What has the United Nations done to help?

Answer 1

This question is nearly impossible to answer due to having two incredibly nebulous terms "do something" and "about Israel" and is propped on the incorrect assertion that the United Nations either avoids talking about or dealing about problems within Israel. In fact, Israel has had more UN Resolutions written about it or that directly involve it than any other single country in the world and every other country of the world added together (not counting duplicates).

First to the nebulous terms, "do something" can mean just about anything, so the first note is that the United Nations cannot do anything that is outside the provisions of the UN Charter. For those who are Pro-Israel, this means that the UN cannot forcibly disarm Arab States (violation of sovereignty), the UN cannot make Judea, Samaria, the Golan Heights, or East Jerusalem valid Israeli territories (repudiation of Resolutions SC 242, SC 338, SC 478 and violation of the Israeli Peace Treaty with Jordan), and the UN cannot compel Iran to stop its nuclear program (Iran's obligations under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty are subject to the supervision of the IAEA, not the UN). For those who are Anti-Israel, this means that the UN cannot "unmake" Israel (violation of national sovereignty, repudiation of Resolution 181, overrule of several ICC decisions), the UN cannot forcibly disarm Israel (violation of national sovereignty), and the UN cannot make Israel become non-nuclear (Israel has signed no treaty, nor made no obligation on itself to comply with Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty).

As for "about Israel" this can mean whatever a person would like it to mean. It could be "concerning Israel", "due to Israel", "on Israel's behalf", etc. It gives no basis of intent on how to read the question.

As for the UN Resolutions about Israel, they have historically been both inordinate in number and inordinate in scope.

• UN Resolution 3379 (which was eventually repealed) claimed that Zionism was Racism. No other nation's form of nationalism, which can have inequality manifestations was declared racist. South Africa's form of apartheid government, which was far more racist in execution (segregation in all aspects of life) did not result in the independence or Right of a South African State being called into question. Resolution 1761 only criticized the organization of the government, not the founding doctrines and beliefs of the South African people. Kemalism, the nationalism upon which Turkey was founded is certainly more racist than Zionism. It asserted quite plainly that not only was every person in Turkey a Turkish citizen, but that such people were ethnically Turkish. This denied the rights of the Armenians (who had already been "genocided" out of much of Turkey), the Greeks (who were forcibly expelled in 1923), the Jews (who would all leave as soon as possible in 1949), and the Kurds (who have been engaged in a struggle against the Turkish government for nearly a century and have lost 40,000 people to the Turkish government). However there has not been a single UN Resolution condemning Turkish Nationalism or Turkey's actions in these regards.
• UN Resolution SC 478 was the only resolution in United Nations history that actively advised countries not to recognize the chosen capital of a given member state. Even Nicosia, the capital of Cyprus which is divided by the UN armistice line from 1974 is recognized as the capital of Cyprus. Therefore, having a contentiously divided city is not the only thing necessary to have a nation's capital not recognized by the international community.
• UN Resolution 2443 et al. are resolutions demanding investigations into the treatment of the Palestinians in territories legitimately (Resolution SC 242) occupied by Israel. Similar resolutions have not been written for other territories, even ones that are illegally occupied, such as Jammu and Kashmir, Northern Cyprus, East Timor (when it was under Indonesian Occupation), Nagorno-Karabakh, etc.
• UNRWA - The only United Nations organization ever made that focuses on only one national refugee group, the Palestinians. There is no other UN organization that singles out one group, region, or ethnicity of people for refugee protection in the way that UNRWA looks after the Palestinians.
• Resolution 1089 et al. There are three UN peacekeeper areas around Israel to prevent Arab armies from entering into Israel. There used to be UNEF in the Sinai before the Egyptian-Israeli Peace Treaty, UNIFIL operates in southern Lebanon ever since the Lebanese Civil War, and UNDOF has patrolled the Israeli-Syrian border ever since the Arab-Israeli War of 1973.

To read all of the various UN Resolutions about Israel, please see the Related Link below.

