The United Nations commemorated the fiftieth anniversary of peacekeeping last year, as well as 50 years of the United Nations Truce Supervision Organization (UNTSO), its first peacekeeping mission.

UNTSO headquarters is located in Jerusalem, in a graceful building called Government House. Set on a hill overlooking the Old City, Government House was designed by a renowned British architect, Harrison, and was completed in 1930, to serve as the office and residence of the League of Nations High Commissioner for Palestine. When the British, who were given the mandate, left in 1948, the Red Cross took over shortly and Government House was finally leased to the United Nations in the same year for the amount of one dollar per year, as the story goes.

It was at Government House that I met Muhammad Khalil, a Palestinian who was a local staff member with UNTSO from its inception. His recollection of the time when the first UN observers arrived is somewhat vague, but he remembers the assassination of Count Folke Bernadotte of Sweden, the first United Nations mediator in the Palestine, who was killed in 1948 by terrorists. Following this dramatic event, "an American General by the name of Riley came", he says, "with just a few observers, a few security men, and two or three radio operators. Their initial plan was to stay one month, and resolve the situation in the Palestine."

The role of the United Nations was perceived by the local people as a simple one. "When there was trouble, the UN came to look and see whose fault it was, and to report back to New York. That's all", he says. Sadly, 50 years have gone by since then and the problems of this region are still a long way from being resolved. The UN peacekeepers are still here, deployed in an even wider area, still putting their lives in danger, in an attempt to prevent the conflict from flaring up once more.

The most dramatic events Mr. Khalil recalls took place at the time of the war between Jordan and Israel in 1967. As some of the heavy fighting went on quite close to the UN compound, most of the local staff members were sent home. As the sounds of battle approached, the remaining staff decided to take matters into their own hands, so they pushed a refrigerator and some furniture against the main entrance. According to Mr. Khalil, 13 tanks drove up the road, blasted the main gate as well as their barricade. As a group of Jordanian soldiers ran into the building and began to shoot randomly, the staff came out shouting, "We are United Nations!".

During the war, Mr. Khalil and his family lived in their house bordering the gardens of the UN compound. One day on his way home, in the midst of the shooting, he came across a young Jewish woman. She was terrified and did not know which way to run, so he took her in. She stayed with his family in their house for a week and when the fighting subsided he showed her a safe route home. They never saw her again. He regrets not asking her name so that he could find out if she reached home safely. He makes a point of saying that, to him, everyone is the same - the Christians, the Jews and the Muslims.

Mr. Khalil's life with UNTSO passed with few upsets. He enjoyed his work and liked his simple lifestyle. He had seven children, and his son Ali, who was born at Government House, now works in the UNTSO transport department. As our conversation came to an end, he took me through the gardens, his back bent, his step still surprisingly quick, to show me where his house is, the walls of the garden built by his father, and his son's office.

As his story unravelled, I came to realize that the tale of his family was closely intertwined with the history of Government House. He knew his way around well, as he grew up here and played on these grounds as a boy. As it turns out, part of the land where Government House was built belonged to his father's family and was, according to Mr. Khalil, appropriated by the British with no compensation. His father, a mason, was then contracted as one of the builders of Government House. The only valuable possession the family retained from the land they once owned was some beautiful glass objects dating back to the Roman times, which they later sold to a private collector for a substantial sum.

Mr. Khalil retired in 1979, after 30 years with UNTSO, and now lives on a pension of $320 per month. And so, our conversation ended among the tall trees he planted himself 50 years ago.