INTRACTABLE AS EVER

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 68, Issue 134, 18 March 1948, Page 5

INTRACTABLE AS EVER

PALESTINE ISSUE POWERS FAIL TO AGREE (N./.P. A.—Copyright). NEW YORK, March lb. A tentative four-Power agreement on Palestine collapsed tonight when France and the United States withdrew their approval of a resolution which declared that there was now a threat to world peace in the Holy Land.

The switch by France and the United States' was apparently caused by Mr Faris el Klioury’s declaration before the Security Council to-day that Syria would not interfere in the fighting in Palestine if no other foreign force took nart.

Earlier to-day the United States, Russia. France and China reported to the Security Council that they were not agreed on the course which the Council should follow in dealing with the Palestine partition problem. To-night’s action by France and the United States thus leaves the whole Palestine problem as intractable as ever.

Three Points Stated

Mr Fails el Klioury made the following points for his Government:— (1) Arab volunteers from outside Palestine were very few compared with the number of illegal armed Jewish immigrants. (2) The Arab States favoured any solution of the Palestine problem which would preserve the unity of the State in accordance with the principles of democracy and the United Nations Charter.

(3) The Arab States had not interfered so far, and would not, interfere in the Palestine fighting so long as no outside force participated. The Council heard an appeal from Mr Camille Chamoun (Lebanon) to the United States to cease supporting partition. He gave an indirect warning that the Middle East oil wells might he closed to the United States and that Communism might spread through immigration if Arab resistance to partition were weakened. He advised American politicans to “stop playing with fire for the sake of local interests.”

The Council adjourned the discussion until Friday. From Beirut it is reported that the Mufti of Jerusalem has arrived unexpectedly to attend a meeting of the Foreign Ministers of the Arab League States. Their purpose is “to organise policy and plans according to developments” in the Palestine situation.