Israel's right to exist...

[kjkhoo at softhome.net]

At 6:28 pm -0400 17/5/02, Nathan Newman wrote:
>No- the existence of Israel derives from a vote of the United Nations, as
>part of the "mandate" system established at its founding.  In that sense,
>Israel is one of the only countries whose existence is NOT derived from a
>specific military campaign, secession or unilateral carving out of 
>colonial empires.

I advanced such an argument in a local newsgroup, only to receive a 
response that argued that the UN only voted for partition, but that 
Israel was formed as the result of a unilateral declaration of 
independence; hence, it does _not_ derive from a UN vote.

Any comments, clarifications on this?