotte, who had seen immense suffering as the Head of the Swedish Red Cross at the end of the Second World War and who had seen the German concentration camps from the inside and the immense suffering in Europe after 1945, became extremely appalled by the plight of Palestinian refugees. As early as his first report of 27th June, he recommended “The right of residents of Palestine ….. to return to their homes without restriction and to regain accession of their property”. That also featured in his second plan, the Progress Report, the origin of the famous Resolution 194 of December 1948, giving refugees the right to return to their homes.
The UN did nothing in 1948 after the assassination of the UN Mediator. It declared no sanctions against the state of Israel and it took no practical actions against the state of Israel. The murderers were set free. Of course, the Arab states and other smaller states, like Sweden, drew the same lesson. The United Nations obviously is not capable of taking care of or giving protection to its representatives. From that point on, we can follow up to the recent blowing up of the United Nations headquarters in Baghdad, including the UN Special Representative. What did the United Nations then do?
The misperceptions of Count Bernadotte and of his collaborators in 1948? He could of course not imagine that the UN Secretary General, Trygve Lie of Norway, as we know now, cooperated in great secrecy with the Israelis and secretly handed over to the Israelis confidential documents including the papers of the UN Mediator. Finally – he vastly overestimated the Americans and their political will and capability to support the United Nations.
THE MISSION OF COUNT FOLKE BERNADOTTE, A COSTLY LESSON IN MISPERCEPTIONS
Professor Sune Persson, ROYAL UNITED SERVICES INSTITUTE, LONDON, 2 JUNE 2004