Any other proposals?

This political cartoon is a sketch with dark shading and extreme contrast. There is no color in the sketch. It depicts a dimly lit meeting room with wooden crown molding on the walls. The view is from the back of the room, behind a chair at the head of a long wooden table. Eleven decorative chairs sit empty and unorganized around the table. The only chair pushed in neatly is the one chair at the head. The only light comes from open double-entry doors at the front of the room. On the left door, the letters U and N are seen etched into the wood. On the long wooden table are two pieces of paper stabbed into the table with daggers. The paper on the left says, “Death to the Arabs,” and the paper on the right says, “Death to the Jews.” The caption underneath the cartoon says, “Any Other Proposals?”

This political cartoon from Punch Magazine depicts the talks in the United Nations about the partition plan. This is clearly stated by the letters U and N on the meeting room door. Unlike some of the other cartoons, it mentions both the Arabs and Jews as victims of these talks. This is seen through the two papers stabbed violently with daggers. Like other cartoons and images out of Great Britain, it portrays the UN as the perpetrator, completely ignoring Britain’s involvement. The empty chairs scattered around the table represent the meeting’s conclusion. The room is dark, and everyone has left the room in a disorderly manner. This can symbolize how the UN tried to solve the conflict, but left things worse than they started. The empty chairs in a dark room could also represent this as a way for other nations, such as Great Britain, to “wipe their hands clean” of the problem. The two papers stabbed into the table represent the consequences of the UN talks: War. The cartoon uses the caption, “Any other proposals?” ironically, criticizing how the UN handled the partition plan and failed to prevent a war.