PALESTINE TRUCE TERMS

Press, Volume LXXXIV, Issue 25517, 10 June 1948, Page 5

PALESTINE TRUCE TERMS

Count Bernadotte Reports NINE CONDITIONS LAID DOWN (N.Z. Press Association—Copyright) (Rec. 11 p.m.) LONDON. June 9. The United Nations mediator for Palestine (Count Bernadotte) has informed the Security Council that he has given the Jews and Arabs until noon. Greenwich Mean Tiine, to-day to accept or reject his truce terms. If accepted, the truce would become effective at 6 a.m. G.M.T. to-morrow. Count Bernadotte told the Jews and Arabs that if the plan was rejected or acceptance was conditional, he would not hold further consultations, but would refer the whole matter back to the Security Council. He said he was aware of the assumptions and explanations made by the Jews and Arabs, but he was convinced that no further delays were warranted. Count ‘Bernadotte issued the following terms:— (1) No fighting personnel, including any persons bearing arms, shall be introduced into any of the Arab States or any part of Palestine. (2) The mediator shall exercise his discretion during the truce period to determine whether men of military age are among immigrants in such numbers as to give one side a military advantage, and in such event, shall refuse them entry. (3) The mediator shall exercise a check on all immigration at ports' of embarkation and debarkation, and shall place United Nations observers on ships bearing immigrants. (4) The mediator may, at his discretion, ban all immigrants during the first week of the truce. (5) The movement of troops or war material from one country to another or closer to the fighting fronts is prohibited for the entire truce period. (6) All fighting fronts and lines shall remain stabilised during the truce period. There shall be no increase in fighting strength or in war materials on hand, but the routine replacement of troops may be undertaken. (7) War materials must not be imported into Palestine or the territory of any interested party. (8) Relief to the populations of both sides in the municipal areas, such as Jerusalem and Jaffa, shall be administered by the International Red Cross so that reserves of essential supplies shall be niore or less the same at the end as at the beginning of the truce. (9) All warlike acts, whether on land, sea. or in the air, shall be prohibited. Arab View of Truce King Abdullah said yesterday in Amman that no benefit could result for the Jews or Arabs from the proposed truce. King Abdullah said that the United Nations had insisted and threatened because it felt that the Jews’ position in Palestine was critical. Transjordan’s Foreign Minister (Fawzi Mulki Pasha), before Count Bernadotte’s proposals were published, said that the Arab Governments intend to hold to their original conditions for a truce. Observers assess the statement as an indication that the truce negotiations

will fail unless the Jews alter their attitude towards immigration. Mr William Stoheman, personal adviser to the Secretary-General of the United Nations (Mr, Trygve Lie), arrived at the London Airport yesterday from New York with six members of the United Nations Secretariat, on his way t 6 Cairo to assist Count Bernadotte in the truce negotiations. The United States department of State announced in Washington yesterday that 21 American military officers would leave immediately to serve as truce observers in Palestine. The team would consist of seven army, seven navy, and seven air force officers. It was learned at Lake Success yesterday that the United States will oppose Russia’s request for the inclusion of Soviet military observers in the truce team. A message from Stockholm says that five Swedish officers are flying to Palestine in response to Count Bernadotte’s request for truce control officers. Fighting in Palestine The Jerusalem correspondent of the Associated Press says that Arab Legion guns have shelled a new track which the Haganah secretly built to replace the Jerusalem-Tel Aviv road, which the Arabs blockaded. The correspondent says that there is no evidence that any supplies reached the beleaguered Jews in Jerusalem over the track before it was shelled. The Arabs also shelled a new Jewish airstrip which, it is believed, the Jews hoped to use for transport aeroplanes. An Iraqi communique reports that Iraqi troops attacked a Jewish position in Kakul, a village north-west of Tulkarm, damaged every building in tb£ village and set stores on fire. It adds that Jewish forces attacked Iraqi positions at Kafaer Quasim, east of Tel Aviv, without success. Saudi Arabian troops went into their first action in Palestine when they co-operated with Egyptian units in attacking Zionist convoys, according to an Egyptian Defence Ministry communique. It adds that Egyptian bombers raided Tel Aviv harbour, scoring a direct hit on a cargo boat and sinking several smaller craft. Jewish anti-aircraft fire brought down an Egyptian. Spitfire south of Tel Aviv. A Transjordan communique says that troops of the Arab Legion were forced to fire on potash workers south of the Dead Sea because the workers were aggressive and used firearms. A Jewish communique reports a fierce struggle in the Beit Sanim area, where an “encircled” Egyptian column is attacking. The Jews do not explain this apparent wresting of the initiative by the Egyptian spearhead, which the Jews claim has been encircled for almost a week, but a projected visit to the front by correspondents was cancelled. A Jewish mortar shell on Monday night burst one dome of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. An iron grille between the inner and outer dome prevented the shell falling on Christ’s tomb. This is the third shell to hit the building.