Answer 2

The United Nations has recommended a partitioning of the British Mandate into a Jewish administered portion and an Arab administered portion (in 1947), recognized the State of Israel when the Jewish administered portion declared itself a sovereign state and the Arab authorities refused to declare itself a state or even to accept the partition (in 1948), admitted the State of Israel as a member nation (in 1949), and in 2014, voted against a resolution calling for Israeli withdrawal from certain areas without face-to-face negotiations. There is nothing for the UN to do 'about Palestine' since no country by that name exists.

Answer 3

As noted by my honorable colleague below, the United Nations was responsible for partitioning the the British Mandate of Palestine into two theoretical countries: a Jewish State (which would eventually become Israel) and an Arab State (which is often seen as a political precursor to the more recent Palestinian movement). However, since this point, the United Nations has done a lot; however, they have not resolved the conflict.

The United Nations cannot do anything that is outside the provisions of the UN Charter. For those who are Pro-Israel, this means that the UN cannot forcibly disarm Arab States (violation of sovereignty), the UN cannot make Judea, Samaria, the Golan Heights, or East Jerusalem valid Israeli territories (repudiation of Resolutions SC 242, SC 338, SC 478 and violation of the Israeli Peace Treaty with Jordan), and the UN cannot compel Iran to stop its nuclear program (Iran's obligations under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty are subject to the supervision of the IAEA, not the UN). For those who are Anti-Israel, this means that the UN cannot "unmake" Israel (violation of national sovereignty, repudiation of Resolution 181, overrule of several ICC decisions), the UN cannot forcibly disarm Israel (violation of national sovereignty), and the UN cannot make Israel become non-nuclear (Israel has signed no treaty, nor made no obligation on itself to comply with Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty).

As for the UN Resolutions about Israel (and about the conflict in general), they have historically been both inordinate in number and inordinate in scope.

• UN Resolution 3379 (which was eventually repealed) claimed that Zionism was Racism. No other nation's form of nationalism, which can have inequality manifestations was declared racist. South Africa's form of apartheid government, which was far more racist in execution (segregation in all aspects of life) did not result in the independence or Right of a South African State being called into question. Resolution 1761 only criticized the organization of the government, not the founding doctrines and beliefs of the South African people. Kemalism, the nationalism upon which Turkey was founded is certainly more racist than Zionism. It asserted quite plainly that not only was every person in Turkey a Turkish citizen, but that such people were ethnically Turkish. This denied the rights of the Armenians (who had already been "genocided" out of much of Turkey), the Greeks (who were forcibly expelled in 1923), the Jews (who would all leave as soon as possible in 1949), and the Kurds (who have been engaged in a struggle against the Turkish government for nearly a century and have lost 40,000 people to the Turkish government). However there has not been a single UN Resolution condemning Turkish Nationalism or Turkey's actions in these regards.
• UN Resolution SC 478 was the only resolution in United Nations history that actively advised countries not to recognize the chosen capital of a given member state. Even Nicosia, the capital of Cyprus which is divided by the UN armistice line from 1974 is recognized as the capital of Cyprus. Therefore, having a contentiously divided city is not the only thing necessary to have a nation's capital not recognized by the international community.
• UN Resolution 2443 et al. are resolutions demanding investigations into the treatment of the Palestinians in territories legitimately (Resolution SC 242) occupied by Israel. Similar resolutions have not been written for other territories, even ones that are illegally occupied, such as Jammu and Kashmir, Northern Cyprus, East Timor (when it was under Indonesian Occupation), Nagorno-Karabakh, etc.
• UNRWA - The only United Nations organization ever made that focuses on only one national refugee group, the Palestinians. There is no other UN organization that singles out one group, region, or ethnicity of people for refugee protection in the way that UNRWA looks after the Palestinians.
• Resolution 1089 et al. There are three UN peacekeeper areas around Israel to prevent Arab armies from entering into Israel. There used to be UNEF in the Sinai before the Egyptian-Israeli Peace Treaty, UNIFIL operates in southern Lebanon ever since the Lebanese Civil War, and UNDOF has patrolled the Israeli-Syrian border ever since the Arab-Israeli War of 1973.