In the early 1990s, with the start of the Madrid and Oslo processes and the end of the Cold War, the UN began to alleviate its trend of hostility toward Israel. The collapse of the Soviet Union, which put an end to the powerful Soviet-Arab coalition, left the Arab member states devoid of the superpower ally needed to maintain their powerful anti-Israel activities.

"In the early 1990's...the UN began to alleviate its trend of hostility toward Israel...and Israel's participation in UN operations also began to increase."

As early as December 1991, just weeks after the conclusion of the historic Madrid conference where Israelis and Arabs sat together for negotiations for the first time, the United Nations took the world by surprise when it finally repealed the infamous "Zionism is racism" resolution. This momentous event sparked a new process of reevaluation at the UN of its traditional and outdated policies on Israel. At that time, former Ambassador Gad Ya’acobi noted that "the obsolete and anachronistic resolutions of the past.. [are] not relevant today, when peace negotiations are in progress."

As the Middle East peace process got underway and the Israelis and Palestinians signed the historic Declaration of Principles in 1993. there began to be a significant decrease in the number of anti-Israel condemnations at the UN. For the first time the Human Rights Commission condemned anti-Semitism as a form of racism. In 1994, when Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres addressed the General Assembly, only the representatives from Iran did not attend. This contrasted markedly with the roll calls of earlier years when it was common for Arab members to storm out of the GA hall in the presence of an Israeli speaker.

Israel’s participation in UN operations also began to increase. In June 1993, Israel was nominated to its first UN committee, the Committee for Information. In 1994, Israelis were permitted to participate in the UN peacekeeping mission in Angola and to travel to South Africa as part of a UN effort to monitor the country’s first democratic elections. At that time, Israelis also began to be elected to notable UN positions, such as the high administrative tribunal at the Hague, Vice Chair of the World Health Organization’s Executive Committee, and member of the Human Rights Committee.

In addition, efforts were made to amend a number of previously adopted anti-Israel resolutions. In 1992, the GA passed 29 anti-Israel resolutions, but since then seven have been eliminated or consolidated, and four have been redrafted in favor of Israel. In 1995, the GA adopted 18 Middle East resolutions, eight of which have since been reworded to refrain from condemning Israel, and eight more modified otherwise.

As part of this attempt to revise the outdated anti-Israel resolutions, in 1993 the UN amended the group of resolutions, adopted each year by the GA, known as the "Question of Palestine." Among these resolutions is ‘The Peaceful Settlement of the Question of Palestine," which was revised to omit its reference to Jerusalem as occupied territory, as well as its charge against Israeli settlements as illegal obstacles to peace. The resolution entitled "Situation in the Middle East" was revised to omit its condemnation of Israel’s presence in the territories. In 1993, the resolution entitled "Israeli Nuclear Armament," also adopted by the GA annually, was revised to eliminate its severe criticism of Israel. Moreover, between 1993 and 1995 the Security Council never directly condemned Israel. Even in denouncing the Hebron Massacre, it did not directly target Israel. During this period, the Security Council also denounced terrorism against Israel for the first time.

The most central resolution passed during this warming trend toward Israel came on December 14, 1993 when 155 member states endorsed the Israel-Palestinian and the Israel-Jordan agreements and granted "full support for the achievements of the peace process so far." This resolution was the first UN call for Middle East peace that did not criticize Israel. In fact, many viewed this improvement between Israel and the international community as actual UN support for some Israeli government policies. In October 1993, for the first time since 1981, the Arab members of the UN did not challenge Israel’s seat at the General Assembly.